The US Army Post Civil War
1865-1898
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TLOs and ELOs
• Understand the effect demobilization and reconstruction had
on the US Army
• Understand the rise of the National Guard and how it
differed from the militia of an earlier era
• Understand the Army’s role in non-military missions of the
era
• Understand the relative isolation of the Army during this
period as well as it’s increasing professionalism
• Understand the significance of the Army’s role in the
Frontier Wars.
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Themes I’d stress:
• Reading from two chapters:
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Chapter 13: Darkness and Light: The Interwar Years, 1865-1898
Chapter 14: Winning the West: The Army in the Indian Wars, 18651890
• Going from a large convention force to a
more historically “normal” force.
• New missions and challenges- Reconstruction
and Indian Wars
• Looking inward- professional development
• Technology implemented or ignored
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Army Career, 1876?
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Relevance to Today?
The Civil War and large volunteer army
Massing on Mexico border- show of force
Non-standard missions- stability and support
Non-standard missions- fighting an irregular enemy
Professional education improvements
Questioning relevance of traditional branches
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Size of the Army
(Post Civil War Army)
• Volunteers
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1.2M in May 1865
400K by Nov 1865
11K in 1866
0 in 1867
• Regular Army
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Held at 54K in 1866
37K in 1869
27.5K in 1876
<25K in 1877 (field strength)
Stays at this level until 1898
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Organization of the Army
(Regular Establishment)
• 1861-65 - 19 regiments of infantry, 6 of cavalry, 5 of artillery
• 1866 (Reorganization) - 45 regiments of infantry, 10 of
cavalry, 5 of artillery, 6 black regiments (38th, 39th , 40th, &
41st Infantry, 9th & 10th Cavalry), 4 Veteran Reserve Corps
• 1869 (Consolidation) - 25 regiments of infantry, 10 of
cavalry, 5 of Artillery, 4 black regiments (24th & 25th
Infantry, 9th & 10th Cavalry), up to 1000 Indian scouts
• No brigades, divisions, or corps
• Smallest Army ever in proportion to U. S. population (63
million in 1890)
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Employment
• Reconstruction
• Civil Disturbances
• Indian Pacification
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Reconstruction
• Army was the primary instrument of Congressional
Reconstruction
• Reconstruction Act of 1867, divided the eleven exConfederate States, excluding Tennessee, into five military
districts.
• After about 1867, only 8,100 troops were stationed in the
South.
• Never large enough to guarantee rights of freedmen or
overawe Southern population
• Last Federal troops finally removed from South in 1877
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US Army role- Johnson’s
Reconstruction
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Land
(1865-69)
• Relief of blacks and whites in war torn south
• Admin justice in relationship to freed slaves
• Management abandoned and confiscated land
• regulation black labor under new conditions
• education of blacks
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Top: Primary school for
Freedmen, Vicksburg, MS
Bottom: Primary School for
Freedmen in charge of Mrs.
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Green, at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Scalawags
Carpetbaggers
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Stanton,
Sec of War
Grant, CG
1866: Johnson declares rebellion
at an end, and civil government
restored
Elections of 1866: violence, CSA
officials elected
Grant issues circular
Take orders from Congress if
removed
Also increases Army’s role in
maintaining order
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US Army role- Radical
Reconstruction
Maintain order
Military districts
Enforce laws:
Voting
Fight white supremacists groups
Place in the middle between local officials, citizens, and
freed blacks- everyone against them.
Sherman (Commanding General after Grant):
“No matter what change we may desire in the
feelings and thoughts of the people. . .we cannot
accomplish it by force. Nor can we afford to maintain . . .
an army large enough to hold them in subjugation.”
Neither Republicans or Democrats “seems to care a damn
of the service of the country.”
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Results of Reconstruction
Positive
•States rejoin Union
•Democratic rule continues
•No (violent) vengeance on
the losers
•African-Americans make
some gains:
Slavery ends
Freedman schools, public
education
Income grew
Legalized families
Negative
•Southern economy remains
backwards
•Corruption taints rebuilding effort
•For African-Americans:
Never met promises of 14th (male
suffrage), 15th Amendments (no
right or vote denied based on race,
color, or previous condition of
servitude)
Allows Jim Crow laws to “legally”
circumvent amendments
Blacks still subject to a century of
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racism and discrimination
Civil Disturbances
• Generally labor disputes and strikes
• Over 300 - Most notable cases:
– Railroad strikes of 1877 - preserve order
– Pullman Strike of 1894 - strike-breakers
– Militia (National Guard) called upon even more than Regular
Army
• Major success during this period came in 1887 when
Congress raised annual appropriation to militia from
$200,000 (since 1808) to $400,000
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National Guard movement
1880s- 1890s
Volunteer Soldier of America
1887
Sen John Logan
Emory Upton
The Military Policy of the United States
1904
1879- National Guard Association
1881-1892- every state revises
their military code
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Army Challenges
• Army was isolated from American society
Duty was:
– Distant from population centers (frontier)
– Distasteful (policing strikes)
• Intellectual trends against a army
• “Business Pacifism”
Wars are obsolete
Therefore armies are unnecessary
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Isolation of the Army on
the Frontier
Argument that it created the ethos of the Army
still seen today:
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Professional education system
Self policing
Apolitical officer corps
Expected to operate with little guidance of oversight
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Professionalism
Definition of Professionalism – Initial
membership and future advancement required
mastery of a body of theoretical knowledge
unique to its service.
• Expertise
• Responsibility
• Corporateness
Education – Being created during this period
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Development of Army
Professionalism
GEN William Sherman
Creation of School of
Application for
Infantry and Cavalry
1881
COL Emory Upton
The Military Policy of the
United States
1904
Creation of Naval War
College, 1884
RADM Stephen Luce
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Professionalism
(Doctrine)
No guiding head, no ‘Official’ Army Doctrine
• Unofficial
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Cavalry Journal
Army-Navy Journal
Journal of the Military Service Institution of the US
Emory Upton (a voice crying in the wilderness, dies
young and insane)
• Official
– Only bright spot - “CGSC” at Fort Leavenworth
– In 1881, not the same school as today, but the
mission is very similar
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Officer development
• Lieutenant to Captain - Seniority in the
Regiment
• Major to Colonel – Seniority in the Arm
– LT to Major – 24 to 26 Years
– Major to Colonel – 33 to 37 Years
• Aging Officer Corps - No Retirement
Pension Until Late 1880s
Fredrick Benteen
Captain
(1866 – 1883)
“There will not be one-fourth part of the present field officers in the
Army physically capable of supporting the hardships of an active
campaign. They will be worn-out old men.”
Army and Navy Journal
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Training
• Colonel: $3,500
• 2d Lieutenant: $1,400
• Sergeant: $264
• Privates: $156
“Small salaries are best for young officers who
know little of the real value of money. It teaches
them to avoid extravagance and practice
economy.”
Congressman Banning
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Training
• Officer Corps
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(Personnel)
Aging with stagnant, seniority promotion system
Congressional mandate, < 1/2 pre-war regulars
No retirement pension until late 1880s
Temporary wartime ranks abolished – Generals become
captains
• Enlisted Soldiers
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Many foreigners
Inhospitable duty stations
Few incentives to stay
Many reasons to “leave”
Underpaid ($16 to $13/month), and unpaid (Jul-Nov 1877)
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Soldiers
• Foreign Paupers
– 50% of the Ranks
– Outstanding Soldiers
and NCO’s
• Turnover
– Death
– Desertion
– Discharge
• Training
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21 Year Old Recruit
3 to 4 Weeks
Basic Skills
Weak Horsemanship
and Marksmanship
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Other sources of manpower
• “Buffalo Soldiers”
– 9th, 10th Cavalry
– 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st Infantry
• Combined into 24th and 25th Infantry
4% desertion rate vs 24% Army average
• “Indian Scouts”
– Various tribes
– Played on natural
tribal hostilities
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Equipment
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Origins of
Army
customs?
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Training
(Weapons)
• Civil War weapons were obsolete but plentiful
• Army made the decision to maintain a single shot rifle
• Adopted a center-fire cartridge
• Artillery remains muzzle-loading until SpanishAmerican War
• With no allocated funds, marksmanship training is
non-existent until 1890s (after several disasters)
• Enemy is often better armed and supplied
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Technology
New weapons technology ignored
Old technology called into question
Impact railroads, telegraph, naval developments
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Indian Pacification
“It gives me great pleasure to announce to
Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government,
steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to
the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements
is approaching to a happy consummation. . .
What good man would prefer a country covered
with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to
our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and
prosperous farms . . . ?”
President Andrew Jackson message to
Congress “On Indian Removal” (1830)
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Indian Pacification
• Best known role of the 19th century US Army
• Fought 943 engagements between 1865 and 1898
• The Army never used more than 4000 troops except in
the Sioux War of 1876 and the Nez Perce War of 1877
• Included two disasters
– Fetterman (80 men) in December 1866
– Custer (250 men) in June 1876
• Nature of the struggle
– Indians usually fought using hit-and-run tactics
– Army struggled with tactics and strategy
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Army Opponents
MAJ GEN Winfield S. Hancock advised Congress
in 1876 that Indian Service of the Army was:
“Entitled to No Weight”
in determining the proper strength, composition,
and organization of the Army.
Utley
Frontier Regulars, 45
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Army Opponents
• Indians
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Fought as individuals
Tied to forage and families
No hierarchy
Did not believe in decisive combat
Small success was magnified
• Army
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Caught in a “no win” situation
Want to fight a conventional fight
Ability to sustain with rail and rivers
Conduct of winter campaigns
Must be everywhere; small forces piecemealed
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Winning the West
The U.S Army in the Indian Wars
1865-1890
Colville
Steilacoom
Vancouver
Shaw
Walla Walla
Benton
Buford
Ellis
Nez Perce
C.F. Smith
Boise
Klamath
Phil Kearny
Modoc
Sioux
Sully
Hall
Reno
Fetterman
Laramie
Bridger
Randall
D.A. Russell
Halleck
Douglas
Churchill
Omaha
McPherson
Kearney
Cheyenne/Arapahoe
Riley
Wallace
Hayes
Larned
Lyon
Harker
Dodge
Garland
Kiowa
Union
Wingate
Verde
McDowell
Yuma
Lowell
Indian Wars
Bozman Trail &
Hancock’s War
1866-1868
Bascom
Apache
Apache
Sumner
Bayard
Stanton
Bowie
Seldon
Cummings
Bliss
Comanche
Griffin
Quitman
Concho
Stockton
Davis
Clark
Richardson
Leavenworth
Colville
Steilacoom
Vancouver
Shaw
Walla Walla
Benton
Buford
Ellis
Nez Perce
C.F. Smith
Boise
Klamath
Phil Kearny
Modoc
Sioux
Sully
Sioux
Hall
Reno
Fetterman
Laramie
Bridger
Randall
D.A. Russell
Halleck
Douglas
Churchill
Omaha
McPherson
Kearney
Cheyenne/Arapahoe
Riley
Wallace
Hayes
Larned
Lyon
Harker
Dodge
Garland
Kiowa
Supply
Union
Wingate
Verde
McDowell
Yuma
Lowell
Indian Wars
Southern Plains War
1868-1869
Cheyenne/Arapaho
Bascom
Apache
Apache
Leavenworth
Sill
Sumner
Kiowa/Comanche
Bayard
Stanton
Bowie
Seldon
Cummings
Bliss
Comanche
Griffin
Quitman
Concho
Stockton
Davis
Clark
Richardson
Colville
Steilacoom
Vancouver
Shaw
Walla Walla
Benton
Buford
Abraham Lincoln
Keogh
Ellis
Nez Perce
Yates
C.F. Smith
Boise
Klamath
Phil Kearny
Sioux
Modoc
Meade
Sully
Sioux
Hall
Reno
Fetterman
Laramie
Bridger
Randall
Robinson
D.A. Russell
Halleck
Douglas
Churchill
Omaha
McPherson
Kearney
Riley
Wallace
Hayes
Larned
Lyon
Harker
Dodge
Garland
Supply
Union
Wingate
Verde
McDowell
Apache
Yuma
Thomas
Lowell
Indian Wars
Apache 1871-75
Red River War 1874-75
Sioux War 1876
Huachuca
Cheyenne/Arapaho
Bascom
Apache
Leavenworth
Sill
Sumner
Kiowa/Comanche
Bayard
Stanton
Bowie
Seldon
Cummings
Bliss
Griffin
Quitman
Concho
Stockton
Davis
Clark
Richardson
Colville
Steilacoom
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Shaw
Lapwai
Benton
Nez Perce
Buford
Missoula
Abraham Lincoln
Keogh
Ellis
Nez Perce
Yates
Sioux
C.F. Smith
Klamath
Modoc
Modoc/
Klamath
Boise
Phil Kearny
Sioux
Sioux
Sioux
Hall
Reno
Fetterman
Laramie
Bridger
Sully
Meade
Randall
Robinson
D.A. Russell
Halleck
Douglas
Churchill
Omaha
McPherson
Kearney
Riley
Wallace
Hayes
Larned
Lyon
Harker
Dodge
Garland
Supply
Union
Wingate
McDowell
Apache
Yuma
Thomas
Lowell
Indian Wars
(North West)
Modoc War 1872-73
Nez Perce War 1877
Huachuca
Cheyenne/Arapaho
Bascom
Verde
Leavenworth
Sill
Sumner
Kiowa/Comanche
Bayard
Stanton
Bowie
Seldon
Cummings
Bliss
Griffin
Quitman
Concho
Stockton
Davis
Clark
Richardson
Questions?
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