The Interwar Military

Lesson 15

Agenda

• Reconstruction• The West and the Indian Wars• National Guard and Other Reforms• The Spanish American War• Imperialism• The Mexican Revolution• Technology• National Defense Act of 1916

Reconstruction

• After the Civil War, the large volunteer Army quickly demobilized and the US Army once again became a small regular organization

• In March 1865 Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau) as an agency within the Department of War to facilitate the transition of the South from a slave to a free society– The administrators and field agents were

commissioned officers from the Army

Reconstruction

• The primary purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to protect and help former slaves

• At first President Johnson pursued a relatively mild policy toward the former Confederate states but Congress ultimately exerted its will and placed the South under military control

Civil War corps commander Major General Oliver Howard was the first head of the Freedmen’s Bureau. He later helped found Howard University.

Reconstruction

• The South was divided into military districts each commanded by a major general who wielded considerable power– The Third Reconstruction Act of July 1867 declared,

“No district commander… shall be bound in his action by any opinion of any civil officer of the United States”

– District commanders dealt with horse stealing, moonshining, rioting, civil court proceedings, regulating commercial law, public education, fraud, removing public officials, registering voters, holding elections, and the approving of new state constitutions by registered voters

Reconstruction

• Occupation duty absorbed somewhat more than one-third of the Army’s strength in 1867

• An important army function was to support Federal marshals in an effort to suppress the Ku Klux Klan

• As the Southern states were restored to the Union under the reconstruction governments, military rule came to an end and civil authorities assumed full control of state offices – This process was largely

completed in 1870 and formally ended in 1877

The West and the Indian Wars

• After the Civil War, William Sherman assumed command of the Missouri district, which stretched from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi

• He declared all Indians not on reservations “are hostile and will remain so until killed off”

• Sherman would continue his Civil War strategy of total war and targeting the civilian population and infrastructure in his Indian campaigns

The West and the Indian Wars

• The Army in the West was scattered throughout hundreds of small forts, posts, outposts, and stations, often with little more than a company of cavalry or infantry in each post– Isolation, shared hardship, and danger bred a strong

sense of camaraderie and the frontier Army developed its own customs, rituals, and sense of honor separate from the civilian world or even from the very different military society “back East”

– Life was monotonous, living conditions were austere, promotion was slow, and the enemy was elusive and dangerous

The West and the Indian Wars• “Were I or the department

commanders to send guards to every point where they are clamored for, we would need alone on the plains a hundred thousand men, mostly of cavalry. Each spot of every road, and each little settlement along five thousand miles of frontier, wants its regiment of cavalry or infantry to protect it against the combined power of all the Indians, because of the bare possibility of their being attacked by the combined force of all the Indians.” – William Sherman

The Transcontinental Railroad, completed in 1869, created additional confrontations between Indians and a westward expanding America

The West and the Indian Wars

• After Phil Sheridan became commander of the Department of the Missouri, he developed a plan to hit the Indians in their permanent winter camps– The plan would be logistically difficult for the Army but

offered opportunities for decisive results– If the Indians’ shelter, food, and livestock could be

destroyed or captured, not only the warriors but their women and children would be at the mercy of the Army and the elements, and there was little left but surrender

– These tactics were aimed at the total destruction of the Indian culture

The West and the Indian Wars

• Like Sherman, Sheridan had practiced total war in the Civil War (in Sheridan’s case, in the Shenandoah Valley)

• Sherman concurred with Sheridan’s strategy commenting, “it would be wise to invite all the sportsmen of England and America... for a Grand Buffalo Hunt, and make one grand sweep of them all.”     Sheridan is associated with the

expression, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian."

The West and the Indian Wars

• After the Civil War, Congress authorized the formation of two regiments of black cavalry (the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry) and four regiments of black infantry (the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Infantry Regiments)

• These black soldiers were commanded by white officers and served throughout the West

• The Indians called them “Buffalo Soldiers”

Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry crossing the Gila River, Arizona Territory,

ca. 1878

The West and the Indian Wars

• Sherman and Sheridan’s strategies for defeating the Indians by destroying their infrastructure was cruel but effective

• The last significant battle took place at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1890 George Custer’s command

was annihilated at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876

National Guard

• In the second half of the 19th Century the organized militia under state control was frequently called out to suppress strikes

• In response, Congress introduced legislation to improve and to provide better arms for the organized militia

• In 1879, in support of this effort, the National Guard Association came into being in St. Louis

• Between 1881 and 1892 every state revised its military code to provide for an organized militia– Most states, following the lead of New York, called

their militia the National Guard. • John A. Logan’s Volunteer Soldier of America, published

posthumously in 1887, provided the intellectual support for advocacy for the militia

National Guard

• By 1898 the National Guard had become the principal reserve standing behind the Regular Army but remaining a state military force.

• In response to the militia’s poor showing in the Spanish-American War, the Dick Act of 1903 led to the creation of the National Guard Bureau as the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the National Guard– Established standards for organization,

training, pay, and Federal funding

Emory Upton

• While Logan and others were advocating for a strong militia, Emory Upton was arguing for a strong professional army

• Upton was a West Point graduate and Civil War veteran

• He went on a mission to study the armies of Asia and Europe, which left him especially impressed by the German military system

• Wrote The Armies of Asia and Europe (1878) and The Military Policy of the United States (1904)

Emory Upton

• Upton presented a case for a strong regular military force and subsequently provided the Regular Army with intellectual ammunition for shooting down the arguments of militia advocates

• Borrowing John C. Calhoun’s idea of an “expansible army,” Upton felt a wartime army should consist entirely of regular formations, which meant that all volunteers should serve under regular officers.

• Upton ignored the strong role of the militia in American military tradition and wanted the United States to abandon its traditional dual military system and replace it with a thoroughly professional army on the German model

Spanish-American War (1898-1899)

• The US had large business interests in Puerto Rico and Cuba, the last remnant’s of Spain’s American empire

• In 1898 the US battleship Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbor

• US leaders suspected sabotage and declared war on Spain

Spanish-American War

• The US easily defeated Spain and took possession of Puerto Rico and Cuba

• In the Pacific, the US took possession of the Philippines and Guam

• After the Spanish-American War the US emerged as a major imperial and colonial power

Commodore Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in a single day at the Battle of Manila.

Elihu Root• Elihu Root served as Secretary of War under President

William McKinley (1899 to 1904) and succeeded in increasing the size of the army and in partially reorganizing and reforming the War Department general staff

• Root was a former corporation lawyer, and he tended to see the Army’s problems as similar to those faced by business executives. – “The men who have combined various corporations … in

what we call trusts have reduced the cost of production and have increased their efficiency by doing the very same thing we propose you shall do now, and it does seem a pity that the Government of the United States should be the only great industrial establishment that cannot profit by the lessons which the world of industry and of commerce has learned to such good effect.”

Elihu Root

• Root recognized the inefficient division of authority between the Commanding General and the Secretary of War– The Commanding General exercised discipline and control of

the troops in the field while the Secretary of War, through the military bureau chiefs, had responsibility for administration and fiscal matters

• Root recommended replacing the Commanding General with a Chief of Staff who would be the responsible adviser and executive agent of the President through the Secretary of War– Reinforced civilian control of the military– Reduced the independence of the bureau chiefs

Elihu Root

• To correct the long range war planning deficiency made obvious by the Spanish-American War, Root proposed creating a new General Staff– Now there would be a group of

selected officers who devoted their full energies to preparing war plans rather than the previous practice of relying on ad hoc groups thrown together for a crisis

• Root’s proposals were adopted by Congress in 1903

Educational Reforms

• As commanding general William Sherman established the School of Application for Infantry and Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, KS in 1881– Predecessor for the Command and General Staff

College

• The Naval War College was established in 1884 and the Army War College in 1901

• The service school system was expanded– Signal School 1905– Field Artillery School 1911– School of Musketry 1911

Albert Thayer Mahan• US naval officer who lived from 1840 to

1914• Wrote The Influence of Sea Power Upon

History, 1660-1783 (1890) and The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812 (1892)

• Considered “sea power” to include the overlapping concepts of command of the sea through naval superiority and that combination of maritime commerce, overseas possessions, and privileged access to foreign markets that produces national “wealth and greatness”

Albert Thayer Mahan

• Advocated – “that overbearing power on the sea which drives the

enemy’s flag from it, or allows it to appear only as a fugitive”

– “(1) Production; (2) Shipping: (3) Colonies and Markets– in a word, sea power”

• Thought the Navy should be used offensively and that its principle object should be destruction of the enemy’s fleet– Destroying the enemy’s battle fleet would in turn

cause his merchant fleet to find the sea untenable– To be effective, the fleet should not be divided and

should be autonomous

Albert Thayer Mahan

• Saw the Navy’s economic strangulation of France by blockade as the key to Britain’s defeat of Napoleon– “It was not by attempting great military operations on

land, but by controlling the sea, and through the sea the world outside Europe,” that the British “ensured the triumph of their country.”

• Critics argue that Mahan confused a necessary or important cause with the sufficient cause– The British Navy was important, but the Army and

diplomacy also played key roles

Albert Thayer Mahan

• Considered the navy to be a better instrument of national policy than the army– This was especially true for the United States

which had “neither the tradition nor the design to act aggressively beyond the seas,” but at the same time had “very important transmarine interests which need protection”

• Increasingly became an imperialist in order to gain control of the resources the US needed to best use its naval power

Mahan and Imperialism

• “As far as my own views went, I might say I was up to 1885 traditionally an anti-imperialist; but by 1890 the study of the influence of sea power and its kindred expansive activities upon the destiny of nations had converted me.” (Mahan, 1901)

• Mahan saw the construction of the Panama Canal as both a tremendous opportunity for the US to expand its interests but also that those expanded interests would collide with the interests of other nations– The US must therefore build a Navy and acquire the

necessary supporting bases to safeguard its interests

Panama Canal

• President Theodore Roosevelt saw an opportunity to exploit the separatist tendencies of Panama and supported its rebellion against Colombia in 1903

• Between 1904 and 1914, the US built the Panama Canal which links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without having to transit Cape Horn

Gatun locks under construction in 1910

Hawaii• Even when the Canal was just in the planning

stages, Mahan warned that its opening would immediately place the West Coast in jeopardy and that “it should be an inviolable resolution of our national policy, that no foreign state should henceforth acquire a cooling position within three thousand miles of San Francisco, --- a distance which includes the Hawaiian and Galapogos islands and the coast of Central America”

• In 1893 a group of businessmen and planters overthrew Queen Liliuokalani and invited the US to annex Hawaii

• Hawaii became a US possession in 1898Queen

Liliuokalani

Latin America

• In 1823 President James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine that warned European states against imperialist designs in the western hemisphere– Any European attempt to reassert control over former

colonies or to establish new ones would be considered as a threat against the US and an act of provocation

• The Monroe Doctrine served as a justification for US intervention in hemispheric affairs

Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

• In 1904 the government of the Dominican Republic went bankrupt

• President Roosevelt feared that Germany and other nations might intervene forcibly to collect their debts 

• Roosevelt asserted that “in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power....” Cartoon portraying Roosevelt

as an international policeman wielding his “big stick”

Early 20th Century US Interventions in Latin America

• Cuba

• Dominican Republic

• Nicaragua

• Honduras

• Haiti

Mexican Revolution (1911-1920)

• After defeat in the Mexican War, a liberal reform movement tried to reshape Mexico

• President Benito Juarez began to limit the power of the military and the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico and sought to endow Mexicans with the means of making a living and enable them to participate in political affairs

Benito Juarez, leader of La Reforma

Mexican Revolution (1911-1920)

• La Reforma challenged the fundamentalism of Mexican elites and a civil war broke out in 1911

• Peasants, workers, and middle class Mexicans fought to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Diaz

• The revolt became increasingly radical and devolved into guerrilla war

Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915)

Mexican Revolution (1911-1920)

• Charismatic rebels such as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa organized massive armies to fight against the government

• Villa attacked and killed US citizens as a result of America’s support for the Mexican government

General John Pershing led an unsuccessful American expedition to capture Villa. Pershing telegraphed

Washington, “Villa is everywhere, but Villa is nowhere.”

Mexican Revolution (1911-1920)

• President Woodrow Wilson called up 75,000 National Guardsmen to help police the border

• Although Villa was not captured, serious border incidents were stopped

• Perhaps more importantly, the Army learned valuable lessons about mobilization, training, and field operations that would help it prepare for World War I

Technology

• Technological advances served to make warfare more lethal– Smokeless powder improved range and penetrating

power– TNT increased the bursting power of artillery shells– Improved steels resulted in lighter and more efficient

weapons– Recoilless technology allowed repeated firings without

having to relay the artillery piece– The Maxim machine gun was the first self-powered

and truly automatic model– Clip-loading magazines greatly increased rates of rifle

fire

National Defense Act of 1916

• The deployment of the National Guard during the Mexico Revolt forced Congress to reach a decision on the divisive issue of how to organize the military for war

• The legislation reflected the growing sentiment of foregoing the Uptonian idea of an expansible Regular Army in favor of the more traditional American concept of a citizen army as the keystone of an adequate defense force

• Represented the most comprehensive military legislation yet enacted by the Congress

National Defense Act of 1916

• Authorized an increase in the peacetime strength of the Regular Army over a period of five years to 175,000 men and a wartime strength of close to 300,000

• Bolstered by federal funds and federal-stipulated organization and standards of training, the National Guard was to be increased more than fourfold to a strength of over 400,000 and obligated to respond to the call of the President

National Defense Act of 1916

• Established both an Officers’ and an Enlisted Reserve Corps and a Volunteer Army to be raised only in time of war

• Created a new Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program to establish training centers for officers at colleges and universities.

• Going beyond the heretofore-recognized province of military legislation, the Act granted power to the President to place orders for defense materials and to force industry to comply. – Directed the Secretary of War to conduct a survey of

all arms and munitions industries.

Next

• World War I