A Scientific Way of War: Antebellum Military Science, West Point, and the Origins of American Military Thought

350 Pages·2015·11.617 MB·English

by  Ian Clarence Hope

A SCIENTIFIC WAY OF WAR
Studies in War, Society, and the Military
general editors
Peter Maslowski
University of Nebraska– Lincoln
David Graff
Kansas State University
Reina Pennington
Norwich University
editorial board
D’Ann Campbell
Director of Government and Foundation Relations
U.S. Coast Guard Foundation
Mark A. Clodfelter
National War College
Brooks D. Simpson
Arizona State University
Roger J. Spiller
George C. Marshall Professor of Military History
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (retired)
Timothy H. E. Travers
University of Calgary
Arthur Waldron
Lauder Professor of International Relations
University of Pennsylvania
A SCIENTIFIC
WAY OF WAR
Antebellum Military Science,
West Point, and the Origins of
American Military Thought
ian c. hope
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln & London
© 2015 by Ian C. Hope
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Hope, Ian C.
A scientific way of war: antebellum military science,
West Point, and the origins of American military
thought / Ian C. Hope.
pages cm.— (Studies in war,
society, and the military)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978- 0- 8032- 7685- 7 (cloth: alk. paper)
isbn 978- 0- 8032- 7716- 8 (epub)
isbn 978- 0- 8032- 7717- 5 (mobi)
isbn 978- 0- 8032- 7718-2 (pdf)
1. Military art and science— United States—
History— 19th century. 2. United States
Military Academy— History— 19th century.
3. Military education— United States— History—
19th century. 4. United States Army— Officers—
Training of— History— 19th century. I. Title.
u43.u4h66 2015
355.00973'09034— dc23
2015009354
Set in Ehrhardt by L. Auten.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations . . vii
Acknowledgments . . ix
Introduction . . 1
1. Colonial and Early National Military Science . . 17
2. Army Reforms, 1815– 1820 . . 47
3. West Point’s Scientific Curriculum . . 77
4. Internal Improvements . . 107
5. Jacksonian Military Science . . 129
6. Military Science during and after the Mexican War . . 161
7. Antebellum Military Science . . 183
8. Military Science in the Civil War . . 213
Conclusion . . 245
Appendix of Tables . . 255
Notes . . 277
Bibliography . . 311
Index . . 325

ILLUSTRATIONS
figures
1. Von Bülow’s optimum base of operations . . 42
2. War Department staff bureaus and key relationships . . 63
3. Vauban- style fortifications with trace showing concentration
of flanking fire . . 94
4. O’Connor’s reproduction of Jomini’s “Configuration of a
Theater of War” . . 100
5. Mahan’s Theory of Strategy, the Science of Movement,
ca. 1840 . . 155
6. The evolution of Mahan’s ideas of strategy . . 202
7. Confederate fortifications near Centreville, Virginia,
March 1862 . . 234
8. Confederate fortifications, with chevaux- de- frise beyond,
at Petersburg, Virginia . . 235
9. City Point wharf with Federal artillery train, 1864– 1865 . . 235
10. Yorktown, Virginia. Embarkation point
for White House Landing . . 236
11. Pontoon bridge on the James River, 1864 . . 237
12. Wheeler’s concept of strategic movements, ca. 1890 . . 252
maps
1. First System infrastructure, ca. 1800 . . 32
2. Second System infrastructure, ca. 1812 . . 39
3. Third System infrastructure, ca. 1821 . . 58
4. Major military roads, 1818 to 1840 . . 120
5. Strategic lines and points of the Mexican War . . 165
6. Third System sites and military posts, ca. 1855 . . 191
7. Military departments, December 1861 . . 220
8. Frontiers, depots, bases of operation, and Third System
works, 1861– 1863 . . 222
9. Western theater of operations . . 233
10. Eastern theater of operations . . 239
11. Grant’s use of bases of operation, 1865 . . 241
tables
1. Regulations of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,
New York, 1823 . . 255
2. Regulations of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,
New York, 1832 . . 257
3. Regulations of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,
New York, 1856 . . 258
4. Officers performing staff functions, 1835 . . 259
5. Officers employed in staff functions during the
antebellum period . . 260
6. Actual and possible membership of the Napoleon Club . . 261
7. Participants in Mahan’s advanced engineer
studies program . . 271
8. West Point graduates during the Civil War and their
prewar experience . . 275
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book started as a dissertation concerning Professor Dennis
Hart Mahan and Jominian thought at antebellum West Point. The
research failed to substantiate my original thesis. Evidence instead
forced me to acknowledge that the real intellectual paradigm of the
antebellum era was derivative of a doctrine called military science,
a discovery that took me years to come to grips with as I produced
first a dissertation and then this book. During this period of research
and writing, I incurred significant debt to those who have inspired,
guided, and sometimes driven me, and to those whose love, sup-
port, and patience sustained the process. If this project is in any
way flawed, the fault is mine alone. If successful to any degree, how-
ever, it is because of the guidance and wisdom of Drs. Allan D. Eng-
lish, Roger Spiller, and Jane Errington, who for seven years (which
included two combat tours in Afghanistan) waited for me to figure
out what it was that I was trying to produce. Throughout the process
I remained inspired by other great historians who have personally
instructed and guided me, including Drs. James Stokesbury, Roger
Spiller, Robert Berlin, Richard Swain, Robert Epstein, Lee Dowdy,
James Schneider, Jacob Kip, Robert Baumann, Douglas V. Johnson,
John Bonin, Henry Gole, Peter Maslowski, and Richard Sommers.
I must also thank Drs. Matthew Moten, William Skelton, Edward
Coffman, Samuel Watson, Carol Reardon, and Brian Linn, whose
excellent histories about the antebellum army continue to motivate