An American Profession of Arms. The Army Officer Corps, 1784–1861

493 Pages·1992·33.377 MB·English

by  William B. Skelton

AN AMERICAN
PROFESSION OF ARMS
THE ARMY OFFICER CORPS,
1784-1861
WILLIAM B. SI<EL1DN
0
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KANSAS
MODERN WARSTUDIES
Theodore A. Wilson
General Editor
Raymond A. Callahan
J. Garry Clifford
Jacob W. Kipp
Jay Luvaas
Allan R. Millett
Series Editors
© 1992 by the University Press of Kansas
All rights resecved
Published by the University Press ofK1nsas (Lawrence, Kansas 66049), which was 011:,r.1nized by
the Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia State University, Foct Hays
State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas,
and Wichita State University
Libr:uy of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skelton, William B., 1939-
An American profession of arms : the army officer cocps. 1784-1861
I William B. Skelton.
p. em. - (Modern war studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7006-0560-6 (hardcover)
I. United States. Arn1y- Ofl1ccrs- History- 19th century.
2. United States. Army-Officers- History-18th century.
I. Title. II. Series.
UB413.S54 1992
355.3 '3 '097309033-dc20 92-10089
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Pcnnanencc of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.
Bayertsme
Stut&blbllothe•
MOnchen
For Gail and Beckie
CONTENTS
List of Figures, T.'lblcs, and Illustrations IX
Preface xm
Part One-Roots of the American Military Profession, 1784-1815 1
1 Army Organization in the Early National Period 3
2 Recruiting an Officer Corps, 1784-1815 12
3 Military Careers in the Early Republic 34
4 A Frontier Constabulary: Civil-Military Relations, 1784-1815 68
5 Seeds of Military Professionalism 87
Part Two-Emergence of the American Military Profession, 1815-1861 107
6 The Era of Army Reform, 1815-1821 109
7 The Organizational Setting, 1821-1861 131
8 The Stabilization of Officer Recruitment 137
9 Social Origins and Career Motivations 154
10 The West Point Experience 167
11 Military Careers in the Antebellum Era 181
12 The Emergence of the General StaffOfficer 221
13 Professional Thought and Institutions 238
14 Officers and Enlisted Men 260
15 Officers, Politicians, and Citizens 282
vii
Ptzz Cou tents
305
16 Officers and Indians
326
17 Officers, Foreign Affairs, and War
348
18 The Officer Corps in the Sectional Crisis
359
Conclusion
363
Notes
447
Selected Bibliography
469
Index
FIGURES, TABLES, AND
ILLUSTRATIONS
Fi!Jures
1.1 Authorized Strength ofU .S. Army Officer Corps, 1784-
1815 10
7.1 Strength of U.S. Army Officer Corps, 1821-1860 136
11.1 Annual Resignation Rate tor Officers, 1823-1860 216
Tables
2.1 Geographical Origins of Officers on Army List of 1797 19
2.2 Fathers' Occupations of Officers on Army List ofl797 21
2.3 Estimated Occupational Distribution ofFree Popula-
tion, 1805 21
3.1 Postservice Occupations ofOfficers on 1786 and 1797
Army Lists 64
9.1 Geographical Distribution ofOfficers on Army Registers
of 1830 and 1860 155
9.2 Distribution ofOfficers' Appointments by Branch, 1830 156
9.3 Distribution ofOtlicers' Appointments by Branch, 1860 157
9.4 Fathers' Occupations of Army Officers, 1830 and 1860,
and of West Point Graduates, 1844-1860 159
9.5 Occupational Distribution of Free Male Population,
1850 160
rx
---
x Figures, Iables, and I /lustrations
9.6 Officers' Religious Preferences, 1830 and 1860 162
11.1 Officers' Career Lengths, 1797, 1830, 1860 182
11.2 Career Length of Men Appointed to Lowest Commis
sioned Ranks in Selected Years 183
11.3 Promotion Rates to Company Grades and Major, Se
lected West Point Classes 194
11.4 Attrition among Officers on Army Register of 1830 213
ll.S Principal Postservice Occupations ofOfficers on 1830
Army Register 218
12.1 Permanent General StaffOfficers, 1830 and 1860 222
18.1 Officers Leaving the U.S. Army to Join the Confederacy,
by Rank 356
18.2 Officers Staying in the U.S. Army or Joining the Con
federacy, by Region of Birth 356
Illustrations
Brigadier General Wade Hampton 28
Fort Washington, 1790 40
Brigadier General James Wilkinson 52
Colonel Jacob Kingsbury 75
Major General Anthony Wayne 91
Colonel Jonathan Williams 100
Brigadier General Edmund P. Gaines ll2
Brigadier General Winfield Scott ll3
Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer 124
View of Hudson River from West Point 176
Fort Winnebago in 1831 185
Second Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant 191
Fort Snelling 208
Colonel Roger Jones 224
Colorado River expedition, 1857-1858 230
Title page of Delafield's report on Crimean War mission 242
figures, Tables, rmd lllustmtiom xt
Fort Sumter before 1861 245
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 1841 251
Illustration from heavy-artillery manual 256
Major John Macrae Washington 301
Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston 303
"Dakota Encampment" 312
"Medicine Dance of the Winnebagoes" 313
Fort Deynaud, Florida, 1855 323
Bombardment of Vera Cmz 342
"Heights of Monterey" 344
PREFACE
Between the Revolution and the Civil War, a military profession emerged for
the first time in America. Although tiny by twentieth-century standards, the
officer corps of the United States Army eventually acquired a regular system of
recruitment and professional education, a well-defined area of responsibility, a
considerable degree of continuity in its membership, and permanent institu
tions to maintain internal cohesion and military expertise. Through a com
mon process of socialization and a lengthening of career commitments, offi
cers came to share a complex of ideas concerning their collective role,
civil-military relations, foreign and Indian affairs, and other matters-in effect,
they came to share a distinctive "military mind." A military subculture took
shape, rooted in tightly knit garrison communities on the frontier and along
the seaboards, and army life assumed a pace and a tone that would persist well
into the twentieth century. Of particular significance, officers worked out are
lationship with the political sphere. Although they resorted to political chan
nels in seeking support for professional goals, most regulars avoided involve
ment in civilian controversies, vkwed political parties and partisanship as
divisive and potentially dangerous, and saw the army as a neutral instrument
of the government. The Civil War temporarily eroded the division between
civil and military life, but the process of professional consolidation resumed in
the late nineteenth century and went far toward shaping the permanent place
of the army in American society.
Historians have devoted surprisingly little attention to the profession of arms
during its formative years. An extensive literature exists on the army's role in
connection with foreign wars, Indian relations, frontier expansion, and internal
transportation, and biographers have traced the careers of a large number of in
dividual officers, especially those who later achieved fume in the Civil War.
However, only a few studies have focused on the internal history of the officer
corps, its relationship to the civilian world, and the process of professionaliza-
xiii