William M. Donnelly

“ Since the Civil War many, perhaps most, Regular Army officers had believed that the militia was incompetent and unreliable, and this belief remained strong after passage of the Militia Act. Harsh and sometimes unreasonable criticism by Regulars angered Guard officers working hard to improve their units. Many Guard officers continued to see the increasing federal regulation of the militia as an unwarranted intrusion into what had traditionally been state and local matters. ”

“ Federal funding was insufficient to meet the standards, however, so state funding became crucial to the quality of Guard units. Recruiting and retaining enlisted men was very difficult because federal standards increased the demands on a Guardsman's time, training was often monotonous, and drilling was unpaid. Many commanders responded by emphasizing the athletic and social aspects of Guard service at the expense of military training. Readiness suffered from these causes, from often inadequate armories, and from the Regular Army's inability to fill all inspector-instructor billets. ”

“ As a result, most of the units organized for the war had a cadre of Guard officers and noncommissioned officers and large numbers of enlisted men with no prior military training. Federal service revealed that the training of Guardsmen in all aspects of military operations was, for the most part, grossly inadequate to the demands of active duty and extended field operations.
Secretary of War Elihu Root concluded that the Militia Act of 1792 had to be replaced. Root understood that such a reform would require building support in both Congress and the National Guard. ”