United States Regular Army

“ The regular army is completely and at all times under the control of the War Department; its officers are appointed by the President as commander-in-chief; its discipline is regulated by federal law and its entire cost of maintenance is borne by the national government.
The National Guard.—But the military forces of the United States do not consist of the regular army alone. Each state maintains a militia in which every able-bodied citizen between the ages of eighteen and forty-five is under obligation to serve when called upon. ”

“ The regular army of the United States consisted of only sixteen thousand men scattered over a vast territory.
The President called for seventy-five thousand volunteer militiamen for three months' service to restore order in the Southern States. Even this number was more than the War Department could equip before their terms would expire and the President had no authority to call State troops for a longer service. ”

“ However, it must be remembered that the War Department undertook and accomplished a herculean task, and it could not be expected, starting with a regular force of less than 30,000 men, that an army of a quarter of a million could be built up out of volunteers who had to be collected, trained, clothed, equipped, and provisioned, and a war waged and won on two sides of the globe, in a little over three months, without much suffering and many mistakes. ”

“ Another committee looked into the number of divisions that could be organized and supported during peacetime. Given a Regular Army of 296,000 officers and enlisted men, the committee determined that the War Department could maintain nine infantry divisions (one per corps area) , three cavalry divisions (one per army area) , and one infantry brigade of black troops in the United States. ”

“ This carefully matured policy, which secures the best and greatest service in the interests of the general welfare from the small force comprising our Regular Army, should not be thoughtlessly embarrassed by the creation of new and unnecessary posts through acts of Congress to gratify the ambitions or interests of localities.
While the maximum legal strength of the Army is 25,000 men, the effective strength, through various causes, is but little over 20,000 men. The purpose of Congress does not, therefore, seem to be fully attained by the existing condition. ”

“ A mere glance at these figures is sufficient to show the absurdity of the outcry against militarism.
But again and again in the past our little Regular Army has rendered service literally vital to the country, and it may at any time have to do so in the future. Its standard of efficiency and instruction is higher now than ever in the past. But it is too small. There are not enough officers; and it is impossible to secure enough enlisted men. We should maintain in peace a fairly complete skeleton of a large army. A great and long-continued war would have to be fought by volunteers. ”

“ When it is considered that no navy in the world, with one exception, approaches ours and none surpasses it, that our Regular Army of about 115,000 men is the equal of any other like number of troops, that our entire permanent and reserve land and sea force trained and training consists of a personnel of about 610,000, and that our annual appropriations are about $680,000,000 a year, expended under the direction of an exceedingly competent staff, it can not be said that our country is neglecting its national defense. ”

“ So on the 3rd of May President Lincoln issued a call for United States volunteers to serve three years, unless sooner discharged. At once thousands of loyal men sprang to arms—so large a number, in fact, that many regiments raised were refused until later.
The methods by which these regiments were raised were various. In 1861 a common way was for some one who had been in the regular army, or perhaps who had been prominent in the militia, to take the initiative and circulate an enlistment paper for signatures. ”

“ The guns now mounted require twenty-eight thousand men, if the coast fortifications are to be adequately manned. Relatively to the Nation, it is not now so large as the police force of New York or Chicago relatively to the population of either city. We need more officers; there are not enough to perform the regular army work. It is very important that the officers of the Army should be accustomed to handle their men in masses, as it is also important that the National Guard of the several States should be accustomed to actual field maneuvering, especially in connection with the regulars. ”

“ The Americans had more than four times as many men. The British had more than four times as much discipline and training.
The forces on the American side were a small navy and a swarm of privateers, a small regular army, a few 'volunteers,' still fewer 'rangers,' and a vast conglomeration of raw militia. The British had a detachment from the greatest navy in the world, a very small 'Provincial Marine' on the Lakes and the St Lawrence, besides various little subsidiary services afloat, including privateers. ”

“ What is more, militia training differed widely from state to state, so that it was hard to fuse units from the several states into one army. When obliged to wage war as a nation, the United States was caught between the fear of a standing army and the inadequacies of a militia controlled by the several states. Some sort of compromise was necessary, and that proved to be an old type, volunteer soldiers organized into provisional wartime regiments. ”

“ Although all types of United States volunteers made up only a small fraction of the foot troops who served for the Union, they merit attention because of the intimate relationship between them and the Federal government, and because of the lack of vital connection between them and any state. This relationship foreshadowed the National Army of the twentieth century. The Confederate Army arranged infantry units pretty much as the Union did, except that all regiments contained ten companies. ”

“ Several types of volunteers were more directly linked to the United States than to any state, the earliest of these being two regiments of U.S. Sharpshooters (1st and 2nd) organized in 1861. These two contained companies from several states, raised by the states. Their origin in more than one state was an uncommon attribute, but their real distinguishing feature was the manner in which they were officered. While the states appointed the company and field officers in ordinary volunteer units, the Federal government appointed them in the Sharpshooters and similar outfits. ”

“ Whether a regular army is to be raised, and to what extent, must depend on the information so shortly expected. In the mean time I have called on the States for quotas of militia, to be in readiness for present defense, and have, moreover, encouraged the acceptance of volunteers ”

“ Between 6 April 1917, when the nation declared war, and 12 June, when the first troops left the United States for France, the War College Division of the Army General Staff' revised the structure of the infantry division extensively. British and French officers spurred the changes when they visited Washington, D.C., to discuss the nation's participation in the war. They believed the American division lacked firepower and presented command and control problems because of its many small units. ”

“ They are in no sense "militia," but compose a part of the Army of the United States, only retain their State title for convenience, and yet may be principally recruited from the neighborhood of their original organization: Once organized, the regiment should be kept full by recruits, and when it becomes difficult to obtain more recruits the pay should be raised by Congress, instead of tempting new men by exaggerated bounties. ”

“ By the act of March 2, 1899, Congress gave authority to increase the Regular Army to a maximum not exceeding 65,000 enlisted men, and to enlist a force of 35,000 volunteers, to be recruited from the country at large. By virtue of this authority the Regular Army has been increased to the number of 61,999 enlisted men and 2,248 officers, and new volunteer regiments have been organized aggregating 33,050 enlisted men and 1,524 officers. ”

“ During the time the army was held together as an organized body the police duties performed seemed to be well done and order was preserved. The spectacle of an army of, according to the rolls, 48,000 men being peacefully dispersed among the people has for its prototype the disappearance of the great volunteer army of the United States in 1865. ”

“ A bill is now pending before the Congress creating a number of extra officers in the Army, which if passed, as it ought to be, will enable more officers to be trained as instructors of the National Guard and assigned to that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for turning raw levies into good troops. ”

“ It was expected that existing militia organizations — regiments or parts of regiments — would offer their services, and that new men would fill the ranks as they felt moved to come forward. Not only privates but officers were to approach the national service by that portal, and then be mustered into the army at the appointed state rendezvous by a United States officer detailed for the purpose. ”

“ The King, after the positive assurances, which he has received, has not the least doubt, that the American army is now twentyfive thousand strong, not including commissioned officers, and that it is, at this moment, in a condition to undertake the most vigorous offensive operations against the enemy in the posts, which he occupies within the 426 territory of the United States. Congress, while giving these assurances, expressed in an urgent manner the wish, that a French squadron should facilitate the operations of the land troops. ”