Army Reform in America: the Crucial Years, 1876-1881

ARMY REFORM IN AMERICA: THE CRUCIAL YEARS, 1876-1881 BY DONNA MARIE ELEANOR THOMAS A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1980 Copyright 1980 by Donna Marie Eleanor Thomas ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Given the futility of most searches for employment in the field of history, it has become necessary to justify the existence of yet another doctoral dissertation. Ideally, a dissertation ought to add something substantial to the knowledge of the human past, not simply present its author with the credentials to obtain professional employment; if any dissertation of the 1970s and 1980s is to be worth anything, it must be as a solid piece of research done for an intelligent and discernible reason. I can only hope that this dissertation will meet this criteri- on. With this study, I have attempted to write military history out- side the conventional mold. Although this study treats the crucial years of the Indian Wars, the reader will find no battles chronicled here. Rather, it synthesizes and expands elements of the work of several outstanding military historians, chief among them Robert M. Utley, Russell F. Weigley, Don Rickey, Jr., and Jack D. Foner. The focus here is upon army administration and the attempts of army officers and some civilians to modernize the process. I am greatly indebted to those who have gone before me, and I owe to them the central premise of this study: that the army is a microcosm of the society which it represents. The forces of modernization and prof essionalization affected the army as much as they did the other aspects of American life in the Gilded Age. m To understand fully the "old army," one must know as much about the ad- ministrative changes as the picturesque and dangerous campaigns against the Sioux and the Apache. Indeed, the reformers laid the philosophical groundwork for the modern United States Army of vast powsr and influ- ence. Their story, I hope, will not only inform readers about the army in the Gilded Age but provoke thought about the development of military institutions in industrializing societies. A study of this kind is not possible without the help of kind and dedicated people. This dissertation began as a master's thesis at the University of Rhode Island, and it is to several people there that I owe many debts. First, I must say a special word of thanks to Vicki Burnett and Roberta E. Doran of the Inter-Library Loan Department of that university. Had it not been for their thoroughness and efficiency in searching for the books and periodicals I needed, it would have taken many more months to complete the research. Dr. Sharon Hartman Strom helped me to focus my thoughts, and Dr. Maury N. Klein taught me to ex- press them clearly and concisely. They, the other faculty members of the History Department, and my fellow graduate students of 1976 and 1977 took a kind interest in my work and discussed related topics with me. My special friend, Betty Hanke, read and commented on the first chapter and shared with me her vast knowledge of Custer and his era. As this study expanded to a doctoral dissertation, I encountered the helpful and dedicated staffs of the Navy and Old Army Branch of the National Archives. Like all researchers in the field, I owe to them more than I can say. The people at the Manuscript Division of the Li- brary of Congress also provided needed assistance, and the staff of the TV Eleutherian Mills Historical Library, Greenville, Delaware, saved me much time by kindly providing me with Xeroxed copies of the crucial Emory Upton-Henry A. Du Pont correspondence. Dr. John K. Mahon of the University of Florida treated me with kindness and respect throughout the years I worked with him, and his criticisms of my work improved it greatly and repeatedly demonstrated to me that he is one of the outstanding military historians working today. Without the help of Dr. William Kline, also of the University of Florida, I could never have made it through a hellish year and a half as a full-time doctoral stu- dent. As this study assumed its final written form, I spent many after- work hours writing and typing at the headquarters building of Southern Bell Telephone Company in Miami. Many people there gave me moral support. Outstanding among them are mis ami gas cubanas , Ines Gasson, a kind and wise supervisor, and Dory Banga, who encouraged me to finish quickly. Karen Goble, also of Southern Bell, typed the final draft rapidly and exactingly. My parents gave me years of encouragement and a place to live as I wrote this study, and I am very grateful to them, now and always. Finally, I lovingly thank the Sergeant Major, who always tried to be there. I dedicate this study of the army, which he loved so much throughout thirty-one years, to him. TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i 11 LIST OF TABLES viii ABSTRACT x INTRODUCTION AN ERA OF TRANSITION: The Gilded Age in America 1 Notes to the Introduction 8 CHAPTER I A THIN BLUE LINE: The United States Army in 1876 10 Notes to Chapter I 38 CHAPTER II SHERMAN AND HIS GENERALS: Army Leadership and the Beginning of Professionalism 43 Notes to Chapter II 73 CHAPTER III THE PROFESSIONAL IDEAL: The Life and Legacy of Emory Upton 80 Notes to Chapter III 107 VI page CHAPTER IV THE SOLDIER'S FRIENDS: Reformers and the Improvement of Enlisted Life, 1876-1881 114 Notes to Chapter IV 150 CHAPTER V UNCLE SAM'S ORPHANS: Black Soldiers and the Modernizing Army 159 Notes to Chapter V 188 CHAPTER VI CHEVALIERS OR STRIKEBREAKERS? The Army in Public Opinion, 1876-1881 195 Notes to Chapter VI 221 CHAPTER VII FRIENDS AND FOES OF THE ARMY: Congressional Plans For Army Reform 228 Notes to Chapter VII 256 CHAPTER VIII A COMPANY OF GENTLEMEN: The Military Ideal of Professionalism and the Civil Service Reformers 263 Notes to Chapter VIII 285 APPENDIX 1 ENLISTED STRENGTH OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY, OCTOBER 15, 1881 291 page APPENDIX 2 ORGANIZATION OF THE STAFF DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY, 1876 292 APPENDIX 3 COLONELS IN COMMAND OF REGIMENTS, UNITED STATES ARMY, 1876-1881 293 BIBLIOGRAPHY 299 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 316 vm LIST OF TABLES page 1. Officers' Annual Salaries, 1876 20 2. Monthly Pay Scales For Enlisted Men of the Combat Branches, 1876 27 3. Monthly Pay Scales For Enlisted Men Attached as Specialists to the Staff Departments, 1876 28 4. Yearly Earnings and Average Length of the Work Year For Selected Occupations, Massa- chusetts, 1871 29 5. Brigadier Generals of the Line, 1876-1881 60 6. Brigadier Generals of the Staff Departments, 1876-1881 61 7. Strength of Expansible Infantry Companies, As Proposed by Emory Upton 90 8. Desertions From the United States Army, 1876-1881 115 9. Desertion By Regiment or Branch, Selected One-Year Periods 116 10. Comparison of Numbers of Black Deserters With Numbers of White Deserters, Fiscal 1877 and Fiscal 1879 165 11. Occupations of Recruits By Race, July 1, 1880 -June 30, 1881 167 12. Mortality and Morbidity Among Enlisted Men, By Race, Fiscal Years 1876-1881 177 IX Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ARMY REFORM IN AMERICA: THE CRUCIAL YEARS, 1876-1881 By Donna Marie Eleanor Thomas December, 1980 Chairman: John K. Mahon Major Department: History By 1876, America was growing and industrializing rapidly, but its army remained a relic of the past. Totalling 25,000 soldiers, the army's scattered units fought Indians and guarded the coasts. Living con- ditions were primitive, pay was low, and promotions came slowly. Re- tirement was voluntary only for officers, and there was no retirement system for enlisted men. Half of the enlisted force was foreign-born. Another ten per cent was black and was segregated into separate units, officered by whites. Enlisted men, especially blacks, suffered snubs by civilians. Officers had privileges of rank but led isolated lives; line officers resented staff officers, who were virtually independent of the rest of the army. Between 1876 and 1881, changes began in the army. Officers started to see themselves as professionals, forming the first professional asso- ciation for the army. General William T. Sherman revitalized and expanded postgraduate officer education. Often ambivalent toward reform, Sherman did strongly support Lieutenant Colonel Emory Upton, who wrote authoritatively on foreign armies and presented broad reform proposals for his own. Upton considered officership a true profession, and he called for the creation of a general staff and for staff- line rotation among officers. His work influenced generations of soldiers, but his ideas became reality only many years after his death. The army also began to reform aspects of enlisted life, spurred on by an unacceptably-high desertion rate. Officers such as Adjutant Gen- eral Richard C. Drum and Colonel Samuel B. Holabird ordered improvements in food, barracks, clothing, educational facilities, and recreational opportunities. Some changes, especially prohibition of strong drink and abolition of company laundresses, disheartened the men, but others, such as emphasis upon marksmanship, were popular. The guiding principle of reform was the attainment of greater efficiency in the army; to this end, many officers and politicians proposed abolishing the black regiments. The black regiments, however, endured, to face official discrim- ination while maintaining fine records in field and garrison.

Load more