Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER I.

MILITARY POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE REVOLUTION.

CAMPAIGN OF 1775.

As early as the year 1774 several of the colonies began to make preparations for an armed conflict with Great Britain. In Massachusetts, although the royal governor had countermanded the summons convening the colonial assembly, the members came together and resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress, with John Hancock as president.

This congress adopted an organization for the militia and appointed several general officers; it also named a committee of safety to organize the militia, commission their officers, and direct their operations when called into the field; and a committee of supplies, charged with procuring arms and provisions.

The committee of safety appointed by a Second Provincial Congress which met in 1775 consisted of eleven persons and had authority to raise and support such a military force as it might deem proper to resist the execution of the acts of Parliament.

Under the powers thus conferred, companies and regiments of militia were organized throughout the colony and a third part of the militia, called "minute men," agreed to hold themselves in readiness to march at a minute's warning.

Such were the crude preparations when the movements of the British troops on the 19th of April, 1775, precipitated the conflict at Lexington and Concord and inaugurated the American Revolution.

During the retreat to Boston, a distance of 20 miles, the killed and wounded on the British side numbered 223, while their angry pursuers, though without organization or leaders, by taking advantage of every obstacle along the route, lost but 88 men.

Three days later-April 22, 1775-the first step was taken toward organizing a combined defense against the mother country. On that day the congress of Massachusetts unanimously resolved that an army of 30,000 men was necessary for the defense of the colony and decided to raise at once 13,600 men, hoping that the remainder of the force required would be supplied by the authorities of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

The Massachusetts troops were organized by giving a captain's commission to anyone who could enroll a company of 59 men, and the commission of a colonel to anyone who could get together ten such companies.

This system, under which ability to raise men is made the sole qualification for command, deserves particular attention, since it has come down to our own times and has been employed, without exception, at the beginning of all our wars.

44461°-12-1

1

Immediately after the engagement of Lexington, militia and minute men from all the New England colonies-individually, by company, and by regiment began to assemble near Boston, and these half-organized troops, which only by-courtesy recognized a common commander, fought, on the 17th of June, the battle of Bunker Hill.

In the three assaults upon the redoubt and breastworks held by the Americans the British lost 1,054 men, including 85 officers, an aggregate in killed and wounded almost one-half greater than that sustained in any subsequent battle of the war; the casualties on the American side, 490 in all, mostly took place while the troops were retreating across Charlestown Neck, after the capture of the works.

The lesson to be learned from this remarkable conflict is the value of trained officers in command of raw troops, a lesson which neither our statesmen nor our historians have ever been able to appreciate.

When, at the council of war which decided upon the occupation of Bunker Hill, Putnam said that "the Americans are never afraid of their heads, they only think of their legs, shelter them and they will fight forever," he enunciated, with rare military wisdom, a general principle which applies to raw troops of all nations.

In the battle which followed, conspicuous above all for bravery, were Prescott, Putnam, Stark, Knowlton, and many other officers who had received a military training in the French and Indian wars.

The troops in the redoubt and behind the rail breastworks were rendered calm and determined by the coolness, judgment, and resolution of their commanders. Being urged to quicken the step of his men, when they came under artillery fire on their way to the breast works, the experience of Stark prompted the reply, "one fresh man in action is worth ten fatigued ones."

During the various assaults it was the confidence of the militia troops in Prescott that enabled them to wait till he gave the command. "fire." It was by the advice and under the supervision of veteran officers that the intrenchments were constructed, and it was by reason of their practical experience in the art of war that a defense was made so gallant and so appalling in its results as to amaze the British army and reduce it to the defensive for nearly twelve months. In the presence of a Prescott, the patriotic Warren, without military knowledge and more eager for the triumph of his country than for personal renown, waived his rank of major-general in a reply as modest as it was true, "I come as a volunteer to learn from a soldier of experience."

Without pausing to discover the secret of the defense of Bunker Hill, the mistaken conviction seized the public mind that the militia were invincible and that patriotism was the sole qualification for a soldier's calling-a fallacy which paralyzed the military legislation of the Revolution and constantly jeopardized our liberties by inducing the political leaders of the time to rely too confidently upon raw and undisciplined levies.

CONTINENTAL ARMY.

Soon after the troops began to arrive in the neighborhood of Boston it became evident that the contest would extend beyond New England, and that to prevent the dissolution of the force already gathered together it must be adopted as a Continental Army.

Accordingly, in June the Second Continental Congress resolved to take the troops at Boston into the pay of the United Colonies, and on the 15th of the same month appointed George Washington Commander in Chief.

CONGRESS.

The main causes of our weakness during the Revolution can not be appreciated unless we consider the constitution and powers of the Continental Congress. The First Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia in 1774 for the purpose of taking counsel in regard to the common interests of the colonies.

War at this time not being seriously apprehended, the chief steps taken were to make a "declaration of colonial rights" and to adopt "articles of association" looking to commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain. Addresses were also made to the King and to the people of Great Britain and Canada. Before adjournment provision was made for another Congress to meet on the 10th of May, 1775.

The battle of Lexington, which took place three weeks before the meeting of the Second Continental Congress, forced that body to exercise immediately the functions of civil government. It accordingly assumed both executive and legislative powers; but having no authority to levy taxes or raise a revenue, was compelled to emit bills of credit, their redemption being pledged by the twelve "United Colonies."

The power to create and support armies was thus almost neutralized by a financial system which had no other basis than the faith of the public in the ultimate success of the American cause.

The story of the Revolution would have been very different had local interests and prejudices been set aside, and the Continental Congress clothed with sovereign authority to call forth and utilize the entire military and financial resources of the people.

We need not detail the reasons which induced the Colonies to withhold from their representatives in Congress the powers indispensable to the rigorous prosecution of war. It will be enough to show that the feeble and exhaustive military policy pursued finally reduced Congress to the helpless condition of an advisory body, without power to raise or support a single soldier, except with the aid and concurrence of the States.

Another great defect in the system of government was the combination of executive and legislative power in one deliberative assembly. In times of emergency it was as often swayed by the passions and prejudices of its members as by their wisdom and prudence. The executive power, which was exercised in the form of "resolves," continually tempted Congress to interfere at critical moments in the management of campaigns. Whether this undoubted right was exercised in ordering troops from one army to another, in the appointment or promotion of an officer, or in his removal from command, each executive act was sure to be criticised as freely by the public and the Army as if it had been the act of an individual.

With no executive head to assume the blame that would now be laid at the door of the President and his Cabinet, it was natural that reflections on the administrative capacity of Congress should be resented at times by hasty and passionate legislation, and in proportion as that body found its conduct arraigned it felt less inclined to listen to its critics or to profit by their advice.

Military legislation was thus largely made to depend upon the combined wisdom of a body of citizens who, in their individual experience, were totally ignorant of military affairs.

Fear of a standing army and corresponding jealousy of military dictation, were additional reasons for making the Continental Congress rely upon its own judgment in legislation pertaining to army matters. Appreciating this, Washington, in his correspondence, repeatedly apologized for intruding his opinions, when, had he remained silent, the indecisions of Congress might have proved fatal to the cause. As the central figure of the Revolution, there was not a single mistake in our military policy which he was not called upon to confront. No apology need, therefore, be offered for the numerous quotations from his letters, which are at this day as well worthy of legislative consideration as they were when first written.

ARMY AT BOSTON.

When Washington assumed command at Cambridge on the 3d of July, 1775, the army investing Boston numbered 17,000 men, all of whose enlistments were to expire before the end of the year.

Recognizing the necessity of a force which should owe its allegiance to the United Colonies exclusively, Congress by resolution of June 14, 1775, authorized the raising of 10 companies of riflemen in Pennsylvania, Virgina, and Maryland, whose term of enlistment was fixed at one year. So great was the popular enthusiasm, that 12 companies of riflemen reported at the camp at Boston within sixty days after the passage of the resolution, several of them having marched a distance of 800 miles. These riflemen, the first troops raised under continental authority and soon recognized as the 6 best corps in the camp, were the nucleus of the army which finally achieved our independence. During the year Congress gradually increased the number of the Continental troops, both infantry and artillery, but entertaining hopes of peace, it could not be prevailed upon to extend the period of their enlistments beyond the end of 1776.

The necessity of providing troops in place of those whose terms would expire before the end of 1775 moved Congress to appoint a special committee to consult with Washington and the Colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire as to the best method of keeping up a continental army. This committee met at Cambridge on the 18th of October, conferred with delegates from each of the four colonies and, after consulting Washington and his council of war, reported that the army around Boston ought not to be less than 20,370 men, organized into 26 regiments of 8 companies each, exclusive of the artillery and riflemen.

Congress apportioned these 26 regiments as follows: Sixteen to Massachusetts, 5 to Connecticut, 2 to Rhode Island, and 3 to New Hampshire. It was hoped that the regiments might be largely recruited from the troops then around Boston, the vacancies being filled by new levies.

The selection and arrangement of the officers for the new regiments devolved upon Washington, to whom Congress sent blank commissions to be filled out and returned. He relates the difficulties of this labor in the following passage of a letter to Joseph Reed, of Philadelphia, dated November 8, 1775:

5

I had like to have forgotten what sits heaviest upon my mind, the new arrangement of officers.

Although we have now enough to constitute the new corps, it has employed the general officers and myself ever since Thursday last, and we are nearly as we began. Connecticut wants no Massachusetts man in her corps, Massachusetts thinks there is no necessity for a Rhode Islander to be introduced into hers, and New Hampshire says it is very hard that her valuable and experienced officers, who are willing to serve, should be discarded, because her own regiments, under the new establishment, can not provide for them. In short, after a few days' labor, I expect that numbers of officers, who have given in their names to serve, must be discarded from the Massachusetts corps, where the regiments have been numerous, and the number in them small, and that of Connecticut will be completed with a fresh recruit of officers from her own government.a

His difficulties are further described in a letter to the President of Congress, dated November 11, 1775:

The trouble I have in the arrangement of the Army is really inconceivable. Many of the officers sent in their names to serve in expectation of promotion; others stood aloof to see what advantage they could make for themselves, while a number, who So great has the confusion had declined, have again sent in their names to serve. arising from these and many other perplexing circumstances been that I found it absolutely impossible to fix this very interesting business exactly on the plan resolved on in the conference, though I have kept up to the spirit of it as near as the nature and necessity of the case would permit.

The difficulty with the soldiers is as great, indeed, more so, if possible, than with the officers. They will not enlist until they know their colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, and captain, so that it was necessary to fix the officers the first thing, which is, at last, in some manner done, and I have given out enlisting orders.

The recruiting of the men gave Washington even more trouble than the arrangement of the officers. Up to the 19th of November the returns showed that only 966 men had enlisted.

On the same day he wrote to the President of Congress:

There must be some other stimulus, besides love of their country, to make men It would be a great encouragement and no additional expense fond of the service. to the continent were they to receive pay for the months of October and November, also a month's pay in advance.c

In his next letter to the President of Congress, dated November 28, 1775, he says:

The number enlisted since my last is two thousand five hundred and forty men. I am sorry to be necessitated to mention to you the egregious want of public spirit which reigns here. Instead of pressing to be engaged in the cause of their country, which I vainly flattered myself would be the case, I find we are likely to be deserted in a most critical time. Those that have enlisted must have a furlough, which I have been obliged to grant to fifty at a time, from each regiment. The Connecticut troops, upon whom I reckoned, are as backward, indeed, if possible, more so than the people of this colony. Our situation is truly alarming, and of this General Howe is well apprised, it being the common topic of conversation when the people left Boston last Friday. No doubt when he is reenforced he will avail himself of the information.d

In a private letter to Joseph Reed, of the same date, he expressed his feelings still more forcibly:

Such a dearth of public spirit and such want of virtue, such stock-jobbing and fertility in all the low arts to obtain advantages of one kind or another in this great change of military arrangement I never saw before, and pray God's mercy that I may never be witness to again. What will be the end of these maneuvers is beyond I tremble at the prospect. We have been till this time enlisting about my scan. To engage these I have been obliged to allow three thousand five hundred men. furloughs as far as fifty men to a regiment, and the officers, I am persuaded,

a Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 3, p. 151.
bSparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 3, p. 156.
Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 3, p. 165.
d Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. 3, p. 176.

« PreviousContinue »