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the United States Army
Table of Contents
the United States Army
Table of Contents
 * Introduction
   
 * 
   Origins in the American Revolution and early republic
   
 * 
   The Mexican-American War and the Civil War
   
 * 
   Doughboys abroad: the U.S. Army at the turn of the 20th century
   
 * 
   World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War
   
 * 
   Vietnam and the move to an all-volunteer army
   
 * The U.S. Army in the 21st century
    * Afghanistan and the war on terrorism
   
    * The Iraq War
   
    * Changing policies for a changing army

 * 
   Administrative structure
   

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THE UNITED STATES ARMY

United States military
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Last Updated: Dec 22, 2023 • Article History
Table of Contents
United States Army
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Category: History & Society
Date: 1783 - present (Show more)
Areas Of Involvement: defense land warfare (Show more)
Related People: George Washington Andrew Jackson Dwight D. Eisenhower Ulysses S.
Grant James Monroe (Show more)
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flag of the U.S. Army
Flag of the United States Army.(more)

the United States Army, major branch of the United States armed forces charged
with the preservation of peace and security and the defense of the country. The
army furnishes most of the ground forces in the U.S. military organization.




ORIGINS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND EARLY REPUBLIC


Washington, George
John Adams nominating George Washington as commander in chief of the Continental
Army.(more)

George Washington
Gen. George Washington (riding a white horse) and his staff welcoming a
provision train of supplies for the Continental Army.(more)
Understand how Washington organized the Continental Army while besieging the
British forces in Boston
Overview of the Siege of Boston during the American Revolution.(more)
See all videos for this article

In the early months of the American Revolution, the first regular U.S. fighting
force, the Continental Army, was organized by the Second Continental Congress on
June 14, 1775. It comprised the 22,000 militia troops then besieging Boston and
an additional 5,000 militiamen in New York. It was placed under the control of a
five-member civilian board, and U.S. military forces have remained in civilian
control ever since. George Washington formally took command of these colonial
troops on July 3, 1775, and soon discovered that the militiamen were largely
accustomed to going home whenever a particular danger was past. In January 1776
the Continental Congress partially responded to Washington’s urgent appeals by
establishing a single standing force directly raised from all of the colonies,
distinct from the several colonial militias. These “Continentals” were enlisted
for longer terms and were trained more thoroughly than the militias; they
provided Washington with a small but stable nucleus with which to work and
proved to be his chief reliance in the dark hours of the war. They were the
beginning of the regular army.


George Washington: resigning commission
General George Washington Resigning His Commission, oil painting by John
Trumbull, 1822–24; in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.,
U.S.(more)

As the Revolution drew to a close, the Continental Congress asked Washington for
his recommendations for a peacetime military force. In response, he prepared
Sentiments on a Peace Establishment (May 1, 1783), a sweeping assessment of the
strategic situation facing the new country. Washington believed that the United
States needed only a small regular army to deal with Indian threats and to
provide a nucleus for expansion by “a well-organized militia” in time of foreign
war. Instead of the independent and diverse militia forces of the individual
states, which had proved so unreliable during the Revolution, Washington
recommended that the state contingents be organized as elements of a single
national militia so that all would be similarly trained and equipped. He also
recommended the development of war industries and arsenals, along with the
establishment of a military school system. Congress ignored this blueprint for a
national military policy, and on November 2, 1783, the entire army was disbanded
except “twenty-five privates to guard the stores at Fort Pitt and fifty-five to
guard the stores at West Point.” Indian disturbances on the frontier, however,
almost immediately forced an increase in the standing force. When Washington was
inaugurated as president in 1789, the number of men in service was 595.

The Constitution (1787) placed the military forces under the control of the
president as commander in chief, and in 1789 the civilian Department of War was
established to administer the military forces. One of the first tasks Washington
assigned to the secretary of war, Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, was to prepare
legislation for a military policy as outlined in his Sentiments. The principal
element of this proposed legislation—establishment of a centrally coordinated
militia system—was rejected by Congress in the Militia Act of 1792. This
decision by the lawmakers was partly because of fear that Knox’s proposal would
concentrate too much power in the hands of the federal government and partly
because state militia officers feared that centralization would diminish their
own power and prestige. Washington was, however, able to persuade Congress to
expand the small regular army to deal with increasing Indian disorders on the
frontier. Until 1812 the army passed through swift periods of expansion and
reduction, depending upon the immediacy of the Indian and foreign threats. From
a single regiment in 1789, it changed to 3 in 1791, 5 in 1792 (in the wake of
Saint Clair’s Defeat), 9 in 1798 (during the XYZ Affair and quasi-war with
France), 6 in 1800, 3 in 1802, and 11 in 1808.


Britannica Quiz
By All Military Meanings Necessary: Vocab Quiz

Battle of the Thames
U.S. troops battling the British and their Indian allies along the Thames River
in what is now Ontario, Canada, during the War of 1812.(more)

War of 1812 militia camp
An Ohio militia camp during the War of 1812.(more)

During the War of 1812, the inadequacy of the Militia Act of 1792 was clearly
demonstrated. A total of about 60,000 men served in the regular army during the
almost three years of war. This force bore the brunt of conflict with about
70,000 British regulars, 2,000 efficient Canadian militia, and about 10,000
Indians, many of the last of whom were part of Tecumseh’s confederation. At one
time or another, nearly 460,000 American militiamen were under arms, but few saw
battle. Typical of those who did see action were the 6,500 militiamen at
Bladensburg, Maryland, who were tasked with defending the national capital but
fled in panic after one volley from 1,500 British regulars.



After the War of 1812, the regular army was reduced to 10,000 men and was still
further reduced in 1821 to 6,127. It gradually rose to 7,958 by 1838, when the
combination of the Second Seminole War and the expansion of the western frontier
caused Congress to authorize an increase to 12,577. With the end of the Second
Seminole War in 1842, however, the army was decreased to 8,613 (occupying over
100 posts), and that was still its authorized strength at the outbreak of the
Mexican-American War in 1846.

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THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR AND THE CIVIL WAR


A Little More Grape, Capt. Bragg
A Little More Grape, Capt. Bragg, a painting depicting the triumph of U.S. Gen.
Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American
War.(more)

One significant aspect of the Mexican-American War was the virtual abandonment
of the militia concept for war purposes. The regular army was increased to more
than 30,000 troops, and approximately 60,000 additional volunteers were
recruited. Most of the new regulars and many volunteers actually served in
Mexico during the war. The army acquitted itself exceptionally well during the
campaign. The main invasion force under Gen. Winfield Scott landed at Veracruz
in March 1847 and scored a string of victories culminating in the capture of
Mexico City in September 1847. Many of the most-recognizable commanders of the
American Civil War—including Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson,
George McClellan, James Longstreet, and George Pickett—served as junior officers
during the Mexican-American War.

Approximately 12,000 militiamen had been called up at the beginning but served
only three months and contributed nothing to the war effort. In 1848 the
authorized strength of the army was reduced to 10,320, scattered over the
immense area of the growing country. The task of dealing with Native Americans
in the Far West, however, brought a gradual increase in strength. On December
20, 1860, when South Carolina seceded, the army numbered 16,367 officers and
men.

Examine African American soldiers' involvement in the American Civil War
Learn about African American soldiers' involvement in the American Civil
War.(more)
See all videos for this article

American Civil War; Sherman, William Tecumseh
Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's army in Washington, D.C., May 1865, during the
American Civil War.(more)

Storming Fort Wagner
Storming Fort Wagner, a work by Kurz & Allison, c. 1890, depicting the 54th
Massachusetts Regiment's assault on the South Carolina fort on July 18,
1863.(more)

American Civil War: Union troops
Union troops at Appomattox, Virginia, during the American Civil War.(more)

The U.S. Army underwent an enormous expansion during the Civil War (1861–65),
growing from a peacetime strength of about 16,000 troops in December 1860 to a
maximum size of 1,000,000 by 1865. The Confederate army may have reached a
strength of 500,000 troops at its height. The volunteer system was again
substituted for the unworkable militia concept, and most militiamen served as
volunteers in federal service. Both sides initially relied on voluntary
enlistments, but both had eventually to resort to conscription to maintain their
vast armies in the field. On July 17, 1862, Congress passed the Second
Confiscation and Militia Act, which, among other things, legalized the
enlistment of African American soldiers in the Union army (Black volunteers were
already serving in the United States Navy and had served with distinction in the
American Revolution and the War of 1812). When Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, recruitment of Black soldiers
began in earnest, and by the end of the war nearly 180,000 Black troops had
enlisted.



The Army Reorganization Act of 1866 (formally, An Act to increase and fix the
Military Peace Establishment of the United States) provided for a regular army
of 54,000 men, but this figure was gradually decreased until 1874, when
authorized strength was set at 25,000, where it remained until the
Spanish-American War. About 19,000 troops were stationed in the South to support
the military governments of the Reconstruction period. Because of the threat
posed by the rule of Maximilian in Mexico, Gen. Philip Sheridan was sent to the
border with a large command. The remainder of the army dealt with increasingly
violent Plains Wars in the West.




DOUGHBOYS ABROAD: THE U.S. ARMY AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY


ledger drawing
Two pages from a ledger of drawings by Black Horse and other Cheyenne warriors,
c. 1877–79. The scene depicts U.S. Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie's troops attacking a
Cheyenne camp on the Powder River (now in Wyoming) in the fall of 1876.(more)

Pay and other conditions of service were so poor in the U.S. Army that in 1878
its effective strength was less than 20,000 men, the smallest force in
proportion to the total U S. population at any time since Washington’s first
term. The army was well trained, however, because it saw almost constant combat
service in the Indian Wars.


Spanish-American War; Cuba
U.S. troops on the march in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, 1898, drawing
by William J. Glackens.(more)

During the Spanish-American War, the army was again augmented by volunteers
rather than militia units. Calls for volunteers increased its size to 216,029
troops by August 31, 1898; 50,000 of these were regulars. Because of the
Philippine-American War (1899–1902), the president was authorized to keep the
strength of the regular army at a maximum of 65,000 members, and in 1901 this
figure was raised to 100,000. The hasty expansion of the army at the outset of
the war with Spain had been chaotic. The War Department was revealed as
scandalously inefficient in administration, organization, and operational
direction.



Elihu Root

In 1899, when Elihu Root was appointed secretary of war, he immediately set
about correcting these deficiencies. He succeeded in reorganizing and
revitalizing not only the War Department but U.S. military policy as a whole. In
the process he strengthened the traditional concept of civilian control over the
military. His greatest contribution was the establishment of an efficient
general staff in 1903. Related to this was the development of an extensive and
integrated system of postgraduate military education for all levels of
responsibility from lieutenant to general. Root was also largely responsible for
the establishment in 1903 of the Joint Board, comprising senior army and navy
officers, to avoid future failures in coordination of strategic planning and
tactical operations such as had occurred in the Spanish-American War.


Uncle Sam
Army recruiting poster featuring Uncle Sam, designed by James Montgomery Flagg,
1917.(more)

When war came again in 1917, the U.S. Army was better prepared than at any
previous time in American history. There were four main reasons: the existence
of an efficient general staff for planning and coordination purposes; the combat
experience which most American regular army officers had gained during the
Philippine-American War; the mobilization of an expanded regular army and 65,000
national guardsmen for duty along the Mexican border; and the repeal of the
Militia Act of 1792. A federally coordinated National Guard, with components in
each state, was established, as was an Organized Reserve Corps, completely under
federal authority. For all practical purposes, Washington’s Sentiments on a
Peace Establishment had been adopted, in a modernized form.



Selective Service Act
Men registering for the draft in New York City, June 5, 1917.(more)

During World War I the army expanded in 18 months to 3,685,000 troops, about
three-fourths of whom were conscripted under the Selective Service Act of May
18, 1917. About 2,000,000 troops were sent to France to serve in Gen. John J.
Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force. The efficiency of this tremendous
expansion and the decisive role played by U.S. forces in the final Allied
victory in November 1918 were clear evidence of the effectiveness of the
innovations made by Root only 15 years earlier.



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