The Unpopular History of the United States by Uncle Sam Himself/Chapter 21

by Harris Dickson

XXI

OPENING THE CIVIL WAR

At the beginning of the War of 1812, as you remember, we maintained no regular army. We started from the bottom and built new to the top. Volunteers and militia found no grizzled veterans to show them what to do, or to set the pace for obedience and efficiency. Throughout the Mexican War our regulars not only bore the brunt of fighting, and sustained the heaviest losses, but they furnished able commanders to the militia and to the volunteers, holding up magnificent examples of skill, fortitude and courage.

After the Mexican War Congress immediately reduced the army from 30,890 men to 10,320. Here we have the same old policy of dismissing our trained soldiers the minute fighting time had passed. When we wanted them again, mighty bad and mighty quick, we didn't have any. Congress has always figured that a considerate enemy would always permit us an abundance of leisure to begin preparations after the actual fighting has commenced — plenty of time to apply for insurance after the house catches fire.

Therefore, at the close of 1860, with a population of 31,000,000 and 3,000,000 square miles of territory, we were practically destitute of military force. The regular army in fact numbered 16,367, scattered along our interminable frontiers, stationed at isolated western posts, and guarding the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida. Imagine trying to cover the Sahara Desert with a dime's worth of butter.

And, considering what happened during the Civil War from a strictly military viewpoint, we find that our standards of comparison are wholly different from those of previous wars, for here the great bulk of soldiers on both sides were raw recruits at the beginning. On both sides, however, they got such a hard and continuous service as to weld them into iron veterans, equal to the Old Guard of Napoleon. So I shall merely give a few instances to prove that the same faults and inefficiencies observable from Revolutionary times had not disappeared.

On March 26, 1861, the Confederate President called for 100,000 men to take the field for the period of one year under his unquestioned and supreme command. The few United States regulars were scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific, too far away to participate in the first shock of arms. President Lincoln, of course, called for militia. President and Cabinet showing a fatuous confidence in raw troops, wholly unshaken by all their feeble tragedies. There was nothing else to do. Regulars simply did not exist.

The first Federal call was for 75,000 militia to serve a period of three months. In the light of history it is almost incredible that the Federal Government should attempt the reconquest of 560,000 miles of Southern territory, with raw recruits, and in the brief space of three months. The South, as I am reliably informed, likewise did a little supposing, that one Southerner could lick ten Yankees, and the war would be a brief and happy picnic.

Here's an example: The District of Columbia was called upon to supply ten companies. All but three of these companies mustered into the service for three months, with the stipulation to serve within the District, and not to go out of it. As a matter of fact many of these men afterwards served outside of the District without protest; I mention the incident merely to prove the rule, that it is only raw troops who presume to dictate to their lawful commanders.

In the North volunteers rushed to arms in numbers far exceeding the needs of the government.

Both the Union and Confederacy repeated the blunder of short enlistments. Confederate troops began pouring into Virginia and moving towards the Potomac. Washington City was practically in a state of siege. Owing to the weakness of the Federal military system, President Lincoln made of himself a virtual dictator, and assumed to exercise the war powers of Congress. By proclamation on the 3rd of May he increased the land and naval forces by more than 80,000 men.

My son, folks in this country do a lot of gossiping about military dictatorships which might result from a competent standing army. Dictatorships do not come that way. Twice in similar circumstances, when Congress has been too feeble or negligent to provide a competent national defense, dictatorial powers were conferred upon George Washington; and now Lincoln assumed them himself. Thus we see a President who had sworn to defend and protect the Constitution, knowingly overriding the law to save the Union.

When Congress assembled in extra session on July 4, 1861, it found that its power to "raise and support armies" had already been exercised by the President to the extent of 230,000 men, an usurpation which met with the approval of Congress and the people.