It is about an hour and 50 minutes. Tonight speaker is sam watson, professor of United States and military history at the United States military academy at west point where he has taught for 18 years. He is author of jacksons sword, and peacekeepers and officers, about the borders and frontiers between the war of 1812 and the war with mexico. It was published by united press of kansas, which together won the distinguished book award from the society for military history. Incidentally, of which we are a part. Professor watson is coeditor of the west point history of the societych won for military history George C MarshallFoundation Prize for the use of Digital Technology teaching military history. He is a coeditor of the west point history of the civil war, which won the Army Historical foundation distinguished writing award. Coauthor of the west point history of the american revolution. Forthcoming from simon and schuster this auto. Autumn. He teaches courses on 19th century warfare, 19thcentury america, and about the american frontier. Ladies and job, tonight, sam watson. [applause] prof. Watson thank you, bob, and thank you to all of you. Bob noted i have been teaching at west point for 18 years and i gave my first talk about 18 years ago, in the fall of 1999 on the early medical officers in the seminal war and do they see themselves as medical or military officers. They saw themselves as a bit of both. I will be talking to you about the army before and after Andrew Jackson, focusing on before jacksons presidency, during his presidency, and then after his presidency. He was only in the army for a short period of time. I have to give the standard disclaimer. For thefor myself, not military academy at west point, not for the department of the army, not the department of defense and not for any other agency of the United States government. Willthat out of the way i try to say a few controversial things or a few things you might want to question or debate, and aboutou some information the army and jacksons effect on it, for lack of affect on it. I will talk about for big topics. The first is civilmilitary relations. The armys geopolitics, or the Army Officers of politics, and the armys role in politics. The balance between the National Standing army, for the regular army if you prefer. It is not clear. People did not, the regular army in capitals. You see it as regulars. Talking here about that Standing Army, the more or less Permanent Army rather than the mass of intermittent militia and volunteers. Force structures and the balance between them, to what extent of the u. S. Employed National Standing army, to what extent did it rely on militia or volunteers. We are talking the 1820s and 1830s. No really large wars that would employ lots of militia and volunteers. The third question is that of command. When the United States diploid troops to florida and the second seminole war, for georgia to force the cherokee indians to move fast, tour along the Canadian Border, or the border with taxes, who commanded the u. S. Troops. Or whereular officers the commanders volunteered citizen soldiers . Which we often tend to think they were. We think of jackson himself. He began as a militia general and it was commissioned into the United States army during the war of 1812. Of fourth question is kind the effect and outcomes question. What about the armys capability of performing missions assigned to it . Did that increase, decrease, improve or degrade . During and after jacksons presidency. And then within those topics, military relations, force structure, command of u. S. Forces, and forces capabilities, with questions of perception versus reality. Both with contemporaries and historians. People thinking the united it is from 19 century, all citizen soldiers and volunteers for all militia or it is all Andrew Jackson. On the other hand we have emblazoned on my tie, which one can never see at a distance, we have one phil Scott Winfield scott leading the charge for the regular army. There is a question of change versus continuity. To what extent there was change. To what extent jackson was responsible for it. To what extent were continuities across jacksons presidency. To what extent changes had already been made for jackson becoming president. The army that Andrew Jackson was commissioned in as a general was a small frontier force. It was not very active developing personal capability, and it was not very accountable financially or in supplying its soldiers. Neither the soldiers nor officers displayed the sort of discipline and responsibility and subordination to authority you expect or desire. Jackson himself repeatedly challenged and supported the filion civilian authority, some dynamics i explore in my book, jacksons sword. Book is really a story primarily of dysfunctions, of jackson invading florida pretty much on his own, on his own problems, and of supplying the troops, problems paying the troops. Other officers wanting to attack cuba. You tods of insubordination to the civilian authority that was constitutionally elected, command authority, or other forms of indiscipline. Jacksons victory at new orleans did not really make a big difference to that army. It made a difference in how americans received military perceived military force. The hundreds of kentucky, volunteers of the militia to hims americans attributed victory at new orleans. Scholars today will say certainly a lot of accurate rifleman, but a lot of powerful artillery in jacksons line at new orleans. Some of that was manned by pirates. You have heard the story of john lafitte, but much of that artillery was manned by regular Army Artilleryman, some naval gunners as well. There is a myth of the battle of new orleans, but meanwhile the regular army, the National Standing army is doing its own thing. 1820s, the army beginning in the 1810s and 1820s, they changed quite a bit. There were a variety of reforms initiated by the senior leaders. People like Winfield Scott. A variety of commanders i will talk about here supported by president james monroe and secretary of war john c. Calhoun. In effect the National Standing army, the permanent and hopefully professional army became during the 1820s both a frontier constabulary, a sort of police force to guard the borders and to intimidate or deter opponents and thus keep the peace along the borders. But also a cadre of technical forrts and educators developing and maintaining professional expertise and capability. For example, at west point, but also at the Artillery School at fortress monroe 4 near norfo lk, or at the Jefferson Barracks in st. Louis. Cadreater dimension, that was spawned largely from graduates of the United States military academy at west point, with whom the president s secretary in the senate giving virtual anomaly on commissions for more than a decade during the 1820s. During the 1820s, senior Army Officers were often politically attuned and privately supported president ial candidates like jackson, John Quincy Adams, or John C Calhoun who they knew three the association within a small government. This is an elite politics of gentlemen and government officials who already know each other, and asked such would write a lot of letters to one another privately. What do you think of calvin, but you think of jackson, who will be better for the army . Her member how calhoun supported us on this or what jackson said about that . Not a lot of things that were 1828 and 1829, many of the Senior Officers within a small senior officer corps, but many of that small number of Senior Officers welcomed jacksons president ial victory. Seeing him as a former comrade who would support more troops and more funding for the army. That is usually the main thing that army leaders wanted at that point in time. We dont think we have enough troops for the Canadian Border if things go breakout of the indians inin or the the southeast, florida, for the border with mexico, for the coastal fortifications, for the indians on the planes. When Staff Officers made plans, they said we need three or four regiments for each of those. 2020 or 25 regiments to perform we need 20 or 25 regiments to perform our missions. The army had 11 regiments. They perceive they are always understrength. Usually the crises that breakout breakout one at a time, one place at a time and they can redeploy forces to the different to meet the different crises. It is fair to say anything 28 and 1829, a lot of Army Officers saw jackson as someone who would favor the army. During jacksons Administration Funding remained tight. Jacksonians talked about keeping spending down, not raising taxes or other revenues. The army did not get more funding, but it did grow by two regiments under jacksons administration. A nearly 20 increase from 11 to 13 regiments. To an army that was only about 5000 soldiers, 5000 jackson entered office. Both regiments were mounted regiments, the first and second dragoons of whom you can see an example here on the cover of my second book. This was an important step in making the army more capable of performing its missions. For two decades the army had not had any cavalry. U. S. Army had dragoons, cavalry who can dismount and fight on foot, although the american officers often liked to think of charging on their horses with sabers. The u. S. Had dragoons in the revolution. They had dragoons on a small scale with Anthony Waynes legion and United States in the 1790s. Those were disbanded. Alexander hamilton, George Washington wanted dragoons at the end of the decade. Never really built that force. During the war of 1812 for a couple of regiments of dragoons, and a lot of volunteer dragoons in kentucky fighting at the earnest battle of the thames in 1813. Dragoons and 1812, horses cost money. You have to feed the horses, that cost money. Congress not willing to pay for that and cutting back. 1832 and 1833,d u. S. Army did not have any cavalry. Sometimes it without infantry soldiers on horses to conduct patrols, but you can imagine those soldiers were not very good horseman or not very experienced. They were not about to go chasing the poni or comanche and pawnee and comanche and catching them. The army did not have the capability of pursuing indians west of the mississippi. If they wanted to cast them or intimidate them and force them to sign a treaty or something. Dragoonsbunes were approved crucial to effective power projection on the plains, in new mexico and california during the war with mexico. The first or gains in particular. The second dragoons were in florida. The army needed troops in florida. Army durings in the the Jackson Administration included more nutritious rations for the soldiers food, which significantly employer improved soldiers health and adding vegetables, beans, legumes, other elements to a diet that before had been like your classic salt pork, salt food. A lot of dry and abolishing the liquor rationing. During the Jackson AdministrationArmy Officers and 80 officers and civilians Navy Officers and civilians created professional journals. I dont have any pictures of the russian. I probably should have pulled one off the web. Different army museums would know what a russian looks like. Ration looks like. Officers began to write in sufficient amount that civilian publishers, like benjamin hellmanns, a baltimore publisher created a monthly magazine or journal. In this case a weekly for the army. Centers for debate about military professionalism, Civil Military relations, military capability, reform, tactics. In 19341835. War, the second seminole 1835 to 1836, by that point the Naval Military magazine is starting to fade, that the army Navy Chronicle became the standard i and is chockfull. If you want to study the second database has the the army Navy Chronicle. You can read a book on the seminal war seminole war largely from that. Today,s of our question Andrew Jackson didnt really have anything to do with this. These are changes that occur during his administration but these are really initiatives within the army or a civilian publisher responding to a demand or army harvesters wanting to write and being willing to buy. The army Navy Chronicle disappears after the second seminole war. They change it to the scientific repository for a couple of years, 1842 taking 44. There is just not enough interest once the war is over. It goes out of business in 1844. The changes that occurred to the army that i mentioned so far were during jacksons administration. They were largely changes initiated by Army Officers. Leaders,olitical whether it was president monroe or now president jackson, or secretary of war calhoun among the secretaries of war who had supported the army, but by and large Army Officers would be talking among themselves or writing letters back and forth and saying we really need an Infantry School. Calhoun would say that sound like a good idea. Then monroe or at that point John Quincy Adams would say yes, good. We will try to find that fund that. Most of his reform was coming from the inside. ,he actual ideas for the reform with a supportive political climate. The 1830s were also difficult years for the army. Jacksons administration of 1829 to the beginning of 1837, these were difficult years for the army brought on insurgents in u. S. Expansion. Forcing indians to leave their land east of the mississippi. We know from the title of the legislation as indian removal. Nowadays that sounds a little harsh and it was harsh. We might say the expropriation of the indians. We might say ethnic cleansing. , if this happened in europe, you would take it is ethnic cleansing. Yet some of those europeans are like that. While officers had professional journals today performs, the infantry and Artillery Schools this is an image of a later painting, a 20thcentury painting, but an image of the Artillery School in the 1820s. Those schools had a close, reducing officers opportunities to train larger units of soldiers. This was because army unit Army Artillery units were deployed from the Artillery School at fortress monroe to deter slave rebellions between 1829 and 1831. This is actually from the outside of the second seminole war, but it is standard iconography. You can see the image of slaves rising up and attacking slaveholders. 1831, there was a way of slave unrest or rumors of slave unrest culminating in net turners rebellion in southampton virginia in 1831. For several years the governors, mayors, state legislators, congressman throughout the south, from virginia, north carolina, South Carolina, mostly the eastern states, but also louisiana, they were constantly sending letters to army commanders. There are rumors they would not say slave. They would say savage unrest in our neighborhood. It was pretty clearly that slaves. , smally forces attachments are being dispatched usually from the coastal fortifications manned by the artillery to try to deter any slave unrest. When they actually get to net turner nat turners rebellion, the army is not involved in suppressing that. They did not show force in the weeks and months after the rebellion. But not only that, we have also got the black hawk war and 1832. And black hawk had almost gone to war, for the United States had gone to war against black hawk in the previous year, 1832. The situation exploded with a lot of this communication, but it certainly exploded. You had infantry units in the region, but they ultimately brought artillery units from the Artillery School numeral folk near norfolk. The First Movement of soldiers by train in the United States, they took them by train part of the way to chicago. Part of the huawei steamboat, part of the way part of the way by steamboat, part of the way by train and that it all caught cholera. , thankind of pressures the artillery had to go back to the eastern seaboard, back down to South Carolina to try to intimidate the nullification advocates in South Carolina. By the time you get to the end of 1832, it was pretty clear they were not going to be able to sustain an Artillery School anymore. The Infantry School, which was designed as a Strategic Reserve at st.