Dickinson, nor the reproaches of his enemies could obtain an experiment on the temper of the militia. Self-evident as were the reasons advanced by the Secretary of War, the General in Chief, and the officers responsible for military administration, it was not until the 5th of July, 1838, more than two years and a half after the commencement of the war, that they produced the desired effect. The first section of the law of that date increased the regiments of infantry from 7 to 8, and added a company to each regiment of artillery. The same section raised the enlisted strength of each company of artillery to 77, the infantry to 90, and reduced the second lieutenants of artillery in each company from 2 to 1. The second section added to the Corps of Engineers 1 lieutenantcolonel, 2 majors, 6 captains, 6 first lieutenants, and 6 second lieutenants. The fourth section made the corps of topographical engineers consist of 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 4 majors, 10 captains, 10 first lieutenants, and 10 second lieutenants. The seventh section authorized the President to appoint not exceeding 2 Assistant Adjutants-General, with the brevet rank and pay of major, and 4 with the brevet rank and pay of captain of cavalry, who were to be transferred from the line, without vacating their commissions or losing promotion therein, and who, in addition to the duties of their new offices, were, when necessary, to perform the duty of Assistant Inspector-General. The ninth section authorized the President to add to the Quartermaster's Department not to exceed 2 Assistant Quartermasters-General with the rank of colonel, 2 Deputy Quartermasters-General with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and 8 assistant quartermasters with the rank of captain. The last part of this section contained the proviso: That all appointments in the Quartermaster's Department shall be made from the Army, and when officers taken for such appointments hold rank in the line, they shall thereupon relinquish said rank and be separated from the line of the Army, and that promotion in said department shall take place as in regiments and corps. The eleventh section added to the Commissary Department 1 Assistant Commissary-General of Subsistence, with the rank and pay of a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry; 1 commissary of subsistence, with the rank and pay of quartermaster of the Army, and 3 commissaries of subsistence, with rank and pay of assistant quartermaster of the Army. The thirteenth section authorized the President to add to the Ordnance Department, 2 majors and empowered him to transfer from the artillery to the ordnance, 10 first lieutenants and 10 second lieutenants. The fifteenth section gave every officer of the line and staff of the Army, exclusive of general officers, an extra ration per day, for every five years' service. The sixteenth section fixed the monthly pay of the rank and file as follows: sergeant-majors or ordnance sergeants, $17; first sergeants, $16; other sergeants, $13; artificers, $11; corporals, $9; privates, $8. From each of the above grades $2 per month was retained, till the expiration of the soldier's term of service. The twenty-second section authorized two of the regiments of a The Madison Papers, vol. 1, pp. 551-553, letter to Edmund Randolph. infantry to be armed and equipped as riflemen, and one regiment as light infantry. The twenty-fifth section alone, recognized the principle of expansion, by authorizing the President, whenever volunteers or militia were called into the service, to appoint, if necessary, one additional paymaster for each two regiments, provided that paymasters so appointed should continue in service, only so long as they were required to pay volunteers and militia. The twenty-eighth section required cadets on entering the United States Military Academy, to engage to serve the Government eight years, unless sooner discharged. The twenty-ninth section gave three months' extra pay to reenlisted soldiers, and accorded a bounty of 160 acres of land to every soldier, discharged after ten years' faithful service. The thirty-first section prohibited the detail of officers of the line, on works of internal improvements, in the service of incorporated companies, or as disbursing agents for the Indian Department, whenever such detail would separate them from their regiment or companies. The thirty-third and last section authorized the appointment of 7 additional surgeons. This law, evidently passed in considerable haste, was modified in several important particulars by the act of July 7. The third section of this act repealed so much of the ninth section of the preceding law, as prescribed that assistant quartermasters should be separated from the line. The fourth limited the lieutenants of artillery to be transferred to the ordnance, to 12. The fifth section reduced the pay of a private from $8 to $7 per month, of which $1 was to be retained. The seventh section prescribed that the 3 commissaries of subsistence should not be separated from the line. The eighth section repealed the bounty of 160 acres to be granted, for ten years' faithful service. The following tables show the organization of the Army, before and after the passage of the acts of 1838, viz: It will be observed that the ills springing from detached service were but partially cured. In failing to provide supernumeraries in the Quartermaster's and Commissary's Departments, two most important branches of the staff, as in the past, could only be made efficient at the expense of the line. To the prejudice of true economy, the other great defect of the law of 1821, the nonexpansion of the rank and file, was also only remedied in part. Instead of authorizing the President to expand the Army to a given limit, with like power to reduce it by a mere Executive order, the moment the public interest would permit, Congress prescribed a war maximum which might continue months after the emergency had ceased and could only be lessened by the slow and uncertain process of legislation. COMPLICATIONS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. During the years 1838 and 1839, serious complications arose along the Niagara frontier, portending a third war with Great Britain. The first difficulty occurred on the 29th of December, 1837, when an expedition from Canada crossed over to the American side and killed several persons, setting the steamer Caroline on fire and sending her adrift over the falls. The object of the expedition was to cut off communication with a small body of Americans, who had invaded British territory and were holding forcible possession of Navy Island. Partly to resist further aggression, but more especially to enforce the neutrality of more than 200,000 of our citizens, who had banded together under the name of "Canadian Patriots," with the object of invading and annexing Canada, General Scott was despatched to the frontier, with full authority to call on the governors of all the border States, including Virginia and Kentucky, for such a force of militia as he might deem expedient. In addressing the excited crowds along the border, General Scott, making a virtue of necessity, was compelled to inform the people: I stand before you without troops, and without arms save the sword at my side. At this critical moment 9 of the 13 regiments of the Army, including a Scott's Autobiography, vol. 1, p. 305. the whole of the artillery, were in Florida, the 4 remaining regiments being nearly all distributed at great distances along the western frontier. On the 15th of January, General Scott informed the commanding officer of the British armed vessels on the Niagara, that the governor of New York and himself were at hand, "to enforce the neutrality of the United States and to protect our own soil or waters from violation."a The next day the steamer Barcelona, which had replaced the Caroline, was to return from Navy Island to Buffalo, and on the nature of her passage depended the question of peace or war. As she passed along, the British withheld their fire, the pacific disposition of the American commander having triumphed.' While the incident of the Barcelona proved the climax of the troubles along the Niagara River, the agitation continued till 1839, when another and more serious difficulty occurred regarding the boundary of Maine. To meet this emergency, the Regular Army being still engaged in Florida and the Southwest, Congress again resolved to trust to raw troops. By the act of March 3, it authorized the President to resist any attempt on the part of Great Britain to enforce, by arms, her claim to jurisdiction over that part of the State of Maine which is in dispute between the United States and Great Britain, and for that purpose he was empowered to employ the naval and military forces of the United States and such portions of the militia, as he might deem it advisable to call into service. The third section, in case of actual invasion, or of imminent danger from such invasion, discovered to exist before Congress could be convened to act on the subject, authorized the President to accept the services of not exceeding 50,000 volunteers, who were to furnish their own clothes and horses and to serve six or twelve months, after arriving at the place of rendezvous. The fifth section placed $10,000,000 at the disposal of the President, for the purposes of executing the act, which, by the sixth and last section, was to continue in force until the end of sixty days after the meeting of the first session of the following Congress. A glance at this law, for the passage of which General Scott claimed special credit, shows that on its face there was no indication that Congress had either appreciated or been able to profit by the losses of the Revolution, the War of 1812, or even by its own two years' experience with the Florida War. Fortunately for the country, a repetition of the disasters which marked the beginning of the War of 1812 was averted by a peaceful settlement. CAMPAIGNS FROM 1838 TO 1842. The war in Florida was conducted henceforward by a succession of commanders, who mostly limited their operations to the combined movements of small detachments numbering from 50 to 100 men each. On the 15th of May, 1838, General Jesup was relieved, at his own request, and succeeded by Col. Zachary Taylor. From the beginning a Scott's Autobiography, vol. 1, p. 315. |