The first and Second Artillery were rendezvoused at Governor's Island and the Third and Fourth at Fortress Monroe. The First, Second, Third and Fourth Infantry under Twiggs were concentrated at Pass Christian, Louisiana. The Fifth Infantry went to Arkansas and Indian territories, occuping and building Forts Gibson, Smith, Washita and Towson. The Mounted Rifles, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Infantry went to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, under command of General Kearny. Eight companies of artillery and 3 companies of the First, and 7 of the Second Dragoons, were stationed on the United States side of the Rio Grande. 1848 Congress now acted wisely in allowing officers of the regular July 19 establishment to hold the rank they had attained in the war, by being carried as additional numbers in their grades and by being assigned to their old units. The major who had been added to each regiment was retained, as were many of the staff, together with the 2 companies in each of the artillery regiments. The number of privates in each organization was fixed at 50 for the dragoons, 64 for the mounted rifles and 42 for artillery and infantry. The relatives of each enlisted man who died in the service were voted three months' pay. Long marches by some of the regular regiments were immediately entailed, because of the acquisition from the war of 960,000 square miles of territory, including the present states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and California. Now that this vast country had been gained by the army's successes, it was to be made safe by the army's efforts. A long overland march by 2 companies each of the First and Second Dragoons was made along the Rio Grande, through El Paso, over the Gila and finally into California. The Mounted Rifles likewise, on account of the disturbances in Oregon, where some volunteers had murdered Indians in return for a massacre of missionaries, made its march over rugged country to that territory. A company of the Third Artillery set sail for Cali- Oct. fornia around Cape Horn. The year 1848 passed out with troops scattered over the old and new territory of the United States. The army had to strive for restoration under the handicap of demoralizing reduction. Many of the light batteries had to be dismounted and most of 1848 Winter 1848-49 May 1849 May to Sept. 1849 March 2 1849 1849 the organizations were reduced. The actual strength of the army was little over 8,000. When gold was discovered in California, soldiers deserted for the El Dorado by the wholesale. Captains in the west found themselves in some cases without a single soldier in their companies. The small army became still smaller every day. But the remainder and those that could be recruited, as they began to be stationed in the new western territory, helped as they could the "prairie schooner" and the "forty-niner" across wild tracts of unexplored country. The Mounted Rifles or Third Dragoons made a long march. of 2,500 miles from Fort Leavenworth toward Oregon. But for Fort Laramie and Fort Kearny, there was not a house between Fort Leavenworth and the Columbia River. The column plodded through trackless wastes, oftentimes without wood, water or grass. The Fifth Infantry lost in one month 46 men by the scourge of cholera that was so prevalent with the emigrant trains. In addition to sickness and hardship, units were split and sent over long distances. For instance, 4 companies of the Fifth marched from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe and 6 companies from northern Texas to El Paso. From these places they then made successful expeditions against the Navajo and Apache Indians. Likewise the Fourth Artillery and 2 companies of the First were sent from Fortress Monroe to Fort Pickens and Pensacola, Florida, where they were kept busy constructing roads and keeping the Seminoles in leash. Other regiments were similarly distributed. Several internal changes at this time affected the army. The office of Judge-Advocate was created. Heretofore his duties had been performed by the detail of an officer of the line. The position now became the life work of an officer who could devote himself to legal study. A captain of the army could be selected and given the brevet rank and pay of a major of cavalry. As for drill and training, Cooper's Regulations for the Militia brought new developments in drill. Soldiers were formed into squads for recruit drill and mounted troops for the first time marched and wheeled by "fours." At this time the army went seriously to work in garrisoning the new territory in order to make it habitable. Little by little nearly all of the troops were occupying tiny posts over the prairies so as to be ready to push back the Indian before the civilian occupant. The small parties of "forty-niners," singularly vulnerable to pillage and outrage, had given the savage confidence and lust for further attacks. To offset such incursions wherever they might appear, it was necessary to have many strongholds. The First Infantry, for instance, garrisoned Jan. in the southwest, Forts Merrill, McIntosh, Duncan and Ringgold Barracks. Other regiments built and garrisoned more. In one engagement with the Indians the First alone lost 8 men April 12 killed and wounded. 1850 1850 1850 The pitiful attempt to have a small force everywhere at once caused long journeys of immense hardship and waste of time in movement. The Seventh Infantry, for example, was June sent from Florida to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, thence to the Little Arkansas River, back to Fort Leavenworth and then Oct. distributed over the Arkansas frontier, all in less than six months. 1850 1850 Congress, seeing finally that it was difficult for the army to June 17 be in two places at once and that atrocities could not be checked with the number of troops on hand, gave voice to an excellent piece of legislation. It made the enlistment period five years and allowed the President to recruit each company up to 74 men. Thus, without the addition of a single officer, the army could be increased in cases of necessity by 4,488 men. 1850 Congress had been made to have a change of heart in another direction. The war had proved the merits of the Military Academy. Several minor acts showed the confidence of the Sept. 16 legislative body in that institution. The professors of engineering, philosophy, mathematics, ethics and chemistry were given a flat rate of pay of $2,000 and the professors of drawing and French each $1,500. The Superintendent was to receive no less than the highest-paid professor. 1850 For the army in general, Congress for the first time recognized foreign service in its pay provisions. Those officers serv- Sept. 28 ing in the far countries of Oregon and California were to receive $2 a day extra and the enlisted men were to have their pay doubled. |