The old army : a portrait of the American army in peacetime, 1784-1898

The old army : a portrait of the American army in peacetime, 1784-1898

New York : Oxford University Press, 1986.

ix, 514 p., [22] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.

355.00973 C675 1986

(OCoLC)12613635

Military historians are, quite rightly, concerned with war, but the Army does not simply cease to exist between the treaty ending one conflict and the opening guns of the next. The people who made up the "garrison world" during the peacetime intervals between the War for Independence and the Spanish-American War are the subject of this book. These were men collected mostly from the streets of Northern cities. Although the occasional Indian war made headlines, the unrelenting labor of building and maintaining frontier outposts occupied most of their days. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other primary documents, this text recreates the harsh, often lonely, garrison life. The author pays special attention to the roles of women and children, as well as black Americans, and to the development of military professionalism.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 405-489) and index.
Contents: "That perhaps necessary evil" -- "Buried in oblivion" -- "Companions of our exile" -- "Wanderers in the land" -- "Promotion's very slow" -- "The roving life we led" -- "That not wholly appreciated class" -- Tattoo.
87.25

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