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Symphony in the Flint Hills Field Journal
2013 – Fort Riley, Kansas (Bonnie Lynn-Sherow,
Editor)
Development of the West and the US Army
Edward Bowie
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Bowie, Edward (2013). "Development of the West and the US Army," Symphony in the Flint Hills Field Journal.
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Development of the West
and the US Army
In spite of romantic notions of the taming
of the “Wild West,” a realistic picture of the
frontier Army provides a more insightful
understanding of its seminal role in the
development of the American West.
The Army’s contributions went far beyond
L E W IS AND C L AR K ’ S SPIRIT M O U ND
Ron Backer
Courtesy of the Artist
The Army’s involvement began almost
territorial acquisition and security and
immediately with the acquisition of the
included exploration, civil engineering,
vast “Louisiana Territory,” which, with
and political stability. Perhaps of greatest
one stroke, doubled the size of the young
long-term significance, the presence of the
United States. In 1804 Army Captains
many Army installations in the West and
Lewis and Clark mounted a military
the requirements for an infrastructure
expedition to explore the Missouri and
to support them created a stimulus
Columbia river systems and, among many
that profoundly influenced how and
other objectives, to make preliminary
where the emerging economies of the
surveys of the Territory’s economic
Western Territories became established.
potential. A host of Army explorers
Indeed, as the tangible manifestation
who included Zebulon Pike, Benjamin
of government, with all that implied,
Bonneville, Stephen Long, William
the Army was perhaps the single most
Emory, and George Wheeler soon
important and influential factor in
followed. These officers (usually members
Western American development.
of the Army’s elite Corps of Topographical
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Engineers) often enlisted the aid of
response from the territorial authority in
such accomplished frontiersmen as Joe
St. Louis. This was a fateful encounter
Walker, Kit Carson, and Jim Bridger who
both because it was the first armed conflict
received temporary commissions as Army
between a Plains Indian nation and the
“Scouts” and contributed their unique
United States, and because it set the
knowledge and practical frontier skills
pattern for the Army’s uncomfortable dual
to the Army’s efforts. Collectively, these
role as peace makers/peace keepers that
expeditions produced the first accurate
persisted throughout the century. After
surveys and maps of the American interior
clearly, if not decisively, defeating the
and provided invaluable – if occasionally
Arikara in battle, Colonel Leavenworth
misleading – evaluations of the land’s
negotiated with them on condition of
agricultural and mineralogical potential.
their migration out of the Missouri basin
They pioneered the great overland
and assurances of permanent peace with
routes such as the Santa Fe, Oregon, and
the United States. Leavenworth’s alleged
California Trails that became the arteries
“leniency” sparked a controversy between
of 19 century Western migration.
those political interests which demanded
th
In 1823 Lieutenant Colonel Henry
the subjugation and subordination of
Leavenworth led 230 soldiers, supported
the Native Americans and those who
by over 700 Sioux “allies,” in a punitive
favored a policy of accommodation and
expedition against the Arikara or Sahnish
cohabitation - conflicting policies that
tribe in present-day South Dakota. The
were never fully resolved - to the Army’s
Arikara had been attempting to extort
frequent consternation and the Indians’
tribute from fur traders along the upper
growing hostility.
Missouri River. When they nearly
In 1827 Colonel Leavenworth
destroyed an entire American trapping
established a military post near the
expedition in 1822, it triggered a military
confluence of the Missouri and Kansas
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NORTH A M ERI C AN INDIANS
George Catlin
Linda Hall Library, Kansas City, Missouri
rivers to provide forward military
and administrative hub supporting all
presence on the Plains and from where
Army units in the West and the base of
Dragoons (mounted riflemen) could
operations for the Mexican-American War
provide security for the burgeoning and
of 1846-48 that resulted in the acquisition
lucrative commercial trade between
of California and the entire South West.
Santa Fe and Independence, Missouri.
The Army also assumed the role of
negotiating safe passage through the many
After the Civil War, the
Indian nations on behalf of commerce
rising tide of western
and emigration along the rapidly growing
migration became a tidal
network of overland trails, in the process
becoming the chief intermediary between
wave and the Army’s
the Federal government and the Native
duties and responsibilities
Americans. They also struggled to
steadily increased to
enforce a precarious peace among the
include management
many mutually hostile factions of settlers
of civil infrastructure
such as Mexican Comancheros, Mormon
construction projects.
separatists, Kansas Jayhawkers, and
Missouri Border Ruffians.
“Fort” Leavenworth was the first of an
To police this huge area, the US
expanding network of frontier posts
Army (more a frontier constabulary than
west of the Mississippi although, as
an army in the traditional sense) was
with virtually all other Army posts on
expanded to an establishment of over
the Plains, it was never fortified in the
21,000 men of whom approximately
military sense - the movie image of the
17,000 were stationed west of the
log-palisaded fort is a complete myth. Fort
Mississippi, a figure that remained more
Leavenworth soon became the key logistic
or less constant from about 1850 to
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C HE Y ENNE INDIANS ATTA C K W OR K ERS
ON THE U NION PA C I F I C RAI L ROAD NEAR
F OSSI L C REE K IN K ANSAS M A Y 2 8 , 1 8 6 9 ( d e t a i l )
Jacob Gogolin
Private Collection/Peter Newark American Pictures/The Bridgeman Art Library
the Overland Stage empires of Ben
the routes and provided security and
and social development of the American
In ways obvious and subtle,
Holladay and Wells Fargo. In addition
technical advice for the expanding system
West. Without the Army, settlement
dramatic and mundane,
Army depots required a steady flow of
of western railroads. Army engineers
would almost certainly have happened
the Army contributed
consumables and replacement animals all
supervised improvements for roads,
anyway, but equally certainly, it would
of which created incentive for the local
inland navigation, and irrigation projects.
have been far more chaotic, violent,
development of farming, ranching, and
Inevitably this led to wholesale violations
and with no probability that the US
light manufacturing, which, by virtue of
of the many Indian treaties which the
would have emerged from the process
proximity, could undercut the price of
Army was either powerless to stop, due
as one nation “from sea to shining sea.”
goods or animals transported from further
to their limited forces, or politically
Having played a central role in so much
east. On a smaller scale, every post had
prohibited from enforcing. The result
regrettable, if unavoidable violence,
1898. In order for this inadequate force
a contract “sutler” who provided, at
was the tragic series of conflicts that –
the Army ended the 19th century with
to best cover the ground, it was deployed
reasonable profit on a cash or credit basis,
the odd reverse, such as George Custer’s
one unblemished legacy of incalculable
in as many as four hundred widely
sundries and small luxuries to the soldiers
astonishing lapse in military judgment at
value to all Americans. From 1872
separated “cantonments,” each typically
and their families. Around many of
the Little Big Horn notwithstanding – saw
until 1933, the Army was charged with
housing one or two “Companies” of 40 –
these posts rose civil communities such as
the relentless and intentional destruction
the protection and management of
120 soldiers. The Quartermaster Corps
Leavenworth, Junction City, Manhattan,
of Native American sovereignty. The Army
the incomparable system of National
was neither organized nor equipped to
Laramie, and Dodge City, which quickly
increasingly assumed oversight of the far-
Parks that are among our proudest
outfit these many small posts directly so
became self-sustaining and accelerated the
flung Indian reservation system, further
achievements – a mission that the Army
the routine task of delivering subsistence
pace of economic development.
expanding opportunities for profitable
accomplished with unambiguous success.
immeasurably to the
political, economic, and
social development of the
American West.
After the Civil War the rising tide of
goods and military supplies was hired out
government contracts and providing a
to private contractors. Such government
western migration became a tidal wave
boon to the ranching industry with a
contracts could be hugely profitable
and the Army’s duties and responsibilities
guarantee of 750 pounds of government
and formed the financial basis of many
steadily increased to include management
beef a year to every Indian family.
Western economic powerhouses such
of civil infrastructure construction
as the enormously successful freighting
projects. The Army established the
and mundane, the Army contributed
firm of Russell-Majors-Waddell and
trans-continental telegraph. It surveyed
immeasurably to the political, economic,
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Edward Bowie, Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
In ways obvious and subtle, dramatic
(Retired) is an Assistant Professor in the US
Army Command & General Staff College’s
Department of Military History.
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