I am reading about the Army during the Indian Wars as research for Sabers and...
I am struck that the single day I spent running a powder charge from the limber to the guy who stuffed it into the gun is more training than many sergeants got in the 1880's.
My buddy, JT, is practically a master gunner by the standards of the day; he actually did a couple of impressions as a reinactor on a gun.
The outright neglect of the troops does help to explain a lot of things about this time period.
Some things are timeless and universal. Others are specific to the time.
Click here to submit $0.00 US for a lifetime subscription
Posts
Comments
During the period after the Civil War, the Army and Navy were both starved for funds. Congress didn't want to appropriate any more money for the military, and expected them to "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." One year, they forgot to appropriate money for officers' pay, even.
ReplyDeleteWhen Thomas Nast drew symbolic cartoons at that time, he portrayed the Army as a skeleton in a US uniform.
In addition to failing to appropriate funds, the paymaster was often delayed significantly.
DeleteTroops were supposed to be paid every other month, but five to six months between pay days was not uncommon. And it wasn't five to six months of pay that arrived at the post either!