George Washington's Enforcers: Policing the Continental Army

Preface

ix Preface When one reflects on the hardships endured by common soldiers in the armed forces of the American War of Independence, coming to mind are the deprivations of food and clothing, the suffering from harsh winters, lack of pay, and arduous marches without much in the way of shoes. One thinks also of the duress of battle and the long periods of boredom in camp. If one were to ask an infantryman or cavalryman in the Continental army about the most objectionable aspect of service, however, the response most likely would have been the constant fear of brutal discipline. A soldier’s duty was meticulously regulated; the least infractions of rules and regulations could lead to a whipping, or worse. Soldiers were often ignorant of the military code and general rules. Fear of cruel punishment was the chief hindrance to raising new recruits. Of course, all armies require a multilayered system for implementing discipline and training. Unfortunately, in the eighteenth century, motivation for behavior among troops came almost exclusively from a negative impulse—fear of punishment—rather than from a more enlightened approach emphasizing recognition for merit. Little is known of life in the Continental army from the point of view of the enlisted men. What diaries and journals survive mostly covered short periods of times and generally were limited to reporting movements of the army and the like. Many soldiers were illiterate, or nearly so. Seldom did the soldier-recorders express emotion, criticism of command decisions, or information relating to the interrelationship among comrades.The best information on army life during the Revolution comes from veterans recalling their youthful experiences in military service. In addition, orderly books afford, at the supreme command, division, brigade, and regimental levels, a rather thorough, ongoing summary of army routine and happenings. Serving in the Continental army, as with all military duty, meant exchanging rights and privileges of civilian life for subordination to a strict preface x military code. This book seeks empathy with the ragtag troops who reaped almost no gain in the long or short run, but who submitted to the thankless task of winning American independence. It probes the efforts of the army command to coerce men, many of whom were unaccustomed to any strict discipline or direction in their lives, to become competent warriors. In spite of the soldiers’ reluctance to fully measure up and the unremitting, widespread desertions, by war’s end, even the most severe taskmaster of them all, General George Washington, expressed pride at the upscale professionalism and ardor achieved, at long last, among the troops of the Continental army. At the heart of maintaining order and curbing the often self-destructive tendencies of the enlisted men were the duty personnel, guardsmen, and certain individuals and units that on occasion were assigned the role of military police. With the exception of the mostly failed experiment of establishing a mounted police corps, the Maréchaussée, which did serve as a very valuable precedent for the future, there was no military police per se in the Continental army. The Provost Marshal Department, the first step toward creating a future military police corps during the Revolutionary War, served mainly to take charge of prisoners destined for general courts-martial and to provide for implementation of capital punishment. George Washington very much wanted to have a unified military police command in the army but did not press the issue. What strides were made in developing a military police system in the Continental army were put aside after the war. During later armed conflicts, various individuals and units continued to perform the duties of military police, with the only unifying force being the establishment of a provost marshal general during the Civil War and World War I. Not until September 1941 was the Corps of Military Police created, which since has had ever-widening jurisdiction. This book treats the varied and often overlapping means of policing the Continental army. Omitted is the custody of prisoners of war, a major function of the modern military police. This study focuses on the American soldiers and not, for instance, on the charge of captive Britons and German mercenaries, which is a large and complex subject. Most Americanheld prisoners of war were watched over by state militia. The Continental army adopted almost totally the table of organization and military code of justice of the British army, with a few improvisational xi preface...