The American Military Frontiers: The United States Army in the West, 1783-1900

8: Frontier Regulars and the Collapse of the Union

143 in recommending the consolidation of small, isolated western posts into larger garrisons, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis had seized on a refrain; indeed, such an approach had been, and would remain, fundamental to assumptions about western defense. Yet the attempt to concentrate far-flung posts flew in the face of frontier realities, for such posts were too few and too distant to offer the economic benefits expected by so many communities and interests. Moreover, mounting indian resistance to U.S. expansion reinforced civilian demands for a local military presence. in the midst of quarrels between older residents and newcomers , the army’s multiple responsibilities of defending, governing, and developing the frontiers had reaffirmed its traditional importance in nation building. but not all had approved of the regulars’ performance, and sectional rivalries would soon threaten the very existence of the nation the soldiers had sworn to defend. new borderlands challenges—particularly in Kansas, where disputes between pro- and antislavery factions produced civil war, and in Utah, where many feared that the Latter-day Saints would wrest control from federal authorities—greatly complicated the military’s work. in Kansas, populated by an ever-growing number of immigrants, the army could not use the same methods of establishing and enforcing peace as it did in areas dominated by indians. As historian tony R. Mullis has put +e igh t∂ Frontier regulars and the collapse of the Union 144 chapter eight it, lethal force, always an option against the tribes, was “neither personally nor politically palatable” to soldiers trying to check the movements of non-indians. Widespread land speculation by army officers in the developing region, though perfectly legal so long as it did not affect their official duties or violate the public trust, further tested the uncertain alliance between the military and civilians.1 in november 1854 and March 1855, fraudulent elections in newly recognized Kansas territory had produced a proslave territorial government , but escalating violence between free- and slave-state factions led Attorney general Caleb Cushing to broadly define the army’s role in enforcing law and order. galvanized into action by the violence in Kansas and Representative Preston brooks’s assault on Senator Charles Sumner (Colonel Sumner’s cousin) in the capitol, President franklin Pierce named a steady Pennsylvanian, James geary, as new territorial governor. He also transferred another Pennsylvania Democrat, brevet Major general Persifor f. Smith, to oversee military affairs there. Recognizing that the Democratic Party would not retain control of the White House if it did not quickly restore the peace, geary convinced Smith to deploy the regulars in a preventative posture against extralegal forces from both sides. Smith also rescinded orders that would have shifted the first Cavalry Regiment to other duties, reasoning that keeping the peace in Kansas was more important than fighting indians.2 in Washington, the administration scuttled a proposal to dispatch commanding general Winfield Scott, the Whig Party’s last candidate for president, to Kansas. but a rebellious House refused to pass that year’s army appropriations bill unless it expressly forbade the military from allying with the proslave territorial government. the Democratic Senate rejected such terms, forcing President Pierce to call a special session to fund the army. notably, in justifying the money the president emphasized the demands of ongoing indian conflicts on the “remote frontier,” which he hoped would serve to unify legislators, rather than civil disorder in Kansas. on August 30 the House backed down and by a 101–98 vote accepted the bill shorn of its riders. the army finally had its budget, and the regulars brought the Democratic Party sufficient tranquility in Kansas to realize the election of James buchanan.3 Almost to a man, soldiers resented having to referee the contest that pitted citizen against citizen, and they blamed radicals on both sides frontier regulars and the collapse of the union 145 for making the army a scapegoat for their problems. Sagging morale probably explained high rates of resignations among officers, which by 1856 had grown to levels not seen since the Jackson administration . Reflecting on the widespread discontent from texas, a depressed Lieutenant Colonel Robert e. Lee told his young nephew, Lieutenant fitzhugh Lee, that “experience has taught me to recommend no young man to enter the service.” Recognizing the problem, in february 1857 Secretary Davis secured for officers an across the board base pay raise— their first since 1798—of $20 a month...