John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship, and: Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms (review)

Donald B. Connelly's John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship and Allan Peskin's Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms are both biographies of nineteenth-century regular army officers who advanced military professionalism. But that general topic is the only thing these two books share.

Connelly breaks new ground in his biography of John Schofield; his is the first book-length study of Schofield's entire career. Connelly's argument about Schofield's contribution to military professionalism is founded on Nathan O. Hatch's tripartite definition of a profession, as an occupation that requires professional expertise transmitted in an institutional setting, a commitment to provide a necessary public service, and professional autonomy. Schofield's contribution had to do with the last of these requirements, what Connelly calls the "reconciliation of professional autonomy and political subordination" in a society based on democratic republicanism (5). This is what Connelly means by the "Politics of Generalship," the subordination of the military and its needs to the often fractious civilian political leadership, an act of accommodation that enhanced the army's standing in the minds of its civil masters and ultimately opened the door for reform in the late nineteenth century.

According to Connelly, Schofield was an early proponent of the army's need to adapt to the political ramifications of military policy, and Connelly demonstrates how Schofield spent his career seeking that accommodation. Schofield's professional education in the Civil War was grounded in his experience operating in and later commanding the highly partisan Union war effort in Missouri, where he had to balance the demands of both conservative and radical unionists. In this situation, Schofield came to understand the political ramifications of military policy. He tried to win over both factions in Missouri, and although he was not successful, the understanding he developed of the military profession as an inherently political one served him well during Reconstruction. As a military officer charged with implementing the policies of the federal government, Schofield had to negotiate a path between the different civilian groups that sought to use the army to champion their own particular Reconstruction policies. These experiences confirmed Schofield's understanding of military policy as an innately political issue in a democratic republic, and this understanding served Schofield well in the years after Reconstruction, particularly during his tenure as commanding general. In that position, Schofield used his understanding of the political ramifications of military policy and the subordination of the army to its politically driven civil masters to achieve several incremental reforms that laid the foundation for the military reforms of the late nineteenth century.

Overall, this is a well-researched book, thoroughly grounded in the primary and secondary literature, and it adds significantly to our understanding of American military professionalism in the nineteenth century by expanding on Carl von Clausewitz's famous dictum that "war is the continuation of policy by other means." As John Schofield learned, war was not the only politically related activity in which the army participated; instead, every aspect of military policy and development has political ramifications that must be accommodated to allow for progress and development within the military profession.

In contrast to Connelly's study of John Schofield, Allan Peskin's Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms covers familiar ground. It is the third biography of Scott published over six years. Peskin's book has been preceded by John S. D. Eisenhower's Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott (1997) and Timothy Johnson's Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military Glory (1998). While Eisenhower's study relies primarily on published source material, Peskin uses a wide range of secondary and primary material, published and unpublished. In addition, Peskin has examined several private collections...