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

7: Constabularies in Blue

118 despite President Polk’s pronouncements, volunteers did not replace the regulars following the war against Mexico. in general, states and territories had little desire to spend their own money on rangers or volunteers. they were happy to raise such units and bill Washington, of course, but only rarely would Congress or executive officials agree to such terms, for most recognized that such state units were much more expensive—and difficult to control—than the regulars. the army, then, remained the federal government’s most visible instrument in the borderlands, its task complicated by administrative changes that deepened divisions between soldiers and civilian indian agents. in a bow to the increasingly complex functions of the federal government, in 1849 Congress created the Department of the interior under which was to be subsumed by the general Land office, the Patent office, the Pension office, and the office of indian Affairs. With considerable justification, indian agents often believed the army too willing to resort to force; army officers, with equal merit, saw their civilian counterparts as raw political hacks who had little appreciation for frontier subtleties. for the next half century, soldiers would regularly—and always unsuccessfully—call for the transfer of the indian office back to the War Department.1 because of their huge size and diverse populations, texas, the +se v e n∂ constabularies in Blue constabularies in blue 119 Mexican Cession, and oregon posed significant military challenges. over eighty-five thousand Hispanics already resided in these lands, and the two hundred thousand indians living there had no reason to relinquish their use to any newcomers. in 1847, establishment of the Mormon state of Deseret in the Salt Lake valley heralded a carefully planned, religiously inspired mission to establish a haven for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. the following year, the discovery of gold near Sutter’s Mill in northern California instigated a flood of immigrants seeking the promise of more earthly riches. Subsequent mineral strikes brought more emigrants to much of the Mountain West. these migrations , along with the increased traffic on the emigrant trails to oregon, resulted in greater contact between the outsiders and the seventy-five thousand resident indians of the great Plains and the eighty-four thousand souls whom the federal government had already uprooted from the east. Alternately protecting, controlling, fighting, and assisting these diverse groups would be the job of the army, a task made more difficult by the public demand that the United States immediately assert its authority. not surprisingly, borderlands combat between the army and indians escalated dramatically. fiscal conditions directly influenced relations between residents of these newly acquired regions and the regulars. for the most part, garrisons located in remote areas enjoyed friendlier ties with civilians than did those stationed in lands holding more immediate economic promise . in addition to providing a measure of security, an army post meant jobs for guides, mechanics, and laborers, along with lucrative mercantile opportunities. the case of fort Davis, texas, serves as an illuminating example. established some 475 miles west of San Antonio in 1854, government salaries and emoluments paid to soldiers and employees there averaged about $55,000 per year (roughly $1.3 million annually in 2006 dollars) during the antebellum period, making possible a small local service industry. Pennsylvania native Alexander Young, who came to the area with the army, worked the system to its fullest. the government had long authorized post and regimental officers to select sutlers, who paid a small monthly tax (about five cents per man) to the post fund in return for the chance to sell their wares on base. Young held that position at fort Davis from 1855 to 1861; in 1860, he also picked up the sutlership at nearby fort quitman. And in addition to serving as de facto post 120 chapter seven f i g . 23. Thomas nast, “The new indian War.” rivalries between the interior department and the War department over control of indian affairs would continue to plague the United states throughout the last half of the nineteenth century. Thomas nast’s “The new indian War,” which graced the front cover of Harper’s Weekly in december 1878, depicts the long-standing rivalry between the interior department (represented by secretary carl schurz) and the army (represented by Phil sheridan, with William sherman lurking in the doorway). l i br a ry o f c o n g r...