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From
the close of the War of the Rebellion to the year 1869, no branch of
the public service seemed more unsettled than the regular army.
While the memory of the Civil War was fresh in the minds of our
legislators a standing army of moderate strength seemed to be a
national necessity. The want of an efficient military force in 1861
resulted in the sacrifice of thousands of lives, millions of
treasure, and for a time threatened our national existence.
The narrow escape from so dire a calamity infused into the minds
of Congress the wisdom of providing against a recurrence of such
danger, hence the permanent establishment was fixed at ten regiments
of cavalry, five of artillery and forty-five of infantry. Four of
the latter were designated as “Veteran Reserve Corps”; intended,
very wisely I think, to provide for soldiers and officers who had
become partly disabled during the war by reason of wounds received,
but who could perform garrison duty, or in time of war defend the
inner fortifications or act as a basis for the organization of a
large army;—a body of trained though maimed soldiers, who could
perform all the necessary military duties in the rear, allowing the
use of the entire active army at the scene of action. The
organization of these regiments, together with bands,
non-commissioned staff unattached to regiments, and 410 Indian
scouts, provided for an army of 80,832, full strength, but was
placed on a peace basis of 52,948.
Thus the organization was complete for an army that would be of
sufficient strength to quell almost any disturbance, while in case
of extraordinary trouble, as in 1861, by simply increasing the
enlisted strength of each regiment to its allowed maximum, an army
of considerable magnitude was instantly at hand. In the light of the
past and in the possibilities of the future surely this was wise
legislation, but it required the stimulus of recent events, the
remembrance of lost battles, the realization of the sacrifice of
human life and vast treasure, the exposed fact of the nation’s
weakness and inability for self-preservation under ordeals such as
the years 1861 to 1865, to spur the American people to a proper
appreciation of the necessities of a nation for its security.
Time, the great obliterator of the past, removed the stimulus;
policy, too often the curse of legislation, took its place. The cry
for retrenchment was more potent than the plea for protection; new
political aspirants rode into power upon this short-sighted, unwise
plea for preferment. The veteran legislators who had guided the
nation safely from dissolution and wreck were laid aside and
forgotten under the influence of prospective lessening of taxes,
and, as has been so often the case in our republic, the first branch
of the national tree to suffer from the retrencher’s axe was the
army.
The army had no votes. The army had little patronage to swell the
politician’s constituency. The army at the present moment was
needed only to keep off the savages of the plains from the
civilization of the East. It was not needed much for that, as the
East had little attraction for the savage; and had it not been for
the western legislators who have always been the army’s friend,
and the occasional scalp of an eastern tourist, this branch would
doubtless have been reduced to much smaller proportions than it was.
Yet the elimination was tolerably effective. The forty-five
regiments of infantry were reduced to twenty-five; the regiments of
cavalry and artillery were left the same in number, but all were
reduced to an enlisted strength of 25,000,—an aggregate of 28,764.
To effect this, existing regiments of infantry were consolidated and
this consolidation brings me to the object of this sketch,—the
history of the present Sixteenth Infantry.
The Eleventh Infantry, organized May 4, 1861, and having on its
battle flags, Gaines’ Mill, Bull Run, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania
Court-house, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, and Chapel
House, was consolidated with the Thirty-fourth Infantry, which had
been the third battalion of the Sixteenth Infantry, organized on the
same date as the Eleventh and having on its banners Shiloh,
Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, New Hope Church,
Kenesaw Mountain, Neal Dow Station, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and
Jonesboro, each regiment possessing therefore a bloody and honorable
record. Both regiments were doomed to lose their designation but
were allowed to retain the list of battles of each, consolidated on
one flag. The new regiment was numbered the Sixteenth. It was
consolidated by merging the enlisted men of one regiment with the
company of the same letter of the other, and assigning the officers
by rank as provided by the order of consolidation. This was effected
March 3, 1869.
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Capt.
Francis Bache, 16th U.S. Infantry. |
In
making the assignment of officers in the new regiment the
field officers were designated in the orders of the War
Department. The staff was selected by the colonel without
regard to the relative rank of the officers selected. The
adjutancy was retained by the officer holding it in the 34th
Infantry, and the position of quartermaster was given to the
officer holding it in the 11th Infantry. The
company officers were assigned so as to give as far as
possible the same brevet rank to a company throughout its
three officers. The non-commissioned staff of the 34th
was retained entire. |
On the 3d of March, the roster of the new regiment was as
follows:—
Colonel G. Pennypacker.
Lieut.-Col. Robert S. Granger.
Major William P. Carlin.
Captains Francis M. Cooley, Caleb R. Layton, James Kelly, Joshua
S. Fletcher, Jr., Duncan M. Vance, Arthur W. Allyn, Hugh A.,
Theaker, W. H Bartholomew, John Power, and W. G. Wedemeyer.
First Lieutenants Clayton Hale, William H. Clapp, Henry C. Ward,
Allen Almy, Merritt Barber (Adjutant), Evarts S. Ewing, Stephen K.
Mahon, Wallace W. Barrett, William H. Vinal, John McCoy, Charles
H. Noble, and William V. Richards (Quartermaster).
Second Lieutenants Fred Rosencrantz, George B. Pickett, John F.
Smith, T. W. Morrison, Charles Jordan, David P. Scott, George M.
Love, Stanley D. Humason, Samuel R. Whitall, and Isaac O. Shelby.
The new regiment thus formed was stationed at six different
posts, and was engaged in assisting the civil authorities in
carrying out the provisions of the reconstruction acts of
Congress. The headquarters of the regiment, with Companies D and L
were at Grenada, Miss.; the Lieut.Colonel, with Companies B, E and
G, were at Jackson, Miss.; the major, with C and F, at Vicksburg,
Miss.; A at Natchez, Miss.; H at Lauderdale, Miss.; and K at
Corinth, Tenn.
This
extensive scattering of the regiment at this time was unfortunate,
the two regiments coming together from distant parts of the country
and the officers being unacquainted with each other. This want of
personal knowledge of his regiment was felt more especially by the
colonel, and care was taken by the new commander to remedy and allay
any discordance that might exist. Frequent visits were made to all
the posts both by the colonel and his staff, and by reason of these
visits one of the chief disadvantages was in a short time overcome.
The company officers became thoroughly acquainted with the
headquarters of their regiment and an esprit de corps soon
commenced to show itself, which gives to the regiment to this day a
distinctive reputation. Probably there was no consolidation made at
this time where these results were so necessary and at the same time
so hard to obtain. The new colonel was the youngest in the army, an
appointment from civil life but of most distinguished record, while
the lieutenant-colonel and major were both old and distinguished
officers, graduates of West Point. Many of the company commanders
had seen as much service as the colonel, some having had as large
commands during the war, but all seemed imbued with the desire to
excel. The loyalty and regimental pride of Generals Granger and
Carlin were particularly admirable, and I know personally that it
was highly appreciated by their young commander.
END.
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