Agents of Empire: The U.S. Military and Antebellum Expansion Notes

Chronology of the Pre-Civil War Military and Expansion ($1804-1854$)

• $1804-1805$: Lewis and Clark Expedition.

• $1805-1807$: Pike Expeditions.

• $1812-1814$: War of $1812$.

• $1815$: Battle of Waterloo.

• $1818-1819$: Long Expedition.

• $1829-1830$: USS Vincennes circumnavigates the globe.

• $1830$: Indian Removal Act.

• $1832$: Black Hawk War.

• $1835-1842$: Second Seminole War.

• $1836$: Texas Revolution; Creek War.

• $1838$: Cherokee Removal; Army Topographical Corps established.

• $1838-1842$: Wilkes Expedition.

• $1842-1846$: Fremont Expeditions.

• $1842$: Navy commissions first steam-powered vessels; Naval Observatory established.

• $1846-1848$: Mexican War.

• $1847-1849$: Dead Sea Expedition.

• $1851-1852$: Amazon Expedition.

• $1852-1854$: Perry Expedition to Japan.

Introduction: Growth, Technology, and the Role of the Military

• Territorial and Economic Expansion: From the early $1800s$ through the Civil War, the United States saw massive growth. This included the occupation of lands previously thought uninhabitable and lands belonging to native peoples. Key acquisitions included the Louisiana Territory, Oregon, Texas, and the Mexican Cession.

• The Market and Industrial Revolutions: Economic opportunities broadened through political reform and egalitarian values during the Age of Jackson. The industrial revolution altered labor patterns and increased the availability of material goods. New technology, such as the steam engine, revolutionized traditional practices.

• The Military as an Agent of Empire: Due to the protective nature of the oceans, the American military remained small and technologically behind. However, it performed non-military tasks that built its professional skill set. By the time of the Mexican War in $1846$, these non-traditional duties—such as exploration and science—had prepared the Army and Navy to be more effective than they were in $1812$.

• Constabulary vs. Professionalism: Internal duties like Indian removal and frontier garrison duty often functioned as a constabulary force rather than a formal military, frequently interfering with the pursuit of professional military science.

Army Exploration of the Western Interior

• The Lewis and Clark Expedition ($1804$): Known as the "Corps of Discovery," this was primarily a military operation. President Thomas Jefferson selected the Army because no other federal organization possessed the logistical capability, discipline, or resources for such an extended journey.

  • Objectives: To find a water route to the Pacific, record flora and fauna, make notes on native peoples, and map rivers/trade routes.

  • Leadership: Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark (given an informal brevet promotion to captain for co-command).

  • Outcome: They failed to find a water route to the Pacific (as none exists) but successfully returned to St. Louis after two years with only $1$ fatality. They introduced native tribes to the federal power and sent a signal of possession to the British, Russians, and Spanish.

• Zebulon Pike Expeditions ($1805-1806$):

  • $1805$: Pike searched for the source of the Mississippi River, mapping settlement sites and establishing relations with Indians to replace British influence. He failed to find the source or fully remove British trade presence.

  • $1806$: Pike entered Spanish borderlands (Colorado), where he and his men spent a difficult winter before being escorted by Spanish patrols to Santa Fe and Chihuahua. The Spanish confiscated his journals, and Pike later confirmed reports that the Great Plains were a "Great American Desert" unfit for cultivation.

• The Long Expedition ($1818-1819$): Led by Major Stephen H. Long and the Army Topographical Bureau. This scientific party included a botanist, geologist, zoologist, painter, and topographers. They climbed and measured Pike's Peak and discovered Long's Peak. Long's report solidified the "Great American Desert myth," arguing the Plains should serve as a barrier between the U.S. and Spanish frontiers.

• Bonneville and Walker ($1830s$): Captain B. L. E. Bonneville and Joseph Walker led $40$ men from the Great Salt Lake to California. While Bonneville lacked topographic precision, the expedition expanded Army knowledge of the Great Basin.

Professionalization and the Topographical Corps

• Establishment of the Army Topographical Corps ($1838$): Between $1838$ and $1863$, $72$ officers served as topographical engineers, $64$ of whom graduated from West Point. The Military Academy modified its curriculum to emphasize scientific training for exploration.

• John C. Fremont ("The Pathfinder"): A protégé of Senator Thomas Hart Benton.

  • First Expedition ($1842$): Reconnaissance to the Rockies, mapping South Pass and the Wind River Mountains. Despite losing notes when his India-rubber boat capsized in the Sweetwater River, his report spurred Oregon settlement fever.

  • Second Expedition ($1843-1844$): Focused on finding a central Rockies pass. Fremont traveled to Fort Vancouver, then south into California, crossing the Sierra Nevada at Carson Pass. His report dispelled the myth of the Buenaventura River and detailed western geography for emigrant trains.

  • Third Expedition ($1845$): Ostensibly for science, but strategically moved into California as tensions with Mexico rose. His path across the desert became the "Hastings Cutoff." In $1846$, after being ordered out of the Salinas Valley by Spanish authorities, he joined military operations against Mexico.

• Transcontinental Railroad Surveys ($1850s$): The Corps produced a $13-volume$ report on natural resources, topography, and biology, representing one of the most significant cartographic achievements before the Civil War.

Naval Expeditions and Global Trade

• Economic Drivers: The expansion of the whaling and sealing industries—the whaling fleet alone was valued at over $225 million$ with a $5 million$ annual industry—necessitated better charting of the Pacific and Antarctic.

• Early Successes:

  • The USS Vincennes ($1829-1830$) was the first American naval ship to circumnavigate the globe.

  • The USS Potomac stop at Sumatra marked the first American intervention in Asia.

• The United States Exploring Expedition ($1838-1842$): Led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. This expedition included four ships (Seagull, Flying Fish, Peacock, Porpoise) and the Vincennes.

  • Achievements: Wilkes surveyed over $280$ islands, sailed over $85,000$ thousand miles, and confirmed the existence of the Antarctic continent (mapping over $1,000$ miles of its coast, now called Wilkes Land).

  • Conflict: Wilkes killed over $50$ islanders in Fiji in retribution for the murder of two officers. Upon return, he was cleared of serious charges but convicted for $17$ counts of illegal punishment.

• Naval Modernization:

  • The Bureau System ($1842$): Replaced the Navy Board of Commissioners to mirror the Army's organization.

  • Steam Power: Congress funded the paddle-wheelers USS Mississippi and USS Missouri ($1842$) and the first screw-propeller warship, USS Princeton ($1841$).

  • Naval Observatory ($1842$): Directed by Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury, it became a center for professional education and oceanography.

• Amazon and Dead Sea Expeditions:

  • Lieutenant William F. Lynch explored the River Jordan and Dead Sea ($1847-1849$).

  • Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon and Lardner Gibbon explored the Amazon ($1851-1852$). Maury secretly instructed Herndon to look for land for slave plantations to preserve the Southern way of life.

Opening of Japan: Commodore Matthew Perry ($1852-1854$)

• Mission Goals: Commercial, diplomatic, and scientific. The U.S. feared British dominance in the Asian market. Perry, a veteran diplomat and commander of the East India squadron, led a fleet including the Susquehanna, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Mississippi.

• Treaty of Kanagawa ($March 31, 1854$):

  • Granted U.S. access to the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate.

  • Established an American consulate at Shimoda.

  • Gave Japan "most favored nation" trade status equivalent.

• Impact: The treaty was a success for the U.S. (Perry received a $20,000$ bonus), but it sparked a long civil war in Japan between isolationists and those open to Western contact that lasted until $1868$.

Questions & Discussion: Commodore Perry's Journal

Discussion Topic: The Burial of a Marine in Japan

• The Incident: In $March 1854$, Marine Private Robert Williams died just before a conference. The Japanese initially forbade burial on land, insisting the body be sent to Nagasaki.

• Perry's Strategy: Perry insisted on interment at Yokohama or "Websters Island" to establish an "American interest" in the land for future "ulterior objects."

• Resolution: The Japanese commissioners eventually relented, allowing the burial at Yokohama near a temple within view of the ships. An interpreter and a funeral party conducted the service according to the forms of the Episcopal Church. Perry noted that hospitality—the "breaking of bread"—was used to facilitate the negotiation.

Frontier Constabulary and Indian Affairs

• Army Role as Mediator: The Army was the primary agency for maintaining order between settlers and native peoples. Officers often acted as Indian agents in the absence of civilian officials.

• Officers' Perceptions of Indians: Military officers were generally "realists" rather than subscribers to the "noble-savage" myth.

  • Civilization Scale: Cherokees were viewed as most civilized; Plains Indians were respected for warrior skills but seen as uncivilized; Rocky Mountain/California tribes were placed at the bottom as "diggers and beggars."

  • Paternalism: Many officers, like Colonel Zachary Taylor, defended native rights against greedy settlers and traders, supporting assimilation and treaty enforcement.

• Legal Challenges: Officers frequently faced lawsuits for trying to stop the illegal liquor trade or for removing illegal white squatters. The American Fur Company held significant political power, making the Army's job difficult.

Indian Removal Policy and Regional Conflicts

• Black Hawk War ($1832$): Chief Black Hawk led a band of Sauk and Fox Indians back into Illinois. After the militia fled an initial attack, General Winfield Scott was ordered to intervene (though his forces were delayed by cholera). The war ended at the Battle of Bad Axe River, where regular troops killed over $300$ Indians, half of whom were women and children.

• Indian Removal Act ($1830$): President Andrew Jackson viewed removal as the only way to save tribes from extinction due to white encroachment.

  • Choctaw ($1830-1834$): Nearly $13,000$ moved to Indian Territory (west of Arkansas).

  • Creek War ($1836$): Triggered by white squatters and fraudulent land speculators. General Thomas S. Jesup and Winfield Scott subdued the Creeks; over $14,000$ were emigrated, with warriors chained during the journey.

  • Cherokee Removal ("Trail of Tears," $1838$): Despite advanced social structure and legal resistance, the Cherokee were forced into stockades by Georgia militia under President Martin Van Buren's orders. Over $4,000$ died in camps and during the trek west. Soldiers were accused of robbing, abusing, and raping the displaced.

• Total Impact: More than $45,000$ Native Americans were uprooted; the U.S. gained $100 million$ acres for $68 million$.

Frontier Defense Strategy

• The Cass Plan ($1836$): Secretary of War Lewis Cass argued for overawing Indians with a visible military presence. He proposed a military road from Fort Towson (Red River) to Fort Snelling (Upper Mississippi) to allow for the quick concentration of troops.

• Poinsett Plan: Replaced the north-south road idea with two lines of posts: an "exterior" line deep in Indian lands and an "interior" line near settlements, with reserves at Jefferson Barracks and Baton Rouge.

• Garrison Reality: While the Army recommended $30,000$ troops, Congress funded fewer than $10,000$. Defense policy was usually piecemeal, determined by local conditions, emigrant traffic, or the looming war with Mexico.