Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-300- A Historical Analysis of Cadre
3.1—THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
The impetus for resurrecting the debate about cadre forces was the Spanish-
American War. When the battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor, there were a total of
28,747 officers and men in the United States Regular Army. 96 This army was not large
enough to fight the Spanish who had nearly 80,000 soldiers in Cuba. 97 In response, Congress
authorized the president to increase the size of the army by mobilizing the militia in the
Volunteer Act of 1898. 98 The Volunteer Act addressed two of the problems with the militia
by enlisting militiamen as individuals rather than units so they could be used overseas and by
specifying two-year enlistments. However, many of the militia policies criticized by Emory
Upton remained in place.
The Spanish-American War highlighted two major problems with the militia. First,
many militia units refused to “volunteer” for service. This was exemplified by the 7 th
Regiment of New York, which refused to “merge its identity in a Federal army run by ‘West
Point martinets.’” 99 The second issue was the condition of those militia units that did
volunteer. Millis argues that “they were untrained, ill-equipped, sometimes without proper
clothing and even without shoes; none had modern weapons and they were wretchedly
deficient in the simplest skills of military life” and equally important “their officers were
seldom competent.” 100 Only two regiments from the militia ever saw significant action in the
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96 This was equivalent to 39 troops on active duty per 100,000 residents. This was significantly lower than the
average peacetime size of the army during the 19 th century (64 troops per 100,000 residents). [U.S. Census
Bureau (1975), p. 1140-1143 and U.S. Census Bureau (2002), p. A-1]
97 Weigley (1984), p. 295
98 United States Congress (1898)
99 Millis (1956), p. 174
100 Millis (1956), p. 174