Army Organization Quotes
From the beginning, the issue of whether the country should have a standing army or depend on the militia and the citizen soldier has been controversial. There is a , romantic American myth about the Militiamen in Colonial and Revolutionary America—the citizen soldiers who would leave their farms and rise to the military necessity of the day. However, not only were the militia very hard to muster to duty, but most actually didn’t own or have experience with firearms, and the prevailing opinion of knowledgeable military leaders from George Washington on down was that the militia were not very good soldiers. See {613015}, {613016}, {613022}, {613027}, {621987}, {621988}, {613030}, {613033}, & {613056}
Rush ran the hospitals for the Revolutionary Army and talked to many officers and enlisted men, and also observed much of the British military practices. This is a fascinating quotation because it discusses a problem of the early American Military which has been a constant throughout history: Generals and Admirals using soldiers and sailors as personal servants and retinue. While there have been Generals like Horatio Gates, Omar Bradley and Dwight D, Eisenhower and others of every era who did not take advantage of their power to obtain this personal aggrandizement, many have and continue to use their position to obtain personal perks.
Gates had been assigned to take over command of the Southern Department which was a total mess with no provisions or money. He took over from General Lincoln {49731} who had failed for lack of resources and support and then Gates’s career was almost destroyed by the same problem.
