detachments to guard stores at Fort Pitt and West 

 Point; then, in order to secure the frontier against 

 Indian unrest, it immediately authorized a regiment 

 to be raised from the miUtia of four of the States to 

 comprise eight companies of infantry and two of 

 artillery.^ This unit, called the First American Regi- 

 ment, gradually turned into a regular organization. 



The failure of an expedition commanded by 

 Col. Josiah Harmar of the First American Regi- 

 ment against the Indians in 1790 awakened the Con- 

 gress son^what to the threat in the Northwest and 

 resulted in the organization of another infantry regi- 

 ment, which was designated the 2d Infantry Regiment; 

 the First American Regiment was redesignated the 

 "1st".* Trouble with the Indians continued, and 

 after another Severe reverse Congress authorized the 

 raising of three additional infantry regiments and, at 

 the same time, empowered the President to organize 

 the Army as he might see fit.' 



Under this discretionary power, the Army was re- 

 organized into the Legion of the United States. 

 This was a field army in which the three combat 

 branches — infantry, cavalry, and artillery — were com- 

 bined. The Legion was in turn broken down into 

 four sublegions, with each containing infantry, 

 cavalry, artillery, and riflemen; thus, the sublegions 

 were the fore-runners of the modern combined arms 

 team. The 1st and 2d Infantries became the 1st and 

 2d Sublegions. Of the three additional infantry 

 regiments authorized, only two were organized, 

 these becoming the 3d and 4th Sublegions.* Under 

 the forceful leadership of Gen. Anthony Wayne the 

 Legion reversed the record on the frontier and de- 

 cisively defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen 

 Timbers. The temporary peace which followed 

 turned attention to the problem of protecting the 

 Atlantic seaboard, and in 1794 Congress authorized a 

 large increase in the artillery, assigned engineer 

 officers, and designated the new organization the 

 Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.' The Legion was 

 continued until it was replaced in 1796 by the 1st, 

 2d, 3d, and 4th Infantry Regiments, which were 

 constituted from the four sublegions, two troops of 

 light dragoons, and the above-mentioned Corps. ■" 



The threat of war with France in 1798 brought 

 further expansions. In April of that year an "addi- 

 tional regiment" of artillerists and engineers was 

 authorized, with the Corps created in 1794 becoming 

 the 1st and the new unit being designated the 2d 

 Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers." In the 

 following July, 1 2 more regiments of infantry and 6 

 troops of light dragoons — to be combined with the 

 two troops in existence to form a regiment — were 

 authorized; an additional 24 regiments of infantry, 

 plus units of other arms, authorized the following 

 winter made a, total of 40 regiments of infantry.'- 

 Actually, the greatest part of this force remained on 

 paper. Only the 1st and 2d Infantries ever attained 

 their required strength, and only 3,400 men were 

 enlisted for the 5th through the 16th. There were no 

 enlistments at all for the other regiments. Officers 

 were assigned to the six troops of light dragoons, but 

 no enlisted personnel were raised and no horses were 

 bought." 



More quickly than it had arisen, the threat of a 

 war with France abated. Early in 1800 action was 

 suspended under the two acts creating the paper 

 regiments, and the Army was reduced to the reg- 

 ular establishment of four regiments of infantry, two 

 regiments of artillerists and engineers, and two troops 

 of light dragoons.'^ Two years later the antipathy 

 of the new Jefferson administration to a standing 

 army further reduced this establishment to two 

 regiments of infantry and one of artillery. The 

 Corps of Artillerists and Engineers was abolished; 

 a Corps of Engineers was organized to be stationed 

 at West Point and "constitute a military academy"; 

 and the light dragoons were disbanded.'^ 



The Jeffersonian theories regarding a strong militia 

 and a small professional army were rudely shaken in 

 1 807 by the Chesapeake-Leopard affair. With war seem- 

 ing imminent, Congress added to the Regular Estab- 

 lishment, though cautiously "for a limited time," five 

 regiments of infantry, one regiment of riflemen, one of 

 light artillery, and one of light dragoons. The new 

 regiments of infantry were numbered the 3d through 



^Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 27, p. 524; also, 

 Upton, p. 69. 

 « Act of March 3, 1791 {Military Laws, pp. 90-91). 

 ' Act of March 5, 1792 {Military Laws, pp. 92-94). 

 * American State Papers, pp. 40-41 . 

 » Act of May 9, 1794 {Military Laws, p. 104). 

 '0 Act of May 30, 1796 {Military Laws, p. 114). 



" Act of April 27, 1798 {Military Laws, pp. 119-120). 



i=.\cts of July 16, 1798, and March 2, 1799 {Military Laws, 

 pp. 127-128). 



" Ameucan State Papers, p. 137. 



" Acts of February 20 and May 14, 1800 {Military Laws, pp. 

 139, 141); also, American Stale Papers, p. 139. 



's .^ct of March 16, 1802 {Military Laws, pp. 141-149). 



