— Ch. 1 · Founding And Early Structure —
United States Department of War.
~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
On the 7th of August 1789, Congress reestablished the War Department as a civilian agency to administer the field army under President George Washington. Retired senior General Henry Knox served as the first United States secretary of war while still in civilian life. The department began with only five positions: the secretary at war, an assistant, a secretary, and two clerks. Congress created several additional offices over the course of the 1790s including the major general, brigadier general, quartermaster general, chaplain, surgeon general, adjutant general, superintendent of military stores, paymaster general, judge advocate, inspector general, physician general, apothecary general, purveyor, and accountant. Forming and organizing the department and the army fell to Secretary Knox, while direct field command of the small Regular Army fell to President Washington. In 1798, Congress authorized President John Adams to create a second provisional army under the command of former president Washington in anticipation of the Quasi-War, but this army was never utilized. On the 8th of November 1800, the War Department building with its records and files was consumed by fire.
Civil War Expansion And Bureau Creation
During the American Civil War, the War Department responsibilities expanded to handle recruiting, training, supply, medical care, transportation and pay for two million soldiers. A separate command structure took charge of military operations during the conflict. In the late stages of the war, the department took charge of refugees and freedmen through the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. This bureau played a major role in supporting new Republican governments in southern states during Reconstruction. When military Reconstruction ended in 1877, the U.S. Army removed the last troops from military occupation of the American South. The Army comprised hundreds of small detachments in forts around the West dealing with Indians, and coastal artillery units in port cities dealing with naval attack threats. Secretary of War John C. Calhoun created the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824 which served as main agency within the War Department until 1849 when Congress transferred it to newly founded Department of Interior. The United States Military Academy at West Point and Army Corps of Engineers were established in 1802.