The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807Roosevelt, Theodore
History
The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807
Roosevelt, Theodore
Northwest, Old -- History; United States -- Territorial expansion; West (U.S.) -- History
The frontier people of the second generation in the West thus had no
military training whatever, and though they possessed a skeleton militia
organization, they derived no benefit from it, because their officers
were worthless, and the men had no idea of practising self-restraint or
of obeying orders longer than they saw fit. The frontiersmen were
personally brave, but their courage was entirely untrained, and being
unsupported by discipline, they were sure to be disheartened at a
repulse, to be distrustful of themselves and their leaders, and to be
unwilling to persevere in the face of danger and discouragement. They
were hardy, and physically strong, and they were good marksmen; but here
the list of their soldierly qualities was exhausted. They had to be put
through a severe course of training by some man like Jackson before they
became fit to contend on equal terms with regulars in the open or with
Indians in the woods. Their utter lack of discipline was decisive
against them at first in any contest with regulars. In warfare with the
Indians there were a very few of their number, men of exceptional
qualities as woodsmen, who could hold their own; but the average
frontiersman, though he did a good deal of hunting and possessed much
knowledge of woodcraft, was primarily a tiller of the soil and a feller
of trees, and he was necessarily at a disadvantage when pitted against
an antagonist whose entire life was passed in woodland chase and
woodland warfare. These facts must all be remembered if we wish to get
an intelligent explanation of the utter failure of the frontiersmen
when, in 1812, they were again pitted against the British and the forest
tribes. They must also be taken into account when we seek to explain why
it was possible but a little later to develop out of the frontiersmen
fighting armies which under competent generals could overmatch the red
coat and the Indian alike.
Individualism in Religious Matters.
The Great Revival.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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