a comparison of hardees versus uptons tactics

[ChrisM(armyguy)]

http://home.att.net/~Rebmus/Uptons.htm, thiss webpage posts an interesting comparison between the two schools. My thinking is that since uptons was written shortly after the war(1866) and his own innovative tactics at spotyslvania; what if any of his measures could be adopted that by common sense might have been used in a later war impression?



chris mattingly

[markj]

Re: a comparison of hardees versus uptons tactics

Hi,

I have discussed the development of Upton's tactical system in passing in a previous article I wrote for the "Watchdog."

Based on an 1880's biography of Upton written shortly after his suicide, Stephen Ambrose's 1964 biography, and several items in the "United States Army & Navy Journal," it appears that Upton began developing his new tactics at least as early as Spring 1864 and was demonstrating elements of it by the following September. Upton seems to have finished the manuscript for his new manual by around February 1866 and was instructing the West Point Corps of Cadets in his system no later than the following July--a full year before it was formally adopted by the War Department.

Upton's system was not the only contender to replace "Casey": units of the National Guard, State of New York (NGSNY), the largest state militia organization in existence after the war (reportedly over 50,000 members) also evaluated "Morris' Tactics," which, while similar to "Casey," were simplified and more practical for field use:

Field tactics for infantry:
comprising the battalion movements and brigade evolutions, useful in the field, on the march, and in the presence of the enemy.
William Hopkins Morris

1864
English Book 146 p. diagrs. 16 cm.
New York, D. Van Nostrand; [etc., etc.]

Infantry tactics:
comprising the school of the soldier; school of the company; instruction for skirmishers; school of the battalion; evolutions of the brigade; and directions for manoeuvring the division, and the corps d'armée.
William Hopkins Morris

1865
English Book 2 v. front., illus. (incl. music) diagrs. 14 cm.
New York, D. Van Nostrand; [etc.,etc.]

Dom Dal Bello references "Morris" in "PIE" and uses a later (1874) edition of "Upton" (the first edition came out in 1867 and was a "transitional manual" in that it heavily borrowed from "Casey" while incorporating Upton's own techniques). I own an original copy of the 1872 printing, which is identical to the 1867 manual.

Upton's system was generally considered superior and was heavily touted and analyzed in the "Army & Navy Journal." Indeed, the influence of the "Journal" (published in New York) cannot be underestimated since it's almost certain that the Journal's "thumbs-up" was a primary reason why the State of New York adopted Upton's system on in August 1867--only three weeks after the War Department did so!

Regards,

Mark Jaeger