Author: Upton, Emory, Bvt. Major-General
Title: Tactics for non-military bodies, adapted to the instruction of political associations, police forces, fire organizations, masonic, odd-fellows, and other civic societies
Publication: New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1870
Description: First edition, 16mo, pp. 160; 16 plates (on 15 leaves), tipped in advertisement printed on yellow paper at the front for Upton's New System of Infantry Tactics (upon which this manual for organizing civic processions and parades is based), 25 pages of printed music at the back for drum and bugle calls; original brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine; spine slightly sunned, else very good. A West Point graduate and an abolitionist, Upton had a distinguished record in the Civil War. One scholar has commented, "As a commander in all three branches of the army (artillery, infantry, and cavalry), Upton has seldom, if ever, had his record equaled" (quoted in American National Biography Online). After the war he became an instructor at the U.S. Military Academy. Upton was at West Point in 1866-1867, instructing cadets and working on his new tactics. In 1867 his Infantry Tactics, based on American, not French, experience and designed for the firepower of rifled breechloaders, was adopted by the U.S. Army and "hailed as the greatest single advance in tactical instruction since the work of General Steuben (Friedrich von Steuben) during the Revolution" (Williams, [Americans at War: The Development of the American Military System (1960)], p. 91).-ANB Online. Upton was a strong advocate of a professional military, a politically unpopular idea after the Civil War. But his influence continued even after his death in 1881. Upton's influence continued in the officer corps, where his unfinished Military Policy was read in manuscript. In 1899 Elihu Root became Secretary of War, and his reforms relied heavily on Upton's work. Root's War Department published posthumously Upton's Military Policy, the best and most influential case for a professional army as the primary means of defense. In the First World War, the army was basically organized as Upton recommended. Elements of his tactics remained influential, as did his example of dedication. Upton is the subject of a fine biography by Stephen Ambrose, Upton and the Army (1964).
Seller ID: 55104
Subject: Americana, Military