Enlistments in the Federal army during the Civil War numbered 2,898,304, including re-enlistments. The number in service at one time was probably but little over 1,500,000. Estimates of the men in Confederate service vary from 700,000 to 885,000. Reduction on the usual scale in the Regular army was impossible after the Civil War because of the large number of troops (about 19,000) stationed in the South to support the military governments of the Reconstruction period, because of the threat of Maximillian in Mexico which sent Sheridan to the border with a large command, and because of increased Indian outbreaks in the West during the Civil War and immediately afterward. The Act of 1866 provided for a Regular army of 54,000 men paper strength. The actual strength was 38,540 men which decreased until in 1878 the effec tive strength was less than 20,000 men. The force was well trained, however, because it saw almost constant service against the In dians in the West. At the beginning of 1896 the army numbered slightly less than 25,00o men, the smallest force in proportion to population since the Revolutionary War. Calls for volunteers in the Spanish-American War increased the army to 216,029 men on Aug. 31, 1898, its highest total. An Act in 1899 authorized the President to keep the strength of the Regular army at a maximum of 65,000, and in 1901 the maximum was raised to roo,000. The problem of administering the newly acquired overseas possessions called for this increase. By 1904, however, the Regular Army had dwindled to 59,000 men, and in 1907 it numbered 62,398. In 1903, urged by the then Secretary of War, Mr. Elihu Root, Con gress passed a law establishing a General Staff Corps made up of line officers detailed for periods of four years' service. (X.) History Since 1910.-On Feb. 27, 1911, Congress, besides making certain adjustments and staff increases, added 200 line officers to the regular army in order to meet the demands of the National Guard for instructors. On Aug. 24, 1912, it passed an act commonly known as the "Manchu law" which required line officers to serve two years out of every six with troops. On April 27, 1914, it voted $250,000 for aircraft and on July 18, authorized an aviation section of the Signal Corps which was to have a maximum strength of 6o officers and 26o enlisted men.
From the aspect of the World War while it was confined to the Eastern hemisphere and under the pressure of disturbances arising from Mexico, on whose border the entire stock of military aero planes of the United States proper was speedily consumed, the Government gradually realized the necessity of military upbuild ing. On June 3, 1916 it passed a National Defence act which pro vided an increase of the regular army from a war maximum of 128,653 to one of 287,846; organized the army of the United States into the regular army, volunteer army, officers' reserve corps, en listed reserve corps and the National Guard while in the service of the United States; limited the number of enlisted men of the line to 175,00o; proportioned the regular army into 65 regiments of infantry, 25 of cavalry, 21 of field artillery, seven of engineers, a coast artillery corps, two battalions of mounted engineers and other corps and bureaux of the War Department ; defined the organization of a division to be three brigades of three regiments each, with auxiliary troops; made the term of enlistment seven years, three with the colours and four with the reserve ; raised the aviation section of the Signal Corps to 148 officers ; inaugurated vocational training ; and federalized the National Guard by caus ing each member to take a new oath, which bound him to the will of the President as well as to State authority. The increased
strength thus provided was, however, restricted in point of time by its division into five annual increments. Aug. 29, 1916, another act created a Council of National Defence, composed of the secre taries of war, navy, interior, agriculture, commerce and labour, for the "co-ordination of resources for the national security." Mexico.-When on March 9, 1916, the Mexican bandit, Pancho Villa, with about 1,500 men, killed 18 Americans and wounded many others in an attack on Columbus, N.M., units of the regular army and National Guard were concentrated along the border and Brig.-gen. J. J. Pershing was sent into Mexico proper at the head of a punitive expedition of two brigades of cavalry and one of infantry. After 12 minor engagements, Pershing's provisional division was brought north of the Rio Grande and later the Na tional Guard organizations were ordered to their respective States (Feb. 1917). These activities revealed concretely an inability to mobilize readily, an utter lack of aeroplanes and many deficiencies in staff-work, transportation and supplies. The concentration, extending approximately a year, afforded providential means of field training for the National Guard and machine-gun practice and manoeuvres for the regular army. Altogether the blow aimed by Villa against the United States proved to be an impetus toward preparation for the part America was soon to play.