High Army Leadership in the Era of the War of 1812: The Making and Remaking of the Officer Corps

Winfield Scott's assessment, frequently cited by historians, is the standard view of American military leadership in the War of 1812 period. This chapter discusses the wartime officer corps to empirical analysis. It examines the social backgrounds and career patterns of the men who held general and field rank in the army between 1808 and 1815 it constructs a framework for understanding America's military performance in its first major war as a fully independent nation. The chapter focuses on the origins of the military profession in the early republic. The wartime officer corps contained its share of incompetents—the swaggerers, dependents, and decayed gentlemen of Scott's memory. The defeats and disappointments caused attrition from the officer corps, although the turnover was less extreme than might have been expected. Examination of the army's leadership in the Niagara campaign reveals the changing character of the officer corps.