The Alleged Isolation of US Army Officers in the Late 19th Century

Many scholars believe that the American Army in the late-19th century was isolated from the society which it served. Russell F. Weigley, for example, has characterized the period from 1865 to 1898 as “years of physical isolation on the frontier and deeper isolation from the main currents of American life.” More recently, Robert Utley observes that “Sherman’s frontier regulars endured not only the physical isolation of service at remote posts,” but also an isolation “in attitudes, interests, and spirit from other institutions of government and society and, indeed, from the American people themselves.” In a study of the 1906 occupation of Cuba, Allan Millett speaks of the Army as a “semicloistered” institution that had “remained outside the main stream of civil life.” One may easily find similar statements drawing attention to the isolation of the Army and its officers in the work of other authors. ¹ In fact, the notion of isolation has become a cliche, passed on uncritically from writer to writer.