American Adaptation of French Warfare, 1848–1865
American Adaptation of French Warfare, 1848–1865
This chapter illustrates how the U.S. military adapted the French combat method into the army's intellectual framework, as the changes in technology had led to a reevaluation of the American system of tactics and general regulations in the 1850s. The War Department updated its tactical regulations to include the rifled musket and also authorized new general regulations that reintroduced sections concerning combat and battle. At West Point, Dennis Hart Mahan produced the first truly American work on the military art through the publication of his classic, Out-Post, which marked the beginning of a tradition of American military thought. The stage seemed set for another intellectual revolution, with its corresponding new paradigm of war. Yet the American officer corps remained committed to the French combat method and used it to integrate the new technology and military thought into the army's intellectual framework of the battlefield.
Keywords: intellectual framework, U.S. military, military technology, War Department, military art, intellectual revolution
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