Brief History of Army MI - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

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A GUIDE TO STUDYING HISTORY AT FORT HUACHUCAA Brief History of U.S. Army IntelligenceThe American Revolution wasone of the great upsets of history. Asmall colonial force, made upmostly of militia, eventually defeatedthe splendid disciplined ranksof the professional British Army,with a grateful nod to French navalpower. It was a vision that shapedthe American Army over the centuriesto come. The ideas of freedomand democracy would cloak theAmericans in invulnerability. Nolarge standing professional armywould be needed. The Britishexperience had taught America thatregular armies were engines ofoppression. Instead they woulddepend upon their militia. Whendangers reared, determined Americanmales would pull their huntingrifles off the wall and they wouldprevail.This anti-standing-Army attitudewould inhibit the growth of the U.S.Army and retard the development ofprofessionalism in its ranks. But itwould also shape its character, callinginto play in all of its wars the qualitiesof resourcefulness and ingenuity.These characteristics would be especiallyapparent in the field of militaryintelligence, which was forced to reinventitself in every campaign. Whilethe British Army formed a Departmentof Military Knowledge as earlyas 1803 to collect terrain and Order2Call (520) 533-3638, DSN 821-3638, FAX (520) 533-5736.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF U.S. ARMY MILITARY INTELLIGENCEof Battle information on potentialfoes, no such organization existed inthe U.S. Army until 1885, and thenit was on an insignificant scale.The Revolutionary War, with theappearance of the Continental Armyin 1775, is thought to be the beginningof American military history,even though many of its key participantswere seasoned in the French andIndian War. It was that earlier war onthe North American continent thatgave the American Army its uniquepersonality, its hardy resourcefulness,its frontiersman’s distaste for authority,and its irregular way of fighting,even though it rested solidly on Englishmilitary traditions.The Revolutionary War was oneof generalship, tremendous courageand suffering, and, not surprisingly,military intelligence. Because it wasimpossible to know where one’s sympathieslie, it was also difficult toknow whom to trust. Spies were everywhereon both sides. GeneralGeorge Washington relied heavilyupon the use of spies and his ledgersshow that he spent $17,000 on hisnetwork of paid informants. To safeguardsecurity, Washington wouldnot reveal the identity of these menand this secrecy became the subject ofthe novel The Spies by James FenimoreCooper.The year 1776 appears on theArmy’s military intelligence emblem,a reference to the formation ofKnowlton’s Rangers as a recon andintelligence unit during the AmericanRevolution. Realizing how blind hewas to the British movements aroundNew York, General George Washingtoninstructed Lt. Col. ThomasKnowlton, another experienced veteranof the French-Indian war, tohandpick a company of volunteers toscout British positions and gather intelligenceon their movements andintentions.It was from the ranks ofKnowlton’s Rangers that CaptainNathan Hale stepped to undertake anespionage mission, one that wouldultimately result in his capture andpresent him the opportunity to declarewhile standing on the Britishgallows, “I regret that I have but onelive to give for my country.”No lesser fate was handed downto Knowlton and his Rangers. Theintrepid colonel had been killed in actionon 16 September and his companywas decimated in the battle. Thiswas not an auspicious beginning forU.S. Army intelligence. But therewould be some important triumphsin the months and years to come, aswell as some unforgivable tragedies.Major Benjamin Tallmadge, a Yaleclassmate of Captain Nathan Haleand an officer in the Second ConnecticutDragoons, was a veteran of somehard fighting at Long Island, WhitePlains, Brandywine, Germantownand Monmouth. The former Connecticuthigh school superintendentwould be charged with superintendinga network of spies in and aroundhis native Long Island. Tallmadge alsohad a hand in counterintelligence efforts,exploiting the capture of theBritish operative Major John Andrewhich led to the exposure of BenedictArnold as a turncoat and spy.The Culper Ring was the bestknown net run by Tallmadge, withample direction and advice from GeneralWashington. In this role he wasseen as a proto-G2, serving the commander.But, as several historians ofthis period are quick to point out,Washington acted as his own intelligenceofficer, never relinquishing controlof intelligence operations and alwaysplacing the gathering of informationabout the enemy uppermostin his command priorities.Washington was not only aspymaster but a master of deceptionoperations, the most striking of whichwas the battle of Yorktown where theBritish were frozen in their vulnerablepositions by an ingenious campaignof misinformation. The AmericanRevolution was a laboratory for rudimentaryintelligence gathering and itwas given form and purpose by theCommander in Chief of the Americanforces himself. General Washingtonis eminently quotable on the subjectof the importance of good intelligence.However, for all of Washington’semphasis on intelligence in the newbornAmerican Army, after the war’send in 1783 no intelligence organizationhad been institutionalized andthat discipline would be largely ignoredover the next century.The explorations of men likeCaptain Meriweather Lewis and SecondLieutenant William Clark in1804 up the Missouri River and thereconnaissance of First LieutenantZebulon M. Pike into Colorado andNew Mexico in 1806 can rightly beseen as intelligence operations as theirobject was the acquisition of informationabout unknown terrain. Butthey were peacetime efforts by adventuroussoldiers.It would take the War of 1812 toremind the amateur American Armythat intelligence was a function ofwarfare that could not be ignoredwithout deadly consequences. InAugust Colonel William Hull surrenderedDetroit to the British, havingfallen victim to their clever misrepresentationsof their strength. TragicWrite Fort Huachuca Museums; U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca; ATTN: ATZS-PAM; Fort Huachuca, AZ 85613-6000.3
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Brief History of Army MI - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

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