The U.S. Army is in the midst of transformation. General Eric Shinseki began the transformation effort in 1999, when he unveiled his vision for the U.S. Army in the twenty-first century. This vision included the need to provide greater agility and versatility on the battlefield without a loss of lethality or survivability. This transformation will affect not only infrastructure and materiel, but people too. It will require additional leadership skills. Leaders must focus on how best to lead soldiers through a period of change and uncertainty, how to encourage the best and the brightest to...

This work is a historical analysis of Major General James Negley and his division during the Battle of Chickamauga. An examination of Negley, his actions, his major subordinate commanders, and the regiments of the division was conducted to provide a base with which to evaluate the principals during the Chickamauga Campaign of 1863. On 19 September, the division fought well as, and served to arrest a Confederate penetration of the Federal lines. The division was piecemealed into the fight on 20 September by brigade, and regiments. Negley ended up commanding fifty Federal artillery pieces on...

Much has been written about the Confederate armies during the American Civil War. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia has gotten most of the attention of historians and writers over the years. There are several reasons for this. The Army of Northern Virginia has been identified with the Confederacy's effort for independence. Lee's army was much more successful on the battlefield than any other Confederate force. Its battles were fought near the capitals of both the North and the South, thus getting most of the attention and writing of both sides during the war. Much of the...

The work of this study is that the Continental artillery in the American Revolution, despite its ad hoc beginning and wartime challenges, gradually developed into a professional organization by the end of the war. Rather than operational history of the organization, its focus is on the growth of the organization over time, in terms of its cultural beginnings, its doctrinal development, and the leadership and career paths of some of its middle ranking leaders. The first chapter lays out the structural framework and statutory authorizations for the organization. The second chapter describes its...

Many aspects of counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in today's contemporary operating environment suggest historical review of previous COIN experiences can provide critical insight. Such reviews tend to fail to be incorporated into doctrine as time and era change reduced the perceived relevance of previous experiences. Development of COIN doctrine requires a detailed study of available insurgency experiences to enable the U.S. military to apply the crucial principles of COIN to current threat models. An example of an army which struggled to develop COIN doctrine as it combated an insurgency...

The French Foreign Legion is an integral part of the recently professionalized French regular army, yet outside of Europe and Asia, the organization remains an obscure and sometimes misunderstood entity with even some American military officers unaware of its existence. Many believed the Legion went the way of French imperialism after the country's defeat in the Algerian War in 1962. In those post-war years, however, the Legion shed its mercenary image through reorganization and real world operations and quietly rebuilt itself into a ready and relevant fighting force. This book summarizes the...

During the Civil War, the Confederate government passed legislation creating a national military academy and establishing the rank of Cadet. The national military college was unnecessary because the Confederacy already possessed numerous state military colleges. However, the Confederate government failed to properly engage these individual state schools by providing curriculum recommendations or commissioning their graduates. This shortsighted and domineering attitude by the Confederate government ensured that the military colleges failed in their mission to produce a large number of officers...

Over one hundred and eighty thousand black men fought for the Union during America's Civil War. From infantrymen, to artillerist and cavalry soldiers, these soldiers combined to form one hundred and sixty-six Union regiments. On 29 October 1862 at Island Mound, Missouri, the First Kansas Colored Volunteers, an infantry regiment comprised mainly of blacks from Kansas and Missouri, became the first black regiment to experience combat during the Civil War. Their courage and outstanding performance in battle, as recorded, are unquestioned. What have been omitted from research thus far are their...

Since 2007, when President Felipe Calderon declared his government's war on the drug trafficking organizations operating in his country, the level of narcotics related violence has increased dramatically. The violence, which had been largely confined to factions of the cartels, now threatens every citizen and is devastating the economy of the border region. This work evaluates the impact of Mexican drug cartels on the stability of the Mexican State and on the security of the U.S. The primary conclusion drawn is that the Mexican state is unlikely to fail as state failure is defined, but the...

The construction of a US-Mexico border fence has proved an increasingly divisive method for securing the southern US border since its initial construction as the San Diego Fence in 1990. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 the construction of a US-Mexico border fence has morphed from a method to stem the tide of illegal immigration from Mexico into a legislated method to prevent the entrance of terrorists. All terrorists except two have gained entrance into the US through manipulation of the US immigration system. Those two exceptions crossed the US-Canada border. This work...