In Chapter 2, Part 1, we see a newly-formed Canadian volunteer unit training. In short order, the timeline mocks the military pretensions of 'the middle-aged lieutenant drilling them – at 38, he was twice the age as most of his charges, and just as much of an amateur', noting that 'his father was a quartermaster in the Light Dragoons, so naturally Cherry thinks he is a natural-born soldier'. This suggestion is clearly belied by the lieutenant's effeminacy, as he runs across the field in 'little bounds' rebuking his men in a 'thin voice' with 'Gracious, what would Captain Croft say? Heavens, what would Colonel Denison say?' Clearly, the military life is only one for proper men, not those who study mathematics and natural philosophy. Even language professors are too effeminate for TFSmith's taste, as Joseph Chamberlain becomes 'a tall blonde' (presumably with the consent of his wife).
As the unit drills with antiquated P1842 muskets, we see the inadequacy of its training as it blunders through a basic left turn. Perhaps suggesting low academic standards at University College Toronto, one of the students turns right instead: this mistake actually fells two students and almost brings down four. The author takes the opportunity to remind us, in case we had not realised, that 'they were all tyros'. Later, in Chapter 3 part 1, we find that the rest of the volunteers are little better trained: an almost unhinged Wolseley screams at a Canadian officer about the fact that the volunteers have received 'a mere six or twelve days' annual training according to the arm of the service', a level which is clearly inadequate to prepare them for war. Moreover, we learn that 'muster rolls without men and organization are so much kindling'- only formed units with assigned men and officers, ready to take action rather than being hastily improvised, are useful in war.
In Chapter 3, part 2, we learn about the Union militia defending the border- the 8th Brigade of the 3rd New York State Militia Division. A more different picture could not be painted. They were 'the usual mix of boys and older married men, ranging from ardent amateurs spoiling for a fight to those reluctant about enlisting with the volunteers'. The brigade's commander, Henry A. Samson is a tannery owner - a suitably masculine profession, reinforced by his being 'a mountain of a man' with 'a businessman’s common sense'. No effeminate professors here!
When the British attack, the 10th New York State Militia pour 'musket and rifle fire' onto the storming party- the rifle fire presumably coming primarily from Company A, the Albany Zouave Cadets, which we are told had 'loaded Springfields' and 'blood in their eyes'. The 'best shot in the company,' Orderly Sergeant Benton, snipes the commander of the Royal Canadian Rifles. Though the British assault force turns and runs, the Union force is eventually defeated- but not before derailing Wolseley's carefully thought-out scheme.
This tableau is an elaborate scheme of misdirection, based on a healthy combination of suppressio veri and suggestio falsi. We are led to mock the amateurish Canadian officer and directed to presume that Samson is an adequate leader, yet even the history of the 20th New York State Militia admitted that Samson 'was a plain, uncultured man, and really knew very little of military tactics or science, and did not pretend to'. Moreover, contrary to the suggestions of physical strength given by his profession and his descripton as 'a mountain of a man', Samson had already refused active service because of physical infirmity.
The claim that the 10th New York State Militia had '155 riflemen and 40 infantry with muskets' is false: page 70 of the New York State Adjutant General's 1861 report shows them to have had 375 percussion muskets. Moreover, the feat which earned Sergeant Benton his status as 'best shot in the company' consisted of three rounds fired from a musket at one hundred yards: a risibly short distance, when at the same time even amateur British units were training at 500-750 yards. Yet we are encouraged to consider this as a great achievement, by describing Benton as the 'best shot' rather than the 'least worst shot'.
We are encouraged to believe that improvised formations are ineffective in the field. However, we are not told that the 8th Brigade is, itself, an improvised formation. The 10th NYSM was part of the 9th Brigade, not the 8th, which we were told had been relieved in January. However, there was only one regiment left in the 8th Brigade, as the 20th NYSM had already volunteered for three years service. This required TFSmith to botch together a command for Samson to take up, although- needless to say- the slight of hand is not brought to the reader's attention.
Moreover, both the 10th and the 21st were as short of officers as many of the Canadian sedentary militia battalions which TFSmith insists were unready for the field. Per p.195 of the 1861 report, the 10th was missing all three of its field officers and ten of its 32 company officers: Ira Ainsworth, who we are told was a major, was in fact the senior captain. As for the 21st, it is surprising to see Colonel John R. Cooper present with the battalion when Samson's report on p.119 of the 1861 report makes it clear that he had resigned to act as surgeon of the 5th New York Cavalry. Assuming his is the only name erroneously included in the roster on pp. 220-3, the regiment lacked two of its three field officers and twelve of its 39 company officers.
We are told that six days training was insufficient for the Canadian volunteers, but the 8th Brigade had never received six days training in a year. In 1859, the inspector's report on pp.60-1 shows the 20th recieved three days battalion training and the 21st four. In 1860, pp.83-5 shows that the 20th Regiment had four days and the 21st a single day's parade- pp.64-5 includes Samson's protest that the payment to the 20th had required 'waiving all claims for the services of 1859' and the 21st had been prevented from encamping for lack of funds. In 1861, on pp.118-9, Samson was forced to announce that he had no idea whether his battalions had trained during the year as his commanders had failed to provide the proper reports. It is unclear what training the 10th NYSM had received, as the 9th Brigade did not report in any of the three years given.
The fundamental bias of the timeline is shown in its phrasing. Canadian volunteers are 'tyros'; Union ones are 'ardent amateurs'. Implicit praise is present in his suggestion that volunteers with the 10th NYSM 'carried what they had brought from home, a mix of hunting rifles and shotguns', yet elsewhere he compares calling out the Canadian sedentary militia 'calling out the posse, and hoping they showed'. And even those New Yorkers 'reluctant about enlisting with the volunteers' and facing other manly Americans on the field of combat are still prepared to face the idiotic British and their effete Canadian allies.
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