The U.S. Army was officially established on June 14, 1775. George
Washington (1732–1799) was commander in chief of the first national
army, which included around 8,000 men. In October 1776, Congress
voted to increase the army to include 88 battalions of infantry, or 60,000
men, each of whom would serve for three years, or if they enlisted during wartime, for the duration of the war. Two months later, Congress
voted to establish 22 more battalions, for a total of 110. There were approximately 75,000 soldiers in the Continental army until 1781, when
Congress reduced the number of battalions to 59, a more realistic and
manageable number.
The original army consisted mainly of infantry (foot soldiers) and
artillery, but it also had a small cavalry (mounted soldiers), a small corps
of engineers, and a few maintenance personnel to repair and maintain
equipment. The army disbanded almost completely after the American
Revolution (1775–83), but some remained to help protect the frontier
settlements.
The army has participated in every war in U.S. history since the
Revolution. After the War of 1812 (1812–15), Secretary of War John
C. Calhoun (1782–1850) established a peacetime army that remained
intact until the start of the Mexican-American War (1846–48). In
1820, that army included about ten thousand troops, but it reduced its
ranks by half later that year and maintained that level until 1835, with
intermittent increases to total up to twelve thousand men.
The Spanish-American War (1898) was the first overseas war for
the U.S. Army. By the end of the war, more than 274,000 men had
joined the army, but most of them never left their training camps in the
United States. After the war, the Army War College was founded and the
school system modernized. Between 1900 and 1916, the army numbered from 65,000 to 108,000 officers and soldiers. Their duties extended overseas and included building the Panama Canal from 1907 to
1914.
In 1903, the army recognized the National Guard as part of its ranks
during emergencies; in 1916, the National Defense Act added a reserve
corps and began to provide officer training in colleges.
World wars
Even with the reforms in place, the army was not ready when World War
I (1914–18) began. The government implemented the selective service
system, or draft, by which all young men had to register, and if their
names were chosen by lottery, they had to join the military. Some were
exempted because of physical or mental illness, but healthy men who
were called to duty had to serve. Within eighteen months, the army grew
from 210,000 to 3,685,000.
The draft was used again during World War II (1939–45).
Numbers reached a peak of around 8.3 million officers and men during
the war, 5 million of whom were deployed overseas to fight. The army
was divided into three commands: Army Air Forces, Army Ground
Forces, and Army Service Forces. The Air Force eventually became its own independent military branch; the service forces were responsible for
keeping operations running smoothly on the homefront.
After the war, the United States gained new ground in world affairs,
and with it, added responsibility. A peacetime draft was enacted, and for
most of the next twenty-eight years the army was comprised of both volunteers and draftees. During the Korean War (1950–53), the army was
desegregated, and soldiers all were given equal opportunity for advancement. Before this time, although African Americans had served in the
army since the Civil War, they always had been grouped into units separate from whites, and were never promoted to officer levels.
The draft continued almost through the Vietnam War (1954–75);
it ended on July 1, 1973, when American troops withdrew from combat.
The army once again became voluntary, and it remained so in the
twenty-first century.
War in Afghanistan and Iraq
The Army participated in wars during the twenty-first century. The
United States attacked Afghanistan in October 2001 in response to alQaeda’s involvement in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on
U.S. soil. In 2008, that war was still in progress. In March 2003, a coalition of troops led by the United States invaded Iraq. (See Iraq Invasion.)
Peacetime activities
The army has served the nation in peacetime, too. During the nineteenth century, soldiers helped survey the lands for the transcontinental
railroad lines, keep peace during Reconstruction (the time of rebuilding
in the South after the Civil War), and explore the West. Army doctors
have contributed to the advancement of modern medicine, and in times
of natural disaster, army personnel provide assistance to victims.