Emory Upton

Home > Social Sciences and the Law > Political Science and Government > Military Affairs (nonnaval)

Upton, Emory (1838–1881), Civil War general, military educator and reformer. Emory Upton, born in Batavia, New York, graduated eighth in the U.S. Military Academy's Class of May 1861. In four years, during the Civil War, he rose from second lieutenant to brevet (temporary) major general. First commanding a Regular Army artillery battery and later serving as divisional chief of artillery, he became colonel of the 121st New York Infantry in October 1862. Upton won special distinction at Spotsylvania on 10 May 1864 when his twelve‐regiment assaulting column successfully pierced the Confederate salient, the deployment offering an alternative to traditional and costly linear tactics; he won promotion to brigadier general two days later. After recovering from a wound suffered in September 1864, Upton actively led a cavalry division at war's end.

After the war, Upton became an articulate advocate of military efficiency and effectiveness. He drew upon his own broad experience to begin substantial revisions of the army's infantry, cavalry, and artillery tactics, an ambitious and contentious effort he continued to supervise while commandant of cadets at West Point (1870–75). The protégé of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, he went on a multinational tour of military establishments and published his observations in The Armies of Asia and Europe (1878), in part to suggest ways in which organizational and personnel reforms might create a more professional U.S. army.

As superintendent of the Artillery School at Fort Monroe (1877–80), Upton introduced combined arms training and theory‐based case studies to add intellectual rigor to its limited practical curriculum. His institution became the model for advanced officer education throughout the army. Years after Upton committed suicide in March 1881 (the reasons for which remain uncertain) the reformist secretary of war Elihu Root published Upton's most enduring work, The Military Policy of the United States (1904), a treatise that challenged contemporary notions of the “minuteman tradition,” arguing instead for a professional army, headed by a General Staff, to be the proper foundation for national defense.
[See also Academies, Service; Army Combat Branches; Militia and National Guard.]

Bibliography

Peter S. Michie , The Life and Letters of Emory Upton, 1885.
Stephen E. Ambrose , Upton and the Army, 1964.

Carol Reardon

Upton, Emory (1839–1881) U.S. army officer, military intellectual, and reformer. Born near Batavia, New York, on August 27, 1839, Upton attended Oberlin College (1854–1856) before entering West Point from which he was graduated and commissioned in the artillery in 1861. He quickly rose to command an artillery brigade in the Peninsular Campaign and at Antietam in 1862. In October 1862, he obtained the colonelcy of the 121st New York Infantry, and by July 1863 had become a brigade commander, serving in all the major battles in the East. A tactical innovator, Upton devised new tactics by which his troops penetrated the Confederate trench works at Spotsylvania (1864). He was subsequently promoted to brigadier general, led troops at Cold Harbor (1864), and was seriously wounded while commanding a division of the VI Corps in the Shenandoah Valley in July 1864. He returned to active duty in December 1864 as a major general assigned to command a cavalry division in the western theater, participating in the taking of Selma, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia. Having commanded forces in all three arms (artillery, infantry, and cavalry), after the Civil War Upton interested himself in military reform and the study of military history and the art of war. In 1867, he published A New System of Infantry Tactics, which became the standard U.S. Army tactical manual. He served as commandant of cadets at West Point (1870–1875) before undertaking a round-the-world tour to study foreign armies in 1875–1876. His resulting book, The Armies of Asia and Europe (1878), was very influential in promoting the adoption of certain aspects of the Prussian military system in the United States, particularly a national reserve system, a general staff for war planning, and a war college to train staff officers. In The Military Policy of the United States (completed in 1880; published in 1904), Upton argued against lack of military efficiency inherent in the state-dominated militia and volunteer system and for a well-trained, expansible, professional army. Upton also served as superintendent of the Artillery School at Fort Monroe (1877–1880) making it a model of modern officer education. Suffering from nasal tuberculosis and psychological depression, Upton, then commanding the 4th Artillery at the Presidio of San Francisco, California, resigned his commission and committed suicide on March 15, 1881.