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Legion of the United States

The Legion of the United States was a reorganization and extension of the United States Army from 1792 to 1796 under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne. It represented a political shift in the new United States, which had recently adopted the United States Constitution. The new Congressional and Executive branches authorized a standing army composed of professional soldiers rather than relying on state militias.[1]

Not to be confused with Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States or American Legion.

Legion of the United States

1792–1796

1796

Pacify Native-American tribes, secure western border for settlement

2,631

Unit Colors:

  • 1st Sub-Legion: white and black
  • 2nd Sub-Legion: red and white
  • 3rd Sub-Legion: black and yellow
  • 4th Sub-Legion: green and white

Major General Anthony Wayne

Brigadier General James Wilkinson

The Legion was primarily formed in reaction to multiple defeats in the Ohio country in 1790 and 1791 and to assert U.S. sovereignty over U.S. borders in the western territories and Great Lakes regions. The Legion comprised four sub-legions, each with infantry, cavalry, riflemen, and artillery. The Legion is best known for its victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794. Following the 1795 Treaty of Greenville with the Western Confederacy of Native American nations and the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, the Legion was reduced in size and rechristened the Army of the United States in 1796.


The modern 1st, 3rd, and 4th United States Infantry Regiments of the United States Army trace their lineage to the Legion of the United States.

Origins[edit]

After the American Revolutionary War in 1783, Congress decided to disband the Continental Army. By 1784, all Continental Army regiments had been disbanded, and the new United States Army consisted of two detachments to guard military supplies.[2]: 10  By 1785, however, a cash-strapped Congress authorized 700 recruits to form the First American Regiment, which served in the Western territories, both to expel illegal settlers and to protect those who had purchased their lands from the United States. Many in the nascent United States still feared a standing army at this time, so the U.S. relied primarily on volunteer state militias.


A new government under the United States Constitution created the Department of War in 1789 and named Henry Knox as the first secretary.[2]: 13–14  While Knox worked to organize the new department, he ordered the First American Regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Harmar, to lead an offensive against "banditti" Native Americans in the Northwest Territory.[2]: 16–18  Harmar's force consisted of about 300 federal regulars and 1,000 militia, and suffered from a lack of equipment and provisions.[2]: 18–19  The Harmar Campaign departed Fort Washington in September 1790 and marched to Kekionga, where they were defeated with heavy losses.


Washington ordered a follow-up expedition led by territorial governor, General Arthur St. Clair. His initial force was roughly the same size as Harmar's, so Congress authorized a second infantry regiment of 2,000 soldiers, but only for six months.[2]: 24  St. Clair's total force was only 2,400, and he could not overcome logistics problems, but with the six-month levies expiring, he set out in September 1791. This newly recruited and inexperienced force was attacked in camp on the morning of 4 November 1791 by forces of the Western Confederacy led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket. St. Clair's defeat remains one of the worst in U.S. Army history, with over half of St. Clair's combined force killed or wounded. Three-quarters of the new Second Infantry Regiment, including their commander Richard Butler, were lost, as was all artillery.


The defeat of Harmar and St. Clair caused a shift in thinking. Congress recognized that it needed a more significant, professional army, and authorized a federal force strength of 5,190.[2]: 27  President George Washington drafted a list of sixteen general officers from the American Revolutionary War to lead an expanded Army in the Northwest, including Benjamin Lincoln, Daniel Morgan, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. After consulting with his cabinet, he picked Anthony Wayne to lead the new professional army, although Washington initially considered him too vain.[3]: 205  Influenced by treatises from both Henry Bouquet and General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben,[4] and at the recommendation of Secretary of War Henry Knox and General von Steuben,[2]: 27  it was decided to recruit and train a "Legion", a force that would combine all land combat arms of the day (cavalry, heavy and light infantry, artillery) into one efficient brigade-sized force divisible into stand-alone combined arms teams. Congress agreed with this proposal to augment the small standing army until "the United States shall be at peace with the Indian tribes." Congress also passed the Militia Acts of 1792, giving President Washington authority over state militias in a national emergency.

The Legion[edit]

Organization and structure[edit]

The Legion was formed from the remnants of the First and Second Regiments and filled with recruits. Recruiting was difficult following the military disasters of 1790 and 1791;[5] though over 4,000 troops were to be enlisted, only 2,631 served in the legion.[6] From June 1792 to November 1792, the Legion remained in cantonment at Fort LaFayette in Pittsburgh. It was composed of four sub-legions; each was originally authorized a brigadier general, but was commanded by a lieutenant colonel.[7] These sub-legions were self-contained units with two battalions of infantry, a rifle battalion (light infantry skirmishers armed with Pennsylvania long rifles to screen the infantry), and a troop of Light Dragoons.[8][9] The Army had previously raised four companies of artillery under battalion commander Major Henry Burbeck; each company was attached to one sub-legion.[10] Each sub-legion was also authorized to have their own medical personnel.[7]: 139  In that the sub-legions were composed of different unit types, some have compared them to modern combined arms organisation, thereby viewing them as remote forerunners to the Brigade Combat Teams of the modern United States Army.[11]


Major General Wayne commanded the entire legion, with Brigadier General Wilkinson acting as a second-in-command. Under Wayne's command was the 1st sub-legion commanded by Jean François Hamtramck, the 2nd sub-legion commanded by David Strong and the 3rd sub-legion commanded by Henry Gaither, and the 4th sub-legion, which was first commanded by Jonathan Clark, and then by Thomas Butler from 1 July 1794 to 1 November 1796.[7]

Uniforms[edit]

General Wayne insisted that each sub-legion have a distinctive cap. The 1st sub-legion wore a cap of black hair with white binding and plumes, the 2nd wore a cap of white hair with red binding and plumes, the 3rd wore a cap of black hair with yellow binding and plumes, and the 4th wore a cap of white hair with green binding and plumes.[12]: 64  Each sub-legion also carried a regimental standard with their unit colors:

Lieutenant , Wayne's aide-de-camp and later 9th President of the United States

William Henry Harrison

Lieutenant , later co-led the Lewis and Clark Expedition

William Clark

Ensign was present at the Treaty of Greenville, later co-led the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Meriwether Lewis

Captain , diplomat and military leader during the First Barbary War

William Eaton

Brigadier General , later a lieutenant-governor of Kentucky and then governor of Indiana Territory.[17]

Thomas Posey

Captain Zebulon Pike Sr., father of explorer .[18][19]

Zebulon Pike

Captain , son-in-law of Miami chief Little Turtle who joined the Legion and led Wayne's intelligence detachment, later led relief at Battle of Fort Dearborn

William Wells

Lieutenant , an officer who had served with the British during the American Revolutionary War,[20] first commandant of Fort Dearborn.

John Whistler

Combined arms

History of the United States Army

U.S. Army Regimental System