Changes

==Civil War to 1898==

==Civil War to 1898==

The performance of Stephen Vincent Benet as chief of the Ordnance Department shows that the view of the War Department in the late 19th century as an agency dominated by provincial traditionalists and obstructionists is overstated. While chief of ordnance, Benet presided over an impressive list of accomplishments in regard to artillery: a magazine rifle, cooperative means to design and arm coastal defense fortifications, smokeless powder, and a government gun plant staff who set quality standards for the industry and created cost-measuring devices. Benet's accomplishments demonstrate that the War Department worked satisfactorily, and given the constraints within which he had to function, Benet was an innovative bureaucrat and a technological and organizational modernizer.<ref> Daniel R. Beaver, "The U.S. War Department in the Gaslight Era: Stephen Vincent Benet at the Ordnance Department, 1870-91." ''Journal of Military History'' 2004 68(1): 105-132. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/3397250 in JSTOR]</ref>

The performance of Stephen Vincent Benet as chief of the Ordnance Department shows that the view of the War Department in the late 19th century as an agency dominated by provincial traditionalists and obstructionists is overstated. While chief of ordnance, Benet presided over an impressive list of accomplishments in regard to artillery: a magazine rifle, cooperative means to design and arm coastal defense fortifications, smokeless powder, and a government gun plant staff who set quality standards for the industry and created cost-measuring devices. Benet's accomplishments demonstrate that the War Department worked satisfactorily, and given the constraints within which he had to function, Benet was an innovative bureaucrat and a technological and organizational modernizer.<ref>Daniel R. Beaver, "The U.S. War Department in the Gaslight Era: Stephen Vincent Benet at the Ordnance Department, 1870-91." ''Journal of Military History'' 2004 68(1): 105-132. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/3397250 in JSTOR]</ref>

==1898-1939==

==1898-1939==