President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] modernized the U.S. Army, with the reforms of [[Elihu Root]]. Previously, the Army had maintained many small garrisons scattered in the western states to control Indians (which were unnecessary after 1890), and small coastal defense installations near port cities (which were never used). With the reforms, it now had, for the first time in its history, a general staff and advanced training schools to professionalize the officer corps. Even so, the army was amazingly small in terms of world comparisons, as the graph demonstrates for 1906. | President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] modernized the U.S. Army, with the reforms of [[Elihu Root]]. Previously, the Army had maintained many small garrisons scattered in the western states to control Indians (which were unnecessary after 1890), and small coastal defense installations near port cities (which were never used). With the reforms, it now had, for the first time in its history, a general staff and advanced training schools to professionalize the officer corps. Even so, the army was amazingly small in terms of world comparisons, as the graph demonstrates for 1906. |