Excerpt from Reconsecration: Speech by John Maynard Harlan, Before the Creve Coeur Club, Peoria, Illinois, February 22, 1917 Washington utterly condemned the sort of soldiers upon which to-day our country principally relies for its defense. To place any dependence upon militia is assuredly resting upon a broken staff, wrote Washington to the President of Congress on September 4, 1776. Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life, unaccustomed to the din of arms, totally unacquainted with every kind of military ...
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Excerpt from Reconsecration: Speech by John Maynard Harlan, Before the Creve Coeur Club, Peoria, Illinois, February 22, 1917 Washington utterly condemned the sort of soldiers upon which to-day our country principally relies for its defense. To place any dependence upon militia is assuredly resting upon a broken staff, wrote Washington to the President of Congress on September 4, 1776. Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life, unaccustomed to the din of arms, totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill (which being followed by want of confidence in themselves, when opposed to troops regularly trained, disciplined, and ap pointed, superior in knowledge and superior in arms) makes them timid and ready to fly from their own shadows. (writ ings, Vol. 4, p. Untrained or half-trained troops will not meet the country's need. We shall serve our country badly unless we insist upon a thorough military training. There is more to making soldiers than merely teaching men evolutions, the manual of arms, and the use of weapons. Military organization must be effected. Discipline and morale must be established. That is the most important of all. It cannot be accomplished except by intensive training. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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