Professional Officers

The years after the Mexican War offered few opportunities for career officers to exercise command under fire, and most of those involved battles with the Indians, who did not fight in the same manner as a conventional army. Moreover the Mexican War had been of a different scale than the Civil War. The American forces that engaged in the major battles in the Mexican War under the command of General Winfield Scott – Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco, El Molino del Rey, and Chapultpec – numbered no more than 8,500 men and officers. The American forces that engaged in major battles under the command of General Zachary Taylor – Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, and Buena Vista – were no more than about 6,600. The field armies of the Civil War consisted of tens of thousands of men, and none of the officers who led those armies had prior experience in commanding that many men. Thus the corps of professional officers had not gained experience that was relevant to their development as potential battle commanders. Most of the professional officers were competent; some were capable, and a few were gifted. The enduring problem for both the Federal and Confederate civilian leaders was to identify those military commanders whose performances would be consistently superior.