The artillery was largely on the Atlantic coast. These troops were occupying more than 100 posts.
The army's effective force was less than at any time since 1808, though the population since that time had doubled.
The whole represented a paper strength of 8,613 men and an actual strength by the end of the year of 5,300. In the year before the Mexican War, the army consisted of 8 regiments of infantry, 2 of dragoons and 4 of artillery, 3 general officers, the corps of engineers, the corps of topographical engineers and the following departments: adjutant general quartermaster general, inspector general commissary medical pay purchasing and ordnance. It will prove to the world that the American soldier, trained, disciplined, and well led is the acme of bravery and hardihood. It will return as a conqueror to safeguard the remaining wilderness of the nation. It will press the foe through cactus, swamp and mountain passes into the very gates of the hostile capital and then take the city. It is going to go continuously forward and not be turned spasmodically backward. It is soon to cross into a foreign territory, meet superior numbers, bear gross hardships and stick to its colors. The army is about to have a taste of real victory, to win a war, to overcome the entire enemy in the field.
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