GENERAL ORDERS, No. 155.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, November 27, 1901.

The following order has been received from the War Department:

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 27, 1901. With a view to maintaining the high standard of instruction and general training of the officers of the Army and for the establishment of a coherent plan by which the work may be made progressive, the Secretary of War directs that the following general scheme be announced for the information and guidance of all concerned:

THE SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION.

There shall be besides the Military Academy at West Point the following schools for the instruction of officers of the Army

1. At each military post an officers' school for elementary instruction in theory and practice.

2. Special service schools-

(a) The Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia.
(b) The Engineer School of Application, Washington Barracks, District of Columbia.
(c) The School of Submarine Defense, Fort Totten, New York.
(d) The School of Application for Cavalry and Field Artillery at Fort Riley, Kansas.
(e) The Army Medical School, Washington, District of Columbia.

3. A General Service and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

4. A War College for the most advanced instruction at Washington Barracks, District of Columbia.

The War College shall be under the immediate direction of a board of five officers detailed from the Army at large and the following ex officio members:

The Chief of Engineers.

2

The Chief of Artillery.
The Superintendent of the Military Academy.
The commanding officer of the General Service and Staff College.

The War College Board shall exercise general supervision and inspection of all the different schools above enumerated, and shall be charged with the duty of maintaining through them a complete system of military education, in which each separate school shall perform its proper part. Such officers as shall be requisite to assist the board in performing its duties will be detailed from time to time for that purpose. It should be kept constantly in mind that the object and ultimate aim of all this preparatory work is to train officers to command men in war. Theory must not, therefore, be allowed to displace practical application.

The officers' schools at military posts and the General Service and Staff College will be open for instruction to officers of the National Guard of the several States, to former officers of volunteers, and to graduates of military schools and colleges which have had officers of the Army as instructors.

The special service schools will be open to officers of the National Guard and former officers of volunteers. who shall furnish evidence to the War Department of such preliminary education as to enable them to benefit by the courses of instruction.

The college staff at the General Service and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, will make report for the information of the Secretary of War of qualifications of officers of the National Guard, ex-volunteers, and graduates of military schools and colleges who shall have attended the college or shall apply for examination, and shall further certify whether or not they are qualified for service as officers of volunteers, specifying the character of service, whether line or staff, for which they are specially qualified. A special register of the names of persons so reported as qualified will be kept in the War Department.

A register shall also be kept in the War Department in which shall be entered the names of officers of the Regular Army below the grade of colonel, as follows:

(a) Officers who have heretofore exhibited superior capacity, application, and devotion to duty, the names to be selected by a board of officers to be convened for that purpose.

3

(b) Officers who shall be reported as doing specially meritorious work in the above-mentioned schools other than the officers' schools at posts.

(c) Officers who at any time specially distinguish themselves by exceptionally meritorious service.

It will be the aim of the Department to make this register the basis of selection for details as staff officers, military attaches, and for special service requiring a high degree of professional capacity.

OFFICERS' SCHOOLS AT POSTS.

5. No officer of the line shall be excused from the work connected with the officers' school at any post, except under such circumstances as would exempt him from any other duty. The commanding officer, subject to the usual supervision of the department commander, shall have immediate charge of the instruction, which, to secure uniformity, will be regulated by special instructions issued by the War Department. These instructions may be changed from time to time as experience may develop the necessity therefor.

Systematic recitation will be required ordinarily only from officers of the grade of 1st and 2d lieutenant in administration, drill regulations, manual of guard duty, small-arms firing regulations, troops in campaign, minor tactics, military law, field engineering, military topography and sketching, international law, hippology (for cavalry and field artillery), a general knowledge of methods, materials, and implements essential to coast defense (for coast artillery).

All captains of the line of less than ten years' service, except those possessing diplomas as graduates of the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or the Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia, will be required to qualify in the course herein prescribed.

Every officer will be required to fit himself thoroughly for the responsible duties of his grade, and to that end commanding officers will afford ample opportunities to each one taking the course to familiarize himself practically with post and company administration, the duties of quartermaster, commissary of subsistence, ordnance officer, etc. To that end officers will in turn be assigned to duty as assistants to the post staff officers for such periods as the commanding officer may deem necessary to acquaint them with the various duties.

4

Thoroughness should be the guiding principle in this instruction, which is intended to be carried on from year to year. No more will be undertaken than can be thoroughly completed during the school season.

At the close of each school season every commanding officer will appoint a board of competent officers to examine each officer as to his proficiency in the subjects completed during the course. Whenever a board certifies to the proficiency of an officer in any subject and the proceedings are approved by the commanding officer a statement to that effect shall be entered in the post records, a copy of which shall be furnished to the officer concerned and which shall entitle him thereafter to be excused from further recitation in that particular subject.

Whenever the number of officers in any garrison is so small that a sufficient number can not be secured to conduct the examinations of officers who have pursued any portion of the course laid down for their instruction the examinations will be deferred until opportunity occurs for ordering them to appear before a proper board. Department commanders are authorized to order officers to adjacent posts for the purpose of examination, or to order specially qualified officers from adjacent posts to complete the number required for an examining board, which shall in all cases consist of three members. Those officers who exhibit the most aptitude and intelligence in the course pursued will be reported to their respective regimental or corps commanders with a view to their detail at the General Service and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for further instruction.

Those who fail to acquire a proper degree of efficiency in any subject will be required to repeat the course and in the event of a second failure special report will be made by the commanding officer with a. view to its consideration by the board which may be thereafter designated to examine the officer as to his fitness for promotion.

THE GENERAL SERVICE AND STAFF COLLEGE.

6. The Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, shall be enlarged and developed into a General Service and Staff College and shall be a school of instruction for all
arms of the service, the designation of which shall be "The General Service and Staff College," and to which shall be sent officers, preferably of the grade of lieutenant, who have been

5

recommended for proficiency attained in the officers' schools conducted in the various posts. The college will be opened September 1, 1902, and for the present the instruction will be limited to a period of one year, and such additional time as may .be necessary to complete the annual maneuvers which it is contemplated shall be carried out each autumn conjointly with such garrisons as may be assembled for the purpose. The permanent garrison for the General Service and Staff College will consist of four companies of engineers, four troops of cavalry, three batteries of field artillery, twelve companies of infantry, a band, Signal Corps detachment, Hospital Corps detachment, post noncommissioned staff, and such field officers, instructors, and student officers, in addition to those belonging to the organizations serving at the post, as may be ordered from time to time.

In order that the accommodations of the post may be utilized to their fullest capacity in the immediate future for student officers, instructors will as far as practicable be detailed from officers on duty with troops composing the garrison. In order that these details may not unduly deplete the quota of officers necessary for duty with organizations at the posts ofcers pertaining thereto who are on detached service may be relieved or transferred, so that as nearly as possible a full complement may be present at all times. Officers possessing special qualifications as instructors will be detailed as heretofore.

Upon the conclusion of the annual examinations the college staff will recommend such student officers as have especially distinguished themselves for further instruction in the War College. Such recommendations will make mention of any special qualifications or attainments of individual officers.

A board of officers will be convened prior to the date fixed for opening the college to establish a theoretical and practical course to be pursued, and thereafter the college staff will make recommendations for such amendments or changes, from time to time, as experience may dictate as desirable.

THE ARMY WAR COLLEGE.

7. A college is hereby established for an advanced course of professional study for army officers, to be known as the Army War College. Such buildings and grounds as may be available and necessary will be assigned to its use on the reservation at Washington Barracks, District of Columbia.

6

The executive head of the college will be an officer of the Army, not below the grade of field officer, who will be known as the president of the Army War College, and will preside over the War College Board. A course of instruction embracing the higher branches of professional study will be arranged by the board, and this board will also prepare and submit for the approval of the Secretary of War such regulations for the government of the college as it shall deem necessary.

The officers to be detailed to pursue the course at the War College will be of two classes:

(a) Those who have been recommended as distinguished. graduates of the General Service and Staff College.
(b) Such field officers and captains as may be specially designated by the War Department for instruction.

It is intended that the officers who have uniformly shown the greatest interest and most proficiency in the theoretical and practical courses prescribed for the officers' schools at posts, the General Service and Staff College, and the War College shall have high consideration of the War Department, with a view to the utilization of their abilities as military attaches, or on special missions abroad, and for the higher duties of general staff work.

SERVICE SCHOOLS.

8. The Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia, the School of Application for Cavalry and Field Artillery at Fort Riley, Kansas, the Engineer School of Application at Washington Barracks, District of Columbia, and the School of Submarine Defense, Fort Totten, New York, will be conducted under special regulations promulgated from time to time for their government.

No detail to any of the above-mentioned schools or boards shall continue more than four years, nor shall any officer be permitted to pass from one school to another without an intervening tour of service with troops proportionate to the period of his previous school service.

Careful study and consideration of what has been accomplished in the past and what appears to be desirable for the future leads to the conclusion that the system of training for officers should begin with a course at each post and thence to the General Service and Staff College, from which the distin-

7

guished graduates should be sent for the higher instruction contemplated in the Army War College. Especial attention will be paid to the record made by individuals at each step of this progressive course, in order that those most deserving shall be given further opportunity for perfecting themselves in the profession of arms, and in order that the nation may have at all times at its disposal a highly-trained body of officers and may know who they are.

It will require time and experience to bring the details of this progressive scheme to perfection, but the Secretary of War indulges the hope that the hearty sympathy and cooperation of all officers of the Army will be enlisted, to the end that full success may be attained.

  ELIHU ROOT,
Secretary of War.

BY COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL MILES

  H. C. CORBIN,
Adjutant General,
Major General, U. S. Army.

 



page created 31 May 2001


Return to CMH Online