Emory Upton (August 27, 1839 – March 15, 1881) was a United States Army general and military strategist, prominent for his role in leading infantry to attack entrenched positions successfully at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House during the American Civil War, but he also excelled at artillery and cavalry assignments. His work, The Military Policy of the United States, which analyzed American military policies and practices and presented the first systematic examination of the nation's military history, had a tremendous effect on the U.S. Army when it was published posthumously in 1904.
Early life
Upton was born on a farm near Batavia, New York, the tenth child and sixth son of Daniel and Electra Randall Upton. He would become the brother-in-law of Andrew J. Alexander and of Frank P. Blair Jr. He studied under famous evangelist Charles G. Finney at Oberlin College for two years before being admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1856. While at West Point, Upton lost a duel against fellow Cadet Wade Hampton Gibbes of South Carolina. Gibbes made remarks to other cadets about Upton's relationships with African-American girls at Oberlin College which prompted Upton to challenge Gibbes to a duel. The two men fought with swords in a darkened room of the cadet barracks. Upton suffered a deep cut on his face. He graduated eighth in his class of 45 cadets on May 6, 1861, just in time for the outbreak of the Civil War.
In 1868, Upton married Emily Norwood Martin, daughter of the philanthropist and social activist Cornelia Williams Martin, and she died of tuberculosis in 1870.
Civil War
thumb|Emory Upton depicted on the 121st New York Infantry Regiment monument at Gettysburg National Military Park
Upton was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Artillery, transferring to the 5th U.S. Artillery as a first lieutenant on May 14, assigned to Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia, as an aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler. In the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he was wounded in the arm and left side during the action at Blackburn's Ford, although he did not leave the field. He received two brevet promotions for Winchester: colonel in the regular army (September 19, 1864) and major general of volunteers (October 19). The division saw action during Wilson's Raid and the Battle of Selma.
On April 16, 1865, the division made a night assault upon the Confederate works in the Battle of Columbus, Georgia, capturing a large amount of arms, ammunition, stores, and 1,500 prisoners, and burning the incomplete casemate ironclad, CSS Muscogee. This occurred a week after the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army in Virginia, and was the last large-scale engagement during the war. A few weeks later, in May 1865, Upton was ordered to arrest Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, and a little later Jefferson Davis was placed in his custody. He was given a brevet promotion to brigadier general in the regular army for his actions at Selma and major general in the regular army, both on March 13, 1865.
Postbellum career and death
After the war, Upton commanded a cavalry brigade in the Department of the Cumberland from July through September 1865 and served in the District of Colorado until April 1866. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on April 30, 1866. He was assigned to a board at West Point that considered a new system of infantry tactics, which was approved in 1867. In July 1866 he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 25th U.S. Infantry and transferred to the 18th U.S. Infantry in March 1869.
In 1881, Upton, having returned to the rank of colonel in 1880, was in command of 4th U.S. Artillery at the Presidio of San Francisco. He suffered greatly from headaches, possibly caused by a brain tumor, and died by suicide on March 15, 1881, by shooting himself in the head. He is buried in Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, New York. and arguably in U.S. history. He has been called the U.S. Army's counterpart to United States Navy reformer and strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. Although his books on tactics and on Asian and European armies were considered influential, his greatest impact was a work he called The Military Policy of the United States from 1775. He worked for years on the paper, and it was still incomplete at the time of his death in 1881.
Military Policy was a controversial work in which Upton outlined U.S. military history, arguing that the country’s armed forces were imprudent and weak and "that all the defects of the American military system rested upon a fundamental, underlying flaw, excessive civilian control of the military." He denigrated the influence of the Secretary of War and promoted the idea that all military decisions in the field should be made by professional officers, although the president should retain the role of commander-in-chief. He argued for a strong, standing regular army that would be supplemented by volunteers or conscripts in time of war, a general staff system based on the Prussian model, examinations to determine promotions, compulsory retirement of officers who reach a certain age, advanced military education, and combat maneuvering by groups of four three-battalion infantry regiments. Upton's work had a profound influence on discussions of military and civilian strategy for years.
Memorials
In 1895, Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson wrote an introductory article for a book by (Peter Michie), The Life and Letters of Emory Upton. Wilson's tribute to his former subordinate demonstrates the significance of Emory Upton's accomplishments and characteristics:
Selected works
- A New System of Infantry Tactics, Double and Single Rank, Adapted to American Topography and Improved Fire-Arms (published in 1867)
- Tactics for Non-Military Bodies (1870)
- The Armies of Asia and Europe. Embracing Official Reports On the Armies of Japan, China, India, Persia, Italy, Russia, Austria, Germany, France, and England. Accompanied by Letters Descriptive of A Journey from Japan to the Caucasus. New York: D. Appleton & Co. (1878)
- Infantry Tactics in Use at the N.Y.S. Reformatory (posthumous, 1889)
- The Military Policy of the United States (posthumous, 1904)