Explore "American Notes" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I SHOULD very much like to deliver a dissertation on the American army and the possibilities of its extension. You see, it is such a beautiful little army, and the dear people don't quite understand what to do with it. The theory is that it is an instructional nucleus round which the militia of the country will rally, and from which they will get a stiffening in time of danger. Yet other people consider that the army should be built, like a pair of lazy tongs -- on the principle of elasticity and extension -- so that in time of need it may fill up its skeleton battalions and empty saddle troops. This is real wisdom, be-cause the American army, as at present constituted, is made up of: -- Twenty-five regiments infantry, ten companies each.
Ten regiments cavalry, twelve companies each.