The Delafield Commission and the American military profession / Matthew Moten.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [241]-248) and index.

Foreword / Joseph G. Dawson III -- Pt. 1. The Development of American Military Professionalism. Ch. 1. Sylvanus Thayer's West Point: "A System and Habit of Thought" Ch. 2. The Jacksonian Officer Corps: Gods, Demigods, and the Line. Ch. 3. Antebellum Military Thought -- Pt. 2. The Delafield Commission. Ch. 4. Jefferson Davis and the Commission: "A Tour of Many Miles and Many Months" Ch. 5. "Through the Meshes of Diplomacy" Ch. 6. "A Purely Professional View" -- Pt. 3. The Delafield Commission and the American Military Profession. Ch. 7. "To Impart Information to the Profession" Ch. 8. The Delafield Commission and American Military Professionalism.

"In 1855, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis dispatched Maj. Richard Delafield, Maj. Alfred Mordecai, and Capt. George B. McClellan to the battlefields of Crimea to observe the European military in action. American military commanders had studied European armies before, but the Delafield Commission was the most ambitious military observation mission up to that time and the first to observe an ongoing war.

Although historically underrated, the commission and the members' reports constituted an important step in the development of U.S. military professionalism. In The Delafield Commission and the American Military Profession, Matthew Moten is the first to explore in detail this connection between the commission and military professionalization.".

"The Delafield Commission and the American Military Profession provides in-depth analysis to military historians and other readers interested in the development of the professional army in antebellum America."--BOOK JACKET.