With only a tiny federal bureaucracy, the United States government employed the army in a variety of non-combat roles throughout the late nineteenth century, a dependence largely overlooked by general surveys of the period. The activities of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, who served as unofficial ambassador for the removal of French troops from Mexico, director of Reconstruction in Virginia, temporary secretary of war, inspector for potential military bases in Hawaii, negotiator for army reforms, and superintendent at the U.S. Military Academy, vividly illustrate the involvement of the 'multipurpose' army in American public life.
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