After George Washington disbanded the Continental Army in 1783, the United States Army was reduced to 80 men under a captain guarding the arsenals at two forts. Many members of Congress viewed a standing army as a threat to liberty, believing that ambitious generals like Caesar and Cromwell could use it to seize the government and rule like a king, so they preferred to rely on citizen soldiers from the state militias rather than a strong Federal Army. The dangers of the frontier and ongoing Indian hostilities brought the Army back into existence because militias either did not exist on the frontiers or militiamen would not leave their families unprotected to fight Indians. The U.S. government deemed a Federal Army necessary to protect settlers and keep peace on the frontier. By the 1830’s, the U.S. Army had been tested and had prevailed in Indian Wars in the Ohio Valley and in the War of 1812. In the West, it successfully defeated Indians through tactics such as seizing control of winter food supplies and creating alliances with rival tribes, but these tactics proved unsuccessful against the Seminole in the unfamiliar and harsh Florida environment.
