History, the Historian, and the Corps of Engineers

Abstract

object, said the president, would be to plan improvements in current procedures and to preserve those who come after us an accurate and objective account of our present experience. At the direction of the secretary of war, the various services and branches of the Army appointed historical officers and set up historical offices, resulting in a marriage between the military and the academy. It was a shotgun marriage in some cases: several services balked, beginning their programs only when the nation's political leaders let it be known that they were seriously interested in preserving the wartime record. The Historical Branch, G-2, soon appeared in the Military Intelligence Division, War Department General Staff. Since the Corps of Engineers was an Army branch, its historical section originated under the branch's program for the technical services. For the corps historians, as for all others, the guiding rule was that each material statement of fact should be