To organize the National Guard divisions, Stimson had to gain the cooperation of state governors who controlled the Guard units until federalized. Captain Moseley devised a system to divide the nation into twelve geographic districts, each with an infantry division. Thirty-two states accepted the scheme, two states remained noncommittal, and fifteen refused comment. Although the staff failed to gain unanimous support of its proposal, in 1914 it adopted the twelve-division force for the Guard (Table 1), to which was added three multidistrict cavalry divisions.[1]
Implementation of the plan moved slowly in the states. Governors hesitated to form certain units needed in the divisions, particularly expensive field artillery and medical organizations that did not support the Guard's state missions. The staff likewise moved slowly in developing procedures to instruct, supply, and mobilize the units. One bright area, the District of New York, which had maintained a division of its own design since 1908, quickly completed its part of the plan, perhaps because the state had been a pillar of support for the preparedness movement. Pennsylvania, the other state constituting a divisional district, which had supported a nonregulation division since 1879, gradually began to adjust its organization. Progress in the multistate districts, not unexpectedly, fell behind Pennsylvania.[2]
As it developed plans for the tactical reorganization of the Army, the General Staff pioneered the creation of tables of organization for all types of units. Forerunners of those used today, the tables brought together for easy comparison a mass of information about unit personnel and equipment previously buried in
TABLE 1
National Guard Infantry Divisions, 1914
| Division | District |
| 5th | Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut |
| 6th | New York |
| 7th | Pennsylvania |
| 8th | Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia |
| 9th | North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia |
| 10th | Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky |
| 11th | Michigan and Ohio |
| 12th | Illinois and Indiana |
| 13th | Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa |
| 14th | Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming |
| 15th | Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana |
| 16th | California, Oregon, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington |
- ↑ George Van Horn Moseley, "One Soldier's Journey," Ms history, 3 vols., 1:103, Moseley Papers, LC; Memo 52103, C, Division of Militia Affairs, to C, WCD, sub: Organized Military Divisional Organization, 12 Jan 15, AGO file 7409–25, RG 168, NARA; WD Cir 8, 1913, and 19, 1914; "The Division Plan," National Guard Magazine 10 (Jan 1913): 14.
- ↑ Rpt of the Sec. of War and Rpt of the C of S, ARWD, 1913, pp. 31, 174; GO 7, State of New York, 1908, printed in Rpt of the Adjutant General, State of New York, 1908, p. 270; GO 1, Pennsylvania National Guard, 1879, printed in Rpt of the Adjutant General, Pennsylvania, 1879, p. 83.
