Lieutenant General John McAllister Schofield
First President of the Army and Navy Club
(1831-1906)
United States Army

Accession number:
1891.06

Maker:
Charles Milton Bell
(18480-1893)

Historical period:
ca. 1891

Miltary branch:

Wars and Conflicts:

Type:

Dimensions:
N/A

Acquisition date:
ca. 1891

Credit line:
The Army and Navy Club Library Trust Fund

Location:
,

Provenance:

From ca. 1891: The Army and Navy Club

Label:

The Army and Navy Club traces its origins to December 1885, when veterans of the Mexican and Civil Wars founded the United Service Club in Washington, D.C. Upon its reincorporation in 1891 as The Army and Navy Club, General Schofield was elected its first president.

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point (Class of 1853), Schofield served with distinction in the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1873, he played a key role in drawing military attention to the strategic value of a naval presence in the Hawaiian Islands, recommending a base at Pearl Harbor after conducting secret investigations for Secretary of War William Belknap under President Grant.

He later served as Superintendent of West Point (1876–1881). Schofield died in 1906 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He is memorialized by Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

Schofield is remembered for his “Definition of Discipline,” a lengthy quotation that all cadets at USMA, Officer Candidate Schools, and the United States Air Force Academy are required to memorize:

“The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling, but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself; while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward other, especially his inferiors, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.”