History of the United States Army Military Police School (USAMPS)

PART I

From the Provost Marshal and his troops of the American Revolution through the Provost Corps of the American Civil War, education of the predecessors of the modern Army Military Police Corps was confined to informal, on-the-job training. Few considered the duties of military police and provost marshals to be complex enough to require formal, classroom education. This perception began to change just after the turn of the 20th Century when the United States Army was deployed to the Philippine Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The first school to provide formal education to American performing military police-type duties began in 1903 in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

In April 1898, the United States declared war against Spain and on 25 May the first U. S. troops arrived in the Philippine Islands, a Spanish colony. While the American and Filipino forces were defeating the Spanish army, General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence. Aguinaldo had been leading the Philippine rebellion against the Spanish since 1896 and by August 1898 began establishing a Philippine government.
On 13 August 1898 the Spanish forces surrendered to American military commanders and on 10 December, the United States and Spain signed the treaty of Paris. In this treaty, Spain sold the Philippine Islands to the United States for the sum of $20 million, making it an American possession and negating the idea of an independent country.
On 1 January 1899, Aguinaldo was declared as the president of the Philippine Republic by his people and inaugurated on 23 January, but the United States did not recognize his government. Tensions mounted until 4 February 1899 when the first shot was fired in what became known as the American-Philippine War. The first battle between the opposing forces was fought on 24 April 1899 but by mid-November the Filipino military dissolved and resorted to guerrilla war against the U. S.

The Second Philippine Commission, headed by William Howard Taft, arrived in the islands on 3 June 1900 and Taft became Governor General of the new American possession. Although General Aguinaldo was captured in March 1901, the rebellion continued and officially ended on 4 July 1902. By 1901 the United States had about 70,000 troops in the in the chain of islands and wished to reduce that number.
On 18 July 1901, the Second Philippine Commission established the Insular Constabulary and on 18 August issued the Organic Act #175. This Act designated this organization as the "armed forces of the Civil Government of the Philippine Islands and was established and administered under the general provisions of the Governor General for the purpose of maintaining peace and order, preventing crime and enforcing law." The Constabulary was organized to assist in reducing the duties of American soldiers in the islands.

Although the insurrection had officially ended, rebellious groups still operated. These included bandits, religious radical groups and the Moro Muslims. It became the primary duties of the Constabulary to combat and deal with these problems. In order to accomplish this difficult mission, it was determined that the members of that organization needed educated guidance.

Harry T. Allen

On 8 August 1901 Colonel Henry T. Allen, a native of Kentucky and graduate of West Point, was appointed Chief of the Constabulary. The Officer Corps appeared to be a United Nations with men from Belgium, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Philippines, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, the United States and Turkey. Their primary duties were to maintain peace and order, enforce the law, and protect lives and property. In addition, they built schoolhouses, public markets, bridges, etc. and installed telephone and telegraph lines, and fought rebels and bandits.

The early recruits in the Constabulary were mounted and in 1902 they underwent a rigorous program of training. In August of the next year, a system of competitive examinations for Constabulary officers was instituted, requiring officers to prove their knowledge of spelling, arithmetic, writing, history, geography, civil government, drill regulations, Spanish and native dialects. These requirements placed pressures upon officers to be better qualified in their profession.

Formal classes began for officers in 1903 in Manila but in 1904 the Constabulary was reorganized and its members became more military in appearance and bearing. The same year, Captain William C. Rivers, the Headquarters Inspector, ordered that an academic program be established to train newly appointed officers.

CPT Cary I. Crockett

Captain Cary I. Crockett, holder of the Medal of Valor, was placed in command of the formal training and about the same time the men received a "Constabulary Manual", written by Captain Rivers. The officers underwent a 3-month training program in such subjects as: Constabulary regulations, laws, civil government and Spanish language. The first officers graduated from this course of instruction 30 June 1904.

On 17 February 1905 the Constabulary Officers' School was formally established at the Santa Lucia Barracks in Intramuros or the walled portion of Manila. Captain Crockett was appointed as school commandant. At this location the men received a three-month course containing these subjects: Military Map Reading
Penal Code
Guard Regulations
Infantry Drill
Fencing
The Compiled Acts
The Constabulary Manual
Spanish
It addition to the above, they received instructions in social amenities and how to dance.

Harry H. Bandholtz

In 1907, Brigadier General Harry H. Bandholtz relieved Brigadier General Allen as chief of the Constabulary. Bandholtz had served on Cuba from 1898 to 1900, receiving the Silver Star, and was transferred to the Philippines. In 1902 he became governor of Tayabas Province and the next year was promoted to assistant Constabulary chief. He would continue as chief of the Constabulary from 1907 until 1 September 1913, when he returned to the United States.
By 1908, the institution was known as the Constabulary School and Captain John B. Bennett was serving as commandant. On 1 September 1908 the school was moved to Constabulary Hill in Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines for Americans, later called Camp Allen.

This school continued to educate men in the Philippine Constabulary and was later converted into the Philippine National Police Academy, still in operation in 1978.
AEF

The Great War

On 2 April 1917, the United States declared against Germany and the country entered what was called "The Great War". The following month, the War Department began forming military police units, the first one with the 1st Infantry Division. The number of these units continued to multiply and did so rapidly after the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France during the summer of 1917.
In July 1917 a Provost Marshal General was appointed for the AEF and the department was formed with four divisions: Military Police, Circulation, Criminal Investigations, and Prisoner of War. This organization continued until July 1918, when General John J. Pershing, the AEF Commander, issued an order that the Military Police become a separate corps from the Provost Marshal Department.
Requirements for military police in all areas from the front lines to the ports of embarkation caused an increasing demand for more soldiers. With their duties varying from enforcement of military law, protections of supplies and equipment, controlling traffic, apprehending deserters, and escorting prisoners of war, there became a shared opinion that these men must be trained in their duties. By November 1918 there were 463 officers and 15,912 enlisted men in 146 companies and 24 battalions of the Military Police Corps during the war.

On 17 May 1918, General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France, issued a directive to the Commanding General of the Services of Supply that a "Training Depot for both officers and soldiers of the Provost Marshal Service be established". In support of that directive, General Pershing included instructions in General Order No. 111 on 9 July 1918, which said:

"There shall be established a training depot for the military police corps at a suitable place where all of the personnel will be received and trained before being sent to the Military Police units. This training depot shall be directly under the supervision of the Provost Marshal General."

On 9 September 1918, the Caserne Changarnier opened at Autun, France and was called the Military Police Training Department.

The first commandant of the school was Captain Thomas Cadwalader, who served in that capacity from 15 September to 1 November 1918. Major Fred J. Osterman succeeded him but only commanded the school for seven days. On 8 November LTC John R. White assumed command of the school but only remained until 19 November 1918. On that date, LTC Samuel McIntyre assumed command and continued in that position until 20 January 1919. The last commandant of the Autun School was LTC Harvey L. Jones, who took command on 31 January 1919 and left when the school was closed in April of that year.
On 27 September 1918, Brigadier General Harry H. Bandholtz was appointed Provost Marshal of the AEF in France. Bringing his experience with the Constabulary in the Philippines, BG Bandholtz set about developing the Military Police Corps into an effective organization and made major contributions to the organization and operation of the school at Autun.

Due to the inexperience of American Military Police officers, LTC Peter Foley of the British Army Military Police, was appointed as chief of instructions and commanded a 14-man faculty of British MP officers. Twenty-one enlisted men were selected for the first class and subsequently became the first American instructors at the school.

The school offered classes for four types of students:
1. Military police officers
2. Cadets for the Officer Candidate School
3. Student instructors
4. Enlisted military police.

Officers and enlisted men received basically the same 4-week course with subjects such as: esprit de corps crowd psychology rules of evidence preparation of charge sheets criminology provost branches in allied armies map reading and sketching authority and power of the MP Corps general duties march discipline duties during engagements straggler control traffic control road rules area policing duties in cities and ports duties in billets and camps control of civilians in forbidden zones searches duties during train movements range practice with the pistol
and prisoners of war.

There were 263 military police officers who graduated from the school, plus another 101 cadets in Officer Candidate School. In addition, 4,557 enlisted men were graduated from the school at Autun. When the school closed in the spring of 1919 it would be another 23 years before formal training would be re-established for the Army Military Police Corps.

*** This was copied and reformatted from the U.S.Army Military Police School web site***

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