“Further up the scale,” the G2 continued as a new slide flashed on the screen, “are small scale or very localized rebellions or uprisings. One of this nation’s first major domestic crises was the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. The ink wasn’t even dry on our new Constitution when farmers in the area around what is today Pittsburgh banded together to defy a tax on liquor. While the Federal government had no real army of its own, it did federalize several state militia units to march out and restore order. Another example of a local rebellion that required the use of Army troops was the great Mormon campaign of 1857. In a war without battles, Colonel Albert Sidney Johnson marched the largest gathering of Army troops since the Mexican War from Fort Leavenworth to Salt Lake City to prevent the Mormons from leaving the Union. The ironic part of this particular episode, of course, was that Johnson would be killed at Shiloh, less than five years later, leading troops fighting for another government intent on leaving the same Union he had once defended. In both the Whiskey Rebellion and the Mormon Uprising a simple show of force was enough to cause the rebels to back down without any appreciable bloodshed.”

“Which brings up a couple of excellent points of discussion, gentlemen,” Scott suddenly stated while motioning to his G2. “You can take your seat, Colonel Olson.” With a befuddled look on his face, the G2 realized he had been dismissed. Turning to his senior commanders, Scott took over the direction of the discussion.

“The first point that has relevance to this discussion,” Scott started as he looked down at his empty can of soda on the table and slowly turned it, “is that a person’s loyalty and duty can, depending on the situation, shift.” Without taking his hands off the empty can, Scott peeked up at the expressionless faces staring at him intently, waiting for him to commit to a definite train of thought before commenting. “As you saw on the G2’s first slide, the last category on his list was civil war. In 1860, the United States Army had roughly one thousand commissioned officers. All of them had taken the same oath of office. All shared the same hardships and hazards that the frontier Army of that day was noted for. With few exceptions all were graduates of West Point. In the years preceding the secession of South Carolina they shared everything. Yet,” Scott went on, raising his voice slightly as he lifted the can a few inches and slammed it on the table, “when the Southern states started leaving the Union, this band of brothers broke up. Approximately one third went south, while a goodly number of those who remained with the colors left the regular Army and ran, as quickly as they could, to their home states where they took commissions in a grade several times above the rank they had previously held.”