page_title: William Eustis
section_title: Secretary of War
hierarchical_section_title: William Eustis / Secretary of War
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of James Madison, comissioned by Honorable James Bowdoin III: the oil on canvas painting measures 48 1/2 in. x 39 3/4 in. (123.19 cm x 100.97 cm), and was painted by Gilbert Stuart, who made additional copies after completion of the work.&#91;1&#93; Painting was published on p. 223 of Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 in 1905.&#91;2&#93;
context_page_description: William Eustis was an early American physician, politician, and statesman from Massachusetts. Trained in medicine, he served as a military surgeon during the American Revolutionary War, notably at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He resumed medical practice after the war, but soon entered politics.
  After several terms in the state legislature, Eustis won election to the United States Congress in 1800, serving as a moderate Democratic-Republican. He briefly returned to state politics after losing reelection in 1804, and was chosen to be Secretary of War in 1809 by President James Madison. Due in part to his inexperience at managing the army and a lack of preparedness, the military failures in the early months of the War of 1812 were laid on his shoulders, leading to his resignation.
  Madison then appointed Eustis Minister to the Netherlands, a post he held from 1814 until 1818. After another period in Congress, he was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1822. A popular successor to long-serving John Brooks, Eustis died in office in 1825. His Boston mansion, built in the 1750s by royal governor William Shirley, is known as the Shirley-Eustis House and is a National Historic Landmark.
context_section_description: When James Madison became president in 1809, he sought to enhance the status of the Democratic-Republicans in Federalist-dominated New England.  To that end he chose Eustis to be his Secretary of War.  Eustis was not a good choice for the post, lacking the necessary administrative skills and detailed military background.  He also had difficult relations with James Wilkinson and Wade Hampton, two senior army commanders.
  Eustis made a major push to update the military's field manuals, which had not changed since the Revolutionary War.  After acquiring copies of manuals published in 1791 for use by the armies of the French Republic, Eustis commissioned a translation and lobbied for adoption of new manuals based on French tactics.  Although a new manual was ready for use in 1812, it was not well received by the officer corps, and was not used in the war that broke out that year.
  As tensions grew between the United States and Great Britain, Eustis made modest moves to improve military readiness, but did not otherwise distinguish himself or introduce other initiatives or proposals.  When the War of 1812 began, the army's logistics were in shambles, and it had no overall commander, forcing Eustis to make detailed decisions for nine military districts.  When the war began poorly with the surrender of General William Hull at Detroit, Eustis was severely criticized.  Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin wrote that there was "a total want of confidence" in Eustis that was felt "through every ramification of the public service."  Eustis tendered his resignation in December 1812, and Secretary of State James Monroe took over his duties until John Armstrong assumed the office on February 13, 1813.
caption: James Madison, portrait by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1805–1807
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