U.S. Military History

The Civil War

1861-1865

Interwoven Threads of Continuity

• Management

• Leadership

• Politics & Society

• Strategy & Tactics

• Technology

• Geography

Leadership

• Commander in chief– Lincoln – Davis

Leadership

• Top US generals– Scott

– McClellan

– Halleck

– Grant

– Sherman

• Top CS generals– Beauregard

– J.E. Johnston

– A.S. Johnston

– Bragg

– Lee

Management: USA

• Lincoln as commander-in-chief– Sec. of the Navy Gideon Welles

• The Navy Board – 3 officers to review designs for ironclads

– Created USS Monitor

– Sec. of War Edwin Stanton• The “War Board”

• QM Gen. Montgomery Meigs

• Chief of Mil. RR Herman Haupt

• Modern Joint Chiefs of StaffWelles

Management CSA

• Davis as commander-in-chief

• Kaleidoscope cabinet– 1st cabinet formed-

1861; no “official” cabinet until 1862

– Members change continuously through war

• State rights v. central authority

Management CSA

• Failures– Commissary

• Logistics, supplies, clothing, etc– Appoints friend Lucius Northrop– Problems worsen; Northrop kept in

place– Impeached in 1864

– Railroads• Lines didn’t connect• Supply problems

Management CSA

• Successes– M.F. Murray, oceanographer

• Spent time in south and Britain getting ships for CSA

- Clothing factories- Consolidated by gov’t; many

ran through the war

– Chimborazo hospital• Best organized/sophisticated

hospital in the south

– Government girls• Filled jobs previously held by

men

Management: Personnel

• Regulars

• Militia

• Volunteers

• Conscription

Geography

Technology

• Rail, telegraphs & steam

Technology• Small arms

– Percussion cap c. 1820• Better in weather

– “minie ball”

Technology• Small arms

– Breech-loaders• Faster rate of fire = more

ammunition (shortage)

– Brass cartridges• Less powder; more range

– Repeaters• Spencers Repeating Carbine –

7 shots in 15 seconds

• Spencer carbine

Technology• Artillery

– Early war – smoothbore cannons won wars, why change?

– Britain develops rifling for cannons

– First use of riffled artillery at Ft. Sumpter (by CS) – Union leaders change opinion

• Artillery Systems• Broken down into

guns, howitzers and mortars – Formed batteries

• Union – 6

• CSA - 4

Technology

• Guns– High velocity; flat trajectory– Direct fire – target is seen; penetration is desirable

• Good targets: brick, earth fortifications, ships (iron-clads) buildings, targets in tree lines

• Howitzers– Lower velocity; arc shells into targets; both direct and indirect fire

(indirect less applicable in Civil War)– Caused more human casualties b/c of shrapnel; less effective to hardened

targets• Mortars

– Pronounced arc of flight– Low velocity, not suitable for direct fire– Lob shells behind a hill or wall– Generally set at fixed angle (btw 45-50 degrees); lacked accuracy

Technology

• Naval technology– Steam power

• First in US – 1807; US Navy still remained sailing fleet

• Both sides used steam power• Benefits

– Moved faster– Better for sea-to-land fighting– Easier to move and fire

• Problems– Limited amount of coal; fueling stations needed– Sailors had to learn new skills

Technology

– Ironclads• Originated in Britain and France (1850’s)• Used by Union and CSA• Most steam powered• Built to ride low (harder to hit)• Partially made of wood, covered with iron• Battle of Hampton Roads aka Battle of the

USS Monitor and CSS Merrimac aka Battle of the Ironclads- first battle between two ironclad ships

Technology

– Submarines• Earliest vessels recognized as submarines built during Civil

War– USS Alligator; CSS H. L. Hunley (best examples)

– Torpedoes • Underwater mines

• Placed in the water just below the surface, detonated on contact with ship

– Most ironclads had wood bottoms which allowed them to sink

• Others electronically detonated with a battery or hand cranked generator; others had fixed fuses that fired upon contact

Technology

Politics & Society

• The role of African Americans– Navy

– Contrabands

– Segregated service

– USCT

– Confederate debate over arming slaves

Strategy & Tactics

The Anaconda Plan

• Scott/Lincoln meet daily

• Blockade of Southern Ports, strong thrust down MS Valley, and strong Federal position– Bring South “to terms”

The Anaconda Plan

• Scott’s proposal included 60,000 troops/gunboats move down Mississippi River

– Secure river from Cairo, Ill. To the Gulf

• Plan would force Southern Union sympathizers to turn in Confederate governors

• Ridiculed – “squeeze the South to military death”

• Grant will use similar plan later in the war; fights two fronts in Virginia and Tennessee, used march to the sea, and blockade

Strategy & Tactics• 1861: Union defeats, but the border states secured

• Eastern Theater– First shots are fired at Fort Sumter – April 12, 1861 at 4:30 a.m.

• Surrendered to the South

• Ark, Tenn, N. Car, VA all seceded after the battle

– July: First Manassas (Bull Run)• Major Confederate victory

• No early end to war

• Lincoln removes Gen. Irvin McDowell for Gen. George B. McClellan

– Excellent organizational skills

– Develops/trains/builds forces (100,000 troops)

– Lacks aggressiveness and timing

– Aug.: Battle of Oak Hill (Wilson’s Creek)• First major battle of the Western Theater “Bull Run

of the West”

• Union Gen: Nathaniel Lyon

• Confederate Gen: Benjamin McCulloch

• 6 hour engagement; Confederate victory, but fail to pursue Union to Rolla

Strategy & Tactics

Strategy & Tactics

• 1862: Stalemate in the East– Threat to Richmond

• Amphibious invasion; outflank Confederates and march on capital

• Crosses York peninsula too slowly, outnumbered?

– Lee’s offensive-defensive strategy• President Davis = defensive

strategy– Union rifled artillery destroying

Confederate fortifications and men

– Attack concentrated forces against weak spots in Union lines

– Union to concentrate on specified area instead of attacking Confederates at multiple places

Strategy & Tactics

• July: Seven Days– Poor maps/intelligence, bad timing, slow staff hurt Lee’s strategy– Goal to force North from Southern Capital– Union win 4/5 battles

• Aug: Second Manassas – Confederate victory; pushes Union to Washington; Lee unable to

pursue

• Sept: Sharpsburg (Antietam Creek)– Single bloodiest day in American history (23,100 killed, wounded or

missing)– McClellan uses only ¾ of his army; Lee uses all of his forces– Inconclusive victory (Union strategic victory)– Lincoln can issue Emancipation Proclamation

Strategy & Tactics

• 1862: Union victories in the West– Union forces divide west into three

departments

– Grant’s victories

• Feb.: Forts Henry & Donelson

– Western theater unified under Gen. Halleck

– April: Pittsburgh Landing (Shiloh)

– New Orleans• Largest city in Confederacy now

belongs to the Union

• Major port

Strategy & Tactics

• 1863: Lee’s strategy continued in the East– May: Chancellorsville

• Lincoln gives control to Joe Hooker

• Hooker to divide forces; flank Lee

• Deserts plan; defensive position; Lee takes initiative

• 5 days; force Hooker’s retreat

• Considered Lee’s greatest victory

• Thomas Jackson dies

Strategy & Tactics– July: Gettysburg

• Turning point of war

• Gen. Meade now in charge of Union forces (3 days prior to battle)

• Lee’s 2nd invasion of the North

• 3 day battle

• Day 1– Parts of both sides fight

– Lee concentrates forces at Union line; hopes to crush; forces Union retreat

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Strategy & Tactics

• Day 2– Both sides receive reinforcements

– Union; defensive position; “fish hook”

– Lee attacks union flanks: Union left: Little Round Top (high point); Right flank: assaults on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill

– Heavy losses; Union holds positions

• Day 3– Fighting continues on Culp’s Hill and cavalry

battles

– Pickett’s Charge: Confederate infantry assault by 12,500 men at center of Union line on Cemetery Ridge

– Decimates southern forces; forces Lee’s retreat

Strategy & Tactics• 1863: Union progress in the West

– July: Vicksburg• 2 Union attacks on fortifications causes

heavy casualties

• Seizes the city for 2 months; July 4th 1863 Pemberton surrenders

• Gives Union entire Mississippi River ; cuts communication with Trans-MS Confederates

– Sept: Chickamauga• Most significant defeat in Western Theater

• 2nd highest casualties in war (Gettysburg is 1st)

Strategy & Tactics• 1864: Sherman’s March to the Sea

(Savannah Campaign)• November 15 – December 21

• Starts with leaving captured Atlanta; ends with capture of Savannah

• Objectives:

• Total war

• Turning movement against Lee; “Grant’s stalemating Lee, Sherman’s march puts pressure on Lee’s exposed flank; cut reinforcements away

• Victory in Savannah struck heart of the South

– “Scorched Earth”• “scorched earth” –burned crops, kill livestock,

consume supplies and destroy civilian infrastructure

• Destroyed railroads, cotton gins and storage bins (trade cotton for guns)

Strategy & Tactics• 1865: Collapse of the Confederacy

• Jan. – President Davis (CSA) approves arming of slaves to strengthen army; measure never put into effect

• Feb. – Sherman marches from Savannah through North and South Carolina

• Feb. – President Davis (CSA) agrees to send delegates to peace conference with Lincoln– Must recognize Confederacy’s independence as a prerequisite

– Lincoln refuses; conference never occurs

Strategy & Tactics

• March/April – Lee attacks Grant near Petersburg but is defeated twice

– Evacuates Richmond (capital) heads west

• April 9th – Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse

– 7th – Lee’s troops surrounded; Grant calls for surrender

– Agree to terms: soldiers with their horses; officers with side arms; all other equipment surrendered

Strategy & Tactics• 14th – Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth• April – May

– Remaining Confederate troops defeated; Jefferson Davis captured on May 10th in Georgia