The American Civil War facilitated the evolution of trench warfare tactics, techniques and combat procedures, while bring an end to Napoleonic battlefield tactics. The American Civil War was a military conflict between the United States of America’s Union Army versus the Confederate States of America’s Confederate Army from 1861 to 1865. This conflict resulted in the evolution of trench warfare tactics, techniques and combat procedures. The American Civil War origins, the presidents, the weapons, the military commanders, the violent battles, the war’s conclusion, the African American participation and the assessment of this conflict highlights the struggle for American unification and liberation from the shame of slavery.
THE ORIGINS
By early 1861, just before the outbreak of the Civil War in the United States, serious economic and ideological differences – among them states’ rights and slavery – divided the people of the young nation. These differences also divided the country geographically. Nineteen states, including the industrialized northern states, prohibited slavery, while 15 southern states, whose economies depended on agriculture, permitted the ownership of slaves. Eleven of the southern states withdrew from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union on Dec. 12, 1860. It was also the site of the first battle of the American Civil War. On April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery shelled Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Thus, the American Civil War began when the Confederacy demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Union commander refused, and the Confederate forces fired on the fort. After two days, Fort Sumter surrendered and both sides rushed to mobilize for war. The first year of the war consisted primarily of skirmishes, except for the First Battle of Bull Run.
THE PRESIDENTS
Soon after Abraham Lincoln’s election as president of the United States, seven Southern states seceded from the Union because they feared that Lincoln would abolish slavery. Four more states had followed by the time Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861. The recording of his 1861 inaugural address have been recited by many actors because of its intellectual, philosophical and prophetic depth.
During the Civil War, Jefferson Davis served as the president of the Confederate States of America. As secretary of war under United States President Franklin Pierce and a two-term senator from Mississippi, Davis was a pro-slavery advocate who initially opposed secession. However, when his state withdrew from the Union, he resigned from the U.S. Senate to support the South.
THE WEAPONS
During the Civil War both armies employed new weapons that changed the tactics, techniques and procedures of warfare. First, the invention of the mini bullet for rifles with internal screws permitted bullets to travel farther with superior accuracy. Thousands of soldiers died on both sides because of this technological evolution. This weapon system caused military commanders to develop a more defensive trench warfare tactic, which forecast the trench warfare combat operations during the First World War.
Second, the Confederate Army used a giant flatcar-mounted mortar weapon against American Union forces. Railroads greatly increased the ability of both sides to transport troops, supplies, and weapons. And third, the ironclad ships Monitor and Virginia fire cannonades at one another at point-blank range during the historic battle of Hampton Roads in the American Civil War. The Union Monitor was smaller and lighter than its Confederate counterpart and had a revolving gun turret with two heavy guns. Although the two armored ships fought each other for several hours, the Virginia withdrew because of low tides, and the battle was considered a draw. This naval battle marked the end of wooden warships and the proliferation and evolution of iron and steel warships worldwide.
THE GENERALS
The Civil War was decorated with the some of the best commanders in warfare history. Frist, Thomas Jonathan Jackson commonly known as Stonewall Jackson was among the most famous generals of the Civil War. Thomas Jonathan Jackson served under Confederate General Robert E. Lee. During the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, Jackson’s brigade faced overwhelming odds. General Barnard E. Bee, seeing Jackson’s line holding firm, said, “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall.” After that he was called Stonewall by his troops. Second, Ulysses S. Grant was one of the Union Army’s most successful generals. President Abraham Lincoln selected Grant to lead the Union forces on March 9, 1864, following a string of unsuccessful commanders. Grant had a straightforward and relentless approach to warfare.
Third, Robert E. Lee was a brilliant general who commanded the Confederate army during the American Civil War (1861-1865). When war seemed imminent in 1861, President Lincoln offered command of the Union troops to Lee, but Lee declined, opting instead to assume command of Confederate forces in Virginia. In 1865, he became commander in chief of all Confederate troops, shortly before surrendering to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, which effectively ended the war. And fourth, he was a brilliant strategist, organizer, and trainer of troops, General George McClellan was praised as a “young Napoleon,” but his timidity on the battlefield caused President Abraham Lincoln to replace him as leader of the Union forces.
THE BATTLES
The Civil War involved some of the deadliest battles in warfare history. First, after the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862, President Lincoln visited Union commanders on the battlefield. The battle marked the bloodiest one-day battle of the American Civil War-casualties from both sides mounted to about 23,000. In the end, however, the Union army emerged victorious. Second, after Union General Joseph Hooker relieved General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the army, he planned to keep the attention of the Southern army at Fredericksburg, while sending a force to attack the Confederate flank. But Hooker hesitated at Chancellorsville, and the Confederates turned and attacked with such force that after three days of fighting he was forced to withdraw.
Third, on July 1, 1863, one of the bloodiest battles of the United States Civil War began at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Confederate troops led by General Robert E. Lee initially drove back General George Meade’s Union forces, who then took a strong defensive position. After two days of fighting in which Lee was unable to break the Union line, he sent Major General George Pickett and his forces on an infamous charge at the center of Union defenses. More than three-quarters of Pickett’s force suffered casualties, and the charge was repelled, effectively ending the battle. On the night of July 4, the Confederate Army began its retreat to Virginia.
THE CONCLUSION
The Civil War concluded with General Sherman’s march through Georgia and General Lee’s surrender. In 1864, American Union troops led by General William T. Sherman captured Atlanta. From there, Sherman split his forces and marched them in a parallel route southeast to the Atlantic Ocean and then through South Carolina. Along the way, Sherman’s troops destroyed everything in their path, including civilian property that could be of use to the Confederates. The town of Columbia, S.C., shown here, was one of many towns devastated in the march.
Early in April 1865, Confederate forces in Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee confronted those of Union general Ulysses S. Grant. Lee, realizing that his troops were outnumbered by more than two to one and that further fighting would result in useless loss of life, asked for a meeting to discuss terms of surrender. On April 9, both generals met at a private home in the small town of Appomattox Court House. Grant offered generous terms, which Lee graciously accepted. With that, the American Civil War ended.
AFRICAN AMERICAN TROOPS
Virtually all African American soldiers fought on the side of the Union during the American Civil War. They served in segregated all-African American units and fought in nearly 500 engagements. A few African American soldiers and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery, which is the United States military’s highest honor.
ANALYSIS
Victory during the Civil War was primarily the result of numbers: The North had more men, money and manufacturing capacity than the South. Second, Gens. Grant and Sherman were willing to employ “total war,” Grant aiming to destroy the Confederate Army and Sherman seeki
RELATED SOURCES
African American History; Melba J, Duncan; 2003.American History; Alan Axelrod, Ph.D.; 2000.Civil War Weapons; Graham Smith; 2005.Native American History; Walter C. Fleming; 2003.The American Presidency; Alan Axelrod, Ph.D.; 2009.The Civil War; Alan Axelrod, Ph.D., 1999.