Slide1: The Civil War, 1861-1862: The Lethal Face of Battle


Slide2: Question of slavery in Mexican Cession exacerbated longstanding national debate over slavery. South had earlier threatened secession. Lincoln’s 1860 election provided immediate cause for secession crisis. South expected Lincoln to end slavery. Roots of War


Comparative Resources: Comparative Resources TOTAL POPULATION 2.5-1 RAILROAD MILAGE 2.4-1 WEALTH PRODUCED 3-1 MERCHANT SHIP TONNAGE 9-1 NAVAL SHIP TONNAGE 25-1 FARM ACERAGE 3-1


Slide4: Most expected short, relatively bloodless war. Instead got four-year revolutionary conflict. Eventually became “total war.” Marshalling entire resources & employing full destructive energies. Perception vs Reality


States in the Civil War: States in the Civil War


Slide6: Campaigns 1861 - 1863


Slide7: Confed. strategic aim was to avoid defeat. Overconfidence & conviction. Pres. Davis settled on “cordon defense” for political reasons. Davis preferred active defense or “offensive-defensive.” Best implemented later by R.E. Lee. Fighting on interior lines. Fighting for homeland. Small population but potentially three million slaves to keep economy running. Allowed fuller mobilization of Southern male population. Strategic Overview: South


Slide8: North had larger population; more industry, railroads, & shipping; and more money. Advantages at first more potential than real. Lincoln adm. had to reunify country by war but not alienate South in process. Nearly insoluble political conundrum. Strategic Overview: North


Slide9: American Revolution War of 1812 Mexican War Civil War Spanish-American War World War I World War II Korean War Vietnam War Grenada, 1983 Panama, 1990 Desert Shield/Storm, 90-91 Somalia, 92-94 25,324 6,780 13,271 618,222 5,807 116,516 405,399 54,246 57,777 19 23 383 29 Source: The Journal of American History AMERICAN MILITARY DEATHS, 1775 - 1994 ( Wars and Recent Operations )


Slide10: American Revolution War of 1812 Mexican War Civil War Spanish-American War World War I World War II Korean War Vietnam War Grenada, 1983 Panama, 1990 Desert Shield/Storm, 90-91 Somalia, 92-94 117.9 8.3 6.2 181.7 0.8 11.1 29.6 3.5 2.8 0.0008 0.0009 0.0154 0.0011 Source: The Journal of American History AMERICAN MILITARY DEATHS, 1775 - 1994 ( Wars and Recent Operations - per 10,000 Population )


Technological Revolution: Technological Revolution


Slide12: Steam engine: railroad. Heavy loads, high speeds, flexible construction. Most officers understood potential of RR. Despite all, sails & rigging and wagons & mules not displaced. New Technologies


Slide13: Percussion cap & new ignition system. U.S. Army adopted in 1850s. 1840s, cylindro-conoidal “minie’ ball.” Effective range now ca. 500 yds! Also adopted by U.S. Army in 1850s. Most expected only modification of linear tactics. Smooth-bore to Rifled-musket


Slide14: Mexican American War Weapons


Slide15: Rifling


Effects of the Rifle: Effects of the Rifle


Civil War Artillery: Civil War Artillery


Artillery / Infantry Combat: Artillery / Infantry Combat Napoleonic Wars Civil War Rifle: 500 (+) yards Canister: 500 (-) yards Musket: 100 yards Canister: 500 (-) yards


Slide19: Hardee’s Tactics


Slide20: Mexican/American War BATTLE Palo Alto Resaca de la Palma Monterrey Buena Vista Cerro Gordo Contreras Churubusco Molina del Rey Chapultepec US Outcome W W W W W W W W W The US: Attacked Attacked Attacked Defended (CATK) Attacked Attacked Attacked Attacked Attacked


The Tactical Dilemma of the Civil WarSmoothbore Musket: Tactics and Technology: The Tactical Dilemma of the Civil War Smoothbore Musket: Tactics and Technology 100 0 200 300 400 500 Attacking Forces Double Cannister Cannister Max Effective Range Smooth- bore Musket Shell Fire to 1000 yards Defending Forces Max Effective Range Smooth- bore Musket Smoothbore Ranges: 50 yards--Accurate 100 Yards--Max Effective Rate of Fire: 2 or 3 Rounds per Minute Speed of Infantry Advance: 86 yds per Minute (Based on ‘Quick Time’ in Scott’s 1825 Manual) Result: Defender gets 2 aimed shots at an attacker before the range is closed. Significance Fewer Casualties From Muskets Artillery Used in Offensive Role Attacker Has the Advantage


The Tactical Dilemma of the Civil WarRifle-Musket: Tactics and Technology: The Tactical Dilemma of the Civil War Rifle-Musket: Tactics and Technology 100 0 200 300 400 500 Attacking Forces Double Cannister Cannister Maximum Effective Range Rifle- Musket Shell Fire to 1000 yards Defending Forces 600 700 800 900 1 Km Maximum Effective Range Rifle- Musket Rifle-Musket w/ Minie Ball Ranges: 300 yards--Accurate 500 yards--Max Effective 1000 yards--Can Still Kill Rate of Fire: 2 or 3 Rounds per Minute Speed of Infantry Advance: 154 yds per Minute (Based on ‘Double Quick’ in Hardee’s 1856 Manual) Result: Defender gets 6 to 9 aimed shots at an attacker before the range is closed. Significance More Casualties From Rifle-Muskets Artillery Loses Offensive Role Defender Has the Advantage Rifle-Musket Not Accurate, But Can Still Kill Rifle-Musket Not Accurate, But Can Still Kill


Slide23: USMA Prof. Dennis H. Mahan & “active defense.” i.e., “offensive-defensive.” Similar ideas influential in 1970s-1980s U.S. Army. Continued amateurism. Strategy as applied common sense. Several Army officers observed abroad. American Military Thought


Slide24: Modestly professional by 1860. Officers informed on technical advances. Regular officer corps increasingly professional. Amateurism persisted, esp. in militia. US Army Military Overall


Slide25: Identical military heritage led to similar mobilization North & South. Fed. mobilization different on two important points: Lincoln in time appointed strong SecWar Edwin M. Stanton. Numerous GICs, ending with unflappable U.S. Grant. Quickly became largest U.S. expression to date of “people in arms.” Lincoln called for 75,000 one-year volunteers after Ft. Sumter. Soon had several hundred thousand. 1861-1865 total under arms: North--ca. 2 million. South--ca. 1 million. Mobilization


Slide26: Both sides positioned forces to protect respective capitals. Fed. seized MD by force of arms & est. mil. gov’t and occupied western VA. Together secured strategic B&O RR. KY declared “neutrality.” Confed. forces entered & Fed. forces quickly seized most of state. Fed. forces to disarm secessionist militia in MO. Confed. won Battle of Wilson’s Creek in Aug 1861 & controlled half of MO. Fed. ejected Confed. from MO early in 1862. Confirmed by Fed. victory at Pea Ridge, AR, in Mar 1862. Lincoln adm. now held all Borderland. Borderland War


Slide27: Fed. grand strategy: Proposed by aging Gen. Scott. 1st--Blockade Confed. harbors. 2nd--Seize Mississippi River. 3rd--Wait! Press dubbed “Anaconda Plan.”


Slide28: Lincoln sent Gen. McDowell’s 36,000-man army out of Wash. Jul 16, 1861. Gen. Beauregard’s 25,000-man Confed. army astride Manassas Junc. Reinforced by Gen. J.E. Johnston’s 16,000-man army from Shenandoah. Armies arrayed & ready to fight on Jul 21.


Slide29: Confed. fought mostly on defensive. Fed. attack eventually broke catastrophically. Confed. overconfident as result & Fed. resolved to fight hard to win. Use of RR was most imp. mil. aspect.


Slide30: 3,000-mile Confed. coastline was major liability. Fed. seapower seized Outer Banks, NC, & Port Royal, SC, by early 1862. Provided anchorages for blockade. Greatest Fed. naval victory was Apr 1862 seizure of New Orleans. Put cork in lower Mississippi River.


Slide31: Early 1862 Fed. joint Army-Navy force to penetrate Confed. along Tennessee-Cumberland Rivers. Total Fed. land force ca. 90,000. Confed. Gen. A.S. Johnston est. 300-mile cordon from Appl. to Miss. River. Only 43,000 troops to hold line.


Slide32: Gen. Grant seized & held initiative. Ignored Fed. disunity of command. Ascended Tenn. River with 15,000 troops aboard transports. Aided by FO Foote & gunboats. Flooding rains forced surrender of Confed. Ft. Henry on the Tennessee.


Slide33: Grant turned next to Ft. Donelson on Cumberland River. Grant, reinforced, invested it Feb 1862. Confed. garrison also reinforced. Still, Ft. Donelson commander asked for surrender terms. Grant: “…no terms except unconditional & immediate surrender.”


Slide34: Donelson was first major Fed. land victory of Civil War. Confed. western cordon defense collapsed. Grant moved up the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing. Johnston, reinforced to 40,000, concentrated at Corinth, MS.


Slide35: At stake was critical Mobile & Ohio RR and Memphis & Charleston RR junction at Corinth. Second only to Confed. capital at Richmond in geographic importance. Johnston advanced toward Pittsburg Landing on Apr 3. Roads bad & troops inexperienced.


Slide36: Timeline of the Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) The Beginning March 1 - April 5: Grant transports his Army of west Tennessee (over 58,000 men) into southwest Tennessee Establishes it at Pittsburg Landing, and awaits Buell's army. March 1: Johnston transports 55,000 Confederates to Corinith to defend the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. April 3: Johnston advances toward Pittsburg Landing, Rain and bad roads delay his advance. April 6: Johnston launches surprise attack on Federals. April 6, 1862 4:55-6:30 am: Federal patrol discovers Confederates in Fraley Field. Federal Skirmish, then fall back. 6:30-9:00 am: Johnston maneuvers eight brigades to overrun Prentiss's camps, routing the Union division. 7:00-10:00 am: Sherman's division repulses Confederates, inflicting heavy casualties. Johnston sends five brigades to attack Sherman's left flank. Sherman falls back on McClernand's division. 10:00-11:30 am: Confederates assault Sherman and McClernand on the Hamburg - Purdey Road, driving back Union right flank. 8:00-9:30 am: Wallace's and Hurlbut's divisions march to the front. 9:00-10:30 am: Johnston, hearing that his right flank is threatened, orders Chalmers' and Jackson's brigades to assault Federal left, with Breckinridge in support. 11:00-Noon: Confederates make contact with Federals across Eastern Corinth Road. Federals repulse attacks. 11:00am-1:00pm: Chalmers and Jackson assault Stuart, but Confederate stalls. Federal left holds against all attacks. Noon-2:30pm: Sherman and McClernand Counterattack Driving Confederates south, but weakened by losses, Federals with draw across Tilghman Branch. Noon-3:30pm: Gibson's Confederates assault Federal center three times and are repulsed. Confederates come under murderous fire in impenetrable oak thicket. 1:00-4:00 pm: Johnston orders attack against Federal left, forcing them back. Johnston killed; succeeded by Beauregard. Hurlbut's division again stalls Confederates, but then retires toward Pittsburg landing. 3:00-5:30 pm: Sherman and McClernand prevent Confederates from crossing Tilghman Branch, but retire to defend Hamburg-Savannah road so that Wallace's division can come up. 7:00 pm: Wallace, with 5,800 men , moves to support Sherman at Shiloh Church. Night: Buell's troop file in on Union left. Crittenden deploys in center, with McCook in support. Night: Nelson ferried across river. Federal gunboats fire into captured Federal camps. April 7, 1862 7:00-9:00 am: Wallace drives Confederates from Jones' field. 7:00-900 am: Grant and Buell advance. Skirmishing light as majority of Confederates retired south of Hamburg/Purdy road during night. 9:00-11:00 am: Nelson advances through Wicker's and Sarah Bell's fields, Crittenden advances in center, but stalled in "hornet's nest." 9:00-11:00 am: Breckinridge and Hardee counterattack Nelson's right flank and force Federal left back into Wicker's field. 9:00-11:00 am: McCook crosses Tilghman Branch and engages Breckinridge's left. 10:30-Noon: Sherman, McClernand and Hurlbut cross Tilghman Branch and join Wallace in fighting against Polk and Bragg on Confederate left. 10:30-Noon: Confederates flanked by Wallace and forced to retire to Hamburg/Purdy road. Noon-2:00 pm: Reinforced, Nelson and Crittenden advance, forcing Beauregard's right flank to retreat south to Hamburg/Purdy road. Noon-2:00 pm: McCook slams into Bragg at Water Oak Pond. Beauregard counterattack, halting McCook. With his left under pressure Beauregard is forced to retire. 2:00-4:00 pm: Breckinridge, supported by massed artillery south of Shiloh Branch ravine, checks Union advance and Confederates retire from field. Federals reclaim possession of the field and bivouac. Source: "The Atlas of the Civil War" by James M. McPherson


Slide37: Terrain undulating & heavily wooded. Confed. approached under cover & concealment. Fed. lax on security & taken by surprise. Confed. pushed Fed. back toward Tennessee River.


Slide38: Grant reached battlefield at 0830. All was apparently lost but Grant was unflappable. Critical task was to hold river’s edge & summon reinforcements from Gen. Buell. Fed. center at Hornet’s Nest held till evening. Confed. attack reached culminating point, short of victory, on first day.


Slide39: Grant to Sherman overnight: “Lick’em in the morning, though.” Grant reinforced to 28,000 & artillery arrayed 1/4 mile from river. Confed. had no reinforcements. Fed. drove Confed. back on Apr 7. Gen. Johnston mortally wounded. Confed. retreated to Corinth.


Slide40: Butcher’s bill was worst in U.S. history to date. Ca. 24,000 total k/w/m. More than all previous U.S. wars combined! Grant heavily criticized but Shiloh “victory” confirmed capture of Fts. Henry & Donelson.


Slide41: Civil War fast eclipsing all previous U.S. wars in scale, scope, & lethality. Butcher’s bill steadily growing. Fed. made excellent progress up to spring 1862. Now remained for Gen. McClellan to deliver decisive blow in VA.