Civil War - Technology

Why was the Civil War so deadly?

The U.S. Civil War is going to be the deadliest war in American History. Over 700,000 will be killed, and another 500,000+ wounded.

There will be battles during the Civil War that have more deaths than ENITRE wars we fight. In fact, you can add up all the deaths from other wars in American history and COMBINDED they don’t have as many as the U.S. Civil War.

What made this war so deadly?

Military Tactics

• To understand why the Civil War was so deadly we first have to understand how wars were fought
• Early fighting by ancient societies such as the Greeks and Romans saw what we call a ‘phalanx’.
• Huge groups of soldiers in lines moving as a unit across an open field.

How wars were fought

• The type of military warfare that the Romans and Greeks used, continued for thousands of years, even as the musket replaced the sword.
• Remember when we studied the U.S. Revolution and soldiers lined up across from each other?
• This continued through the Civil War.

Civil War - Tactics

• We still fought with the same tactics …
• …but the weapons were more accurate, deadly, and powerful.

Civil War - Leaders

• The top generals of both sides were trained at West Point and knew military tactics from the Mexican War
• The Civil War was different for many reasons:
• Far deadlier weapons, including better rifles, machine guns, and exploding shells
• Officers and government communicated quickly by telegraph.
• Railroads moved large numbers of troops quickly

Repeating Rifles

• Most Civil War soldiers still used single-shot rifles that had to be reloaded after every shot.
• Repeating rifles were guns that could fire several shots before needing to be reloaded.
• Repeating rifles, such as the Spencer rifle and Henry rifle, gave some soldiers a major advantage.
• A soldier with a repeating rifle could fire much faster than a soldier using a traditional muzzle-loading rifle.
• This made battlefield attacks even more dangerous because soldiers could fire more bullets in less time.
• Repeating rifles were not used by every soldier because they were more expensive and harder to supply with ammunition.

Minie Ball

• Minie Ball replaces the musket ball. It is 10 times more deadly.
• Bullet-shaped ammunition rather than round ball
• 150 - 200 yards (compared to 80 yards for smooth bore weapons
• Spiral groove inside gun barrel
• New reloading system

Minie (Mi–Nee) Ball

• A Minie ball fired with more force
• It was more accurate, and much, much stronger.
• A Minie ball wouldn’t stop when it hit an enemy…it would just keep going.

Civil War - Artillery

• Standard Civil War artillery piece was the 12 pound Smoothbore model
• Fired a variety of ammunition depending on target
• No aiming system, had to see target and guess the distance
• Cannon could fire a shell over 6 miles
• Cannonballs replaced by shrapnel

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Gatling Gun

• A hand crank gun that could fire up to 200 rounds a minute.
• The Gatling gun was invented during the Civil War, but it was not widely used in most battles.
• Its importance was that it showed the future of warfare: rapid-fire weapons would eventually make old battlefield tactics even more deadly.

Trench Warfare

• As Civil War weapons became more accurate and deadly, soldiers needed better protection.
• Instead of standing in open fields, soldiers began digging trenches and earthworks.
• A trench is a long ditch that soldiers use for cover.
• Trenches were used heavily near the end of the war
• This showed that charging across open fields was becoming extremely dangerous.
• Civil War trench warfare foreshadowed World War I.

Trench Warfare

Balloons

• Aerial Reconnaissance –Balloon Corps
• Used to spy on the enemy and analyze warfare

Telegraph

• The Telegraph was used for long distance communication
• Organized troop movement

Railroads

• Allowed for quick movement of troops & supplies
• All major Civil War battles took place 100 or miles less from RR tracks

The Civil War at Sea

• The Union’s blockade strategies were working
• Slipping through, or “running” the Union blockade was pretty easy in the beginning but was getting harder
• The South depended on blockade runners, built for speed, to get past Union ships
• Necessary for Southern economy, food, and supplies

Ironclads

• An ironclad ship was a ship with iron plates on it to protect it from cannon fire.
• Iron plates up to 3” thick
• Nearly invincible to Confederate cannon fire
• Critical to the North’s campaign for the Mississippi River

Ironclads/gunboats

http://www.flickr.com/photos/

Naval Mines

• During the Civil War, naval mines were often called torpedoes.
• These were explosive devices placed in rivers, harbors, or coastal waters.
• They were designed to damage or sink enemy ships.
• The Confederacy used naval mines because it had fewer ships than the Union.
• Mines were a cheaper way to defend important ports and waterways.
• They made it more dangerous for Union ships to attack Southern defenses.

Photography

• The Civil War was one of the first major wars to be photographed.
• Photographers showed soldiers, camps, battlefields, destroyed towns, and the dead.
• This made the war feel more real to people at home.
• Their images helped people see the true cost of war.
• However, cameras at the time could not easily capture fast-moving battle scenes.
• Most Civil War photographs were taken before or after battles, not during the fighting.
• Even with these limits, photography became an important historical record.

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Union Blockade

• Union warships block the imports and exports of the South to other countries.
• South had hoped to export cotton, tobacco, and sugar to Europe and then use money to buy military goods.
• Causes a 90% drop in the confederate dollar, which leads to rising prices on goods also called inflation

Monitor vs. Merrimack

• Date: March 1862
• Place: Off Hampton Roads, Virginia (coastline)
• Winner: Draw
• First ironclad battle in history
• Ends in a draw as the Merrimac withdraws after daylong exchange of fire
• Union blockade of South is maintained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwQ8gH6bfPU Iron clads