How was the Civil War fought differently than wars in the past?
Weapons
Fatal wound inflicted by exploding 12 pound artillery shell
Minie Ball
Minie Balls were formed from 1 oz of molten lead and is an example of the key role factories played in the Civil War. Factories would produce these balls, and in less than 33 hours they could be on the battlefield. Because the North was more industrialized (compared to the incredibly agrarian South), the North was able to make over 1/2 a billion over the course of the war. A single soldier could fire 3000 in one hour, contributing to the high death toll in the Civil War.
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| Fatal wound inflicted by exploding 12 pound artillery shell |
Transportation and Communication
Telegraph
Lincoln sent almost 1000 telegrams over the course of the war. It was ideal for brief messages, and allowed Lincoln to control and communicate with generals in the field almost instantly. Through the telegraph, Lincoln could give direct orders, without relying on middle-men/messengers.
Railroads
Peter Cooper invented the “Tom Thumb” locomotive, which greatly improved the railroad system in the United States of America. Because of his invention, faster overland travel and transportation was possible. 800 tons of supplies could be transported with one trip via rails. Lincoln utilized railroads to transport men and supplies while strategically destroying the South's rails during the Civil War. One specific example is Sherman's March to the Sea. While General Sherman lead his men from Atlanta to Savannah, his men would tear up railroad ties, bending them into an unusable shape. This process became so widespread on his campaign that this destruction and bending of ties was nicknamed "Sherman's Neckties". The union had access to over 22,000 miles of track in the Northern states, while the South was limited to just 9,500 miles.
Medicine
The Civil War resulted in 2.5% of the total population of the US dying. If that percentage of people were to die in America today, that would be about 8 million deaths. One out of five soldiers died during the Civil War.
Amputations
During the Civil War, 3/4 of all operations were amputations, eventually totaling to 60,000 amputations by the end of the war. Gangrene was considered the #1 killer, and twice as many soldiers would die from disease and infection than on the actual battlefield.
Disease
2/3 of all deaths occurred from disease. 224,580 union soldiers and 164,000 confederate soldiers died from disease.
Red Cross The role of women grew during the Civil War. Rather than being left at home, almost 20,000 women signed on as nurses. After the Civil War, one such nurse, Clara Barton, founded the Red Cross in 1881. Because of her care on the battlefield, Clara Barton was nicknamed "Angel of the Battlefield".
"I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them." -- Clara Barton
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Disease
2/3 of all deaths occurred from disease. 224,580 union soldiers and 164,000 confederate soldiers died from disease.
Red Cross The role of women grew during the Civil War. Rather than being left at home, almost 20,000 women signed on as nurses. After the Civil War, one such nurse, Clara Barton, founded the Red Cross in 1881. Because of her care on the battlefield, Clara Barton was nicknamed "Angel of the Battlefield".
Sources
http://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/How-the-Railroad-Won-the-War.pdf
https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/railroads-confederacy
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/american-red-cross-founded
https://www.ncpedia.org/history/cw-1900/amputations
http://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-we-are/history/clara-barton
CW by the Numbers on the PBS American Experience Death and the Civil War website
http://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/How-the-Railroad-Won-the-War.pdf
https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/railroads-confederacy
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/american-red-cross-founded
https://www.ncpedia.org/history/cw-1900/amputations
Karenna, your post was interesting in the sense that it explained how the Civil War was very similar to any war fought. While the reason why it was fought is for the glory of the union, ultimately the impact that disease had such as gangrene portrays that there were unforeseeable factors that still were problems in World War I and II. We also see a spring in the world of women, a social impact that is often overlooked by people. Women were both fighting at home and on the battlefield by caring for wounded soldiers which makes the compelling argument about how useful were the women during the war. I wonder that if the war hadn't employed women and still saw them so inferior to witness the battlefield, would the outcome have been the same? Also, with the use of the telegraph, did its efficiency help the north win or just speed up the inevitable result of the war?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.history.com/news/civil-war-deadlier-than-previously-thought
I always love your posts because they easily distinguish the main points of your post in a different way. I found it interesting that due to industrialization, ammo, railroads, and other technologies were incorporated into the war helped fuel the high death toll. While some aspects of the war remain the same, such as high death tolls and diseases such as gangrene, the Civil War was different in a few ways. Before, industrialization or early modern warfare, it was harder to transport ammunition and supplies to soldiers. For example, during the Revolutionary War, situations such as Valley Forge may have been more avoidable because of the easier access to supplies due to railroads as well as a more developed economy leading to easier funding of the war. http://www.diffen.com/difference/American_Civil_War_vs_Revolutionary_War Check out this article for more comparisons between the two wars.
ReplyDeleteKarenna, I thought your article was really interesting especially because of your choice to distinguish the different aspects of the Civl War so clearly. I thought that you combined both the technological superiority of Northern Industry and their war strategies really well. I looked at some of the major diseases during the Civil War, and they included "typhoid fever, smallpox, measles, diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and tuberculosis". I think having the initial mindset that the war would be short also added to many individuals getting sick. The idea that the war would be over quick probably did not prepare them- material wise- for the longer run. Lack of warm clothing, clean water, food.. all probably added to the sickness. Armies also did not understand the importance of hygiene, but this war helped to pave a clearer path for future wars to have better sanitation
ReplyDeletehttp://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_10.06.02_u
https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/death.html