New Tactics During The Civil War

Field Artillery “The King of Battle” dates back as far as the birth of the United States Army itself. The Battle at Bunker

“At the time of our entry into World War I America was ill prepared for large scale warfare with large movements of whole Armies. The U.S. Army was not prepared with its Artillery and had no heavy artillery guns to speak of” (Hartwell, 2017). During World War I, the Coast Artillery Corps was subject to rapid changes and unit realignments. This signified the beginning of a seamless transition to what would eventually give birth to Air Defense Artillery. The French and British had provided the United States Army with its initial Artillery weapons resulting in no American Artillery brought to the front. Production quickly started on American versions of their foreign Artillery counterparts currently used in action. The American 8

Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.

The Union army, unlike the Confederates, had multiple companies that provided simple, yet devastating weapons. One of these weapons was the .52 caliber breech-loading Billinghurst-Requa battery; it was produced only 50 times. This weapon consisted of 25 rifled barrels side by side that, when primed, were set off by a lanyard to inflict massive damage over a small range of territory.7

There are many inventions from the Civil War that we have improved upon and that we still use today. Some of these inventions include hot air balloons, Long-Range Weapons, Warships, torpedoes, and the Gatling Gun. But three inventions from the Civil War that we still use today are railroads, telegraphs, and Long- Range Weapons. Today, though all these have been improved upon, these inventions are still used to help our country grow.

The Union soldiers were more likely to carry the U.S. Model 1861 Springfield Rifle-Musket than any other weapon. These guns were not the easiest or most convenient weapons even if they were the most common. The Model 1861 was a .58 caliber gun, was 58.5 inches long, and weighed in at a heavy 9.25 pounds. This rifle was nicknamed "The Widow Maker." This nickname was made with great thanks to the minie` bullet which was an integral part of this rifle-musket. The combination of the rifle-musket and the minie` bullet forever changed the face of warfare; thus because for the first time ever, men could aim at a distant target, and have a decent chance of hitting it. This luxury allowed the gun-bearers to hide in a safe place, yet still be able to knock down their target. Colonel George Hanger, an American Revolution officer, wrote in 1814:

     Riffles were another major contribution to the war, as far as weapons were concerned. The union forces had One of the most popular riffles was the Model 1861 Springfield Musket. The Springfield Musket weighed 9.25 pounds, had a twenty-one inch socket bayonet, and fired a .58 caliber mine ball traveling 950 feet per second. Riffled Muskets, which were also known as Enfields, were the second most popular riffles in the war. These Enfields, had a bore diameter of .557 inches, and weighed nine pounds three ounces. They were accurate at 800 yards, and could travel up to 1,100 yards without any difficulty. During the course of the war, 400,000 Enfields were sold to the Union troops, whereas a mere 20,000 were purchased by the confederate army. Although this weapons wasn’t as popular as the Springfield, the Enfield still packed a powerful punch at 1,100 yards (Ripley 43).

The Union’s monitor was a controversial design. Inside of the monitor was the turrent, which rotted to bring two guns to bear on the target. The designs were very successful. In the early 1800s there was an advancement of early artillery shells. When the first iron clad activities were presented they required too much technology that the South did not have. Architects of the new ship were John Porter, his design was simple and effective, sloped at a 35 degree angle. Throughout the north rumor spread quickly about the Iron Monster. The union set out to create its own iron clad to conquer it. It came down to two or three basic designs, a conventional war ship the galena,

Guerrilla-style hit and run tactics were further refined with the use of cavalry units during the Civil War. Men on horseback with revolvers and repeating rifles could surprise and outgun much larger infantry forces that were mostly armed with muskets. Then they could withdraw quickly and disappear into the wilderness

The American Civil War was one of the deadliest wars in American history, resulting in 620,000 casualties of soldiers and undetermined number of civilian casualties. Southern slave states declared their withdrawal from United States and formed the Confederate States of America; also know as “The Confederacy.” Northern twenty states free of slavery and five slave states in north came to knows as the Union. Many strategy and tactics were used during the American Civil War. In order to understand the military strategy and tactics of Union and the Confederacy, one must understand the manpower each side had, previous war experience of the commanding officers on both side, and using rivers and railroad to their advantages.

Charles's success was particularly achieved due to his advanced equipment. The cannons used iron shot, which allowed smaller projectiles to achieve the same destructive impact as a larger stone shot. This made for smaller, lighter, and ultimately more maneuverable cannons.

In total, there were over 370 Union Army artillery units at Gettysburg during the battle on November 19th, 1863 (Newton, 2005). This gave the Union Army a stout advantage over the Confederate Army, who only had about 280 artillery unit’s available (Newton, 2005). Of the different pieces used, the 12 pound smooth bore Napoleon was the most common. With a range of 1,300 yards, this artillery piece was used for direct fire on enemy troops and advancing artillery (Newton, 2005). In most cases, the Napoleon used a canister shot, which consisted of one round and one charge (Newton, 2005).When massing artillery fires on enemy artillery, it was common for artillery sections to use a double canister, a canister with two rounds and one charge (Newton, 2005). This was done to increase the chance of critical damage to enemy pieces. Often times when engaging enemy artillery directly, Union artillery would focus the battery on one enemy piece at a time, using the double canister (Newton, 2005).

Throughout history war has been prevalent. The borders of nations have been expanded as well as decimated. Protecting and assaulting countries has been the main reason for armies and as the armies grew so did their weaponry. Artillery has been a big part of armies; both protecting the friendly and assaulting the enemy from afar. The

This investigation will explore the question: How did technological advancements help to shape the Northern victory in the U. S. Civil War? The time frame for the investigation will range from the 1830s to 1865 when the Civil war ended; many technologies were created far prior to the Civil war, but were improved upon or finally put to work beginning around this period.

Before the Battle of Gettysburg, artillery was deployed as its own combat regiment. The use of cannon batteries was still used as a support element to other forces, but was not mobilized as simple as it is today. Infantry and cavalry regiments would go into battle with various artillery regiments that they may have not trained with previously and may not be up to par with unit standards of precision. This was the biggest weakness for the Union Army under General Meade. His cannon batteries were well supplied with plenty of ammunition and stock cannons to crossover ammunition to other cannon batteries. The Confederate army under General Lee on the other hand had the advantage with a more structured combat regiment to provide a more lethal support to units assigned to the same regiment. Confederate forces started training with their own assigned artillery battalions to know exactly how they operate in