War.
General Civil War Background
Bloodiest war in American History
- Currently, there were more casualties in the Civil War than all
other wars the U.S. has fought in.
- More than 620,000 Americans died in the Civil War.
- World War 2 resulted in 295,000 American military deaths.
- American deaths in World War 1 deaths were about 117,000.
- Over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War
- Over 36,000 Americans died in the Korean War
- There were over 10,000 killed and wounded in the entire
Revolutionary War.
- The second largest battle of the Civil war in terms of casualties
was the battle of Shiloh in April of 1862. More than 23,000
casualties were suffered by both sides combined. This number exceeded
all of the losses of all wars America was engaged in up until April of
1862.
The Civil War introduced new and deadlier weapons. The tactics used
at the beginning of the war were based on the weapons and tactics used
for many years previous. The use of the old smoothbore muskets
resulted in short range accuracy and close firing lines that did not
cause that much damage to either side. Two opposing firing lines 100
or so yards apart did not damage much damage because of the smoothbore
musket's short range. Cavalry was much deadlier before the Civil War,
since mounted cavalry could overrun a line of infantry before the
infantry could shoot down the cavalry. By the time the cavalry was in
range, it was too late. Infantry charges were also more deadly, and
many battles were determined by bayonets at close range. The rifled
musket used in the Civil War was still a muzzle loader, which still
kept the rate of fire low, but the increased range allowed lines of
infantry to negate the cavalry charge. Dug in infantry could almost
always crush a frontal assault. Unfortunately, many generals continued
to use tactics from the days of the smoothbore musket, and continued
to order charges directly into dug in enemy positions. This caused
many of the large number of casualties of the war. If you have seen
the movie Gods and Generals, you can see a terrible example of this
during the repeated frontal assaults the Union attempted on Marye's
Heights at Fredericksburg.
The "minnie ball" was a half inch lead rifle bullet first introduced by Captain Claude F. Minie, a French Captain in the 1840's. A cheaper version was introduced in the U.S. by a worker at the Harper Ferry's armory before the Civil War. The minnie
ball could expand as it left the barrel of the rifle, which caused the ball to catch the rifling inside the gun. The rifling caused the bullet to spin, which increased the accuracy and distance of the shot.
Artillery was greatly improved during the war. The newer rifled cannons could hit a battery of smoothbore cannons, and could not be hit in return due to the difference in range capabilities. In wooded areas, the smoothbore's one mile or so range was generally all that was needed. Canister shot was often used in smoothbores to fire on infantry. The canister shot was basically a tin can full of smaller iron balls. The balls would casue widespread damage to infantry within about 250 yards. Grape shot was a greater number of balls wrapped in cloth and tied together with string. Sinced the shot looked like a bunch of grapes wrapped in cloth, it got the name "grape shot".
Civil war related wargames:
I have noticed that there seems to be a relatively small number of recent wargames related to the Civil War. I have not had the chance to try out many of these games. The one I have played most recently is available as a free download. The game called American civil War: Gettysburg, is a large 232 megabyte download that is available from several sources online. It is published by Global Star and was first released in April 2005. The trial version allows play for 60 minutes, then you are required to register the game for $19.99 before playing again. The 3D graphics look very good, and is something I have not seen in many games for that period. There are tutorials showing how to utilize terrain, artillery, etc. It is a very appealing game visually. I hope to be able to register a copy and play it some more to get a better feel for the game.
Please support the Military Simulation and History Podcast with your donation:
No comments:
Post a Comment