Week 5 notes 2/7-2/9

Why is there no regular army?

∙ Confederate Conscription

o No regular army because they’d never been a country

o Militias volunteer all together for the voluntary army

o March 1861

 Jefferson Davis creates a volunteer army around the time of  Lincoln’s inauguration

∙ 1 year of service

o April 1862: White male citizens 18-35 years old (3 years)

 Draft was hella unpopular because the whole point of leaving  the Union was to rebel against an oppressive government

 Gave people the option within 30 days to volunteer and avoid  the stigma of being a draftee

o Sept. 1862: raise the age to 45

o Feb. 1864: expand to ages 17-50

 At the end, it’s kinda useless because everyone that could be  drafted already had been

Who creates a volunteer army around the time of lincoln’s inauguration?

o Exemption

 Officers in state militias because they had to defend the home  front

 1 teacher for every 20 students so education could continue  1 white man for every 20 slaves

∙ Resented by poor, non-slaveholding whites Don't forget about the age old question of What causes world war 2?

 Clergymen

o Substitution (abolished Dec. 1863)

 Wanted bodies and didn’t care where they came from

 Immigrants who weren’t citizens yet

 Someone of non-draft age

o Can flee the state to dodge the draft

o 25% of CSA army are draftees

∙ Union drafts

o Union uses a draft 4 times

o 1863: July

 Mostly to keep up the old regiments

How long does voluntary army service last?

 20-45 year olds had to register for the draft

 Divided the North into draft districts

∙ Asked people in districts to volunteer in order to fill the  We also discuss several other topics like What is socrates charged with in the apology?

quota

o If they could fill the quota voluntarily, no one would

be drafted

∙ Districts start offering monetary incentives called  

bounties to people who would volunteer to avoid getting  

drafted

o By the end of the war, bounties were close to  

$1000

 When the average laborer bakes around  

$300/year, that’s super temptingDon't forget about the age old question of What is methylpropane used for?

o Bounty jumpers

 Would volunteer, collect the bounty, and  

immediately desert to go to another district  

and do it again

o 1864: March, July, Dec.

o Methods:

 Exemption

∙ Didn’t give them for occupation

∙ Compassionate grounds

o Like if you’re the only supporter of your widowed  

mother or something like that We also discuss several other topics like Who is simon bolivar?

 Substitution

 Commutation fee (abolished July 1864)

∙ Could pay a fee to get out of going

∙ Could be like democratic reform for the substitution fee

∙ Really to keep valuable people at home since there were  

no occupational exemptions in the North

o Results of Union Draft

 Soldiers hate draftees, and they’re crappy soldiers

 776,000 names drawn in lottery

∙ 161,000 failed to report

∙ 93,000 were sent home

∙ 315,000 exempt

o Physical or mental disability Don't forget about the age old question of What is a childbirth assistant called?

 Sheds light on how rough life was in the 19th Don't forget about the age old question of What is a good example of supply and demand?

century

 Need front teeth

o Compassionate grounds

 207,000 drafted

∙ Of these:

o 87,000 pay commutation fee

o 74,000 get a substitute

o 46,000 actually enter the army

 Because of the existence of the draft, lots of people volunteered ∙ Produced a lot more people than it looks like

∙ 8% of Union army made up of draftees/substitutes

∙ Logistics

o Stuff that armies use; where does it come from? How does it get there? o Departments for Logistical Support

 Quartermaster General

∙ Clothing, equipment, animals, transport, housing

 Commissary General

∙ Rations

 Chief of Ordinance

∙ Weapons and ammunition

 Surgeon General

∙ Medical supplies, evacuation, treatment, etc.

o Army of the Potomac 1862

 128,000 men

 22,000 horsies

 10,000 mules

 321 artillery pieces

 Supply train of wagons would stretch over 30 miles

 So big and so spread out

 192 TONS of rations

 412 TONS of forage

∙ Food for horsies and mules

 64 tons of ammunition

 668 tons of stuff consumed by this army in ONE DAY

o Army Wagons

 2,400 lbs

 6 mules

∙ More durable and less excitable than horses

 Roughly 500 wagons have to come into the camp EVERY DAY to  keep them supplied

 Only move about 10-20 miles a day

 12 ft wide, 36 ft long with mules

∙ 4-5 miles along a road

 Has to be constant supply or you’re screwed

 Mules eat 160 lbs of forage/day

∙ Takes 10 days so they’d eat 1800 lbs by the time they’d  

get there

∙ Means they need more wagons

o 12 miles of wagons would be hella vulnerable

 Very slow and inefficient

o Railroad

 Typical car can carry 8 tons

 Railroads don’t consume their contents like mules

 86 cars/day

 Much rather supply armies by railroad than by road

 1st war where railroads are super important

 Armies will follow the railroads

o Steamboat

 500 tons

 Just 1 boat could take care of the army for a day

 If the river doesn’t go there, then the steamboat can’t get there  either

 Armies follow rivers as well

 Most efficient way of supplying the army

∙ Strategy, Tactics, and weaponry

o Ranks

 Lines of men standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder; width o File

 Men standing behind each other; depth

 About 16 inches in between men

o Typical company formation

 The flank is the weak point

∙ Put a company on the flank angled to protect it

o Skirmishers

 Go out in front of the main battle line to draw the enemy’s  fire/see where the enemy is

o Battle lines

 Company guarding the flank is the weak link in the battle line  Turning the line is called an evolution/evolving

o Regimental officers

 Behind the line on horseback

 Pretty conspicuous

 Who are you going to shoot at?

o Flags

 1 US flag, 1 state flag

 Regiment forms around the colors

∙ If you shoot them down, it could cause chaos

∙ Bravest of men

o Didn’t carry weapons

 Pretty much the last time in war that the colors are used o Rate of advance

 Double quick is the fastest  

 110 yds per minute

 That’s a long time when you’re under fire

 Without clear lines and organization, it becomes a mob and  therefore is useless

o Weapons

 Hadn’t been a major war in Europe or the US since Napoleon in  1815

∙ That’s what they taught at West Point

o All the Civil War generals went to West Point

 Flintlock Smooth Bore Musket

∙ .69 caliber

∙ Load at the barrel, not the breach

∙ Powder in first, then bullet

∙ Use a ramrod to stuff it down in there

∙ Pull back hammer

∙ Open frizzen  pulls some powder back

∙ Pull trigger

∙ Hammer goes forward, flint hits the frizzen creating a  spark, lighting the powder

∙ Skip any step and you’re screwed

∙ Some would pee into the barrel to clean it out so they  could load/fire again

 These weapons were short range and took a while to reload ∙ This led to Napoleonic tactics

o Aggressor usually won

∙ But weaponry changed

 Springfield Rifle Musket

∙ 9 lbs, 56 in tall, 18 in bayonet

∙ Rifling

o Spiral grooves inside the barrel causing the bullet  to spin, making it go faster, be more accurate, and  more effectives at longer ranges

o Rifles had existed in the 1800s but they were  

mostly used for hunting and not effective in battle  

because the bullet had to be packed so tightly

 Minie Ball

∙ Hollow at the bottom

∙ Wouldn’t fit as tightly so it would go down the barrel much easier

∙ The old musket was like shooting a knuckle ball where as  the minie ball was like a fast ball because it spins

∙ Accurate at 300 yds

∙ Could kill at 1,000 yds

 Percussion cap

∙ Little copper cap that the hammer hits

∙ Eliminates the frizzen, pan, etc.

∙ Had to be replaced every time the weapon is fired  Bayonet

∙ Grooved to let the blood spurt out

∙ If they were solid, you wouldn’t be able to get it out of a  person

∙ Almost never fought with them

o Turned a gun into a spear and they didn’t know how to fight like that

o Also, people don’t like getting stabbed so they’d  run if it came to it

o Usually, in hand to hand combat, they’d just beat  the other guy with their gun

∙ Still useful, though

o Cooking meat

o Candle holder

o Digging trenches

 Ammunition

∙ Minie ball is the most common

∙ Would be pre-packaged with bullet and powder all  together

o By this time, everything had been converted to the  percussion cap

∙ Use teeth to tear the paper

∙ Buck and ball

o Had the big lead bullet and buckshot that will spray and probably hurt others

 Enfield Rifle Musket

∙ Name from Enfield Rifle Works, London

∙ .577 caliber

∙ .58 caliber US guns but the minie ball could still be used  Shifted the way the war was fought much more to defense ∙ Instead of withstanding a shot or two, it’s now 5-6 shots ∙ Breaks up the line

∙ Armies didn’t take cover

∙ Now there’s an advantage to being entrenched

o At the beginning of the war, nobody does but the  soldiers figure it out

∙ But generals had been trained in Napoleonic tactics where aggression wins battles

o Even the best generals still do this

 Lee

∙ Pickett’s Charge

 Grant

∙ Cold Harbor

∙ Cavalry charges were rendered outdated

o Huge target

o Don’t even have to hit the guy just hit the horse  There is debate within the Civil War historians that the change in weaponry didn’t matter as much as it theoretically should have ∙ Eastern theater was really hilly

 Cavalry

∙ Carried different weapons

o Revolver and sabre

∙ Colt revolvers

o .44 caliber

o Had to put percussion caps on all 6 chambers

o Only accurate at like 20 yds

o For personal protection, not for battle

∙ Sabre

o Fore waving around in the air and yelling orders