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This summer and fall have marked the 150th
anniversary of some of the most storied battles of the American Civil War:
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Fort Wagner, Chickamauga. But among
all the commemorations -- at museums and battlefield parks, in the press and in
the news -- we should not forget the technology that shaped the war and
Americans' experience of the war. Here
are five things that were new -- and that really mattered -- in 1861-65.
1. Gun-making Machinery. Because of
advances in gun-making machinery, the North managed to produce 1.5 million
rifles and tens of thousands of pistols and carbines during the early part of
the war. But quantity was only half the story. The new guns were more lethal.
In previous wars, most soldiers had been
outfitted with smooth-bore muskets. During the Civil War, those old muskets
were quickly replaced with rifled guns -- made using new rifling machines.
In combination with the Minie ball, rifling produced guns that were effective
at much longer ranges. Breech-loading rifles quickened the pace. By 1863,
repeating rifles began to appear as well. These
changes transformed battlefield tactics. Cavalry charges disappeared, and
the marching of masses of soldiers across open fields gave way to trench
warfare and long, slow movement of the front line.
2. The Railroad. Troops, equipment, ammunition, and supplies all moved
faster by rail. When the 12th Vermont Regiment traveled to
Washington by train, the men filled 289 cars. Trains also carried the mail. When
they wrote home, soldiers pleaded for more frequent letters. And they asked
their families to send socks, shirts, jam, cheese, candy, and even pies.
(Though I did read one letter where a soldier advised not sending any more
pies. It turned out they didn't travel well.)
3. The Telegraph. In a newly-installed
telegraph room at the War Department, President Lincoln could monitor events in
real time and provide encouragement, advice, and criticism to his generals. The
Confederates, because of perennial wire shortages, had fewer telegraph lines,
but they had a penchant for tapping the Union lines and de-coding encrypted
messages. Many a battle was influenced by the work of telegraph operators on
both sides.
4. Advances in Air and Sea. Ironclad
warships were first used in battle during the Civil War, and by war's end, the
age of steam-powered and metal-clad ships had arrived. In another naval first,
the Confederate sub Hunley sent the USS Housatonic to the bottom of Charleston
Harbor in early 1864. Meanwhile, hydrogen-filled balloons could carry observers
a thousand feet above the ground, providing a birds-eye view of the enemy's
numbers and location.
5. The Penny Press. The 1850s had brought
big advances in printing. Giant presses could print ten thousand complete
newspapers in an hour. During the war, newspaper correspondents traveled with
the armies, sending back news of each skirmish and battle, along with lists of
the dead and wounded. The news arrived in people's parlors almost before the
smoke had cleared on the battlefield. Artists sent back sketches that were
converted to woodcuts or engravings, to be printed in the first "pictorial" weekly
and monthly magazines.
With so much -- and such immediate -- information
available, public opinion came to have an effect on how the war was fought and
on the outcome of elections during the war.
So those are my top five. And while technology shaped the
war, the war also shaped technology, but that's a topic for another day.
If this had been a
list of "Top Ten" instead of "Top Five," what would you add?
Image: Field Telegraph Station, 1864, courtesy of the
Library of Congress.
Editor's Note: This post was provided by the American
Precision Museum and written by Carrie Brown, PhD.
Rifling machine animation: http://americanprecision.org/rifling-animation-video/100-uncategorised/297-rifling-animation-video
Telegraph: http://civilwarstudies.org/articles/Vol_8/situation-room.shtm
Ballooning: http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-ballooning/civil-war-ballooning.html
Ironclads: http://www.americancivilwarstory.com/ironclad-warship.html
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