Themes of the American Civil War

Certainly, warring Americans of the s drew upon modern technology.
Improved artillery, such as the Napoleon cannon, fired projectiles up to one mile and was especially devastating against attacking infantry inside yards. Moreover, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifles, such as Springfields and
Enfields, carried by infantrymen of both sides, more than doubled the killing zone over old smooth-bore muskets. Those rifles fired bullets accurately yards and could hit targets at twice that range. Select units, mostly cavalry on the Union side, carried breech-loading magazine rifles that permitted high volumes of fire. Soldiers could betaken under fire at longer ranges and those moving forward in the attack could suffer casualties for longer periods of time. Battlefields were wider and deeper than ever before.
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Both North and South raised large armies of citizen-soldiers expected to serve for up to three years. Some 2 million northerners and more than southerners donned uniforms during the war. Most of these citizen- soldiers enlisted on their own accord Conscription Acts passed by their respective Congresses prompted others to enlist rather than suffer the perceived stigma of being drafted.
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Modern war-making involved greater use of railroads and telegraph.
North and South established their own military telegraph offices, relaying messages quickly across expanses of territory. Railroads transported soldiers and supplies on both sides, and a few heavy cannons were mounted on railway cars. Bolstered by an Act of Congress, in 1862 President Lincoln authorized the US. Military Railroad, a network using a standardized gauge of 4 ft. 8 in. (142 cm, giving logistical support to federal forces moving into the South. Although he used powers of persuasion, Jefferson Davis found that Southern railway owners were less cooperative than he would have hoped the President was reluctant to control railroad rates. Putting aside states rights, Davis and the Confederate Congress designated national funds for building tracks to fill critical gaps in the South’s lines, connecting
Danville, Virginia, with Greensboro, North Carolina, and Selma, Alabama,
with Meridian, Mississippi.
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Another modern aspect of the Civil War incorporated ideology to inspire both sides. For the North, the concept of the Union took on virtually religious significance. Many northerners believed that the United States exemplified democratic government, economic opportunity, and individual rights. They decided that not only America but the world would be worse off if the United States fell apart. By early 1863, Lincoln’s controversial decision to emancipate the slaves played its part in motivating a large percent of northerners. For southerners, fighting for national independence intertwined with states rights and property rights—owning slaves. Patriotism meant the freedom to maintain the Southern way of life and protect
“Southern institutions Lincoln’s announcement of a policy to free the slaves lent amoral overtone to the war. Abolishing slavery, no matter that it created
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Joseph G. Dawson III

new controversies over the status and rights of blacks, matched the longstanding American assertions of individual freedom and opportunity embodied in the Declaration of Independence of Another important feature of a modern war involved the use of naval power. Both navies commissioned new ironclad or armored ships powered by steam engines, and the Union also manufactured warships with revolving turrets, a significant improvement in design. In April, 1861, President Lincoln imposed a blockade on the Confederate coast from Virginia to Texas. Scorned by southerners as a paper blockade it was obviously weak during the war’s early months. By the end of 1862, however, the federal blockade grew stronger. Union warships presented an evident danger to large oceangoing ships trying to enter or leave a Southern portending any chance for routine commercial relations between the Confederacy and other nations. During blockade runners shifted to small, fast steamers. By the end of the war more than 400 federal vessels blockaded the Southern coast. Moreover,
the blockade hindered routine diplomatic relations between the Confederacy and Europe. Therefore, the blockade’s effectiveness can be calculated in ways other than the number of ships passing into and out of the Confederacy.
The North also employed considerable naval power in riverine operations.
Building new shallow-draft ironclads, the Union navy cooperated with the army in joint operations against Confederate forts and cities. Naval power thus contributed to the federal government’s efforts to reassert its authority over the seceded states.
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Delineating acceptable methods of warfare and calling for combatants to adhere to restrictions when dealing with noncombatants were also a modern feature of the American Civil War. Concerned that the war was longer and more ghastly than expected, in December, 1862, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton called upon Professor Francis Lieber, of Columbia University, to draft a code for the conduct of war. Aboard of federal officers edited Lieber’s code and published the result in April, 1863, as General Order No. 100,
Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field.
General Order No. 100 defined war between governments, set criteria for soldiers conduct (especially with civilians, described functions of martial law and military courts, spelled out expectations of behavior for persons in occupied areas, and classified actions of guerrillas. Lieber’s code provided both the model and the language for Europeans at the international Hague
Conventions of 1899 and Yet another modern aspect of the struggle came when the Union established military government in the former Confederate states after the war,
imposing federal authority in ways inconceivable to America’s Founders.
The area to be restored to the Union was large, and no other US. government agency or agencies, such as the Treasury Department or the Justice
Department, could handle the process of reconstruction. Only the army was
The First of the Modern Wars?
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capable of both constabulary and administrative duties leading to the country’s reunification. The army’s myriad duties included supervising schools, banks, courts, railroads, and voter registration. During reconstruction, Southern state governments were led by loyal civilian officeholders or, in some instances, army generals who appointed and influenced new officials who were expected to carryout the laws of Congress until loyal state governments were elected by voters registered by the army. The US. Congress held the authority to seat Southern congressional representatives and senators, and thus was able to decide when states had been reconstructed.
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