The weapons and tactics of the civil war caused it to be the bloodiest war in American history. Of all the wars that our great nation has been involved in, none have hit home the way the Civil War did, literally! Many men fought and lost their lives in this bloody war due to many different reasons that will forever be argued but by now are most definitely proved. Although I am not here to explain the reasons for the cause of the civil war. I am here to prove that the Civil War was by far the most gruesome one in the history of our nation. The tactics involved on both sides of this war were almost suicidal. From guerilla warfare to hand to hand combat. Different types of combat arms jobs during this time served different purposes and
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If you know artillery, then that saying comes as no surprise. Artillery was often times used not to cause a physical effect on the enemy but more as a moral or confidence boost if you will for the ground troops or infantry men as we just discussed in the last paragraph. The most common gun used by artillery men was the M1857 or Napoleon as it was referred to by the soldiers who used it. The Napoleon shot a twelve pound ball from a whopping 1,200 pound bronze casted tube. The goals of field artillery were to cover the infantry man and support them as well. Making sure the enemy stayed a good distance away from them as possible and to keep the enemy from advancing to near to prevent them from taking advantage of the weak spots in the formations created by the back and forth fire tactics used by the infantry. Both the north and the south formed their artillery by calling them batteries and were each made up of usually six guns each. These tactics are very similar to what we still use now a days during our times of war. The destruction and wounds caused by the artillery in the civil war were tremendously horrifying Artillery fire was the cause for about five percent of the North’s wounded in the Civil War. This included artillery rounds used such as solid shot and canister rounds. One surgeon stated the primary effect of artillery was to demoralize the troops that were under fire by the artillery. …show more content…
Although aside from my beliefs about the medical capabilities from both sides. It comes as no surprise that disease played probably one of the biggest factors of deaths during the time of war. Nearly all soldiers that came from the rural areas of the united states had not been exposed to many common diseases which in turn caused nearly entire regiments to be swept by these illnesses. The biggest killers of soldiers was severe diarrhea and high fevers. Of all the diseases these accounted for the most deaths during the civil war. Nearly all of the diseases that caused casualties in the war were because of contaminated food and water. With modern medicine of course nearly all of the disease caused casualties could have been
If you know artillery, then that saying comes as no surprise. Artillery was often times used not to cause a physical effect on the enemy but more as a moral or confidence boost if you will for the ground troops or infantry men as we just discussed in the last paragraph. The most common gun used by artillery men was the M1857 or Napoleon as it was referred to by the soldiers who used it. The Napoleon shot a twelve pound ball from a whopping 1,200 pound bronze casted tube. The goals of field artillery were to cover the infantry man and support them as well. Making sure the enemy stayed a good distance away from them as possible and to keep the enemy from advancing to near to prevent them from taking advantage of the weak spots in the formations created by the back and forth fire tactics used by the infantry. Both the north and the south formed their artillery by calling them batteries and were each made up of usually six guns each. These tactics are very similar to what we still use now a days during our times of war. The destruction and wounds caused by the artillery in the civil war were tremendously horrifying Artillery fire was the cause for about five percent of the North’s wounded in the Civil War. This included artillery rounds used such as solid shot and canister rounds. One surgeon stated the primary effect of artillery was to demoralize the troops that were under fire by the artillery. …show more content…
Although aside from my beliefs about the medical capabilities from both sides. It comes as no surprise that disease played probably one of the biggest factors of deaths during the time of war. Nearly all soldiers that came from the rural areas of the united states had not been exposed to many common diseases which in turn caused nearly entire regiments to be swept by these illnesses. The biggest killers of soldiers was severe diarrhea and high fevers. Of all the diseases these accounted for the most deaths during the civil war. Nearly all of the diseases that caused casualties in the war were because of contaminated food and water. With modern medicine of course nearly all of the disease caused casualties could have been