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Military strategy in the civil war
Military strategy in the civil war
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“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on,” a quote by famous United States General and President, Ulysses S. Grant, is very descriptive of the methods he employed during his time as General. He always gave his side the best chance to win. Grant was a dominant general of the Civil War. Some may ask “Was he really a superior general to his predecessors? If so, what really made him superior?” Grant led the Union to a victory over the Confederacy and succeeded in doing what his predecessors failed to do. Ulysses S. Grant was able to win the Civil War for the Union and surpass his predecessors due to his superior military experience and background, appropriate tactics, and better knowledge.
Up until 1863, Grant did not own a job as a main leader of the Union, so his strategies had less of an impact. However, in 1863, Lincoln saw his skill and appointed him to full control of the Western Army of the Union. This was just in time before the Battle of Chattanooga. Grant was given full control of the army in 1864, when he began his final campaign to end the war (Simpson). Grant had easily proven to Lincoln why he should earn the power to command. Other generals before him just did not make the cut, providing further contrast to Grant’s superior form of leadership. To name a few of the well-known generals that Grant had to surpass is an easy task. Major General George McClellan, a man of great persuasion, excelled greatly in pre-battle tasks. His communication with troops was excellent and his tactics were very good as well. He trained his soldiers to the highest degree, but these were the only things he could do. Not on...
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...would the world be like with a separated America?
Works Cited
Chesser, Preston, et al. "George B. McClellan." eHistory Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
"Gen. Grant and the Conduct of the War." Plain Dealer [Cleveland] 6 1 1864: 2. America's Historical Newspapers. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
"George G. Meade." Civil War Trust. Civil War Trust. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Grant, Ulysses S. "The Siege of Vicksburg." Civil War, 1861-1865 (1863). World Book Advanced. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Ramold, Steven. "Ulysses S. Grant." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
Simpson, Brooks D. "Grant, Ulysses S." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Smith, Jean Edward. Grant. New York: Simon, 2001. Print.
Wilson, Richard L. "Grant, Ulysses S." American Political Leaders, American Biographies. Facts on File, 2002. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
President Abraham Lincoln demanded a decisive victory. He was tired of his military leadership’s inability to decisively engage and defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Allowing the war to drag on was to the Confederacies advantage. Lincoln was so frustrated that he relieved General George B. McClellan for failing to defeat Lee at Antietam, and replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside, who proved to be very conservative in battle against General Lee. Knowing that General Lee was a student of Napoleonic warfare, Burnside feared that Lee always had a large Corps in reserve waiting to flank should he be decisively engaged from the front.
Lee had supreme confidence in his army, and believed that it could accomplish whatever he asked of it. This confidence sometimes led him to ask too much, such as in the case of Picket’s charge during the battle of Gettysburg. In Lee’s mind he was first and foremost a Christian, and a gentleman. These facts, although not bad, certainly caused Lee to be less aggressive, and to fight the war in a very old-fashioned manner. This was not so with Grant, who seemed to believe in a more modern type of total warfare. Perhaps because this war, as many contend, was the first modern war, it was impossible for the South, and it’s leaders to adapt to the situation.
Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, showed weaknesses within his leadership which may have contributed to the confederacy’s loss and the unions win . Davis failed in three vital ways. These ways were: his relations with other confederate authorities and with the people, as well as in his fundamental concept of his job as president and in his organization and specific handling of his role as commander in chief . Davis failed in maintaining communication with leaders and with his people, often unable to admit when he is wrong which led to lack organization in his role . In addition, Davis was a conservative leader, not a revolutionary one which meant that his strength was often in protocol and convention rather than in innovation . Studying each of these aspects that represented a weakness in Jefferson Davis’s leadership, Lincoln in comparison provided more admirable and outstanding qualities within his leadership which in many ways affected the outcome of the war
Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman observed to a Southern friend that, "In all history, no nation of mere agriculturists ever made successful war against a nation of mechanics. . . .You are bound to fail." While Sherman's statement proved to be correct, its flaw is in its assumption of a decided victory for the North and failure to account for the long years of difficult fighting it took the Union to secure victory. Unquestionably, the war was won and lost on the battlefield, but there were many factors that swayed the war effort in favor of the North and impeded the South's ability to stage a successful campaign.
Calhoun, John C. The Papers of John C. Calhoun. Robert L. Meriweather, W. Edwin Hemphill, et al., eds. 16 vols. Columbia, SC, 195
Grant viewed the Battle of Cold Harbor as a means to complete his Overland Campaign, and ultimately, be the driving force for Union victory of the Civil War. Grant chose the Army of the Potomac to be the decisive operation and General George G. Meade acted as the commander. Though both Generals were experienced leaders, they had different skills, abilities and opinions that not only led to a dysfunctional command climate, but also was a major reason for the Union loss of the Battle of Cold Harbor. Grant viewed his command position as a strategic role with subordinate Meade making the tactical decisions, but Meade did not view...
In conclusion, it was obvious from the beginning of the Civil War that the South would not win the war. This having been said, Robert E. Lee was a fine general, but was simply without enough soldiers to lead a successful uprising.
A military genius, Grant possessed the vision to see that modern warfare requires total application of military and economic strength and was thus able to lead the Union to victory. In civilian life, however, he was unable to provide the leadership necessary for a growing industrial nation, even though he always retained the affection of the American public.
Grant has an illustrious past. People talked about his being a drunkard but Catton says “He was simply a man infinitely more complex then most people could realize.” Grant, even though he was a West Point graduate, never wanted to be a soldier or to have a life in the military. He wanted to be a teacher. What Grant did bring to the Army of the Potomac was his ability to relate to the soldiers and made them his army. He completely retrained and re-organized the armies, and re-enlisted troops that were going to go home. They all realized that under Grant the Army of the Potomac changed which meant now that the entire war would change.
First, the South couldn’t have won the civil war because state’s rights prevented unification of the South. The very issue that created the Confederacy helped to destroy it. In waging war, the South faced problems of politics and government that greatly complicated its problem of economic mobilization. No one would deny the troublesome effect of the conflict generated by differing ideas of how best to protect liberty and to organize southern society for the war effort. Southern people insisted upon retaining their democratic liberties in wartime, which proved fatal for the South. They had to struggle with a “confederacy formed by particularistic politicians [that] could hardly be expected to adopt promptly those centralists polices which victory demanded” (Donald, p. 26). Individual state governors fought bitterly with Jefferson Davis to prevent him from consolidating power to fight the war. They withheld troops and supplies while the Confederate Congress spent its time arguing over the rights of the states instead of prosecuting a war of national survival. Many internal conflicts within the South were acquiring and weakening the South’s unity. Internal conflicts caused confederate officials to choose between moving troops from the coasts and strengthening their armies, or leaving the...
Grant’s strategy was to fight the war of attrition that President Lincoln was in favor of; however, Lee fought offensive-defensive war which was different from Jefferson’s idea of fighting a complete defensive war. Creating blockades on coastal lines and controlling railroads were used as well. Even today, similar tactics are used to cut off enemies from supplying their peers. Though the Civil War was the deadliest war on American soil, many tactics and strategies were learned from it and improved. Works Cited 1.
Leahy, Stephen M. "The Historical Battle over Dispatching American Troops." USA Today (Farmingdale). July 1999: 10-12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 May. 2014.
24.) Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. 4th ed. (W.W. Norton, 2012), 759.
The Civil War that took place in the United States from 1861 to 1865 could have easily swung either way at several points during the conflict. There is however several reasons that the North would emerge victorious from this bloody war that pit brother against brother. Some of the main contributing factors are superior industrial capabilities, more efficient logistical support, greater naval power, and a largely lopsided population in favor of the Union. Also one of the advantages the Union had was that of an experienced government, an advantage that very well might have been one of the greatest contributing factors to their success. There are many reasons factors that lead to the North's victory, and each of these elements in and amongst themselves was extremely vital to the effectiveness of the Northern military forces. Had any one of these factors not been in place the outcome of the war could have been significantly different, and the United States as we know it today could be quite a different place to live.
Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty. The Reader’s Companion to American History. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991).