Civil War Essay

The Civil War was a dangerous affair for Union and Confederate soldiers alike mostly due to the invention of many new weapons before and during the war made this the most deadly war in U.S. history and ultimately tipped the scale to the Union’s advantage. From inventors such as Richard Gatling who created the Gatling gun to the naval mines that subdued the Union’s naval activity, or inventions from other countries like the hot air balloon, new innovations greatly affected the outcome of the war. For these reasons, the Civil War is viewed as the first "Modern War" in the world history because of its use of weapons, methods of transportation and communication on the battlefront. From the land to the sea to air the Union and Confederate groups took advantage of every opportunity to one up their opponents. One example of this is the Gatling Gun that was a destructive land weapon used on to completely destroy the Confederate forces just one of the North's many land weapons. Along with the infantry and heavy artillery the Union and Confederates used to spy on each other’s formations the hot air balloons. But the side that did this best was the Union who had installed the telegraph into their hot air balloons to communicate with the ground forces to warn them which way the Confederates were heading. Lastly would be the sea from inventing naval mines and submarines the Confederates used to destroy the Union naval blockades that were used by the Union as part of the Anaconda Plan.

The Civil War was the first modern war because of the use of weapons like the musket rifle and that could maximize the efficiency of killing the other guy on the battlefield with increased range and rounds you could fire off in under a minute. These weapons along with the Gatling gun (an ancestor of the machine gun) a weapon so destructive at that time which was made to promote peace was used for short periods of time throughout the war. This hand-crank weapon made by Richard Gatling could fire off 600 rounds a minute but they only went as far as to fire off 100 a minute using the standard .58-caliber ammunition. But with its destructive potential it had many drawbacks apparently because the barrels and chambers weren’t always affecting velocity and accuracy. Plus the pieces to make it specifically the paper cartridge and steel capped steel chamber were thought to be fragile and expensive. So with its many flaws the U.S Government didn’t approve of the Gatling gun but Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler a Union General they say after a field test had purchased twelve of these weapons for $1,000 each and used two of them during Petersburg and was reported that they were successful. Another land weapon that caused mayhem and destruction on the battlefield was the musket rifle. Made by Alexander J Forsyth, which was introduced in 1861 as Model 1861 rifle-musket standard weapon used in the Civil War found mostly in the hands of civilians. This type of rifle in the hands of an expert marksman could take out a target at 600 yards and the 500-grain bullet could penetrate 4 inches of soft spine.

The hot air balloon used significantly by both sides for better or worse in the Civil War also played a somewhat major role in this effort to find out what the other side was planning. The Union under the minds of Thaddeus Lowe and Abraham Lincoln had a meeting one day arranged by Lincoln's Secretary Salmon Portland Chase on the idea presented by Mr. Lowe to use hot air balloons with telegraphs attached to them to communicate with the commanders on the ground. After a demonstration in the capital Lincoln and later that summer Lincoln established the balloon corps with the balloons the Union, Intrepid, Constitution, Washington, Eagle and the Excelsior. The first success with using the hot air balloon powered by gas rose more than a 1,000 (305 meters) being navigated by Lowe near Arlington, Virginia on the other side of the Potomac River and telegraphed info on Confederate troops located at Falls Church, Virginia more than 3 miles (4.8 km) away. The Union upon hearing this info being telegraphed to them had aimed and fired accurately at the Confederate troops without being able to see them - a first in the history of warfare anywhere. Upon hearing this news The Secretary of War Simon Cameron ordered Lowe to make six after the original the original the Union ranging in size from 32,000 cubic feet to 15,000 cubic feet and a cable long enough to reach 5,000 feet. Others tried to get into the Union balloon recon job but were either deemed useless or denied like John LaMountain because he didn't know people in high places like Lowe. While the Confederates as a way to throw the Balloon corps off their trail, darkened their camps after dark and made dummy encampments and gun emplacements, which took up valuable time and people. The Confederates in my opinion attempting to copy Lincoln's balloon corps formed a smaller one which encountering many problems such as mechanical problems, and misinterpretation. The Confederate balloon corps under the management of Captain Randolph Bryan to watch over the development of an observation balloon, the balloons made of cotton envelope coated with varnish. Instead of the hydrogen-filled Union balloons it was a Montgolfi»re-filled with hot air because unlike the Union the Confederacy didn’t have the equipment for generating hydrogen in the field. The hot air balloon recon method ended after the Civil War after McClellan was relieved of command and Captain Cyrus Comstock was appointed as the new overseer of the balloon corps who cut the funding band as a result its effectiveness. Lowe also accused of financial problems resigned from the corps on May 8,1863 and the balloon corps followed and disbanded in August 1863.
Confederates as a way to protect themselves from the Union established a group the Torpedo Service as a way to fill Southern waterways with Bushnell’s Kegs. These mini boomers made by David Bushnell which started during the Civil War called the "Bushnell's Keg". Bushnell Kegs were primitive mines made of a watertight keg filled with black powder and a flintlock detonator kept afloat on the float. They got their start in the Revolutionary War placed up the Delaware River hoping they would float downstream and hit the British ships downstream. So the Confederates used these mines to their advantage because they were cheap to produce a perfect fit for their economy at that time during the Civil War. But these old fashioned mines had there many flaws whether it was water logging, faulty detonators or maybe even both at the same time. Even with all these drawbacks with the Bushnell Keg they managed to strike Forty-Three with their confederate mines and sank twenty-seven throughout the entire war. But the naval mines weren't the only mines used during the Civil War they also invented landmines due to Gabriel Rains who used landmines to stop Union soldiers from advancing on Confederate terrain and used to distract the Union while they retreated at first. The Union Flustered with the idea of using hidden "sub-terra booby traps " as unethical and generals such as McClellan threatened to use prisoners of war to clear out the minefields. Some Generals in the Confederacy were also against this type of warfare but wee overruled in this case by the government as Rains persuaded the government or lobbied them to his side. Aside from using the mines for meaningless destruction in the war they were used for guarding fortifications. Examples would be from the siege of Charleston, South Carolina planting them close together and so close to the ground level that any soldier stepping on the surface would instantly set it off, or around the area around Battery Wagner on South Carolinas coast near northernmost tip of Morris Island, under Fort Sumter, making it so Charleston could withstand strong Union assaults. Results of this encounter with the South gave the Union 1,623 casualties in this battle or siege while South faced only 186 casualties. Innovative minds like Gabriel Rains use of mines eventually came together to create a modern weapon used today the torpedo that sank twelve Union vessels, but with this invention came flaws such as corroding the missiles with extended submersion.


In the end it was the Union that had the upper hand due to their use of military strategy used by blocking off the south’s economic activity and use of their naval blockade to ensure no materials would get into the South and Deep South. Plus their commanding generals also played a strong role even when it was the Confederate leader Robert E. Lee and his creative strategies or the Union generals from McClellan to Ulysses S. Grant who fought with the Union to preserve it. But without the Union’s upper hand due to their strong economic activity pushed the North over the tip in winning this war.