The American Civil War: A War on Two Fronts - Research Paper Example

The American Civil War: A War on Two Fronts The First Battle of Bull Run in July, 1861, also called the First Battle of Manassas by the Confederates, was fought in Prince William County, Virginia, near Manassas, and was the first major battle of the Civil War. Richmond, Virginia, had just established itself as the Confederate capital and the North decided to implement a campaign against the city to pull it apart before a strong foothold was gained by the Confederacy. (Weigley 58) Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell of the Union Army, was sent across Bull Run to catch Brig. Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard of the Confederate Army and hit him with a surprise flank attack. McDowell had a force of 30,000 troops with 10,000 in reserve. President Abraham Lincoln and Commanding General of the Army, Winfield Scott, along with McDowell, considered the plan a worthwhile gamble. In retrospect, the plan should have worked but McDowell took too much time on the march to Bull Run by stopping often to do reconnaissance missions. McDowell got in place late by one day, and when he should have attacked on July 20th, he delayed until the 21st, on Sunday. That one day's difference allowed 12,000 reinforcements from Winchester, under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, leading the Army of the Shenandoah, to consolidate with Beauregard at Bull Run. His group managed to evade Union soldiers back in Winchester, by coming in on the Manassas Gap Railroad. This would be the first time the railroads, along with the electric telegraph, were put to use for military purposes. Another brigade of Virginian soldiers, led by Colonel Thomas Jackson, later known as “Stonewall Jackson” for his endeavors at Bull Run, also arrived to join the fray. (Wars and Battles) McDowell began his attack against Beauregard's center force but sent the bulk of his soldiers over to the Confederate's left flank in a surprise march. Brig. Gen. Nathan G. Evans, of the Confederacy, was able to hold off the attack for a while but finally gave in. When the Union soldiers finally caught up to the retreating troop at the Henry House Hill, they found Stonewall Jackson already in place, and he and his men refused to give ground. If McDowell had attacked a day sooner, then Jackson would not have been in place and the Union Army could have very well defeated the Confederate forces if it had succeeded in the flank march. McDowell ordered in two artillery batteries to fire on the hill's position but the Confederates charged in and for a while, it was a back and forth duel of control of the guns. Finally, there were enough Confederate troops on the field and Beauregard began the call to advance on the Union soldiers. They, in turn, retreated and began a run for Washington, D. C., 30 miles away. It is said that if Beauregard had continued the advance and chased after the Union Federals, the war might have been won right there. But both sides were exhausted and worn out, so the battle ended. (“1st Bull Run”) With this battle, both sides realized that the war was not going to be won any time soon. Both sides were ill-equipped, inexperienced on the battlefield, and the losses were significant for both sides. The Union lost 481 killed, 1,011 wounded, and 1,216 missing out of the 30,000 troops sent out. The Confederacy lost 387 dead, 1,582 wounded, and 12 missing out of 18,000 troops actually out on the field. (Weigley 63) The end result of this battle was that the South viewed the battle as a win, boosting their confidence to take on the Union Army. On the Union side, President Lincoln, realizing he needed more troops, signed an Act of Congress on July 22nd , one day after the battle, that allowed him to enlist 500,000 volunteers for three years. On July 25th, he was able to sign in another 500,000 men for the unknown duration of the war. (Weigley 63) The war was now, a full blown situation. Up to this point, the idea of having a war amounted to perhaps one battle and it would all be over with. Eager volunteers on both sides signed up quickly to be part of a patriotic win, with both sides thinking they would be the ones to win. The atmosphere for July 21st was such that civilians from Washington, D. C., rode out close to the meeting place and set up observation points, along with picnics and a general atmosphere of eagerness to see the war won without a shot. But, instead, the situation turned bloody, fearful, horrifying, and civilians, along with retreating Union soldiers, found themselves running for their lives back to Washington. (Tindall, p. 410) This war was to become the first with utilization of scientific and industrial developments such as the railroad system, rifled artillery, iron clad ships, the first use of the Gatling gun, observation balloons riding high enough to avoid fire from below, and the telegraph, much like the modern day use of Twitter and Facebook in recent riots. (Tindall 412) The infantry musket, a rifled Springfield, was the weapon of choice for this war, using the Minié bullet, and was effective at a range of 200 to 250 yards. This brought the soldiers into a war where they rarely got close enough to the enemy to use their old standard bayonets, as in previous wars. Rather than the up close and personal, grapple and knife wars of previous years, now soldiers saw men die from a further distance, giving a somewhat impersonal aspect to going out to fight the enemy. Additionally, the shots produced huge wounds, often necessitating numerous amputations every time a battle was engaged. Many died because doctors and surgeons could do nothing to stem the horrendous wounds. (Catton 112-113) For Southern women, it was a time where husbands and all sons of age, enlisted and went off to war. Many women lost everyone in their family and resorted to doing jobs such as nursing, school teaching, taking over all the farm duties, just to keep things going. It would also represent a time when women discovered that they could do all these things for themselves. When the war was over, many women stayed on in their roles, even if husbands and sons came home. In the loss and negativity of the war, women also found the strength to develop themselves beyond what had been expected of them by societal rules. It was a freedom won the hard way. For the men, as the war progressed, if one was between 17 years of age to 50 years old, it was expected that they would enter the war to fight. One could also pay $300 for an exemption or, for those deemed important to the local societal structure who made the request, there was an automatic exemption from military services. (Tindall 413) Shortly after this engagement, both governments began a taxation process to gather up monies for fortifying the army. The Confederacy was more at a disadvantage due to limited resources and experience in financial affairs and banking. In fact, New Orleans, a wealthy center of seaport industry, provided two-fifths of a loan for $15 million dollars. There was no system of divvying up taxation, based on population numbers. At best, the collection process of tax monies was haphazard and inept. (Weigley 69) Another ill-advised experiment concerning a self-imposed voluntary embargo by the Southern states, later called the “King Cotton Diplomacy,” was to refuse exports of cotton and other goods to go out to foreign clients. It was erroneously thought that England and France would rise to the defense of the South, just to be able to continue the cotton trade agreements. However, the previous sales of cotton had been bountiful and England and France had stored away a great surplus of cotton. Therefore, it was hardly needed for them to come running to the side of the Southerners to help bail them out. Additionally, diplomats sent to England and France to plead the case for the Southern Confederacy, were considered by the Europeans as less than qualified to conduct delicate matters of bargaining and statesmanship between the countries. In fact, the Europeans were already turning to new outlets of cotton through Egypt and India and did not need to be solely dependent on the South anymore. (Weigley 70) The South did have one great advantage over the North, however. The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, was run by Joseph R. Anderson, an expert in munitions. It became a fountainhead of all the tools of war such as iron plates for ships, torpedoes, cannon, machinery, and any other iron products needed. As soon as possible, arsenals were created in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and then onwards South to Augusta, Charleston, Columbia, Macon and so on. Josiah Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance, made sure the South was not going to lose the war just because there wasn't enough ammunition, firearms, or whatever else the soldiers needed on the field of battle. Thus, the South would turn somewhat from relying on its business of exporting cotton to the production of the tools of war. (Weigley 72) In summarizing the early situation of the Civil War, it was not necessarily begun because the North was against slavery, but because the South had seceded from the North, due to economic differences. Slavery, or the use of it, promoted the production of cotton and other crops which, in turn, went to the North. In the North, however, industry was used to process the cotton, thus creating a different economic balance. While the North was pushing towards more industrialization in lifestyle, the South relied on the old traditional agricultural method of economics. Industrialization was not of great importance to the South but in these differences, began the seeds of war. Works Cited Catton, Bruce. Civil War . Mr. Lincoln's Army. New York: Fairfax Press, 1984 (3 volumes in one). Print. Weigley, Russell F. A Great Civil War, A Military and Political History, 1861-1865. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2000. Print. Tindall, George B. and David E. Shi. America, A Narrative History. New York: Norton, 1989. Print. United States History: First Battle of Bull Run: Wars and Battles, Manassas Junction. The Battle of 1st Manassas. (1st Bull Run) (Source: Bull Run: Its Strategy and Tactics, By R. M. Johnston) Read More