Union Army in the Civil War

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The Union Army in the Civil War ( English to differentiate it from the Confederate States Army, often called Union Army 'Union Army') was the army of the United States during the Civil War . The United States Army was before the Civil War from 16,402 professional soldiers , of which about a quarter into the new army of the Confederate changed. The rest formed the core of the Union's new army in the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln called on April 15, 1861, just days after the attack on Fort Sumter thatin the Union states remaining on, voluntary associations ( United States Volunteers set up) of 75,000 soldiers for three months. Until the takeover in the US Army, these associations remained in the militia organization of the states. Therefore, the recruiting and arming of the volunteers was the task of the individual states. As early as May 3, 1861, Lincoln, as Supreme Commander, again requested 42,000 three-year volunteers from the states and at the same time ordered the US army to be reinforced by 23,000 men. It was not until July 22, 1861, that the US Congress authorized President Lincoln to set up a volunteer army of 1,000,000 volunteers. 186,000 soldiers were of African American origin. When, from 1863 onwards, the number of volunteers was no longer sufficient, the Congress passed four drafting laws, which were, however, granted only moderate success.

Commander in Chief of the Army

The commander ( Commanding General of the United States Army ) were:

During the time gap from March 11, 1862 to July 23, 1862, Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin McMasters Stanton led the army with the help of an unofficial advisory body established on March 17. The committee consisted of the committee chairman Ethan A. Hitchcock and five department heads from the War Department (staff: Lorenzo Thomas (Adjutant General), logistics: Montgomery C. Meigs (Quartermaster General), pioneering: Joseph G. Totten (Chief Engineer), armaments: James W. Ripley (Chief of Ordnance) and board: Joseph P. Taylor (Commissary General)).

structure

Several field armies, most of which were named after rivers and led by a major general , were under the command of the army . Each field army consisted of three branches of service: infantry , artillery and cavalry . In addition, each field army had special troops. This included the topography (later merged with the pioneer troops), pioneer , telecommunications and logistics troops and the medical services as well as management troops such as the field judiciary and the adjutants .

A field army led several corps . A corps usually led three divisions ; the commanding general was usually major general . In addition, the army and corps led command and combat support troops. At the beginning of the war or with smaller armies it also happened that these did not lead corps, but were simply divided into divisions.

The division usually led between two or three brigades ; the division commander was usually major general, rarely brigadier general. A brigade led three to six regiments ; the brigade commander was usually a brigadier general or a colonel .

Regiments were formed largely from male citizens of a state or even a region within a state, and attempts were also made to recruit replacements from the same area. Each regiment had its own regimental flag. The regimental commander usually had the rank of colonel .

The territory of the United States was divided into theaters of war during the Civil War. From the Atlantic coast to the Appalachians the eastern stretched, between the Appalachians and the Mississippi was the western theater of war and the area west of the Mississippi, excluding the states bordering the Pacific, formed the theater of war Trans-Mississippi. The states and territories lying on the west coast formed the theater of war on the Pacific Coast and the coasts of the southern states, including the mouth of the Mississippi, formed the theater of war on the Lower Coast and Gulf Accesses. After the end of the war, the theaters of war corresponded roughly to the "Military Divisions" , which can be equated with Territorial Command.

In addition, the territory of the United States was divided into "Departments" called defense areas. The size of the defense areas could range from several states (e.g. the Tennessee military area with the states or parts thereof - western Tennessee , eastern Arkansas , Mississippi , western Louisiana ) to small areas (e.g. the Potomac military area) from parts of Maryland , Washington, DC and the conquered areas of Virginia ). Defense areas were often divided into several military districts. The geographical composition of the defense areas was based on the current course of the war and therefore changed frequently. All troops in the military area were subordinate to the commander in the military area. Therefore he was at the same time commander in chief of the army of the same name deployed in the defense area.

Officer corps

About two-thirds of the graduates of the military academy who were still alive at the outbreak of the war served in the Union Army. The officers with West Point training had not gotten beyond the command of a company / battery and had almost always left the armed forces in favor of a civilian career. Many joined the militia in their home state and were appointed commanders of the militia by the governors. Some generals had been entrusted with military posts because of their party affiliation, 16 had no military training.

The soldiers of the volunteer and militia regiments elected their platoon leaders and company commanders and, if provided for in the structure, the battalion commander and his deputy directly. After the election, the elected received the appropriate ranks - lieutenant and captain , lieutenant colonel and major . These officers elected the officers of the regimental staff, the second deputy responsible for planning (major) and the deputy regimental commander (lieutenant colonel). The respective governor determined the regimental commander with the rank of colonel . The commander of a militia major association chose the president often out of political considerations. Division commanders and commanding generals were mostly major-general , always army commander-in-chief .

For example, when choosing a commander on the basis of political considerations, the decision to appoint Nathaniel Prentiss Banks , who had been Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1856 and Governor of Massachusetts in 1857 , as major general. As a rule, the army command respected the occupation of officer posts by political generals, but exchanged them if they were found to be incompetent. In this way, in the course of the war, some very capable officers got into leading positions who, however, had previously received little or no military training. However, this system was also seen by some officers as the greatest flaw in the Union's military organization.

losses

Private Samuel K. Wilson (1841–1865), Sturgis Rifles, Illinois Volunteer Infantry (1862)

A total of around 2.5 million soldiers served in the Union Army, of which around 390,000 died from combat, as a result of fighting, illness or other reasons. About 280,000 soldiers were wounded.

Armament

While the muzzle-loader remained the standard, the army increasingly used breech- loaders as the war went on . The advance of the breech-loader also required prefabricated paper or metal cartridges in contrast to the "separate" carrying of primers , gunpowder and projectiles for muzzle loaders. Smooth-barreled rifles were finally replaced by rifled rifles.

The most common weapon was the Springfield Model 1861 US Percussion Rifle-Musket , a muzzle-loading rifle with which it was possible to shoot accurately from a distance of 350 m.

At the beginning of the war, large stocks of weapons were also bought in Europe.

The northern states used hand grenades such as the Ketchum grenade (Ketchum's Improved Hand Grenade). The ketchum grenade came in a variety of sizes (1, 3, and 5 pounds). At the back of the egg-shaped iron body was a square wooden stick with stabilizing fins as a tail unit or a cardboard strip folded up like an accordion so that the grenade hit the detonator first after it was thrown. The firing pin had a washer at its tip to increase the reliability of the ignition when hitting soft or irregular surfaces.

Widespread guns were the (smooth-barreled) 12-pounder cannon howitzer M1857 "Napoleon", the rifled "Ordnance" in caliber 3 inches and the rifled Parrott guns (mainly 10 and 20 pounders).

Fighting style

The infantry fought in line with two ranks, firing from both the kneeling and standing positions. There were also snipers (such as the " Berdan -Sharpshooters") who shot individually, often at the opposing officers. In the final stages of a match there was often a one-on-one bayonet fight .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b John H. and David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, 2001, accessed December 15, 2020 (English, strength of the regular army at the start of the war, p. 246).
  2. ↑ James M. McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom , p. 322.
  3. ↑ Cf. Arthur M. Schlesinger : "The Disuniting of America", Verlag WWNorton, 1992, p. 59 f
  4. ↑ James M. McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom , pp. 600-611.
  5. ^ John H. and David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, 2001, accessed December 15, 2020 (English, Commander in Chief of the US Army, p. 37f).
  6. ↑ The Administration of the Union Army Part I General Upton's opinion

Web links

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