Military History of the Civil War

Overview of Key Themes
- Examination of Conscription: Detailed study of the Union and Confederate draft laws, including legal exemptions and the resulting social unrest.
- Analysis of Commanders-in-Chief: A comparative look at the military backgrounds of Lincoln and Davis and how their experiences shaped their strategic oversight.
- Overview of Military Strategies: A transition from the initial "Anaconda Plan" and Confederate "Offensive-Defensive" posture to the eventual adoption of "Total War."
- Logistical Superiority: Analyzing how industrial output, transportation networks, and population density dictated the long-term sustainability of the war effort.

Commanders-in-Chief

Jefferson Davis (Confederate States of America)
- Role: President of the C.S.A.; served as the ultimate authority over all Confederate land and naval forces.
- Military Experience:
- Education: Graduated from West Point (1828).
- Service History: Fought in the Black Hawk War and distinguished himself as a Colonel in the Mexican-American War, notably at the Battle of Buena Vista.
- Administrative Background: Served as the U.S. Secretary of War (1853-1857), where he oversaw military modernization.
- Leadership Style: His extensive background led him to be a hands-on manager, often involving himself in tactical decisions and clashing with generals over military policy.
Abraham Lincoln (United States)
- Role: President of the U.S.A.; acted as Commander-in-Chief with the broad goal of preserving the Union.
- Military Experience:
- Service History: Served briefly as a volunteer in the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War (1832).
- Combat Experience: Did not see actual combat; later joked that he fought "bloody struggles with mosquitoes."
- Leadership Style: Lacking formal training, Lincoln became a self-taught strategist. He focused on the holistic goal of destroying Confederate armies rather than just occupying territory and eventually found a successful partnership with Ulysses S. Grant.

Importance of Resources in Military Strategy

Resource Disparity
- Financial Resources:
- Union: Evaluated at 234,000,000 in liquid wealth; utilized the "Greenback" currency and a robust taxation system.
- Border States: 29,000,000.
- Confederacy: 74,000,000; suffered from severe hyperinflation and a lack of centralized banking.
- Strategic Importance: The Union's ability to fund a professional army and long-term campaigns far outpaced the South's crumbling economy.
- Population Statistics:
- Union: 18,500,000 (augmented by nearly 2,000,000 European immigrants and, late in the war, 180,000 African American soldiers).
- Confederacy: 5,500,000 free citizens and 3,500,000 enslaved people; the enslaved population provided labor but was generally not used for combat until the very end.
- Implications: The Union had a massive reservoir of manpower to replace casualties, whereas Southern losses were often irreplaceable.
- Agricultural Resources:
- Union: Dominated in food production, including livestock, wheat, and corn (1,000,000,000 bushels vs. Southern output).
- Confederacy: Over-reliance on cash crops like tobacco and cotton; the failure to pivot toward food production led to widespread starvation in both the army and civilian sectors.
- Industrial Capacity:
- Union Advantage: Owned 90\% of the nation's manufacturing capacity.
- Factory Workers: Union had 111,000 compared to the Confederacy's 21,000.
- Infrastructure: The Union possessed 20,000 miles of railroad with standardized track gauges, allowing for rapid deployment of troops and supplies.

Military Strategy Development (1861-1865)

Initial Strategies of the Union
- General Winfield Scott’s "Anaconda Plan":
- Defense: Maintaining a secure perimeter around Washington, D.C.
- Blockade: Using the Navy to seal Confederate ports, preventing the export of cotton and import of war materiel.
- Incision: Controlling the Mississippi River to split the Confederacy into two distinct geographic zones.
- Objective: Constrict the South's economy until it was forced to surrender with minimal bloodshed.
Changing Needs of the War
- While the North expected a quick victory (the "90-day war" mentality), the resilience of the South forced a shift toward "Hard War" or "Total War."
Confederate Military Strategy
- Offensive-Defensive Posture: Protecting Southern territory while launching tactical incursions into the North (e.g., Antietam and Gettysburg) to demoralize the Northern public and gain foreign recognition.
- Attrition: By 1864, the goal shifted to simply outlasting the Northern political will to fight.
Union's Political Objectives
- Limited War: Initially focused on the legal restoration of the Union.
- Total War: Shifted after 1863 to include the destruction of the South's economic and social infrastructure (e.g., Sherman’s March to the Sea).

Conscription (The Draft)

Definition of Conscription: The compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, enacted when volunteerism could no longer meet the manpower demands of the industrial-scale conflict.
Union Conscription Act of 1863:
- Applied to men aged 20 to 45.
- Exemptions: Wealthy draftees could pay a 300 "commutation fee" or hire a substitute to serve in their place, leading to the slogan "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight."
Draft Riots: The most severe occurred in New York City (July 1863), where working-class citizens (largely Irish immigrants) rioted against the draft and targeted African Americans, fearing job competition post-emancipation.
Confederate Conscription (1862):
- The C.S.A. enacted the first general draft in American history.
- The "20 Slave Law": Exempted one white man on any plantation with 20 or more enslaved people, ensuring the continuation of agricultural production but fueling class resentment among poor white farmers.
Volunteering Incentives: Both sides used "bounties" (cash payments) to encourage enlistment before the draft was triggered, though this led to "bounty jumping," where men would enlist, desert, and enlist elsewhere for more money.