Guerrillas and Partisans
The formal battles of the Civil War were accompanied by many smaller-scale raiding operations against
military and civilian targets. These were often little different from banditry and, with the escalating
reprisals that they provoked, left a legacy of bitterness in many areas long after the war.
A
s soon as the Union
armies occupied parts
of the South, Southern
irregulars rose up to oppose
them. Drawing on memories
of earlier conflicts, intimate
knowledge of local conditions,
and aware of every ambush site
and hiding place, these fighters
focused on lightning-fast raids
against isolated garrisons and
supply areas. They rarely wore
uniforms and easily blended back
into the civilian population.
Lincoln’s administration at first
advised restraint and kindness
toward both captured irregulars
and the civilian populations that
harbored them. The idea was to
restore good faith and belief in the
Federal government.
Before he rose to lead the Army
of the Potomac, Major General
George B. McClellan exhorted hisBEFORE
American history offered many examples
of successful insurgency and counter-
insurgency that both sides in the Civil War
could draw on for guidance and inspiration.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
During the American Revolution, irregular
fighters such as Francis Marion (famous as the
“Swamp Fox”), Thomas Sumter, and Daniel
Morgan led their men on repeated and
successful hit-and-run raids against British
supply columns and isolated outposts.
A precedent had therefore been established,
especially in the South, for guerrilla-type warfare.
The memory of Kings Mountain and Cowpens,
where regular British and Loyalist units were
decimated by effective guerrilla tactics, lived
long in the Southern mind, as did the exploits of
those who led these and other operations.
MEXICAN WAR COUNTERINSURGENCY
The regular U.S. Army undertook numerous
antiguerrilla and stability operations during
the War with Mexico (1846–48) that, if not
codified, still created procedures for
combating an irregular threat. General Winfield
Scott issued a series of directives on how to
deal with enemy insurgents and the civilians
who harbored them that effectively
eliminated most irregular Mexican resistance.
command in Western Virginia to “use
every effort to conciliate the people
and strengthen Union feeling.” He
continued, “You are here to protect, not
destroy. Take nothing, destroy nothing
... respect the right of private opinion.”
Unfortunately for the Union, such
policies, along with Lincoln’s propensity
to pardon captured guerrillas who had
been sentenced to death, generally
emboldened local irregulars instead of
pacifying them. Even when Union
garrisons rebuilt shattered Southern
infrastructure, fed the destitute, and
regulated otherwise broken-down
municipal authorities, any goodwill this
generated among the local population
was often dissipated by vicious guerrillaFace of a guerrilla
Alfred Waud’s contemporary drawing of a hard-featured
guerrilla with slouch hat and unkempt appearance gives
a hint of the life he led, driven by a zeal to damage the
Union cause and protect Southern autonomy.Recapturing a wagon train
Union cavalry recapture a wagon train seized by a
Mosby raiding party. Guerrillas and partisan rangers
operated behind enemy lines, using their intimate
knowledge of the terrain to great effect.