DK - The American Civil War

Raising Armies

Military enthusiasm gripped both sides and volunteers rushed to join up, all believing their camp would

achieve a swift victory. They hoped their moral excellence as citizen soldiers fighting a righteous cause

would crush their opponent almost by itself, making training and discipline unnecessary.

SECESSION TRIGGERS WAR 1861

BEFORE

The unavoidable disorganization and
confusion in forming both the Northern
and Southern armies masked the North’s
overwhelming material superiority.

SOUTHERN OPPORTUNITY
The North had vastly greater resources than
the South ❮❮ 54–55. But its impressive
industrial and economic capacity had to be
organized and mobilized before it became
militarily useful—and this gave the Confederacy
a timely opportunity to win independence.

AN IDENTICAL MILITARY MODEL
Both sections used the prewar U.S. Army as a
common administrative and tactical model for
creating new field armies. Veterans such as
Josiah Gorgas utilized their expertise to help the
Confederacy mobilize its limited resources.

CENTRAL AUTHORITY
Given the South’s strong attachment to states’
rights, it was difficult for President Jefferson
Davis to impose the centralized organization
essential to military efficiency ❮❮ 48–49.

1st Virginia Infantry
Within weeks of secession, the 1st Virginia Infantry was
raised as a volunteer unit. It fought at the Battle of
Gettysburg, where more than half were killed or wounded.

B

y the time of the Civil War, the

American Revolution was a distant

memory, and few citizens had

served in the more recent War with

Mexico (1846–47), in which General

Winfield Scott had conquered Mexico

City with an army of only 11,000 men.

Attitudes to war tended to romanticize

it, drawing on a variety of cultural

influences: tributes to the Founding

Fathers and the American Revolution;

images of overseas wars in exotic

settings, such as French Algeria or the

Halls of Montezuma in Mexico; and the

long-standing militia tradition whereby

common people

banded together to

defeat their

enemies, returning

home after a short

but sharp war.

A nation’s differences

Sectionalism added potently to this

collection of ideas. Southerners saw

themselves as a martial people more

familiar with horses and weapons than

shopkeeping Yankees. Northerners

believed they were a free people

defending the Constitution. They were

fighting against a society ruled by

abusive slaveholders who had

been corrupted by the

illegitimate power they held

over fellow human beings.

While notions of war could be

both romantic and ridiculous, a

genuine undercurrent of fierce

patriotism motivated many

volunteers. One Union soldier

explained in a letter that he

enlisted because “I performed

but a simple duty—a duty to

my country and myself ... to

give up life if need be ... in this

battle for freedom and right,

opposed to slavery and wrong.”

A Southern volunteer reflected

many others’ views when he

said, “I would give all I have

got just to be in the front rank

of the first brigade that marches

against the invading foe who

now pollute the sacred soil of my

native state [Virginia] with their

unholy tread.” This patriotism

would help sustain both armies’

fighting abilities through a long and

difficult war, but it also tended to

denigrate the importance of professional

competence and discipline. Both armies

Born in Malta, New York, Ellsworth hoped to

attend West Point but failed to obtain an

appointment. He moved to Chicago in

1859, where he became a prominent

militia officer, leading a unit attired in the

flamboyant style of French Zouaves. In

1860, he entered the law office of Abraham

Lincoln and campaigned for the future

president in the election that year.

When war broke out, Ellsworth raised a

regiment recruited from the firefighters of

New York, the “Fire Zouaves.” He led them

into Alexandria, Virginia, in May 1861,

where he was killed by an innkeeper for

pulling down a Confederate flag flying from

his hotel. In the North, Ellsworth’s youth and

his connection with Lincoln magnified the

importance of his death; he came to be

seen as one of the first heroes of the war.

paid too little attention to the warnings

of prewar professional soldiers that

troops needed training and discipline to

be effective, and that the coming

conflict might be long and grueling.

Romantic ideas

Many who claimed to possess military

expertise had a notion of war far

more romantic than realistic.

Volunteer officers, such as Unionist

Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, had more

military knowledge than the average

volunteer, and his interpretation of

the tactics used by France’s Zouave

(North African)

light infantry

regiments—who

were renowned

as elite and

disciplined

fighters—reflected current and future

military developments in infantry

tactics. These included formations of

troops trained to move quickly, spread

out, and fire accurately. Nevertheless,

Ellsworth did not fully understand

these tactical evolutions.

Lack of trained officers

While the small number of military-age

men with formal training at either West

Point or various state military

academies (the most important being

the Virginia Military Institute) rose

to instant prominence during the

The percentage of U.S.

Army officers who

resigned to join the

(^25) Confederate army.
ELMER EPHRAIM ELLSWORTH
UNION VOLUNTEER OFFICER (1837–61)