One might think, "What is he talking about ?" What I am talking about is what most modern people call The American Civil war. The term I have just used in the title is a Confederate (the group of people who rebeled and made their own country out of 13 states) saying becuase the civil war means a war that the soldiers and the citizens were involved,but the Confederates prefered The second American Revaloution or the war of northern aggresion because it made them sound like they had a glorious cause or they were just like their fore fathers fighting for freedom. As for the latter one, it was becuase it made the yankees (Confederaate name for northerners) sound like invaderes. I like the Confederates, but I do not want our country to be divided and I hate slavery.
Speaking of slavery, unlike what most people think, the south(Confederates) did not leave the north(which was called the Union because the north wanted the south to stay with them) because the south believed in slavery and the north did not. It was because the south thought the states had 2 problems:
1.More power in the state govermant and less federal(Washington DC.)power.
2.The south had a lot of farms covering it's lands called plantations*, plantations are large farms usually with a mansion and always with large fields of corn, rice and the south's leading item, cotton. Cotton is the main product that keeps the south, barely able to survive. "From what ?" you are probably asking, well I have an answer, the northern trade ships and thier industry. Now don't think the south didn't have factories. The south did have some factories, but what was killin' 'em was that ol' yankee blockade. Yesiree, the north's president Abe Lincoln, thought the first thing when the conflict began he ordered a fleet of ships from the Potomac to New Orleans keeping the south unable to trade with other countries throughout the war.
The Confederate president Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and Alexander Stephens of Georgia are inaugurated as president and vice on February 18, 1861. Davis' capital was in Montgomery, Alabama and then Richmond, Virginia so it would be closer to the front lines. Davis formed several armies to repel the rapidly advancing yankees, armed with a weapon called a musket which is a long and thin gun usually with a small knife called a bayonet attached to it in order to stab the enemy in close combat. "Why don't you just only shoot instead of stabbing somone?" Well, I forgot to tell you that a musket can only fire 2-3 times a minute en route of grabbing your bullet and puting it down the musket barell. Then getting a long stick called a ramrod, and shove your bullet down the barrel with your ramrod, add the gun powder, cock it back and then fire. Davis also organized some calvery, which are infantry on horses and usualy carried these weapons:
1. As a gun called a carbine, a carbine is a gun that could fire at a longer distance than a musket and was easier to load. Later on in the war guns called breech loaders that could fire 6 times before having to reaload.
2. The common weapon called a sword was used by the dashing calverliers. Infantry officeres also carried swords to show their athourity
3. The colt pistol was a short gun not even a foot long. The colt revolver was easy to load and you could fire up to 12 times a minute Another unit was artilery, which was a large gun called a cannon.
A cannon could fire 2 difrent types of things:
1. Solid shot, which was a cannonball.
2. Canister shot which is a ton of bullets,up to 1000,in a small can and when shot they would fly everywhere. An officer's job is to lead the troops, where these officers would come from well, there were lots of places:
1. An officer could raise his own regiment and make himself colonel. The dashing calvilier Nathen Bedford Forrest, came this way and still proved to be the best calvilier in the history of the world.
2. A politician or any man of business could offer his services to the governeor of that state. Leaders like N. Banks, Daniel Sickels and John Gordan were all political generals.
3. Most often officers would come from a miliatary acadamy such as the Virginia Miliatary Institute or where most officers come from, West Point. The war's best leaders came from West point, including some of the war's best generals like Robert E Lee, Thomas " Stonewall" Jackson, James "Pete" Longstreet and U.S. Grant.
Organization was fairly simple. It usually was like this: a company of about 100 men would be formed, 2-5 companies would be formed to make a batallion (250 union 500 Confederate) and 2 battalions would make a regimant. A regimant would be a group of people all from the same state (ex. 5th Texas) and then be grouped into brigades usually commanded by a colonel or a brigadier general usually consisting of 2500-3000 Confederate, 1500 Union. These brigades would then be grouped into divisions 8000-13000 Confederate, 2000-4000 Union, and commanded by a major general or brigadier general. After that they were grouped into corps, 3-5 Confederate divisions and 2-3 Union commanded by a lieutenat general or a major general and then grouped into an army with 3-7 corps Union and 2-5 Confederate comanded by major general, Union and full general Confederate.
In Charleston, South Carolina over 5000 Confederate solidiers under Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard bombard the fort on an island, Fort Sumter. The blundering Lincoln and cabinet in Washington were stregthening their fronts in Virginia and Kentucky and was completly oblivious to Beauregard's movements until major Robert Anderson (the commander of Fort Sumter) desperately pleaded for supplies and reinforcements. Lincoln immediately sends men and supplies in order to relive the besieged fort. The men and supplies never reach the fort due to the Confederate cannon. After days of bombardment, no men have been killed or wounded, but due to lack of supplies the fort surrenders and when the defenders our going back to Washington, the Confederates were doing a 100 round salute and 2 Union soldiers were wounded and one was killed. Thus, the salute produced the first casualty of the war.
*Movie Gone with the wind accurately recreates plantation life
• What do my fellow countrymen think about this matter?
Comments
Apr. 13, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
This is great! You are the smartest person in the world