Weaponry Advancement: The Civil War marked the beginning of an era that transitioned into the Industrial world. Earlier wars were fought in close quarters with unreliable weaponry, and insufficient materials that jeopardized the well-being of both sides of the battlefield. At the start of the Civil War, it was clear that both sides of the Army needed a change in weapon tactics; both the Union and Confederate Armies lacked weaponry that would distinguish themselves with more power over one another. Though, as the Civil War progressed in America, soldiers were introduced to new innovations and advancements of technology that took the war to a new level. Smoothbore muskets were the base of all Civil War battles. While their accuracy was distorted …show more content…
Although, not all of these fatalities were from seized from enemy fire; nearly two-thirds of the total deaths were caused by diseases that struck those who were fighting. The idea that caused so many deaths was due to the spreading of germs. Surgeons would operate on open wounds and though many were to be treated, infections were persistent during the war and would slowly kill the soldiers whom it affected. Because of the death toll from the spreading of germs and infections, the Union states in the North began transporting wounded soldiers to nearby hospitals for medical care. Soon after officials realized the medical system needed to be revamped, the ambulance corps was put in place. The Ambulance corps was established to sort soldiers in regards to the severity of their injuries, and from there, the wounded soldiers would be transported to hospitals or remain where they were based on their injuries. This corporation played a major role in deciding which soldiers were likely to recover, and for the soldiers who were unlikely to make it, the corporation would make them as comfortable as possible and keep them in field stations away from the …show more content…
Twenty years prior to the war, the first form of anesthesia was used on a patient in order to remove a tumor from their neck. The use of anesthetics was scarce, only until its use skyrocketed during the course of the Civil War. Anesthesia brought new opportunities for medical workers to use on their wounded patients. The Union and Confederate armies both benefited dramatically from the introduction of chloroform: it was non-flammable and allowed surgeons to perform various procedures on soldiers by reducing pain quickly, and
These muskets had a smooth bore, the inner barrel was smooth, and used musket balls as projectiles. Musket balls were made of lead and had an effective range of about 300 feet. This caused armies to fight closer to each other due to the limited range of their weaponry. The musket also only held one bullet before a soldier had to take the time to reload. This reload involved loading the barrel with gunpowder and a musket ball before taking a ram rod and packing both as tightly down as the soldier could.
Angels on the Battlefield In the Battle of Gettysburg that took place on July 1, 1863, and ended on July 3, many casualties and injuries resulted from the fighting between those few days, leading to the victory of the Union Army. It is roughly estimated that 620,000 men lost their lives fighting, many for liberty and freedom, others for new opportunities. The Civil War was considered the deadliest and bloodiest battle. Medicine has come a long way now, in comparison to the 19th century, although many lives were lost on the way.
The most popular version of Napoleon Cannon was the 12 pounder. During this era designers or inventor’s name, year of major advancement in the weapon, the weight of the charge the weapon could safely fire was how people referred to most artillery weapons. The Napoleon Cannon was the cannon of choice because its safety, reliable and having devastating effects on enemy soldiers at close range. The Napoleon Cannon remained in service by both the Union and Confederate Armies throughout the war, although it began received modifications shortly after the war had begun. Modifications to the Napoleon Cannon included reinforcing the tube and adding rifling.
As soon as the Civil War started, injuries increased and diseases spread at a rapid pace. Sickness spread to millions. In fact, disease caused 65% of deaths, while war injuries caused up to 100% (“Disease”). Abundant amounts of medical issues caused medical procedures to evolve at a rapid speed. The medical advancements during the Civil War led to future medical technologies and procedures.
As history progressed through time, war has evolved but from the first conflict between man to current engagements, war will always be based around military logistics. As defined in history.com, logistics is the supply, movement and maintenance of an armed force both in peacetime and under operational conditions. Unlike any war up to the 1861, the Civil War introduced the first infantry regiment of sharpshooters. As a sharpshooter you were assign the mission to kill enemy target of importance. According to Infantry Bugler, Hiram Berdan, founder of the Sharpshooters, was appointed as the colonel of the 1st United States Sharpshooter Regiment.
From such a outdated method of fighting, on such a large scale, only a large amount of destruction and death could come from the conflicts in which the armies found themselves entangled enough to fight. The style of Civil War battles created an environment that presented an even more hazerdous environment to those soldiers who fought the battle and, combined with poor medical knowledge, the soldiers were exposed to a level of lethality that supports the argument of the Civil War being the most painful and taxing war of American
The Civil War was America’s bloodiest war. Soldiers were not only dying from battle itself, but from the daily practices the military had in place. Medical care and response was lacking organization resulting in many preventable deaths. In 1862 this all changed with the appointment of Medical Director Jonathan Letterman, who focused on how soldiers were being treated both on and off the battlefield. Jonathan Letterman was crucial to the Union’s victory because he advanced civil war medicine and made it more accessible hence why his gravestone describes a man “who brought order and efficiency into the Medical Service and who was the originator of modern methods of medical organization in armies" (Arlington National Cemetery).
The Burnside carbine, Springfield rifle, Colt revolver rifle, Lorenz rifle, Smith carbine, Tarpley carbine, Spencer repeating rifle, and Whitworth rifle were rifles all used in the war between the North and South. A rifle musket used by both the Union and the Confederates was the 1853 Enfield Rifle Musket (or .577 Enfield) which was the standard-issue for British troops. Imported from England,
In the years following the Revolutionary War the United States would begin to expand, although not popular among all citizens, it helped shape the country into what we know today. The first acquisition of territory would be as a result of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War. This treaty marked the boundaries between the British colonies still located in North America and ceded the thirteen American colonies to a newly recognized country known as the United States of America. This would not be the only acquisition of territory that the United States would complete between the years of 1789 and 1815 but it would be the initial acquisition of territory that would develop this newly formed nation.
To say the time period following the Civil War in the United States involved a lot of change would be a understatement. Between the years 1870 and 1900 the people of the United States lived through a period of great change. Not only did they witness technological advances that would change their daily lives, they also saw new laws and organizations formed. All of this was done in hopes of improving the country. Many of these changes came about because of the type of businesses that were formed.
One new weapon during the civil war was the musket and what came with the musket was the mini ball that inflicted severe damage to whatever it hit (mostly bone and tissue of a human). The new weapons were used in all of the civil war battles, one was the newer cannons built on the ironclads like the monitor and the Merrimack during the battle of Hampton roads. The Mini balls, muskets, and cannons helped start a new advancement in weaponry all the way to weapons of mass destruction. Don’t forget the weapons also caused a lot of deaths as said in the last paragraph above. This new innovation of weapons helped the union inflict a lot of damage of lees forces in a lot of the battles like the battle of Gettysburg.
The decades prior to the Civil War was a time of innovation in gun making. The standard military arm the flintlock smoothbore musket had been replaced
Especially for the south that did not have a lot of factories to produce these items. The most common weapon at this time was the smooth-bore
The era of medicine before the Civil War wasn’t beneficial. They had just started common practices and having few uneducated nurses. When entering the Civil War diseases and hygiene became a huge problem for the soldiers on the front lines since doctors had little knowledge about medicine. Amputation, Lewis Sayre, and diseases aided the construct of modern medicine from the Civil War. Amputation was a familiar use during the Civil War.
The use of bugles in the Civil War can be traced back to the early 1800s when the instrument was introduced to the U.S. Army.