Page 89 - 1992 - XVIII Congresso Internazionale di Storia Militare

THE AMERJCAN CfVlL W AR

fRANK E. V ANDIVI:.R

Once aga in the Amcncan Civ il War is riding a aest of populariry. Every gencr·
ation seems to redisco,•c:r the 1/iad o( American history. Pundits, studem:s, hisrori-
ans, tbc public ofren pondcr "'why?". "Brother's wars" always cause lasting rcaction,
bur the Civil Wnr has more rhan usuaJ appeal. Especially does the "Lost Cause"
tinger in populnr imaginadon - a cause linked ro moonlight, magnolias, docile
slavcs, a od alife sryle slower, quicrcr, lcss crass tbao rhe growing frcnzy oflife midst
norrhern commerce. In che case of che Civil War, the losing side dearly is holding
ics hisroricaJ own.
Couragc has somcching to do with che hold thar ali wars ha ve on the public
imerese. That is dearly o ne of the mai n aruanions of the Civ il War. Shocking casual·
ties - greacer rhan in ali previous American wars - wholesalc dcarhs from shor,
shell and aravistic medicine, a swirling, sprawling con.f:lia that swcpt civilians in
its wake, thnt eruptcd across half che American concinenr in the first of the rcally
modero wars, combined co mx faith, will and the far rcaches of courage.
Bue there is more tO che pull of che Civil War. Brirish, French, German, and
other foreigo observers warched che American conflicc for lessons. Whar did chis
war of che lnduscrial Revolution reach? lt could ha ve taught much- but, the watcbers
were uapped by tradition imo missing most of what tbey sa w. Wars usuaUy begio
w i rh che ideas an d racrics of the lasc combat. Milirary myopia is fairly generalized,
nor only in warcime bue also in rimes berween conflicts.
Generai J. F. C. Fuller, in a highly impon.anr artide encicled "Thc Piace of
the America n Civil War in the Evolurion ofWar" [Tht ArtiiJ Q11amrly, 26 ( 1933),
316-325], showed rhat racrical idcas had not advaoced beyood Napolconic con·
cepts of thc massed bayoner arrack - racrics formed by muzzle-loadLng, shorr range
muskets (100 yards), and anillery boasriog only case and round shoc. When the
Civil War began, che Minie carrridge had rransfoaned tbe musker inro a muzzle
loadiog rifle with a range of abour 800 yards and reduced misfires per rhousand
rounds m less than a half dozcn. In cffen, rhe rifie b!!rnme me machine gun of
its rime and changed everyrhing abour thc batdefield. Massed charges werc almosr
suicidal; cavalry chargcs, too, were doomed, with the mouoted arm left the impor·
ram rasks of observarion and flanking maneuvers.
Riflcd anillery incrcnsed range and accuracy dramacically. Tbough rifled guns
were known whcn the Civil War bcgan, smooth-bores dominared accions for che
first rwo years. G radually even field batteries sported rifled cannon.