Manassas: A Battlefield Guide

Appendix B: Organization, Weapons, and Tactics

Appendix B: Organization, Weapons, and Tactics You will get much more from your battlefield tour if you take a few minutes to become familiar with the following information and then refer to it as necessary. The Organization of Civil War Armies Following is a diagram of the typical organization and range of strength of a Civil War army: The Basic Battlefield Functions of Civil War Leaders In combat environments the duties of Civil War leaders were divided into two main parts: decision making and moral suasion . Although the scope of the decisions varied according to rank and responsibilities, they generally dealt with the movement and deployment of troops, artillery, and logistical support (signal detachments, wagon trains, and so on). Most of the decisions were made by the leaders themselves. Their staffs helped with administrative paperwork but in combat functioned essentially as glorified clerks; they did almost no sifting of intelligence or planning of operations. Once made, the decisions were transmitted to subordinates either by direct exchange or by courier, with the courier either carrying a written order or conveying the order verbally. More rarely, signal flags were used to send instructions. Except in siege operations, when the battle lines were fairly static, the telegraph was almost never used in tactical situations. Moral suasion was the art of persuading troops to perform their duties and dissuading them from failing to perform them. Civil War commanders often accomplished this by personal example, and conspicuous bravery was a vital attribute of any good leader. It is therefore not surprising that 8 percent of Union generals—and 18 percent of their Confederate army (40,000–120,000 men) corps (10,000–30,000 men) corps (10,000–30,000 men) corps (10,000–30,000 men) division (3,000–8,000 men) division (3,000–8,000 men) division (3,000–8,000 men) brigade (1,500–3,000 men) brigade (1,500–3,000 men) brigade (1,500–3,000 men) regiment (300–800 men) regiment (300–800 men) regiment (300–800 men) regiment (300–800 men) regiment (300–800 men) 236 Appendix B counterparts—were killed or mortally wounded in action. (By contrast, only about 3 percent of Union enlisted men were killed or mortally wounded in action.) Although any commander might be called upon to intervene directly on the firing line, army, corps, and division commanders tended to lead from behind the battle line, and their duties were mainly supervisory. In all three cases their main ability to influence the fighting, once it was underway, was by the husbanding and judicious commitment of troops held in reserve. Army commanders principally decided the broad questions— whether to attack or defend, where the army’s main effort(s) would be made, and when to retreat (or pursue). They made most of their key choices before and after an engagement rather than during it. Once battle was actually joined, their ability to influence the outcome diminished considerably. They might choose to wait it out or they might choose, temporarily and informally, to exercise the function of a lesser leader. In the battles of the Civil War, army commanders conducted themselves in a variety of ways: as detached observers, “super” corps commanders, division commanders, and so on, all the way down to de facto colonels trying to lead through personal example. Corps commanders chiefly directed main attacks or supervised the defense of large, usually well-defined sectors. It was their function to carry out the broad (or occasionally quite specific ) wishes of the army commander. They coordinated all the elements of their corps (typically infantry divisions and artillery battalions) in order to maximize its offensive or defensive strength. Once battle was actually joined, they influenced the outcome by “feeding” additional troops into the fight— sometimes by preserving a reserve force (usually a division) and committing it at the appropriate moment, sometimes by requesting additional support from adjacent corps or from the army commander. Division commanders essentially had the same functions as corps commanders, though on a smaller scale. When attacking , however, their emphasis was less on “feeding” a fight than on keeping the striking power of their divisions as compact as possible. The idea was to strike one hard blow rather than a series of weaker ones. The following commanders were expected to control the actual combat—to close with and destroy the enemy: Brigade commanders principally conducted the actual business of attacking or defending. They accompanied the attacking force in person or stayed on...