Railroads in the Civil War

Railroads in the Civil War

The Civil War was the first war that relied on railroads. Railroads helped transport soldiers and supplies quickly over long distances. The North was the first side to realize the importance of railroads. When the South saw the importance of railroads, it was already to late. By the end of the war, the North laid a total of 22,000 miles of railroad and the South only laid 9,500.

Problems with Railroads

Even though railroads were popular, they also had flaws. Fuel was a problem. Trains were fueled on wood, a lot of wood. When a train ran out of wood, workers had to hop out and chop more wood. Another problem with the Southern railroads was that the crew was understaffed. The army made skilled railroad workers join the army. Accidents also happened because telegraph communication was bad. Many crews died cause of head on head crashes, bad bridges and bad rails. Many cross-ties were rotten and and nails were broken. In 1862, a railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga had 1,200 broken rails. The Union also attacked southern railroads and stole equipment.

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Accidents like this were common

 

Cavalry in the Civil War

Cavalry at the Beginning of the Civil War

At the start of the Civil War, cavalry wasn’t used much. Cavalry were only used to make

Image result for cavalry in the civil war for kidsquick charges. This was a tactic that people in the Roman times used. Soldiers from the infantry made jokes about cavalry like: “Have you ever seen a dead cavalryman?” Foot soldiers thought of cavalry as “dandies on horseback”. They thought the cavalry never saw much fighting and always has the easy life.

Use of Cavalry

The cavalry’s military role had dramatically changed by 1863 and the armies were making use of their horse soldiers in more combat situations. Cavalry divisions were used by commanders as scouts and as a fighting force. These new strategies started the largest cavalry battle of the war, fought on June 9, 1863 at Brandy Station, Virginia. Brandy Station was the opening of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Ships in the Civil War

Ships Before the Civil War

Before the civil war, navel battles, or sea battles had not changed much. Battles were fought between wooden ships with sails. To win a battle, pretty much all you had to do was bring as many cannons as possible. About a decade before the civil war, major changes were happening to ships. New engines and guns were being developed. For example, a steam engine could make a ship run without wind and more easily transport things up-stream. By the late 1850’s steam ships were used in the navy. Artillery was also being improved. These weapons were way more accurate than the old guns and when combined with the long range of newer naval guns, this meant that naval battles could be fought at much larger distances.

Ironclads

 

 

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Because of the new technology advances in artillery, the ironclad was born. Wooden ships before the ironclad were vulnerable to the new long distance cannons. To the solve this problem, the south came up with an idea. They would make a ironclad. Since the South didn’t have powerful engines to move the ironclad, it attacked Norfolk shipyard in Virginia. The shipyard had a big ship, the U.S.S. Merrimack. The North didn’t wan’t the south to get the ship, so they burnt it. When the South salvaged the ship, the hull and the engines were still intact. The South then put iron all over the ship. When the North heard about the South’s plans for the ironclad, they decided to make one too. The ships was designed by a Scottish inventor called John Ericsson. His ship was called the U.S.S.

Monitor. Union and Confederate ironclads first met in battle in March 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads – the world’s first fight between ironclad warships.