American Civil War Warfare in the American Civil War

The Western characteristic of total war best exemplifies warfare in the American Civil War because it was this definitive tactic which helped the Union to completely crush any remaining hopes of victory in the South. Two Generals effected a policy of total war against the South: General Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley and General William Tecumseh Sherman in his March to the Sea campaign from Atlanta to Savannah, leaving devastation and ruin in his wake. Both military tactics were designed not only to cut off supply routes to Southern armies but also to undermine the morale of Southern civilians and destroy their very capacity to live without surrender. Sherman himself stated his belief that the Union was fighting "a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war" -- in other words, Sherman believed the war had to be taken into the civilian sphere (Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies 798). It was an attitude of total war that would come to dominate modern warfare in the years to come and it was this attitude that the North ultimately came to rely upon in order to defeat the Southern cause.

It took the Union Army three years to realize that in order to preserve the Union a new military tactic would need to be enabled. Up to that point, the typical style of warfare used by the Army was that of Grant's bold charge and seize brigades or the guerrilla warfare of the Confederates. In fact, in spite of fortifications and planning and design, much of the fighting in the war was so indecisive that it eventually boiled down to trench warfare. Trench warfare was seen during the Petersburg Campain, which lasted nearly a year from June 1864 to April 1865. Petersburg was not really an example of "formal siege warfare" as there was no surrounding of Lee's forces or the blocking of Lee's escape: in short, "Lee was never trapped at Petersburg" and so the warfare that took place was more properly trench warfare, in which the soldiers are protected in long trenches from enemy fire ("Ten Facts about the Petersburg Campaign").

Trench warfare was common in Petersburg and Vicksburg, but for the style of warfare that best exemplifies the spirit of the American Civil War, one has to look elsewhere. What really exemplified the Civil War was the willingness of the Union Generals to do whatever they had to crush the rebellion. This willingness eventually led to total war.

Sheridan employed the "scorched earth" military tactic following the Battle of Fisher's Hill in the Shenandoah Valley. He burned everything that could possibly be of assistance to the Confederates as he pulled his Army back down the Valley, leaving behind them nothing but ruins and ash. Barns, factories, mills, plantations -- everything was destroyed. Sheridan's aim was to incapacitate the Confederate Army and take away their sustenance and ability to survive. By taking the war to the civilian front, Sheridan effected a policy of total war -- and an effective one which proved to be a forerunner to Sherman's policy of total annihilation of everything that stood between Atlanta and the sea.

Sherman initially opposed the war because he understood the toll it would take on the country and the carnage that would result (Foote). He saw the secession as madness because it was an invitation to total war, a request to the Union to deliver a massive correction in the form of annihilation. Sherman understood this and it horrified him that members of his own country could be so reckless. Nonetheless, he eventually volunteered his services to the Union.

Sherman's march was like a virus in a host body: it did away with the traditional mode of supply lines and moved like a swarm of bees, wreaking havoc to the Southern way of life in the process. It was like a Mongul invasion of raiders come for no other purpose than to destroy the civilian way of life and thus strike at the Southern Army at its very root: home.

Although the march did have a secondary purpose, which was to provide support for Grant by pressuring Lee's rear in Virginia, the primary purpose was to destroy the infrastructure of the South and break the Confederate's morale -- a thing which Grant agreed had to be done in order for the war to end.

Grant indeed helped Sherman devise the march and both drew on their own tactics of foraging for

By cutting down the supply lines, the marches could move more quickly (and be more destructive at the same time).
The march was not about locating an enemy: it was about immersing oneself in enemy territory and destroying everything in sight. Railroads were plied up, crops were burned, plantations sacked, food taken from farms, livestock plundered: all of this was allowed under Sherman's "liberal" foraging orders -- instructions which basically allowed raiding parties to be formed. Sherman ordered that in areas where their men were able to pass unobstructed and met no resistance, destruction of property would not be sanctioned. But in areas where the enemy burned bridges to slow their process or supported guerrilla warfare, destruction of civilian property was not only encouraged but ordered. It was an ironic command: burn the enemy's property -- unless they pose no resistance (in which case, what is to stop the Union from burning the property?).

The result was, of course, total war. And it was set to the rousing melody of "John Brown's Body," the tune to which Julia Ward Howe penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Sherman's men marched and sang "Glory, glory, hallelujah!" As though their mission were a divine one with a divine mandate -- a sort of manifest destiny.

Confederate armies attempted to get in his way, but as Sherman marched he gathered more men to oppose the few dwindling numbers that the South threw up in his path. Only at Savannah did he meet any substantial resistance, as Hardee had put his men in trenches in the typical trench warfare mode of operation. Sherman's plan, since dispatching with his own supply line, was to meet the U.S. Navy outside Savannah and restock that way. But the trenches were keeping him from completing this plan. So he had to make a separate movement and changed his course for the Ogeechee River, where the Battle of Fort McAllister was fought and won in a quarter of an hour. The supplies could now be reached and with them Sherman was set to invade Savannah. He was also determined to crush the city and give his men full freedom in raiding and plundering in revenge for the harm the rebels had done to the Union.

Sensing this, the Confederates pulled out of Savannah, rather than stand an attack. Seeing themselves defenseless and hoping to protect their lives and property, the Mayor of the city rode out to offer their surrender. Sherman took the city without a fight, five days before Christmas.

It was estimated that the march cost the South dearly in terms of economic losses. Sherman put the cost $100 million which would be more $1 billion by today's standards. 300 miles of track were torn up, bridges destroyed after being used, telegraph wire cut down. Horses, cattle, corn, cotton, mills -- everything was either taken or destroyed. Sherman struck at the infrastructure of the South and in doing so struck at their psychology: he attacked their national pride, their sense of self-sufficiency. Had Sherman made such a raid earlier in the war it is possible that it would not have gone on for five years.

Thus, total warfare best exemplifies the warfare of the Civil War not only because it was decisive in destroying the Southern infrastructure and morale of the rebels but also because it typified a mindset of the Union generals, such as Sheridan, Grant, and Sherman -- namely, that the strongest weapon in the Southern Army was the Southern Pride which emanated from its civilians. Thus, Union warfare had to be taken to the civilian front.

So while other styles of warfare were present in the American Civil War, such as guerrilla warfare and trench warfare, the "scorched earth" strategy of total war was what really made the difference in the fight and for this reason best exemplifies the warfare strategy of the Civil War (even though it did not really become utilized until the last year of fighting). This policy was relatively new in Western warfare and really became more popular in the 20th century -- but its strategy of assault was as ancient as the Roman destruction of Carthage, which it saw as being a possible threat. Sherman's march and Sheridan's "scorching" were models of how to destroy the will of the enemy -- by striking where it hurt most.

Works Cited

Foote,…