American Civil War: causes, course, and consequences

Civil War

Technology, Communications and Personalities

In the Outcome of the Civil War

The United States of America is without any doubt the most technologically developed nation. The evidence in this direction is countless, including the fact that they sent a man on the moon or that they built the international center of the automobile industry. But the technology that propelled the country to this position was not born yesterday, but centuries ago. By the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), it was already existent and on the path to continuous and prosperous transformation. So it can then be said that technologies and communications played a part in the outcome of the Civil War, but what was their part exactly?

In order to answer this question, it is first necessary to comprehend the state of the United States before the Civil War broke out. The country was at that time in the period of its own Industrial Revolution. They were as such developing a strong cotton industry, they processed metals that set the basis for a strong railway system. They would even create an underground transportation system, however rudimentary, which would then carry the fleeing blacks from the South to the North and to Canada.

The technological developments brought about by the Industrial Revolution created a generalized sense of dissatisfaction among the factory workers, who were witnessing their replacement with mechanized work: "to be sure, machines displaced some craftsmen or downgraded their skills" (McPherson, 2003, p.22). As their employment opportunities decreased considerably, more and more men began to enroll in the army. So it can be argued that a first role played by technology in the outcome of the Civil War was that of generating sufficient soldiers.

In a more particular sense, the piece of technology that played a pivotal part was that of the railroads. These had been introduced starting with 1830 and by the time the war broke out, the Northern states had a total of 22,000 miles of railroads. The South on the other hand only had 9,000 miles of railroads.

The North was much better equipped than the South in most aspects of technological development and this is explained by the simple fact that the states in the Union had been more open to the liberation of slaves and the promotion of free labor. "And the amount of capital invested per mile in trackage and rolling stock was 30% greater in the free than in the slave states" (McPherson, p.95). The people then got jobs in factories and manufactured the railroads, and even the weapons, creating as such a net advantage, that would support the North in winning not just the Battle at Gettysburg, but also other such as the Battle of Stone River or the Battle of Fort Donelson.

The railroads played a pivotal part in the triumph of the North as they quickly carried men where men were needed, and they also carried supplies where suppliers were needed.

The southerner leaders understood this advantage and strived to reduce it by attacking the railroads. On numerous occasions, the southerner soldiers burned down bridges or railroads. "In mid-August, Morgan's [John Hunt Morgan, Confederate general] merry men suddenly reappeared in middle Tennessee and blocked the railroad north of Nashville by pushing flaming boxcars into an 800-feet tunnel, causing the timbers to burn and the tunnel to cave in" (McPherson, p.514).

Another functionality of the railroads was that they rapidly carried the wounded from the battle field to the hospitals. In the North, the soldiers would be taken to developed hospitals, whereas in the South, they would be taken to more rudimentary medical care facilities. The northerner soldiers were as such better attended to and their mortality rates were reduced. Additionally, they would be sooner able to return to the field.

This was then the second type of technology owned by the North as an advantage over the South. The medical care had improved significantly throughout the past recent years, but the South had not benefited from the advancements even more so as the shipments of medical supplies from the North to the South had been stopped. "The Confederate medical service, like everything else in the southerner war effort, did wonders with the resources available but did not have enough men, medicines or ambulances to match the Union effort. This was the reason why about 18% of the wounded rebels died of their wounds, compared with 14% of the wounded Yankees" (McPherson, p.485).

A final piece of technology used to incline the balance in favor of the North was the telegraph. It was used to rapidly send telegrams from one battle field to the other. The access to information was as such enhanced by this technological development, which additionally increased the North's power (information is power) and ability to quickly adjust to the movements of the enemy. The telegraph was also used to send messages to newspapers, which would print the news and then stimulate more men to enroll. The recognition of this advantage by the South led to sustained attacks on the telegraph poles. "Secessionists also tore down telegraph lines from Washington through Maryland. The national capital was cut off from the North. For several days, rumors were the only form of information reaching Washington" (McPherson, p.285).

This finding leads to the identification of the second great element which played an important part in the final outcome of the Civil War battles -- communications. As we all know, communication is the basis for any successful endeavor. But in the second half of the nineteenth century, not many means of communications existed.

However, the better developed North found more adequate means to communicate and deliver and receive the pivotal information. They would most often use the telegraph, but when this did not function properly -- due to the damaging involvement of the southerners -- the communication lines would be interrupted and uncertainty would be instated. When Washington was for instance cut off from communications, a state of panic was created, as the rumors reaching the capital had grown to "alarming proportions" (McPherson, p.285).

The telegraph, more commonly used by the northerners than by the southerners, had the adjacent benefit of being safer. Or at least to the alternative of sending paper messages or voice massages through a human deliverer. This individual would have to be taken off the battle field, generating as such a perceived weakness among the battle lines. Then, it was customary to send more than one messengers, so that to make sure that the message would reach the destination. So, aside from using more people and being less safe, the use of traditional delivery systems was done in a more time-consuming manner. The North was then able to strengthen its fighting abilities due to its ability to communicate though the electric telegraph lines.

Aside the telegraph, communications were also enhanced by the emergence of the newspapers, the printers and the picture cameras. Journalists would go to the battle field and collect stories they would then print in the newspapers. Also, they would take pictures of the battle field, and the people back home would get the real sense of the war. And due to the developments with printing, the access of the population to information from the front was not restricted, but relatively free.

The technology and communications as an entire integrant system were able to play a major part in the eventual victory of the North also due to advancements made before the Civil War broke out. During the respective period, numerous jobs had been created in the two fields. The direct impact was that of individual wealth, reinvested to generate economic prosperity for the entire northern region, but also the preparation of skilled technicians. "The transportation and communications revolutions created whole new occupation, some of them skilled and well paid -- steamboat pilots, railroad men, telegraphers" (McPherson, p.22). These people would then be able to operate the technologies and the communications means in a way that created more battle field advantage for the North.

But regardless of the immense importance of the technologies and the communications, fact remains that a role must have been played by the very people involved in the decisive battles. In other words, the personalities of the Civil War military leaders have also determined, to a certain degree, the outcome of the battles. The examples in this sense are various.

First of all, there was Robert E. Lee (1807 -- 1870), the general of the North Virginia Confederate Army. He was a private man, who in most occasions appeared rigid and inflexible. His men obeyed his orders not just because they feared him, but also as they respected him -- Lee proved his potential in early military school, where he graduated as one of the most prominent army men.

His choice of the military was not however the first career he would have liked. His story is much more popular for those times, than it should be. He was one of the five children of a poor family, whose father owed money to several creditors -- money which were not spent on improving the well-being of the family -- and a mother who fell ill long before her time. So the professional opportunities for young Robert were limited, and the army came as a rescue solution.

Pegging to his life of severe lacks, difficulties and sadness, Lee became a man of strict self imposed limits. He was moderate and never wasteful of either type of resource. Due to his rather stern appearance, he was not the most popular of army men. But he did always serve his country and the cause he believed to be the truest. He had a strong sense of civil duty, and he strived to insufflate it to others.

And while not many will agree with this, Lee was a compassionate man, who cared and strived to protect his subalterns. In working toward this goal, he also understood that his men were the ones who determined the final fate of the war. So he strived to protect their lives. Evidence in this direction stands the battle of Spotsylvania, in which Lee only lost 7,000 soldieries, whereas the casualties of the Union, led by general-in-chief Ulysses Simpson Grant, exceeded 17,000.