Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Rather than ordering them to return to Washington as McClellan might have, admitting defeat, he merely sent them back down a transverse road to attack at another point. All that was left was a battle of attrition which the South could never hope to win.
Ambrose Bierce was one of the leading American literary figures of his generation, approaching the rank of his contemporary, Mark Twain. He was the only first class author to fight in the Civil War and to write extensively about it in both fiction and non-fiction genres. He enlisted as a private a few days after Fort Sumter fell and served until wounded in early 1865, reaching the rank of major. Decorated for bravery many times, he developed a keen sense for military strategy and the realities of war as a topographer on the staff of Sherman's army during its campaigns in Tennessee and Georgia. In one of his essays, he deflated popular romantic conceptions of the nature of the War:
War is made, not against the bodies of adult males, but against the means of subsistence of a people. The fighting is incident to the devastation: we kill soldiers because they protect their material resources -- get between us and the fields that feed them, the factories that clothe them, the arsenals that arm them.
Civilians then, are the true object of war: "the humane thing is to overcome them by means of hunger and nakedness. The earlier we can do so, the less effusion of blood." Bierce acknowledge that the Union had gone through a learning process....
"I speak of the latter part of the conflict, when we had learned how to conduct military operations. As long as our main purpose was bloodshed we made little progress." Northern victory in the Civil War was inevitable because in modern warfare the means of production translate directly into military power. In this regard, the South was extraordinarily weak compared to the North. But the Union victory was only achieved when Northern commanders realized the true nature of the war and prosecuted it accordingly. By the end of the war, Northern industry was turning out unlimited quantities of repeating rifles, breech-loading artillery, and iron clad warships. The South had lost even its never very great capacity to make muskets. This disparity was at one and the same time the cause and effect of the Northern victory.
Works Cited
Bierce, Ambrose. n. d. "The Nature of War," in Russell Duncan and David J. Klooster, eds. 2002. Phantoms of a Blood-Stained period: the Complete Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 309-10.
Elmer Ellsworth and the Zouave Craze. 2000. http://192.220.64.117/craze.html (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Famous American Duels. 2005. http://www.law.gwu.edu/Burns/rarebooks/exhibits/duel_american.htm (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Keegan, John. 1987. The Mask of Command. New York: Viking.
Kiley, Kevin, 2005. Napoleon Himself. http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/napoleon/c_quotes.html#war (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Longstreet, James. 1908. From Manassas to Appomattox. Philadelphia J.B. Lippincott. http://books.google.com/books?id=UDkOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=longstreet&ei=ogkUSOeqBqaiiwG0guDZBQ#PPA386,M1 (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Scott, Beth F., ed. 2000. The Logistics of War: a Historical Perspective. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Air Force Logistics Management Agency. http://books.google.com/books?id=IA20xVTl-nEC&printsec=frontcover&sig=X75QNTqPtrFlsvz3FKEr3ry4CcE (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Snell, Kelly. 2005. Influence of Napoleon on Civil War tactics and Strategy. http://www.civilwarhome.com/napoleontactics.htm (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Steward. Dick. 2005. Duels and the Roots of Violence in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
Keegan 1987.
Steward 2005; Famous American Duels 2005.
Elmer Ellsworth and the Zouave Craz. 2000.
Snell 2005.
Longstreet 1908, 386
Quoted in Kiley 2005.
Scott, ed. 2000, 32.
Bierce n.d.This and following quotes at 309.
Works Cited
Bierce, Ambrose. n. d. "The Nature of War," in Russell Duncan and David J. Klooster, eds. 2002. Phantoms of a Blood-Stained period: the Complete Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 309-10.
Elmer Ellsworth and the Zouave Craze. 2000. http://192.220.64.117/craze.html (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Famous American Duels. 2005. http://www.law.gwu.edu/Burns/rarebooks/exhibits/duel_american.htm (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Keegan, John. 1987. The Mask of Command. New York: Viking.
Kiley, Kevin, 2005. Napoleon Himself. http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/napoleon/c_quotes.html#war (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Longstreet, James. 1908. From Manassas to Appomattox. Philadelphia J.B. Lippincott. http://books.google.com/books?id=UDkOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=longstreet&ei=ogkUSOeqBqaiiwG0guDZBQ#PPA386,M1 (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Scott, Beth F., ed. 2000. The Logistics of War: a Historical Perspective. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Air Force Logistics Management Agency. http://books.google.com/books?id=IA20xVTl-nEC&printsec=frontcover&sig=X75QNTqPtrFlsvz3FKEr3ry4CcE (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Snell, Kelly. 2005. Influence of Napoleon on Civil War tactics and Strategy. http://www.civilwarhome.com/napoleontactics.htm (Accessed Apr. 26, 2008).
Civil War How did it happen that the North won the Civil War, notwithstanding the fact that the South had its own powerful advantages? This paper explores that question using chapters 11, 12, 13 and 14 for reference sources. Background on the Southern economy and politics The South greatly expanded its agricultural industry (the plantation system) between 1800 and 1860, and in doing so became "increasingly unlike the North," the author explains in
Civil War represents a decisive period in American history, but also one of violence, during which more than 620,000 Americans died. (Gary B. Nash, Carter Smith, page 144) The American Civil War was fought between North and the South, and started as a result of their differences regarding slavery, state's rights and federal authority. The decisive moment was when Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the election, and become the president
Civil War In a long war, all of the economic, financial and population advantages would favor the North since the South was a mostly agrarian region that imported its manufactured goods. Initially, both sides had expected that the war would be short and decisive, although by 1862 it was clear that it might drag on indefinitely. Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and the other Southern leaders realized that their best chance
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
In spite of their superiority in number, armament and war techniques, the British hopes in the alliance with Southern loyalists failed. They became vulnerable targets to the guerrilla tactics they were not used to. Cornwallis has to keep retreating from South Carolina and then from North Carolina, although in the beginning he placed great hopes in his naval forces that were far more superior than those of the enemy's. The document
A stronger Navy allowed the North to enforce the blockade more effectively than the Confederacy could overcome it. The second significant part of the Anaconda Plan was similar in scope and strategic significance: to take control of the Mississippi. When the Union Army eventually did gain control of the mighty Mississippi, the South was effectively split in two. The Anaconda Plan was fulfilled. Not only did the Union have