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All You Need to Know to Understand Civil War BattlesThis, in essence, is how every Civil War battle went. The Battlefield The Confederates would line up on a long low hill called Seminary ridge. The Union soldiers would line up on a hill called Cemetery ridge. One side would get a stone wall, the other side would get a sunken lane. There would also be a peach orchard, a trickle of water called a “run”, and a wheat field, and it didn’t really matter which side got those features, as they would trade back and forth during the battle with many heroic charges and counter charges, but ultimately mean nothing in the over all battle plan. After the battle the run would be known as “Bloody Run” The team with the stone wall would stay behind the stone wall and shoot at the other side, while the other side ran and jumped into the sunken lane for cover and returned fire from there. After the battle, the lane would be known as “Bloody Lane.” The stone wall would be know as "Wow, wasn't that a great place to hide behind and shoot from?!" So when you lined up for battle and the soldiers didn’t see any stone walls nearby, this was considered a bad omen. The Soldiers The Confederates were shabby soldiers led by well-dressed Generals. The Union army consisted of well-dressed soldiers led by shabby Generals. Early in the war, there was a lot of confusion as some Confederates wore uniforms that were blue, and some Northerners wore grayish uniforms. Later in the war they learned that Union troops wore shoes, and Confederate troops were barefoot, and fired on each other in accordance to this simple distinction. The Generals The Union army was commanded, in turn, by Larry, Curly, and Moe, who worked to get their armies into position to be drubbed by Robert E Lee. Robert E Lee was a dignified Southern gentleman who amuse himself by walking on water until the enemy army would dig itself in, then calmly administer a drubbing to it's exposed flanks. This tactic sent most generals running, except for U.S. Grant, who was never sober enough to feel it. The Grand Strategy The North roamed about Virginia looking for the Confederate armies, while Confederate armies roamed about looking for shoes and food. Who Won the Battle Whoever started the battle with the stone wall won. Once the Confederates figured this out, they named one of their own generals “Stonewall,” a tactic that worked with great success until he was fired upon one night by his own men. Apparently, in the dark, they couldn’t tell if he was barefoot or not, and guessed wrong. The Aftermath After they won a battle the Union troops would run around and burn everything so that the Confederate troops couldn’t get it back. The Confederates, after one of their wins, would run around the battlefield and steal the shoes and boots off the dead Union troops, unwittingly setting themselves up for disaster in the next battle. The Ultimate Outcome The Union side had an inexhaustible supply of troops, while the Confederates had, like thirty guys, and when they ran out of soldiers the South surrendered, and the war ended. Posted by Indiana Reb on: Sunday 23rd October 2005, 9:21 PM |