Our thesis, “The inventions of the hot air balloon and water vessels during the Civil War both were new methods of transportation and helped the Union succeed” was accepted. The hot air balloons helped give the Union an observational advantage on the battlefield and the ironclad ships (specifically the Monitor) gave the Union a advantage in warfare on the rivers and ocean. Firstly, the ironclad ship helped the Union gain power in naval warfare in the oceans and the rivers. One piece of evidence that supports this is “After building just eight paddle steamers between 1837 and 1852, the American navy commissioned none until after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, when vessels of all types would be added for the blockade of the rebellious …show more content…
With an ability to soar a thousand feet above the landscape, balloons gave military leaders a platform that allowed them to see for miles around – a decided advantage, especially in areas with little topography. During the Seven Days Campaign in 1862, Union balloons stationed at the Gaines’ Farm could observe movement within downtown Richmond, which was roughly seven miles away.” This shows how helpful these balloons were by giving the Union military the ability to see for miles and scope out any potential threats or targets. The Ironclad ships gave an advantage similar in size. For example according to The American Nation, "Its most unusual feature was the revolving gun turret, which made it possible to fire at the enemy from any angle without having to turn the ship around.". This was very useful to the Union by giving them the ability to attack from any angle. This was incredibly powerful especially since at the time the Confederacy didn’t have much of a Navy at all. Finally, another source to support this also comes from The American Battlefield Trust and says, “There are recorded attempts by Confederate artillerists to destroy balloons on or near the ground, but all of those attempts failed. Positioned well behind the front lines, and at an altitude of near 1,000 feet, balloons were difficult, if not impossible, targets for opposing militaries.". This shows a clear advantage for the Union when the balloons they had deployed were undefeated it strength. It gave the Union the advantage by opening a whole new window of opportunity into military aircraft as a way to observe and possibly
The transportation of products, supplies, Natural resources, and people in the North and South was a big factor in who won the war. The attached 1861 railroad map by James Lloyd shows how dense the railroads in the North were compared to the South. The North relied more on the railroad to transport their manufactured goods. The railroads also helped the union by sending ammunition and food quickly, but The there was a fear of being sabotaged. In the map, we can also see the South railroads were very scattered. The South didn 't have much of a need to have as many railroads because they were farming communities. The Union also destroyed what little railroads the South had (Boyer 454). The Confederacy then could not transport supplies nor people to other parts of the South (Beringer 310).
Despite initial Confederate successes, the battle turned against Lee on July 3rd, and with few options remaining, he ordered his army to return to Virginia. The Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.“ (Document 6). The confederates encountered the union instead of defending because Robert E Lee understood that he wasn’t going to win the civil war. Encountering was not a good idea, as the Confederates attacked, they became desperate enough to fall into a trap that caused them the turning point of the war which resulted in a total lost. Another reason why the northern earned the victory is because of the great technology in the war, Ironclad ships. Ironclad ships were naval ships made out of mostly steel plates. The first battle of the ironclads was Hampton roads Virginia. First naval ship battle of the history. The outcome of the battle was
The telegraph was first widely used during the civil war it allowed the Union to communicate and coordinate directly with President
Calcium floodlights were mainly used by the Union soldiers as made it easy to see and they soldiers were able to blind Confederate soldiers (8 Unusual Civil War Weapons"). One of the more creative weapons was a blanket used by Confederate soldiers (8 Unusual Civil War Weapons"). As strange as this sounds, the Confederate soldiers used the blanket to catch explosives and throw it back in the enemy's direction. My personal favorite weapon used was a hot air balloon. It was shocking when it say that hot air balloons were used to give a large view of the battlefield. (Appendix A) This was more commonly a Union weapon as the Confederacy lacked good, quality materials to build a durable balloon (“8 Unusual Civil War Weapons"). Like the machine guns and swords, rockets were actually used in the Civil War (“8 Unusual Civil War Weapons"). Although there were very few appearances from rockets, they still did help play a part by doing their job! The Confederacy used Congreve rockets as well (“Weapons”). They were around three feet and two inches long and filled with gunpowder. Although they could be powerful, they missed quite often and were pretty useless (“Weapons”). Used by both the Confederacy and the Union, underwater mines were useful to blow up the opponent's ship. Although the Union tried the underwater mines, the Confederacy had more success as they blew up dozens of the Union’s ships while the Union blew up only six Confederate ships (“8 Unusual Civil War
There are many inventions from the Civil War that we have improved upon and that we still use today. Some of these inventions include hot air balloons, Long-Range Weapons, Warships, torpedoes, and the Gatling Gun. But three inventions from the Civil War that we still use today are railroads, telegraphs, and Long- Range Weapons. Today, though all these have been improved upon, these inventions are still used to help our country grow.
many different ports for trading. This also helped the United States Navy, with all these
After the civil war in America, President Abraham Lincoln wanted to rebuild the Northern and Southern states and the economy in general. He began this process in 1862. This he did by signing into effect the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862. One of the factors that aided the rapid growth of the United States economy from 1865-1900 was the railroad. This project encouraged the migration of foreigners from all across the world to the United States and it went a long way to shape the industrialization and the economic boom of the country. During this period many old and new industries emerged and expanded. Industries that benefited much from the building of the railroad and the economic rise that was associated with it were the steel manufacturing
these also played a big role in winning the civil war. The rail roads allowed fast transportation of goods. And in the time of the war the rail roads also served as transportation for soldiers. As the north had the power of the navy they were able to block all the trade from Europe to the South. The South okayed the blockage, as they thought that Europe would get involved and help the Confederate Army, because of the lack of cotton supply. Nonetheless, Europe had enough cotton and could easily replace the cotton from America with cotton from India. The North could stop all import and export to and from the Southern states. Lincoln said that he could starve the Southerners into
The introduction of steam and iron reshaped and defined new tactics during the 1815-1866 time period with emphasis on the Civil War. Primarily, the invention of the steam engine and rifled artillery forged from iron would define a new tactical advantage for both Confederate and Union Armies. Furthermore, these two new inventions would also greatly increase the effects of speed, lethality, and mass at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels during the Civil War.
After learning of the construction of the Virginia, the Union began construction on their own version of the Ironclad, running through
The union had a plan to block the confederacy by placing union ships around it. This particular battle was a small, taking place in Hampton roads, but the size of the battle has no effect on its significance. The battle is fought between the CSS (confederate states ship) Virginia, formerly called the Merrimack, and USS (union states ship) monitor. Each of these ships were carefully designed war weapons, each made of iron. Beforehand war ships were made of wooden material. “while ironclads
There is also war on the water. During the Civil war, both the Union and Confederate navy moved very quickly so that they can modernize their fleets. There for they made Ironclads. At the Tim, Ironclads were there the modern vessels; they were wooden with partially encased iron plating. This made the ship harder to move around but made it more difficult to sink. The North had the most success making 25 of these ships. Commissioned and in service. These ships had the biggest role on the sea and in naval engagements. One major improvement was less drag, this made the ship much faster than it was before (and steam engine is faster in general). There were many other technologies at the time such as photography, telegraphs, microfilms, hot air balloons, and
The Union forces were able to make great gains in the western campaign by taking and controlling the major water ways, allowing the ability to swiftly maneuver their forces and supplies around the battle field; in turn extensible cutting off the Confederacy. This was accomplished through three key facts: a far superior ship building capability then the Confederates, understanding the importance of controlling the major river networks, and the effective employment of combined operations to achieve success. These three items allowed the Union to quickly gain a foothold and then spread control over the three major rivers in the area: the Mississippi, Cumberland, and the Tennessee Rivers.
The only ways that armies could travel was either by foot or by horse and each of these techniques posed a problem for the armies. David Hollis writes that “Infantry soldiers traveling on foot had to carry sixty-seventy pounds of gear, leaving little room for soldiers to carry their rations... Mounted armies required large amounts of grazing land, which was often unavailable due to certain terrain, weather or season. Therefore, many cavalry armies had their strategic and operational mobility restricted by the need for cavalry transportation” (Hollis). Once the Civil War began, the Union and Confederate armies utilized railroads for transportation because they had the ability to “carry troops, supplies and ordnance at an extremely fast rate” (Jensen 65). Once the railroads were significantly used for transportation, the Union and Confederate armies realized the importance of the railroads and as a result, they began to destroy or capture the railroad lines. One example of this was the Baltimore Riot of 1861. Daniel Toomey writes that in the early days of the war, President Lincoln called for soldiers to come to Washington D.C. to defend the capital from rebellions. The Union soldiers used the railroad system to reach the capital. However, while passing through Baltimore, Maryland, citizens began shooting at the railroad cars and as a result, they destroyed the railroad line, making it
One of the main types of advances in the Civil War was the advances in machinery. One example of a type of machinery that made a huge impact was the submarine. There was a lot of time and hard work put in to develope and deploy submarines on both sides of the war. Records kept about submarines are hard to come by because in fact, they were partially illegal. Therefore, almost all of the submarine