Posted on Jul 20, 2016
how does today's military differ from say the civil war throughout to today's military ? Is the difference good, bad or indifferent?
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1stSgt Eugene Harless
An interesting thing is that we still have several bugle calls used to set our schedule. Revielle and taps, Colors ( or actually "to the colors") which was used to muster/ rally troops around their regimental flags, which we use as "Morning Colors" today. "Retreat" which literally meant that during battle. Today that is used for Evening colors. There is also mess call (Peas on a trencher)
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The civil war was a precursor to modern warfare. While it is often thought that The war was nothing more than an extension of Napoleonic tactics where men simply stood in line and blazed away with muskets its overlooked that many advances took place. The Armies used telegraph wire to send messages that could go from Atlanta to DC within a day, used signal flags and cipher codes and arial observation Balloons. Military medicine ( indeed ALL medicine) advanced by leaps and bounds. Land mines, grenades, Repeating rifles, Machine guns. Ironclad ships and submarines were developed. Firepower was so advanced that by the end of the war it became apparent that assaulting fortified positions was suicidal ( Something Europeans failed to grasp in WW1) .
As to the differences between now and then, the recruitment and screening of volunteers is much more stringent. Civil War regiments often lost 10-20% of their numbers before they had served 3 months, and not due to illnesses they caught in camp. Several were suffering from chronic diseases ( respritory, circulatory illnesses, bone malformies STDS) and were unable to keep up with the daily drill and routine.
There was a lack of qualified officers and though many professional soldiers stepped up and filled vacancies ( as well as intelligent Citizen Soldiers) it was a crap shoot if your company, or even brigade commander had nothing more than social standing going for them when they pinned on lt's bars.. or eagles.
In Today's Military, and even as far back as the World Wars it was unthinkable to have someone running a Law office, being a College Professor or a Politican and pinning on a generals rank within a year or two.
As to the differences between now and then, the recruitment and screening of volunteers is much more stringent. Civil War regiments often lost 10-20% of their numbers before they had served 3 months, and not due to illnesses they caught in camp. Several were suffering from chronic diseases ( respritory, circulatory illnesses, bone malformies STDS) and were unable to keep up with the daily drill and routine.
There was a lack of qualified officers and though many professional soldiers stepped up and filled vacancies ( as well as intelligent Citizen Soldiers) it was a crap shoot if your company, or even brigade commander had nothing more than social standing going for them when they pinned on lt's bars.. or eagles.
In Today's Military, and even as far back as the World Wars it was unthinkable to have someone running a Law office, being a College Professor or a Politican and pinning on a generals rank within a year or two.
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1stSgt Eugene Harless
Probably one of the huge carry-overs was Close-Order drill. While it is now used for ceremonies. orderly movement from one place to another, teaching leaders to give command and to instill discipline, back then it was an entirely different matter.
The deployment of a unit in combat depended on their ability to efficienty change their direction the were facing and to deploy from a column to line and control their rate of fire. If a unit executed movements incorrectly they could be completely ineffective`. Civil War Units Spent countless Hours every day drilling, from squads up to brigade level. My explanation to people is that a Civil War regiment was like a shotgun. The Commander had to use drill to "aim it" where he needed firepower.
The deployment of a unit in combat depended on their ability to efficienty change their direction the were facing and to deploy from a column to line and control their rate of fire. If a unit executed movements incorrectly they could be completely ineffective`. Civil War Units Spent countless Hours every day drilling, from squads up to brigade level. My explanation to people is that a Civil War regiment was like a shotgun. The Commander had to use drill to "aim it" where he needed firepower.
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Better weapons, better training and better communication is what I see. Thanks for the question SPC Christopher Simpson!
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