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Introduction

Civil War Assignment By John Jang Yr10 Weapons and Armour Most civil war soldiers carried a rifled musket, which had quickly replaced the smoothbore muskets. Te old smoothbore muskets had very limited range and were not very accurate. In places where soldiers on firing lines were more than a hundred yards apart a smoothbore musket wouldn't do much damage. Mass numbers of soldiers would often charge next to each other towards the defensive line and use bayonets and their superior numbers to wipe out the enemy. However rifled muskets changed the way that soldiers fought. It was a muzzleloader and had grooves inside the barrel that guided the bullet much more accurately. A charging mass of soldiers would be caught in enemy fire half a mile away and so it was impossible for them to get to the defending enemy and kill them. But these new rifles could not be fired very fast. Before a soldier could fire his musket, he had to bite open a paper cartridge, pour powder down the musket barrel, push the bullet in with a ramrod, c**k the hammer, and set the percussion cap. New soldiers spent weeks trying to learn how to do t his quickly, but even the rifle fire from experienced soldiers was slow Heavy guns were also loaded by pouring in the powder and then the charge. Between shots the barrel was swabbed out. If a spark remained from the previous shot, the new powder being poured in would explode. This makes the guns very dangerous. Most heavy guns had smooth bores and were not very accurate, but when fired against a mass of advancing infantry they were deadly. The official uniform for the Union soldiers was blue but many regiments chose their own uniforms. "The Blue and Gray" has become the name for the soldiers of the civil war probably because many people thought that all Northern troops wore blue uniforms and all Southern troops wore grey. However this was not always true. ...read more.

Middle

He was not re-elected and was further disappointed when he was not named commissioner of the general land office by Zachary Taylor, as expected. Lincoln withdrew from politics for approximately five years and returned to his legal profession in Springfield. However, in 1854, Lincoln became alarmed when Stephen A. Douglas, a former political rival, introduced a bill to reopen the entire Louisiana Purchase to slavery. Lincoln was vehemently opposed to this bill. Although Lincoln was neither an abolitionist, or in favour of slavery, he did not believe slavery should be permitted in the new territories. In 1858, Lincoln became a senatorial candidate for the newly founded Republican party. Although he was defeated, the public debates between Lincoln and Douglas increased his public recognition. During one of these debates, Lincoln declared the famous words, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." In 1860, Lincoln was nominated by the Republican Party for the presidency. He was elected on November 6 and took the oath of office on March 4, 1861. The country faced many problems before Lincoln took office. South Carolina had withdrawn from the Union and other states soon followed. The majority of Lincoln's presidency focused on the war of secession, and throughout it all, Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union. One of Lincoln's greatest difficulties was finding capable generals. He experimented with various personnel, including George B. McClellan, John Pope, Ambrose E. Burnside, Joseph Hooker, and George Gordon Meade. In 1864, Lincoln found him in Ulysses S. Grant and entrusted command of all the Federal armies to him. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln delivered the final version of the famous Emancipation Proclamation, and with it, added the idea of freedom for all men to the battle cry of the war. The proclamation ultimately led to the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. ...read more.

Conclusion

Why was the Union Army victorious over the Confederates? It was foreseeable that the union would be triumphant over the confederates. In 1850 there were 22 states that made up the union, which had a joint population of 22 million. The 11 states that made up the Southern states had only a combined population of 9 million including 4 million black slaves. Most of the factories that were capable of producing war materials and weapons were located in the North. The south only had one mill for making gunpowder. The North had vast numbers of railroads and a merchant marine. They could maintain worldwide commerce. The South had many farms but they could not export their products because they had few ships and their main ports were usually closed during the war. During the war the South had mostly the superior field commanders. Although Robert E Lee was superior to every Northern general except Grant, he was defeated when Grant used overwhelming numbers and determination to crush his forces. In the west, no general in the South was a much for the generals of the North, who were Grant, Sherman, and Thomas. In the naval part of the civil war the Union navy was unmatched. In the long term, the superior numbers and equipment of the North ultimately determined the outcome of the American Civil War. The Southern armies kept the Northern armies at bay until the Battle of Gettysburg in 1865, which was the turning point of the war. Lincoln's support of democracy also had an affect on the outcome on the war. The emancipation Proclamation had prevented any foreign country to help the South. In the North the majority of the people wanted the restoration of the American Union. The Cannon a - k**b b - neck c - vent d - trunnion e - muzzle swell f - muzzle face g - muzzle h - rimbase i - cascable j - breech k - chamber l - bore ...read more.

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