Hi everyone, I had some questions about the worksheet and reading itself that I was helping could be cleared up. I would be grateful if you could offer your opinion (and perhaps discuss it).
On the "Real Warfare Begins," "The Navies" worksheet, what do you have for the first question, "Why did battle-worn regiments suffer at the hands of the recruitment system in the north?" I talked about how it was cheaper and more reasonable to draft new regiments completely than to add men to supplement battle-worn troops, which is the only information I could draw from the reading. I don't understand how this would be a disadvantage to the battle-worn regiments however. Does anyone have any ideas?
What was truly the most costly battle of the war in terms of death toll? I might be delusional, but the book eludes to the notion that several battles had the "highest" death toll of the war. (sorry if this seems pretty obvious to some of you, but just wanted to get the right answer)
What do you think the significance was of the Gettysburg Address? What about the Battle of Gettysburg led Lincoln to say what he did about the Civil War in its entirety? In what ways do you think Lincoln's thesis is true (what evidence is there for this)?
What did the Gettysburg Address say about total victory?
Do you think it was ethical for the Federal government to use Negros in its war against the South? What does this reflect about the social status of Negros at the time: do you think it was changing based on this fact?
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. Thanks!!!!!!!
Addie,
ReplyDeleteI was hoping your fellow students would heed your call for assistance but alas, I will help address your questions.
1. The idea behind the recruitment replacement system is that often the recruitment of a brand new unit would lead to new officer candidate opportunities. The problem often was that you had an entire unit of "green" or inexperienced troops with no experienced soldiers in them. The older units would then still be in battle and sometimes serve until they were completely combat ineffective. Why? It was politics. More units meant more positions to be handed out. In the Civil War there were a lot of "political" officers chosen for their connections, not their military acumen. Therefore the battle-worn regiments were starved of replacements and resources at the expense of an inefficient system (which would be reworked by war's end).
I think we covered the next two questions in class. As far as costliest battle it would depend on how it was measured. The single costliest battle in terms of casualties would be Gettysburg, while the costliest in terms of a single day would be Antietam. Strategically...you can debate.
Gettysburg Address was Lincoln's attempt to place the war in perspective compared to the legacy of the United States and what it stood for. Hence historians often point to it as explaining why the war was necessary and why it had to be won (In a total victory, not totes)
The most important realization about the use of black soldiers in the Civil War (please avoid using the term "Negro", it is outdated) is that if black Americans could serve in the armed forces fighting the Civil War in the name of freedom then it would be difficult to argue how they would not be recognized as citizens and treated as such under the Constitution. As far as ethical judgment I will leave that up to you...