Download or read book Civil War Logistics written by Earl J. Hess and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2017-09-18 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Eugene Feit Award in Civil War Studies by the New York Military Affairs Symposium During the Civil War, neither the Union nor the Confederate army could have operated without effective transportation systems. Moving men, supplies, and equipment required coordination on a massive scale, and Earl J. Hess’s Civil War Logistics offers the first comprehensive analysis of this vital process. Utilizing an enormous array of reports, dispatches, and personal accounts by quartermasters involved in transporting war materials, Hess reveals how each conveyance system operated as well as the degree to which both armies accomplished their logistical goals. In a society just realizing the benefits of modern travel technology, both sides of the conflict faced challenges in maintaining national and regional lines of transportation. Union and Confederate quartermasters used riverboats, steamers, coastal shipping, railroads, wagon trains, pack trains, cattle herds, and their soldiers in the long and complicated chain that supported the military operations of their forces. Soldiers in blue and gray alike tried to destroy the transportation facilities of their enemy, firing on river boats and dismantling rails to disrupt opposing supply lines while defending their own means of transport. According to Hess, Union logistical efforts proved far more successful than Confederate attempts to move and supply its fighting forces, due mainly to the North’s superior administrative management and willingness to seize transportation resources when needed. As the war went on, the Union’s protean system grew in complexity, size, and efficiency, while that of the Confederates steadily declined in size and effectiveness until it hardly met the needs of its army. Indeed, Hess concludes that in its use of all types of military transportation, the Federal government far surpassed its opponent and thus laid the foundation for Union victory in the Civil War.

Download or read book Civil War Supply and Strategy written by Earl J. Hess and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award Civil War Supply and Strategy stands as a sweeping examination of the decisive link between the distribution of provisions to soldiers and the strategic movement of armies during the Civil War. Award-winning historian Earl J. Hess reveals how that dynamic served as the key to success, especially for the Union army as it undertook bold offensives striking far behind Confederate lines. How generals and their subordinates organized military resources to provide food for both men and animals under their command, he argues, proved essential to Union victory. The Union army developed a powerful logistical capability that enabled it to penetrate deep into Confederate territory and exert control over select regions of the South. Logistics and supply empowered Union offensive strategy but limited it as well; heavily dependent on supply lines, road systems, preexisting railroad lines, and natural waterways, Union strategy worked far better in the more developed Upper South. Union commanders encountered unique problems in the Deep South, where needed infrastructure was more scarce. While the Mississippi River allowed Northern armies to access the region along a narrow corridor and capture key cities and towns along its banks, the dearth of rail lines nearly stymied William T. Sherman’s advance to Atlanta. In other parts of the Deep South, the Union army relied on massive strategic raids to destroy resources and propel its military might into the heart of the Confederacy. As Hess’s study shows, from the perspective of maintaining food supply and moving armies, there existed two main theaters of operation, north and south, that proved just as important as the three conventional eastern, western, and Trans-Mississippi theaters. Indeed, the conflict in the Upper South proved so different from that in the Deep South that the ability of Federal officials to negotiate the logistical complications associated with army mobility played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war.

Download or read book Moving Mountains written by Jonathan K. Rice and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-02-23 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The germ of this document began with two questions: how much does it take to supply aCivil War army(the Army of the Potomac has the best records so it is used as the exemplar) and since we are dealing with the 19th century man, the numbers for other armies; Northern Virginia, Cumberland, Tennessee, should be pretty much the same; and how does it work? The results of the study are more or less complete, but there is a host of unanswered questions. Are wagons designated by regiment, brigade, division, corps?(photographic evidence suggests that some wagons had some sort of designation painted on their white tops) Does the same wagon always carry the same supply? Forage( the single most common supply unit) rations, administrative furniture (desks, cooking equipment, files)ammunition (are wagons specifically designated by battery, are there general artillery ammunition wagons? Are wagons carrying mixed loads; 3” rifles 12 pound Napoleons, Parrot guns) I did no find the answers, and these questions are left for other writers to research and answer.

Download or read book More Than Just Grit written by Richard J. Zimmermann and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-03-16 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of Civil War history emphasizes generalship (or the lack of it) as the key factor in analyzing why battles were won or lost. Taking an innovative approach, this book focuses on six elements of victory in nine important Western Theater engagements during 1862--a year when the North had not yet fully mobilized for war. With increasing complexity on the battlefield and the enormous growth of American armies, winning or losing depended upon achieving as many of these six critical goals as possible: a clear objective; mobilization of effective lieutenants; a competent staff; seizing and holding initiative; deploying all available resources; and realizing a successful strategic outcome. The more goals achieved, the greater the victory.

Download or read book Logistics in Warfare written by U S Army Command and General Staff Coll and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-08-08 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a study of the logistical system that supported the Union armies in the Civil War, focusing on the Army of the Cumberland under the command of Major General William S. Rosecrans in 1863. It begins with a description of the logistical bureaus in the War Department in Washington, D.C. and the challenges they had in developing the national logistical support structure in the first years of the war. Next, the support structure in the Department of the Cumberland is described, to include the challenges in maintaining the rail link from Nashville, Tennessee, back to Louisville, Kentucky. Finally, the performances of the commanders and logisticians in the field during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns are explored, with an emphasis on the problems with transportation. This study concludes that the logisticians overcame enormous problems to create a logistical system that allowed the commanders to win the war. In the Army of the Cumberland, the support was exceptional when compared to the challenges that were faced. Logistics became a limiting factor because of the senior leaderships poor planning, disregarded orders, and unrealistic expectations and doomed both the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns from achieving decisive results even before they had begun. This study attempts to put the rarely explored field of logistics in its proper place of importance in the study of military history. Logistics is inextricably tied with strategy and tactics; without logistics, victory is not possible.

Download or read book Civil War Logistics written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-05 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the logistical system that supported the Federal Army of the Southwest in the American Civil War during the Pea Ridge Campaign of January-March, 1862, under the command of Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis. The Pea Ridge Campaign was carried out along the U.S. frontier of southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas, a sparsely populated region with little economic infrastructure. The forces operating in the region did not have the benefit of railroads or navigable bodies of water. This study concludes that the commander and his quartermasters overcame enormous problems posed by the environment and situation to win the most significant victory in the Trans-Mississippi Theater in the entire Civil War. Creating a logistical system that allowed the Army of the Southwest to extend its operational reach, improve freedom of action, and extend the endurance of the army. Logistics is a rarely explored, but very important, field of study. This study attempts to put the field of logistics in its proper place within the study of military history. Logistics is tied with strategy and tactics; without logistics, victory is not possible. The American Civil War began when the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Over the next four years, many great campaigns and battles were fought from First Bull Run all the way through to Appomattox. Men from both sides fought and died, heroes were made and legends were born. In the early part of 1862, across the great Mississippi River, in Missouri and Arkansas, a campaign began. This campaign required considerably smaller amounts of men compared to some of the greater battles that later took place. Yet, the men that took part in that campaign later wrote about how the hardships they endured and what they accomplished were far greater than any other battle they fought. The reason they were able to overcome such hardships was the considerations they made in keeping their force fed, armed, and supplied. This campaign is called the Pea Ridge Campaign. The Pea Ridge Campaign started in January 1862 and lasted until the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862. The battle was fought from 6-8 March 1862. This battle was a decisive victory for Union control of Missouri and northern Arkansas within the Trans-Mississippi Theater. After this victory, the Confederate Army of the West moved east of the Mississippi River, giving control of Missouri to the Federals. With the Federal victory at Pea Ridge, and the Confederate abandonment of Arkansas, the Trans-Mississippi became a military backwater, not nearly as important as the campaigns moving downstream to control the Mississippi River Valley.

Download or read book Civil War Supply and Strategy written by Earl J. Hess and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Colonel Richard W. Ulbrich Memorial Book Award Winner of the Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award Civil War Supply and Strategy stands as a sweeping examination of the decisive link between the distribution of provisions to soldiers and the strategic movement of armies during the Civil War. Award-winning historian Earl J. Hess reveals how that dynamic served as the key to success, especially for the Union army as it undertook bold offensives striking far behind Confederate lines. How generals and their subordinates organized military resources to provide food for both men and animals under their command, he argues, proved essential to Union victory. The Union army developed a powerful logistical capability that enabled it to penetrate deep into Confederate territory and exert control over select regions of the South. Logistics and supply empowered Union offensive strategy but limited it as well; heavily dependent on supply lines, road systems, preexisting railroad lines, and natural waterways, Union strategy worked far better in the more developed Upper South. Union commanders encountered unique problems in the Deep South, where needed infrastructure was more scarce. While the Mississippi River allowed Northern armies to access the region along a narrow corridor and capture key cities and towns along its banks, the dearth of rail lines nearly stymied William T. Sherman’s advance to Atlanta. In other parts of the Deep South, the Union army relied on massive strategic raids to destroy resources and propel its military might into the heart of the Confederacy. As Hess’s study shows, from the perspective of maintaining food supply and moving armies, there existed two main theaters of operation, north and south, that proved just as important as the three conventional eastern, western, and Trans-Mississippi theaters. Indeed, the conflict in the Upper South proved so different from that in the Deep South that the ability of Federal officials to negotiate the logistical complications associated with army mobility played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war.

Download or read book Railroad Generalship Foundations Of Civil War Strategy Illustrated Edition written by Dr. Christopher R. Gabel and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes 4 figures, 13 maps and 4 tables. Renowned Military Historian Dr Christopher Gabel investigates the effects of the Railroad on the strategies employed by both the Union and Confederate Generals of the Civil War. According to an old saying, “amateurs study tactics: professionals study logistics.” Any serious student of the military profession will know that logistics constantly shape military affairs and sometimes even dictate strategy and tactics. This excellent monograph by Dr. Christopher Gabel shows that the appearance of the steam-powered railroad had enormous implications for military logistics, and thus for strategy, in the American Civil War. Not surprisingly, the side that proved superior in “railroad generalship,” or the utilization of the railroads for military purposes, was also the side that won the war.

Download or read book The Sinews of War written by James A. Huston and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 1966 with total page 814 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Defence Logistics written by Jeremy Smith and published by Kogan Page Publishers. This book was released on 2018-02-03 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The management of logistics and supply chain operations is of vital importance in the defence sector. Defence Logistics looks at established theories and their practical utility, providing insights into current thinking for postgraduate and undergraduate students, lecturers, researchers, practitioners and professionals through real-life case studies. Defence Logistics focuses on key areas of logistics and supply chain management in context, such as sustainability, inventory management, resilience, procurement, information systems and crisis response. This comprehensive and up-to-the-minute collection includes contributions from international academics from a range of universities, academies and defence schools, along with practitioners who are currently working in the field of defence logistics.

Download or read book Supplying War written by Martin van Creveld and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1977 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why did Napoleon succeed in 1805 but fail in 1812? Were the railways vital to Prussia's victory over France in 1870? Was the famous Schlieffen Plan militarily sound? Could the European half of World War II have been ended in 1944? These are only a few of the questions that form the subject-matter of this meticulously researched, lively book. Drawing on a very wide range of unpublished and previously unexploited sources, Martin van Creveld examines the 'nuts and bolts' of war: namely, those formidable problems of movement and supply, transportation and administration, so often mentioned - but rarely explored - by the vast majority of books on military history. In doing so he casts his net far and wide, from Gustavus Adolphus to Rommel, from Marlborough to Patton, subjecting the operations of each to a thorough analysis from a fresh and unusual point of view. The result is a fascinating book that has something new to say about virtually every one of the most important campaigns waged in Europe during the last two centuries.

Download or read book Operational Logistics written by Moshe Kress and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operational Logistics: The Art and Science of Sustaining Military Operations explores military logistics in terms of the theoretical foundations of operational logistics (OpLog) and its applications. The theoretical foundations are examined with regard to two dimensions. First, the artistic or qualitative aspects of contemporary logistics are looked at in the context of the operational level of war. These OpLog aspects include principles, imperatives and tenets, which are stated and analyzed. The second dimension relates to the scientific aspects of logistics. It is manifested by a formal network model that represents the structural and operational features of an OpLog system. Hence the book examines both artistic and scientific dimensions of military logistics and integrates the respective qualitative and quantitative aspects into a unified and definitive presentation of operational logistics. Chapter 1 presents a general introduction to military logistics. Chapter 2 discusses the general structure and characteristics of logistics and describes its three levels - strategic, operational and tactical. Chapter 3 focuses on Operational Logistics (OpLog). Chapter 4 deals with the logistics planning process. Chapter 5 addresses the issue of logistics information. Chapter 6 deals with forecasting logistics demands. Chapter 7 introduces the first version of the logistics network model. Chapter 8 addresses an important property of an OpLog system - Flexibility. Chapter 9 discusses two major (and dual) issues in OpLog practice: force accumulation and medical treatment and evacuation. Chapter 10 presents an inter-temporal network optimization model that is designed to determine deployment and employment of the support chain in an OpLog system.

Download or read book The Logistics of Mobilizing and Supplying the Union Army During the Initial Stages of the Civil War written by Air Force Air Force Institute of Technology and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-12-14 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the logistics involved in mobilizing and supplying the Union Army at the onset of the Civil War. The main elements discussed are the sources, procedures, and items needed for the mobilization and supply effort. Initially, the Union relied on the States to mobilize the military with the majority of the military being militia members or volunteers. The number of volunteers declined later in the war and the Union used both the bounty system and the draft for recruitment. Eventually, the Federal Government replaced the States as the primary mobilizing entity. The military needed supplies of weapons, clothing, and food. Again the States were the primary providers of supplies. The Union later used domestic and foreign markets for supplies, but the urgency of the nation spawned fraud and corruption. Additionally, the majority of the supplies provided were not adequate for the environment of war. By the end of war, corruption decreased and quality increased. Today's military can use the actions of the Union as guidance of what to do and what not to do in the time of war. The actions of the Union during the Civil War should be used as a template for future generations.

Download or read book The Logistics of Mobilizing and Supplying the Union Army During the Initial Stages of the Civil War written by Air Force Air Force Institute of Technology and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-04-23 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the logistics involved in mobilizing and supplying the Union Army at the onset of the Civil War. The main elements discussed are the sources, procedures, and items needed for the mobilization and supply effort. Initially, the Union relied on the States to mobilize the military with the majority of the military being militia members or volunteers. The number of volunteers declined later in the war and the Union used both the bounty system and the draft for recruitment. Eventually, the Federal Government replaced the States as the primary mobilizing entity. The military needed supplies of weapons, clothing, and food. Again the States were the primary providers of supplies. The Union later used domestic and foreign markets for supplies, but the urgency of the nation spawned fraud and corruption. Additionally, the majority of the supplies provided were not adequate for the environment of war. By the end of war, corruption decreased and quality increased. Today's military can use the actions of the Union as guidance of what to do and what not to do in the time of war. The actions of the Union during the Civil War should be used as a template for future generations.

Download or read book Logistics In Warfare written by Major Douglas H. Galuszka and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a study of the logistical system that supported the Union armies in the Civil War, focusing on the Army of the Cumberland under the command of Major General William S. Rosecrans in 1863. It begins with a description of the logistical bureaus in the War Department in Washington, D.C. and the challenges they had in developing the national logistical support structure in the first years of the war. Next, the support structure in the Department of the Cumberland is described, to include the challenges in maintaining the rail link from Nashville, Tennessee, back to Louisville, Kentucky. Finally, the performances of the commanders and logisticians in the field during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns are explored, with an emphasis on the problems with transportation. This study concludes that the logisticians overcame enormous problems to create a logistical system that allowed the commanders to win the war. In the Army of the Cumberland, the support was exceptional when compared to the challenges that were faced. Logistics became a limiting factor because of the senior leadership’s poor planning, disregarded orders, and unrealistic expectations which doomed both the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns from achieving decisive results even before they had begun. This study attempts to put the rarely explored, but extremely significant, field of logistics in its proper place of importance in the study of military history. Logistics is inextricably tied with strategy and tactics; without logistics, victory is not possible.

Download or read book Retreat from Gettysburg written by Kent Masterson Brown, Esq. and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a groundbreaking, comprehensive history of the Army of Northern Virginia's retreat from Gettysburg in July 1863, Kent Masterson Brown draws on previously untapped sources to chronicle the massive effort of General Robert E. Lee and his command as they sought to move people, equipment, and scavenged supplies through hostile territory and plan the army's next moves. Brown reveals that even though the battle of Gettysburg was a defeat for the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee's successful retreat maintained the balance of power in the eastern theater and left his army with enough forage, stores, and fresh meat to ensure its continued existence as an effective force.

Download or read book Rails To Oblivion The Decline Of Confederate Railroads In The Civil War Illustrated Edition written by Dr. Christopher R. Gabel and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes 2 charts, 7 maps, 7 figures and 5 Illustrations. Renowned Military Historian Dr Christopher Gabel charts the decline of the Confederate Railways system that was to spell ultimate doom to the outnumbered soldiers of the Southern states. Military professionals need always to recognize the centrality of logistics to military operations. In this booklet, Dr. Christopher R. Gabel provides a companion piece to his “Railroad Generalship” which explores the same issues from the other side of the tracks, so to speak. “Rails to Oblivion” shows that neither brilliant generals nor valiant soldiers can, in the long run, overcome the effects of a neglected and deteriorating logistics system. Moreover, the cumulative effect of mundane factors such as metal fatigue, mechanical friction, and accidents in the civilian workplace can contribute significantly to the outcome of a war. And no matter how good some thing or idea may look on paper, or how we delude ourselves, we and our soldiers must live with, and die in, reality. War is a complex business. This booklet explores some of the facets of war that often escape the notice of military officers, and as COL Jerry Morelock intimated in his foreword to “Railroad Generalship,” these facets decide who wins and who loses.