Jefferson Davis and the Camels
As Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) believed that the deserts of the American southwest were ideally suited for the use of camels. At his urging, Congress in 1855 authorized money to purchase camels from North Africa and ship them to Texas. Despite the hardiness of the animals and their ability to carry heavy loads over difficult terrain, the camel experiment was not a success. The beasts smelled horrible, frightened mules and horses, and were apparently even more ornery than mules. Despite several successful uses, most were eventually sold at public auction or released into the wild to slowly die out.
Increasing the Peacetime Army
By the end of 1848 the Army had reverted to a peacetime strength somewhat smaller than the 10,000 authorized in 1815. It was stretched very thin by its manifold duties on the vast new frontier. On the recommendations of General Scott and Secretary of War George W. Crawford, Congress in June 1850 approved enlarging the companies serving on the frontier to 74 privates, a considerable increase over the 50 in the dragoons, 64 in the mounted rifles, and 42 in the artillery and infantry authorized at the end of 1848. Thereafter 90 of the 158 companies were enlarged; by the end of 1850 the Army was authorized 12,927 officers and men.
When Jefferson Davis became Secretary of War in 1853, he strongly urged a larger Army, one that could expand to 27,818 men in time of war by enlarging the company to 128 men. Davis desired new mounted regiments for frontier service, because only highly mobile units could hope to handle the Indians. In March 1855 Congress added 4 new regiments to the existing 15 (2 of dragoons, 1 of mounted rifles, 4 of artillery, and 8 of infantry). They were the 1st and 2d Cavalry Regiments and the 9th and 10th Infantry Regiments. The mounted arm thus consisted of dragoons, mounted rifles, and cavalry until the Civil War, when all mounted regiments were called cavalry.
Weapons and Tactics on the Eve of the Civil War
At Davis’ insistence the new infantry units were armed with percussion-cap, single shot, muzzleloading rifled muskets instead of smoothbore muskets. Nineteenth century technological developments had made possible an accurate, dependable muzzleloading rifle with at least as fast a rate of fire as the smoothbore musket. This was partly due to the application of the percussion-cap principle to the rifle and partly to the adoption in 1855 of the Minié ball or bullet, a lead projectile tapering forward from its hollow base. To load and fire, the soldier bit open the paper cartridge, poured the powder down the barrel, rammed in the paper to seat the charge, and then rammed the bullet home. He then put the cap in place, full-cocked the piece, aimed, and fired. Sparks from the cap fired the powder. The force of the explosion expanded the hollow base of the bullet to fit the rifling, and the bullet left the barrel spinning and thus with considerable accuracy. Its effective range was 400 to 600 yards as compared with only around 100 yards for smoothbore muskets. The rate of fire was a theoretical three rounds per minute, though this was seldom attained in practice.
In 1855 the national armories began making only rifles and started converting smoothbores into rifles, but the work took time. By the end of 1858 the Springfield and Harpers Ferry Armories had manufactured only 4,000 of the new type of rifle, the Springfield .58, a muzzleloader. Breechloading, permitting a much more rapid rate of fire, had to await the development of a tight-fitting, but easy-moving bolt and a cartridge that would effectively seal the breech. Many breechloaders were on the market in the 1850s; and the Army began testing all available models but did not complete its tests before 1861. Effective breechloading rifles required metallic rather than paper cartridges to prevent escape of gases at the breech. Metallic cartridges were invented in 1856 but were not produced in large numbers until after 1861.
The introduction of rifling into field and coast artillery increased the accuracy and more than doubled the effective range; but rifled guns, which had to await the development of advanced manufacturing techniques, did not immediately supplant the smoothbores. During this period an important smoothbore piece was introduced for the light batteries, the 12-lb. bronze cannon called the Napoleon for Napoleon III. Capt. Robert P. Parrott’s rifled cannon was developed in 1851 but did not come into use on an appreciable scale until the Civil War. The application of the Minié principle to artillery did much to further the use of rifled artillery; though grape and canister, shell (high explosive and shrapnel), and solid shot, all used in the Mexican War, were still standard.
Breechloaders Versus Muzzleloaders
By the nineteenth century the theoretical advantages of breechloading firearms—faster firing and easier loading while concealed or mounted—had long been known. The U.S. Army adopted breechloaders, in the form of the Hall rifles and carbines, during much of the first half of the nineteenth century; but practical difficulties, in the form of a complicated mechanism and an inadequate gas seal at the breech, outweighed the benefits. By the Civil War technical advances would make breechloading more feasible, but the enormous industrial problem of equipping the armies with new weapons and ammunition would make existing muzzleloaders the mainstay of both Union and Confederate forces. Private purchase and political influence within the Union Army, however, allowed the successful fielding of some breechloading rifles and carbines, notably the Sharps, Spencer, and Henry designs. Just after the Civil War the Army, faced simultaneously with the need to acquire a modern rifle and a peacetime budget, adopted the Allin “trap-door” action as a means to convert its enormous wartime stock of rifled muskets.
Dennis Hart Mahan (1802–1871)
After graduating at the top of West Point’s Class of 1824, under the leadership of Sylvanus Thayer, Dennis Hart Mahan remained at the Academy as a professor of engineering, mathematics, and military science, 1824–1871. Mahan’s 1847 Elementary Treatise on Advance-Guard, Out-Post, and Detachment Service of Troops became the first major American work on strategy and tactics. Derived from Antoine-Henri de Jomini’s analysis of Napoleonic warfare, Mahan’s emphasis on rules and principles and failure to address technological change or innovation would play a significant role in the Civil War. Most of the academy graduates on both sides of the conflict had studied under Mahan, and many other officers used his book as a field manual. Mahan’s thought had an enduring impact on U.S. Army doctrine, just as his oldest son, Alfred Thayer Mahan, would later shape naval strategy.
Rockets declined in favor. The brief experience with them in the Mexican War had not been impressive. After the war, continued experimentation failed to remove faults of eccentricity in flight and instability. The rockets often exploded prematurely, so troops were reluctant to use them; moreover, they tended to deteriorate in storage. More important than any of these considerations was the fact that the new rifled artillery was decidedly superior to rockets in range, accuracy, and reliability.
Tactical doctrine did not entirely keep pace with the development of weapons. In an effort in that direction, Secretary Davis prescribed light infantry tactics for all infantry units. In general, this meant reducing the line of the infantry from three to two ranks and placing increased emphasis on skirmishers. Formations, however, were still rigid: Men stood shoulder to shoulder (it was almost impossible to load a muzzleloader lying down), and intervals between units were small. These relatively dense formations would in the early days of the Civil War offer inviting targets, but it was perhaps the most effective way to mass small-arms fire until the early twentieth century development of the machine gun.
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