The Union and the Total War Campaign
by The American Civil War is the most prominent form of Total War. During the time period, the people were targeted by each opposing force and were considered to be enemy assets. The tactics and mindset of the war may have been required, but they were carried on unnecessarily into the following battles after the war.
The Article, “Shutting the Gates of Mercy” by Lance Janda , primarily focused on the tactics of the Union generals against the Confederate States. It gave an understanding of how and why the Union left behind it’s battle etiquette and respect for civilian property and life.
In the article, Janda explains how the generals of the Union forces were apprehensive to attack the civilian populations in the beginning of the war. Those who plundered the land or destroyed property were punished severely for their acts. After constant guerilla attacks against the Union, however, the courtesies that the Union forces had granted the southern states eroded away.
In their desperation, the Confederate Forces used every means necessary to not lose. They could win only by surviving. In striving for this, they implemented the use of guerilla tactics, constantly harassing the Union troops. This slowly broke down the Union’s empathy towards the south. The feeling of being of the same country eroded away into being the enemy.
It was because of this, that the Union began to defend their new strategy of total war and began using destructive tactics. They realized that the resolve of the Confederacy was so strong, that their limited tactics would not suffice in defeating them. Using this realization, the Union implanted devastating tactics upon the civilian population of the south. They attacked their infrastructure and their psychological strength. These tactics won the war, but were unnecessarily carried into the following campaign against the Native Americans.
This article was a definite eye-opener for me. Before reading it, I had always pictured the American Civil War as a straight-forward war fought in fields between the two armies. This viewpoint has changed drastically since the reading.
The article began by addressing the Civil War as a “total war” . I did not agree with this idea at first, but soon came to understand it as just that. It did not appear to me that every resource was being put into the war effort, and I was correct to a point. The beginning of the war was respectful on the part of the Union. They thought of the Confederates as just misguided and hoped for a quick end to the war.
As the Confederates took on more guerilla tactics, however, the Union generals became angered and were put into a difficult position. They began their total war campaign and directed their resources to the civilians. I feel that they were able to numb themselves to the fact that they were hurting innocent people by turning them into resources, not just civilians. In their minds, they were able to justify their attacks and actions based on the idea that everyone in the south was against them. I don’t believe this was the best way of dealing with this problem mentally, but I do believe that it may have been the only way to reunite the nation under the Union.
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