Expert: C. P. Schulze - 6/5/2007

Question
What kind of training did soldiers on both sides go through before being put out in war?  What did they learn about guns, I know they learned how to hold them, but what sort of teqniques?  I was also wondering about the training on horseback, how to march, and with swords.  I understand if you can't answer all these questions, but a little help would be great!

Answer
Dear Zoe,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I’ll address your questions one at a time, if you don’t mind.

1.   “What type of training did soldiers on both sides go through…?”

It varied widely and was generally based on the regimental colonel’s wishes who commanded as many as a thousand men or possibly the brigadier general’s who commanded three to five regiments. Therefore, training was not uniform throughout either army. What training they did receive was based on the same tactics used by Napoleon. In fact, the American training manuals were almost exact translations of the French manuals.

The soldiers of both sides received most of their training in “drill” which was how to maneuver on the battlefield. Men’s letter’s home often mentioned how they’d drill, eat, drill, eat then drill some more until the sun set. Drill consisted of teaching the men maneuvers they might need to perform in battle such as forming a battle line. They might be marching four men wide and two hundred fifty deep, (column), then have to move into a line of five hundred men wide and two men deep. (Rank and file.) This one maneuver might take an hour to an hour and a half to complete. They were trained in all other typical battlefield maneuvers, too.

As you can tell, the training of the Civil War soldier was much less and less formal than the soldier of today.

2.   “What did they learn about guns, I know they learned how to hold them, but what sort of teqniques?”

Generally the men of both armies received little training relative to their weapons. In fact, many men went into battle not having fired more than a dozen rounds in training despite the thirteen steps to loading and firing the musket or rifle of the day. By the time a soldier was experienced in combat, a calm fighter could shoot no more than three rounds a minute from a smoothbore musket or a rifle. The Southern soldier more often than not, especially at the start of the war, carried his personal hunting rifle into battle. The Union soldier was typically issued a rifle by the army.

The typical weapon of the day, a barrel-loaded smoothbore musket at the start of the war and the barrel-loaded rifled musket by the end, took some thirteen steps to load and fire. The most important eleven of these steps were described at http://www.brotherswar.com/Fredericksburg-18.htm

“To load a musket… the soldier needed to remove a cartridge from his cartridge box, tear the end of the paper cartridge containing the powder and minie ball, pour the power down the muzzle of the barrel, ram the minie ball down the muzzle with the ramrod, replace the ramrod, half cock the hammer, place a copper percussion cap on the nipple, fully cock the hammer, aim, and fire. “

The average Southern soldier was well versed in the use of his weapon as he was a small farmer and often hunted for his meat. The average Union soldier was not as experienced with a weapon as they typically lived and worked in the cities as clerks, lawyers and such.

In battle, both sides were deficient in the use of the weapon. For example, there are many, many stories of weapons found after a battle with numerous charges in the barrel. In one instance at Gettysburg, one rifle was found with 27 bullets in the barrel. The men would forget a step in the loading process and the weapon would not fire, but they wouldn’t realize it because of all the noise and confusion of battle.

In battle the men would form a line, “Rank and File” described below, and together fire an initial volley into the enemy. Typically after that each man would load and fire at will and as an individual.

3.   “I was also wondering about the training on horseback, how to march, and with swords. “

There was little training in how to march, as such. The men were taught to keep a general formation of two to four men wide and keep in a line as they moved forward. Formal marching for long distances generally turned into a somewhat lackadaisical affair. Imagine having to walk from Virginia to Pennsylvania or from New York to South Carolina. Although the men would stay together as a regiment, there would be little formality during a long march. One man might carry his rifle over his shoulder, for example, while another might carry it in his hand beside his leg. They could typically cover about two to two and a half miles an hour while on the march.

As to training on horseback, the Confederates had a great advantage. As most were farmers they were quite familiar with riding horses and needed little, if any, formal training. Most of their training was in how to perform their duties as soldiers rather than actually riding. For example, when the cavalry might go into battle, these men learned maneuvers on horseback just as the infantry did on the field. They generally were used as screen for the infantry and for reconnaissance.

I find it interesting the Southern cavalry trooper brought his personal horse to the army which the Confederate Government rented from him for thirteen dollars a month. If he was to lose his horse and could not procure another, the rider was transferred to the infantry.

The Union cavalry was a poor affair at the start of the war. By the second year of the war their training had caught up to the expertise of the Confederates. The Union cavalry had to learn everything about a horse from grooming, to riding to fighting on horseback. Their training was much more extensive and their animals were provided by the army.

The cavalry used the sword as a weapon only at the very beginning of the war. Very soon the men resorted to pistols, of which they might carry three or four. There was little formal training in the use of the sword and those that did train usually rode toward a melon on a pole and practiced chopping at it. As with the other weapons of the day, training in its use was all but ignored.

You might like to know the edged weapons, swords and bayonets, accounted for only about one tenth of one percent, (.01%) of all wounds in the war. The edged weapon had already lost its usefulness on the battlefield.

I hope this gives you the answers you desired. If you wish to know more, please write again. You might want to read The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of Billy Yank by Bell Irvin Wiley or Company Aytch by Samuel R. Watkins for more information.

Thanks again for contacting me, Zoe.

C. P. Schulze