Abolition Movement Civil War

Words: 1588
Pages: 7

The time of the reforms led to many new things for a developing and changing country. One of the reforms that made for the largest change was the Abolition Movement. The reform was so controversial that it ultimately led to one of the most devastating wars to ever happen, the Civil War. In the end 620,000 thousand Americans were dead and the African Americans that were previously enslaved were free. There are many explanations as to why the death toll of the Civil war was so high. Some say it was the development of transportation that lead to the large death toll in the Civil War and the use of trains, however the more common theory is the industrial revolution with factories, the advancement of the weapons used in the Civil War and the damage …show more content…
There were many roads throughout the country by the time of the Civil War, “Many were more than a little muddy path through the forest”(45). Since there were so many roads throughout the country it made transportation of supplies very easy. Many supplies were moved from far South and far North to Virginia. Without these supplies many major battles of the Civil War would not have happened. The main means of transporting military supplies such as ammunition and clothes to forces was horse drawn wagons. These made life in the war much easier, “The National Road was soon filled with horse-drawn wagons pulling good to distant markets”(46). By the time the Civil War came around many more roads like this were developed and alive with wagons like these bringing supplies to far off troops. With paved roads like this it was easy for wagons to travel farther distances in much shorter amounts of time as they could move faster than on mud paths. Although …show more content…
The Minie bullet was the popular ammunition choice for infantry in the Civil War and was fired out of rifled muskets, also the most commonly used gun in the war. The Minie bullet was a able to deliver devastating blows to the human body, “The ‘Minie ball’ and the use of the obsolete mass tactics was in large part responsible for the Civil War’s total of some 620,000 casualties” The design of the Minie Ball aloud the bullet to spin in the barrel. When the grooves of the bullet went through the barrel it would cause the bullet to spin. This also created a tighter seal increasing the muzzle velocity of the bullet using the same rifle. The hollow tip of the bullet also allowed it flex in the barrel which helped increase the velocity too. Along with the Minie Ball artillery cannons were one of the leading causes of deaths in the war, “Cannons were the deadliest weapons in any Civil War fight”(40). Not only the use of cannons were deadly but the versatility made them even more deadly. If the cannon was smooth bore there were three different rounds that could be fired out of them, the canister round, case shot and solid shot. The case shot worked like a shotgun, a lead canister filled with sawdust and small lead balls that were shot out at enemy forces as they