historicus
Private
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2016
We all know about how costly and deadly it was to take the offensive against entrenched troops in the Civil War. Probably most of us know about Emory Upton's solution to that problem at the Mule Shoe at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. For those of you that are unaware of Upton's tactic of dealing with the difficulties of charging entrenched troops armed with rifled muskets during the ACW, I will give this very brief synopsis. Upton had what I will call Upton's initial attacking force sprint towards Confederate entrenchments in column formation with unloaded muskets, and this initial attacking force would jump into the trenches and fight the rebels using bayonets and by using their muskets as clubs. The point of the column formation was to concentrate more soldiers into a smaller area of Confederate trenches to completely overwhelm a narrow area of the Confederate trenches, and then spread the breakthrough from there as the rest of the column filed into the gap. Since Upton's initial attacking force would be inside the trenches themselves when Upton's initial attacking force fought the rebels with bayonets, the Confederates would no longer have the advantage of being protected by entrenchments. The plan was for the main attacking force to attack the Confederates in standard line formation once a breakthrough had been achieved. The breakthrough that UPton's initial attacking force created would allow the Upton's main attacking force to have enfilade fire on the Confederate troops. Upton's initial attacking force was ordered to charge with unloaded muskets to close the distance to the Confederate trenches as quickly as possible and not waste time with ineffectual return fire.
As I recall, Upton's tactic worked well at achieving a breakthrough. The casualty ratio of Union troops killed or wounded to Confederate troops killed or wounded was fairly good from the Union Army's perspective in the context of attacking entrenched troops. What I don't remember is how many troops Upton had in Upton's initial attacking force.
At the Mule Shoe, how many troops did Upton have in his initial attacking force that columned up and sprinted to a narrow area of Confederate trenches with unloaded muskets?
Also, how wide was the column of Upton's initial attacking force of troops that sprinted to Confederate entrenchments with unloaded muskets? I am asking how many people wide Upton's attacking force was, not how many feet wide the column was. In other words, was Upton's initial attacking force in a column 10 soldiers wide or 6 soldiers wide or what?
As I recall, Upton's tactic worked well at achieving a breakthrough. The casualty ratio of Union troops killed or wounded to Confederate troops killed or wounded was fairly good from the Union Army's perspective in the context of attacking entrenched troops. What I don't remember is how many troops Upton had in Upton's initial attacking force.
At the Mule Shoe, how many troops did Upton have in his initial attacking force that columned up and sprinted to a narrow area of Confederate trenches with unloaded muskets?
Also, how wide was the column of Upton's initial attacking force of troops that sprinted to Confederate entrenchments with unloaded muskets? I am asking how many people wide Upton's attacking force was, not how many feet wide the column was. In other words, was Upton's initial attacking force in a column 10 soldiers wide or 6 soldiers wide or what?