Notes on Civil War Logistics: Facts & Stories

I do want to nitpick one part of your first post. Lee did not lose to Grant mostly because of his inability to gather supplies. Unless you want to count living men in uniform carrying a rifle as a supply. Lee could not replace soldiers he lost at that point of the war.

Lee had severe problems supplying his army even when they were not fighthing, like the beginning of 1863. He had to constantly write to get his men fed, clothed, etc even while in winter camp not shooting at anyone.
 
Indeed, plus the temptation of all those yankee goodies as witnessed on the "fatal halt" in the valley campaign and Jacksons flank attack at C'ville, turned some victories into defeat and some victories into what might have been.
Even as early as Shiloh that happened--looting Yankee goodies instead of chasing Yankees.
 
I do want to nitpick one part of your first post. Lee did not lose to Grant mostly because of his inability to gather supplies. Unless you want to count living men in uniform carrying a rifle as a supply. Lee could not replace soldiers he lost at that point of the war.

Lee had severe problems supplying his army even when they were not fighthing, like the beginning of 1863. He had to constantly write to get his men fed, clothed, etc even while in winter camp not shooting at anyone.
Good point. I was thinking of pre-Grant where the retreating Union Army left supplies to be looted and time for Lee to rest, his wounded to return to the army and supplies to be brought in. After Gettysburg that did not happen. An overgeneralization for sure.
 
I do want to nitpick one part of your first post. Lee did not lose to Grant mostly because of his inability to gather supplies. Unless you want to count living men in uniform carrying a rifle as a supply. Lee could not replace soldiers he lost at that point of the war.

Lee had severe problems supplying his army even when they were not fighthing, like the beginning of 1863. He had to constantly write to get his men fed, clothed, etc even while in winter camp not shooting at anyone.
Like Gov. Vance of NC, holding onto thousands of uniforms that certainly could have been put to good use in units from other states. Wonder if Lee could have fed and supplied another 10 to 20k added to ANV later in the war. Manpower certainly was a major issue in defeat
 
Like Gov. Vance of NC, holding onto thousands of uniforms that certainly could have been put to good use in units from other states. Wonder if Lee could have fed and supplied another 10 to 20k added to ANV later in the war. Manpower certainly was a major issue in defeat

Food was a problem. I remember this passage vividly Lee had hoped to find a supply train at Amelia Court House, Virginia, 39 miles (63 km) southwest of Richmond, but when he and his forces arrived there on April 4, 1865, he found that the train contained only ordnance, ammunition, caissons and harnesses. link
With food, Lee might have broken through to Johnston but with exhausted hungry men dropping all along the road there was no way.
 
Notes on Civil War Logistics: Facts & Stories
pdf here

Statistics on marching.

The Infantryman in the Field​
Mobility of the Soldier20 – A soldier marches, in common time, at a rate of 90 steps per minute​
(One step equals 28 inches.), which equals 210 feet per minute or 2.386 miles per hour.​
In quick time, the rate increases to 110 steps per minute. This equals 258 feet per minute, or​
2.932 miles per hour. In double quick time, the rate again increases to 140 steps per minute.​
This equals 327 feet per minute, or 3.716 miles per hour.​

Frontage & Interval 21– The soldier occupies a front of 20-inches (1.67 feet) and a depth​
of 13 inches (1.083 feet), without the knapsack. The interval between the ranks is 13 inches. In​
column, therefore, one man, without a knapsack, occupies a depth of 26-inches (2.167 feet). The​
knapsack added 3-inches to the total. For general planning purposes, a soldier occupied a​
frontage of 2-feet and a depth of 2½ feet. Assuming that men marched in a column of fours (A​
frontage of roughly seven to eight feet):​
20 Laidley, Brevet Major T. T. S. (1861). The Ordnance Manual For the Use of Officers of the United States Army​
(Third Edition). NYNY. J.J. Lippincott & Co. & republished by Invictus, Decatur MI. p.455.​
21 Laidley, Brevet Major T. T. S. (1861). The Ordnance Manual For the Use of Officers of the United States Army​
(Third Edition). NYNY. J.J. Lippincott & Co. & republished by Invictus, Decatur MI. p.455.​
p2.jpg
Parade ground data does not apply in an operational environment. Captain J. F. Rusling,​
Assistant Quartermaster, wrote: “For example, an army of one hundred and twenty-five​
thousand (125,000) men, marching in column four (4) abreast, and the interval but six (6) feet​
apart, which is less than the usual interval of troops on the march, would extend over a distance​
of thirty-five (35) miles, without making any allowance for the usual intervals between​
regiments, brigades, divisions and army corps.”22​
Parade ground data does not apply in an operational environment. Captain J. F. Rusling,​
Assistant Quartermaster, wrote: “For example, an army of one hundred and twenty-five​
thousand (125,000) men, marching in column four (4) abreast, and the interval but six (6) feet​
apart, which is less than the usual interval of troops on the march, would extend over a distance​
of thirty-five (35) miles, without making any allowance for the usual intervals between​
regiments, brigades, divisions and army corps.”22​
p3.jpg
At a rate of 210 feet per minute and an interval of six feet between ranks, 35 ranks (140) men​
pass one point every minute. The number of men in a column can be approximated by​
multiplying the pass time in minutes by 140. For example, if it takes 28½ minutes for a column​
of infantry to pass a given point, there are about 4,000 men in the column, a full-strength brigade​
(28½ x 140 = 3,990).​
22 Rusling, Captain J. F. (1865). A Word for the Quartermaster‟s Department appearing in the United States​
Service Magazine, Volume III. NY NY. Charles R. Richardson. p. 255-256​
 
At Chancellorsville Stonewall Jacksons force of about 30,000 was 10 miles long and took 4 hours to pass a point.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TITLE: STONEWALL JACKSON AT CHANCELLORSVILLE: THE PRINCIPLES OF WAR AND THE HORNS OF A DILEMMA AT THE BURTON FARM
 
Gathering information on vehicles supporting the armies at Gettysburg, I have come up with a rough total of 5,000 wagons and ambulances supporting the Union Army of the Potomac, and about half that number for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Private Royal D. King, 14th Vermont, letter to sister 16 June 1863: It is said the [wagon] train would reach 65 miles on the road.
 
Gathering information on vehicles supporting the armies at Gettysburg, I have come up with a rough total of 5,000 wagons and ambulances supporting the Union Army of the Potomac, and about half that number for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Private Royal D. King, 14th Vermont, letter to sister 16 June 1863: It is said the [wagon] train would reach 65 miles on the road.
Lee may have lost the battle, but he managed to get a lot of supplies back to VA to keep his army alive. Some historians speculate that without that loot, the NVA would have either had to leave VA or would have ceased to exist as an army. A case of use an army or lose it by inactivity.
 
Notes on Civil War Logistics: Facts & Stories
pdf here

Unit Organization

The Infantry Company
An army is built from the bottom up. The smallest organization in a Civil War army
was an infantry company of around 100 men was. A company was commanded by a
captain. He was assisted by two lieutenants, five sergeants and eight corporals. The unit was
authorized between sixty-four and eighty-two private soldiers, making a total of between 80 and
98 soldiers. Each company had a Commissary Sergeant and a Quartermaster Sergeant. The
Company Commissary Sergeant made out the returns for the company, drew the rations and
supervised their preparation and distribution to the men. He also kept the company fund. The
Quartermaster Sergeant…(clothing accounts, company property, etc.)

The Artillery Battery
An artillery battery was commanded by a captain who was assisted by a first lieutenant
and a second lieutenant. One of the lieutenants was in charge of the six guns in the gun line and
the other supervised the six caissons, the battery wagon and the traveling forge (i.e., Each battery
had fourteen six-horse carriages.). A battery also had a first sergeant, a quartermaster sergeant,
four sergeants, eight corporals, two musicians (These positions were not filled.), two artificers,
one wagoner and one hundred twenty two privates (gunners), for an aggregate strength of 144
officers and men. This organization could be augmented by one first and one second lieutenant,
two sergeants and four corporals, at the Presidents discretion. The grand total was a maximum
of 152 soldiers per battery.

An artillery battery had six guns, six caissons, a battery wagon and a traveling forge, a
total of fourteen carriages. Each carriage was pulled by a six-horse team. The minimum number
of team horses in a battery was 84, not counting spares and saddle horses. The accepted
planning factor for spares was 1/12 the required number of team horses23, so the 84 team horses
required seven spares. The sergeants, artificers and musicians rode saddle horses (1864 Artillery
Tactics, p.24), adding eight saddle horses and two spares. The grand total was 101 horses.

“[A]n army of one hundred and twenty-five (125,000) men will usually have at least two
guns to the thousand men, which would make two hundred and fifty guns, or say forty batteries
of six pieces each. Now a battery on the march, as a general thing, will occupy fully three
hundred (300) yards, so that forty batteries would take about seven miles.”24
 
Notes on Civil War Logistics: Facts & Stories
pdf here

Artillery used four types of ammunition: (1) shot, (2) spherical case, (3) shell, and (4)
canister. “Solid shot is spherical, and its weight in pounds is used to designate the caliber of the
gun to which it belongs.”25 (e.g., 12-pounder Napoleon) “Solid shot should be used from 350
yards upwards.”26

“The shrapnel or case shot is a cast-iron shot forming a case which is filled with musket
balls…Spherical case ought not, as a general rule, to be used for a range less than 500 yards; and
neither spherical case nor shells should be fired rapidly at rapidly advancing bodies, as, for
instance, cavalry charging.”27

“The shell is a hollow shot, which such thickness of metal as enables it to penetrate
earthworks, wooden buildings, &c., without breaking. For service it is charged with powder and
bursts with great force. “The fire of spherical case and of shells on bodies of cavalry in line or
column and in position is often very effective.”28 “The best rule for approximate time of flight is
one second for 300 yards.”29

“The canister consists of a tin cylinder, attached to a sabot and filled with cast iron shot.
Twelve-pound canister was filled with 27 shot. The use of canister should begin at 350 yards,
and the rapidity of the fire increase as the range diminishes.”30

Each gun had one ammunition chest on the limber that pulled the gun, another
ammunition chest on the limber that pulled the caisson and two additional ammunition chests on
the caisson itself. Therefore, the number of rounds organic to the battery was computed by
multiplying the number of rounds in each ammunition chest by four.

p5.jpg

p6.jpg


Each 12-pounder gun and caisson had a total of 128 rounds organic to the battery. Normally,
250 rounds were carried on campaign.32
The formula for the number of wagons required to carry 12-pounder ammunition was
(No. of guns x 122)/112. Each 12-pounder transported 128 rounds within the battery and needed
a total of 250 rounds in the field. The difference is the 122 rounds that appear in the formula.
When the formula is applied to a single gun, a little over one wagon is required to carry 112
rounds.

23 French, CPT William H. Barry, CPT. William F. Hunt, CPT H. J. (1864). Field Artillery Tactics. NY NY. D.
Van Nostrand. p.24.
24 Rusling, Captain J. F. (1865). A Word for the Quartermaster‟s Department appearing in the United States Service
Magazine, Volume III. NY NY. Charles R. Richardson. p. 255-256
25 French, CPT William H. Barry, CPT. William F. Hunt, CPT H. J. (1864). Field Artillery Tactics. NY NY. D.
Van Nostrand. p.8.
26 French, CPT William H. Barry, CPT. William F. Hunt, CPT H. J. (1864). Field Artillery Tactics. NY NY. D.
Van Nostrand. p.29.
27 French, CPT William H. Barry, CPT. William F. Hunt, CPT H. J. (1864). Field Artillery Tactics. NY NY. D.
Van Nostrand. pp. 8 & 29.
28 French, CPT William H. Barry, CPT. William F. Hunt, CPT H. J. (1864). Field Artillery Tactics. NY NY. D.
Van Nostrand. pp. 8 & 29.
29 French, CPT William H. Barry, CPT. William F. Hunt, CPT H. J. (1864). Field Artillery Tactics. NY NY. D.
Van Nostrand. p. 28.
30 French, CPT William H. Barry, CPT. William F. Hunt, CPT H. J. (1864). Field Artillery Tactics. NY NY. D.
Van Nostrand. pp. 8 & 29.
31 Laidley, Brevet Major T. T. S. (1861). The Ordnance Manual For the Use of Officers of the United States Army
(Third Edition). NYNY. J.J. Lippincott & Co. & republished by Invictus, Decatur MI. p. 335)
 
Western Theater activity, for the Yanks in Nashville at the end of August (31) 1862, their returns for the Army of the Ohio show for rations of fresh beef....(including 25 head of beef cattle which are estimated 800 pounds net each)…. 21,622 and a half pounds. Including pork, bacon, and salted beef the total climbed to 86, 437 pounds.
One month later, September 30, 1862, after the army had marched northward toward Louisville, Kentucky chasing General Bragg, the returns show the rations of fresh beef at 11,220 lbs. with pork and bacon combined at 23,837 lbs.

Also I should mention the wagons used in the west by the confederates; "Their wagons were of a character that would not attract attention like ours, all being small, light two-horse wagons, though frequently drawn by 4 or 6 mules. Some were with covers; others with none, or mere sheets thrown over them." Quote from F. A. Smith's testimony during the trial of General Buell, Jan. 10, 1863, in Louisville, Kentucky. OR Series 1 Volume 16, page 292. (The returns were from the same day given by Lt. Charles Allen, pages 288-289).
Lubliner, thank you.
 
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