The Guerrilla Warfare And The American Civil War - 1518 Words

The guerrilla warfare along the Kansas-Missouri border has generally been considered an outlier of the American Civil War. While interesting to read about, its impact on the war and on Union policies were not always important to historians. Early in the study of this conflict historians chose to focus on the leaders and actions of the guerrillas. More recently, scholars have endeavored to understand how guerrilla war in the Civil War affected the society in which it took place. This shift in historiographical trends is, in part, due to the rise in guerrilla warfare in the present. However, questions still remain over how this conflict fits in with the rest of America’s military experience. Questions like, does the guerrilla warfare prove†¦show more content†¦No other mention is made about guerrilla warfare. Because his work was published in 1973, when attention was still predominantly focused on the conventional engagements of the Civil War, this oversight is unsurpr ising though certainly lamentable. Despite the lack of attention given to the irregular forces supporting the Union and Confederate Armies, those men engaged in raids and operations that contribute to a deeper understanding of why, during the American Civil War, a strategy of annihilation was supported by the Union as their strategy against the Confederacy. While the development of guerrilla war does not factor into Weigley’s thesis that the United States has moved from a strategy of attrition to a strategy of annihilation, it is important in understanding how and why the United States made that change. For Weigley, this change came during the American Civil War when Grant became Commanding General of the Army. Grant did not believe the war could be won with a single, decisive victory against the Confederate Army, rather, he initiated a strategy to destroy the Confederate Armies through many battles and by attacking their economic resources. The orders to begin destroying t he war resources of the Confederacy may have had their roots in the Western and Trans-Mississippian Theaters of the war because of frustrations associated with guerrilla war. Early in the war in Kansas, James Lane organized a mixed brigade toShow MoreRelatedThe Unions Ability to Conduct Total Warfare and Confederate Defeat931 Words   |  4 Pagesto Conduct Total Warfare and Confederate Defeat The American War for Independence was a successful struggle of a smaller nation fighting a larger, more powerful force. However, in the case of the American Civil War, the larger more powerful Union defeated the southern Confederacy. 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