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christof139 -> RE: Legendary Units' Weapons, etc. (2/24/2007 8:13:06 PM)
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quote:
I have just read about the battle of Perryville where union troops were infuriated to find that the departing confederates had stripped the union dead of their clothes/footwear leaving their old garments (often rags) behind. Some remaining confederate wounded suffered the backlash. Both sides tended to do this throughout the war but the confederate need was usually greater.
This was done during and after every battle when practical.
Please read my previous statement: "Both sides had details of troops tha would scour battlefields for anything usable, ***but it was perhaps more prevalent in the CSA Army.*** Ammo, food, blankets, hats, socks, shoes, Arty., caissons, limbers, battery forges, ambulances, wagons, antyhing that was usable would be used, or sent to the rear for repair, cannibalization or stripping of useful parts, or scrapping and recycling."
Of course the CSA's need was greater as they didn't have a large industrial base and were being blockaded. Point is that in any war or catastrophe people will use whatever they can to help them survive. Sometimes CSA troops were actually better equipped and supplied than Union troops, mainly when the Union troops were on a raid or other operation behing enemy lines. In the 1864 Valley Campaign, when Hunter's Union Army penetrated deep into the upper or southern reaches of the Shenandoah Valley, his troops were living off the land out of necessity and design, and they became very ragged, and hungry, and low on supplies. They were in dire straits after Early arrived to reinforce the CSA's Valley Forces, and they had to skedaddle pretty quick.
Earlier in the war, such as when Perryville occurred, both sides were still a little bit naieve. As the war progressed, and both sides became worn and battlewise, they more frequently used what they could from the dead. Sometimes personal effects were stolen, but many times they were left on the dead. Many of the Union troops at Perryville were still green and naieve.
The CSA Army would have detachments of unarmed and ill-equipped troops that would follow in the wake of an advance to quickly gather weapons and ammo and whatever else they need and then move on to their units. This occurred at Cedar Creek and it seems at Murfreesboro, but many CSA troops were well clothed and equipped at murfreesboro, but quite a few weren't as far as small arms went. One tennessee regiment advanced without weapons, picking up any they could find as they advanced in the rear of their brigade. I think this occurred near the Round Forest.
I am very interested in the Trans. Miss. Theater, and the big problem there for the CSA was not having enough wagons to transport supplies around, and little railroads and river systems that trended in a north to south direction, thus making the transport of supplies from east to west very difficult. Kirby Smith did a fairly good job in partially alleviating the problem, but it was still there in a big way.
The CSA armaments, ordnance, and clothing industries were quite efficient in utilizing what it had, and repairing and converting/modernizing weapons, but as you know it was not nearly enough but it did help a lot, all considering.
The large distances and area involved in the war made supply and logistics etc. a nightmare for both sides.
Chris
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