Of the regimental wagons, 1 was for the surgeon, 1 for tents & baggage of field & staff officers, 1 for baggage of line officers, 1 for the cooking equipment of line companies, & 2 carried rations for 2 days Men carried 3 days of marching rations, giving 5 days of mobility
-
Show this thread
-
A cow could furnish 450 rations of 3/4 lb of smoked meat per person. 8 cows could provide marching rations for a brigade. Commissary Sgt oversaw the care & slaughtering of beef on the hoof. Collected the hides to be turned into the Army for proof of use & for recycling to leather
3 replies 9 retweets 122 likesShow this thread -
This is all to say: warfare in the 19th century was incredibly complex and synchronization of *any* of the warfighting functions was a massive task. Sustainment was key. If you could not sustain, if you could not develop sustainment doctrine, SOPs, standardization, you died.
11 replies 22 retweets 231 likesShow this thread -
For more on how those standardizations came to be, I highly recommend this book:pic.twitter.com/7a4S6wJ6s9
14 replies 14 retweets 224 likesShow this thread -
Where you'll also realize that George McClellan is a manifestly worse general than you ever even thought possible. So. Damn. Bad. Calling him the "commander" of the Army of the Potomac is a falsehood, because he never was there to command it during the Seven Days Campaign
15 replies 13 retweets 177 likesShow this thread -
The common time rate of march for a Civil War soldier was 2.3 mph. In quick time, 2.9 mph. In double quick time, 3.7 mph. An infantry regiment in column of fours would occupy 600 feet of road and take about 3 minutes to pass a single point.
7 replies 6 retweets 37 likesShow this thread -
A battery of artillery, by contrast, would occupy almost 300 yards on the march. A six mule team with Army wagon would occupy 60 lineal feet. Haul capacity usable dimensions for an Army wagon were 120 inches long, 43 inches wide, 22 inches high. Carried 2500 lbs, 3000 with forage
1 reply 4 retweets 27 likesShow this thread -
An Army wagon could carry 1200 rations of hard bread, 2000 rations of coffee, 1800 sugar rations, 300 pork rations, 1200 salt rations, 36 oat rations for a gross weight of 2674 pounds. Add 400 pounds for forage for the mule team. Adjusted for trafficable road conditions
2 replies 4 retweets 30 likesShow this thread -
A driver known as a "muleskinner" oversaw the maintenance of the teams. The regimental quartermaster oversaw vehicle maintenance: greasing bolts, chains, wheel wells, etc. Ensured duplicate spare parts were on hand for parts that would break during the march.
3 replies 3 retweets 33 likesShow this thread -
A regiment of 1,000 men - on paper - could count on 9% being sick and 26% being absent on additional duties, meaning an available strength of 646 men, before even battle casualties or AWOLs diminished this further
3 replies 5 retweets 36 likesShow this thread
Adjust upwards if fighting in Mississippi, or (elsewhere in that era) Vera Cruz, the Danube basin, etc.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.