Technology of the Civil War - PowerPoint Presentation

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Technology of the Civil War

Presentation by Alex CardozoGPS SS8H6 b.Slide2

Research Question

Cause and Effect:How did the Union use old and new technological advances to its advantage to win the Civil War?Slide3

Navy—Ironclad Ships

South built the S.S. Virginia out of an older steam ship to try and break the blockade of the “Anaconda Plan”

Union built the Monitor as a counter to the rumors that the South had an “iron boat”These made wood-and-sail ships obsoleteWhile the S.S. Virginia attacked mostly by ramming, the

Monitor had a rotating turret cannon.This allowed for a large range of fire while allowing only a small target.Slide4

Navy—Powering the Watercraft

Type of Ship

Ship with sails

Ship with sails and steam engineShip with steam engine only

Advantage or DisadvantageAdvantage

Disadvantage

Advantage

Disadvantage

Advantage

Disadvantage

Advantages or Disadvantages

Could sail long

distances and could carry spare sails.

Needed wind and did

not have a lot of speed and precision.Could sail for long distances, and use the steam engine for close-up speed and precision. If one type of power could not work, then the other could be used.When sailing, steam equipment was dead weight, and vice versa.You would need people who could sail and people who could work the engine.Speedy, maneuverable, and the later models’ propellers were mush harder to hit than paddle wheels and sails.Earlier model’s wheels were easy targets and the engine needed coal to function.Slide5

Aeronauts—Balloons

These were hot air balloons.Used for:

aerial reconnaissance—accurate mapsdirecting artillery from abovespotting armies while miles in the air (innovator Lowe spotted a rumored Confederate army near Manassas)Distraction—many soldiers didn’t know what these were, so they were often trying to shoot them or puzzling about themSlide6

Aeronauts—Physics

Intended motion

Actual projectile motion

Since balloons were giant motionless bags filled with flammable gas, they would seem like easy targets, but not necessarily…

The thing about balloons is that they can float thousands of feet in the air, easily out the range of an ordinary rifle or cannon. They can do this because they are filled with a substance that is less dense than air (hydrogen, in this example), like how a bag of oxygen floats in water because oxygen is less dense than water.

The reason no bullet or cannonball could hit a balloon was projectile motion. Two forces combine to create projectile motion: gravity and the force that originally moved the object. If there was no gravity, the bullets and cannon fire would fly straight into the balloon. But since we do have gravity, all the projectiles fell to the ground before hitting anything.

GPS

S8P1 d

.

GPS S8P3 b.Slide7

Land Torpedoes (Land Mines)

While Confederate soldiers retreated to Richmond after the Peninsular Campaign, the covered their escape by burying 8 and 10-inch bombs in the ground, exploding at a touch.These killed and wounded soldiers, but also—most importantly—panicked people as they puzzled over these “invisible weapons”.Slide8

North’s IndustrializationSlide9

Railroads

Used to transport soldiers and supplies (guns, food rations, medicine, sleeping equipment)Confederate saboteurs broke rails by bending them and putting them around trees.

Naturally, the Union started recruiting track repair teams.Different sizes of track created difficulties.At one point, several railroads sent 20,000 men and 3,000 horses to Chattanooga, TN.Slide10

The Telegraph

Instantaneous messaging systemSet up all over the country, so someone could communicate with someone else who is across the country.

Used the Morse Code (converted letters and numbers into dots and dashes)Pres. Lincoln used this to get eyewitness accounts of every battle.Could be used to communicate strategies to armies and prep railroads for incoming loads.Slide11

The Telegraph—Secret Codes

The Union used “sets” of code for its encrypted messages; the first word in the message would determine which set would be used to decipher it. For good measure, other nonsensical phrases were peppered in to confuse rival codebreakers.

`Southern interceptors could not crack the codes of these messages, so they published them in local newspapers, in hopes that a civilian could.

The South used a cipher code system, where you simply would switch all characters with others with a wheel.

These were easy to break, so Northern codebreakers decided to feed false information (posing as Southern telegraphers) to the South while simultaneously getting the true intel.Slide12

What have we learned?

The Union used steam and ironclad ships to keep up a blockade.Balloons were used to draw maps and to get a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield.

The Confederation buried artillery shells as land mines.The Union had a huge industrial advantage over its opponent.The North also the railroad advantage, which was crucial transportation of supplies and soldiers.The telegraph was used on both sides to send and intercept messages.Slide13

Standards we have learned

GPS SS8H6 b. State the importance of key events of the Civil War; include Antietam, the

Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Union blockade of Georgia’s coast, Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and Andersonville.GPS S8P1 d. Distinguish between physical and chemical properties of matter as physical (i.e.,

density, melting point, boiling point) or chemical (i.e., reactivity, combustibility). GPS S8P3 b. Demonstrate the effect of balanced and unbalanced forces on an object in terms ofgravity, inertia, and friction. Slide14

Conclusion

How did the Union use old and new technological advances to its advantage to win the Civil War?

The Union used many inventions to gain an advantage in, and to win the war, like the telegraph, railroad, steam engine, and hot air balloon.Slide15

Bibliography

These are all the sources of my information, and I’d like to thank them.Gaddy, David W. "SCARD- CRYPTOGRAPHY HOME PAGE." SCARD- CRYPTOGRAPHY HOME PAGE. N.p., n.d. Web.

24 Jan. 2015.Andrews, Evan. "8 Unusual Civil War Weapons." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 09 Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2015.

Allen, Thomas B., and Roger MacBride Allen. Mr. Lincoln's High-tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Ironclads, High-powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2009. Print. 23 Jan. 2015Green, James L. "Civil War Ballooning During the Seven Days Campaign." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2015.Slide16

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Thanks for listening!