Pete Meloni, Explaining Civil War Tactics

Unless you are schooled in military science, tactical maneuvers from the Civil War era can seem unnecessarily complicated. Deciphering them is possible, however, if you understand how simple, coordinated movements helped achieve the immediate goals of field commanders.

Here, Pete Meloni uses Hardee's Tactics, an authoritative tactics manual from 1855, to break down two examples of common maneuvers to show how they worked and what they achieved.

Deploying skirmishers

Forming companies into a battalion

 

SENATE JOURNAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, 25TH DAY OF APRIL, 1861:
Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the Secretary of State be authorized to have published for the use of the State, two thousand copies of Hardee's and two thousand of Scott's Military Tactics, to be bound in plain, cheap, substantial binding, one copy of each to be furnished to each commissioned and non-commissioned officer engaged in military duty under the authority of the State, and that the same be paid for as other public printing; that the Secretary contract for the same on the best terms practicable.

B. M. ZETTLER, WAR STORIES AND SCHOOL-DAY INCIDENTS FOR THE CHILDREN (1912)
When I reached home from college I found the war spirit and excitement as high in Springfield and throughout the county as it was in Newberry. In every district in the county the militia was organized and having frequent meetings for drill. I was given a first lieutenant's place in the Springfield district company and got a copy of "Hardee's Tactics" and began to study the manual of arms and company movements.