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Battle Of Bentonville Essay

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Battle of Bentonville: Speed and Focus MV-22 Osprey’s can transport troops at 240 knots to the front lines of a modern day engagement. In 1865, the average American walked at a pace of 2.5 miles per hour, if on horseback, 8. Fighting in the Civil War required anticipating your enemy’s next move and applying speed and focus in order to thwart his ability to exploit your weaknesses, which were generally the flanks or rear. Sherman made a bold move to cutoff Confederate forces eliminating Lee’s ability to be reinforced by units of the Tennessee Army. This maneuver required relative speed and focus, which were significant concepts in generating combat power for the Union. Modern speed, with regard to battles, has changed greatly since the Civil War was fought. We mechanize our infantry now rather than mount a few on horseback; we have large planes that fly us to …show more content…

A trip that if you were using today’s technology would only be a short 7 hours. In 1865, this was a trip that took many days, if not weeks. Sherman was moving a large troop that had just completed a march to the sea to cut off Confederate forces in the North from those of the South and they were a fatigued bunch. It is difficult to hasten a march with numbers that are upwards of 40,000 men and also men that are fatigued. This slowed his march north from Atlanta and limited his ability to reach Bentonville before a Confederate troop could take action to defend it. Sherman was supposed to travel by ship to meet Grant in Virginia to attack Lee’s forces, he elected not to. Instead, Sherman marched through the Carolinas encountering little to no resistance and effectively cutting off Johnston’s and Lee’s forces. This decision was not done on a whim, Sherman knew he could move through these areas with speed and cutoff supplies to any forces north him, this also would have a demoralizing effect on those forces as

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