Special Operations in the American Civil War.

Abstract

This study is a historical analysis of selected special operations missions in the American Civil War. The analysis is intended to determine if there are lessons to be learned from these operations that are applicable to present special operations forces. Selected Civil War direct action and unconventional warfare missions are examined in detail from the planning stage through mission completion and analyzed at the tactical level from the perspectives of special operations applications of the principles of war and the SOF imperatives. Union and Confederate special operations are examined for effectiveness against modern doctrine from the operational and strategic levels. The study reveals that many of the lessons learned from a historical analysis of Civil War special operations missions are equally important to success today. The modern special operator who conducts a review of similar operations from the past or who has a good historical background in these missions has a great advantage when conducting special operations today.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 07, 1996
Accession Number
ADA312249

Entities

People

  • Anthony M. Raper

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil War
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Geography
  • Intelligence Collection
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Applications
  • Military Organizations
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Navy
  • Personnel Management
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Surveillance
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Unconventional Warfare
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.