Operational Raids During the Civil War: Are They Relevant Today?

Abstract

This monograph defines the meaning of the operational raid and demonstrates that raids conducted during the American Civil War were effective methods in achieving limited operational and strategic goals. Current service and joint doctrine and the effects contemporary raid warfare produces are reviewed. Like today, Civil War commanders had to select the most appropriate way to accomplish their mission while considering the forces available, enemy, terrain, and time. Five large scale', high impact raids are analyzed and provide useful historical examples of the operational raids as they existed in the Civil War. The five raids analyzed are the Van Dorn, Forrest, and Orierson raids during the Vicksburg Campaign, Stoneman' 5 raid in support of Hooker's Chancellorsville Campaign, and Sherman's Meridian raid. The raids focus on the operational concerns and considerations facing commanders and illustrate the divers nature and techniques for conducting raids. They also demonstrate the value of interrupting the enemy's concentration of forces, finding and striking his decisive points, and depriving him of critical support or command and control. The analysis portion of the study demonstrates that Civil War raids were viable options for accomplishing operational and strategic objectives. The degree of success depended on the commander's ability to apply the factors of objective, surprise, audacity, and simplicity. To execute raids today commanders must ensure that forces are properly trained to conduct complex high-risk operations. They must be capable of executing rapid, precise, and bold actions to exploit enemy vulnerabilities. This monograph concludes that raids are viable options for the operational commander to achieve decisive results in the current strategic setting.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 22, 1997
Accession Number
ADA331322

Entities

People

  • Burdett K. Thompson

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil War
  • Civil War (United States)
  • Command And Control
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Military Operations
  • Military Science
  • Mississippi River
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Storage
  • Supply Depots
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control