There were several debates in the …show more content…
In forming their ideas about warfare the Union used experience from previous wars to shape their strategy moving forward. Federal commanders looked primarily to three major conflicts: the War for American Independence, the Napoleonic Wars, and the War with Mexico. Together those struggles constituted the basic model of expectations for what should transpire in military operations. In addition, each example seemed to suggest, for different reasons, that successful war making should concentrate on the battlefield. They provided little indication that a hard war strategy was either required or efficacious. (Pg. 17) The commanders primarily wanted to affect the Southern soldiers and not the general population. Moreover, going off of historical war experiences, the union did not want to use guerrilla tactics against the south due to the inhumanity that it would cause and the harm that could be given to the civilian populist. The Union wanted a traditional British war and only wanted to target the Confederate