How Was Technology Used During The Civil War

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During the Civil War, the advancement of technology took place. The Civil War was known as the first modern war because of the new inventions that helped fight and record the war. Communication through the use of the telegraph allowed Union commanders to provide information of battle results instantly. Photographs of the war showed the brutality of warfare and rifle-muskets with the minie bullet changed the way soldiers fought. These inventions played an important role in military and civilian life ever since. Before the Civil War, soldiers used muskets that had a short range of about 250 yards. Once the war began, rifles were being produced instead of muskets. These rifles were far more efficient than muskets in contrast. They had an accurate aim and could shoot a bullet up to 1,000 yards because of the gloves in its barrel. The Springfield model 1861 was one of the most used rifle-musket during the war. Along with rifles came the invention of the minie ball. Since the round led ball took too long to load, a French army officer named Claude Minié invented …show more content…
Built by Samuel Morse in 1844, the telegraph was an important form of military communication. Along with it came a set of dots and dashes, known as Morse code, that made it simpler to transmit complex messages across telegraph lines. Around 15,000 miles of electric telegraph cable were strung all along the East Coast and more than a million messages were sent to and from battlefields. Since the Confederate army was unable to construct a large communication campaign, the telegraph was only used by the Union armies. President Abraham Lincoln would daily use the telegraph to know exactly what was happening in battlefields. This gave the Union an advantage because they were able to receive and deliver information much quicker than a horseback messenger. The telegraph as one of the few that helped the Union win the Civil