Originally posted by zraver
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You keep try to have ACW error units and leaders react in a way that militaries did in WW 1. You can't do it. The weapons were just too different. The tactics were sufficiently different due to the weapons that differed so much....muzzle loading blackpowder weapons vs magazine fed bolt action rifles with cordite.
If you want to make some comparisons with the a latter war I would go with the Franco Prussian War. While the ACW was revolutionary in it being an industrial war fought with Napoleonic tactics, the Franco Prussian War was transitional.
The Gatlings proved to be an impractical weapon in the setting of the ACW from early on. In its early configuration it did not provide sufficient reliability and mobility that exceeded the capability which already existed...i.e., the 3 inch Ordnance rifle and M1857 Gun/Howitzer (12 Pound Napoleon). Both of these weapons were versatile and filled the full range of mission requirements for the doctrine of the day.
The Gatling was considered and rejected because it still had a lot of teething issues to work through. Did it finally become an effective weapon? Yes but not against modern industrial national armies because there were sufficient countermeasures to them (I have noted several) to make them not a good weapon in the ACW battlefield.
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