From McClellan and the Army of the Potomac
© 2000 ProofmarkPreface
The American Civil War was a momentous occasion, not only for the millions of its citizens, both North and South, caught up in the struggle, but also for the militaries of the other major powers.
Forgotten, after a hundred and fifty years of conþict and devastation on a scale unimaginable to even masters of 19th century warfare like Grant and Sherman, is that, to their European contemporaries, the generals of the American armies were conducting modern war as it had never been seen before.
Originated or developed in battles on American soil were aerial warfare [balloons used for observation and sniping], steam-powered and armored warships like the Monitor and the Virginia, submarines, moving troops by railroad, and lever-action riþes firing fixed ammunition. The Civil War also saw conscription, extensive use of the telegraph, and a precursor to the machine gun.
To view these wonders the armies of Europe sent observers like Juan Prim from Spain, Arthur Fremantle from England, and the Count of Paris and his aristocratic friends from France. Numerous military gentlemen, including representatives of the Czar and other crowned heads of state, came to view and record the revolutionary events and, on occasion, to take an enthusiastic part.
General Prim's view of the Army of the Potomac, while quaint in retrospect, must have sent a shock through the ministries of war in a dozen European countries. His measure of the power of the Northern armies, along with his notion of the aftermath of the war, would prove prophetic.
Mark Wilson Seymour, editor
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