What were the military developments from 1861 to 1862?

Answer 1

The first year of the war did not see much military action.

The Battle of Bull Run in July 1861 had shown both sides that this would not be a brief war of glorious marches, but a long and grim struggle, involving civilians as well as troops.

Recruitment, armament and equipment were the big agendas of Year One.

Neither side introduced conscription at this point. The new volunteer units were mainly recruited by local politicians who would automatically become colonels, often highly inept commanders.

The North had to adapt its manufacturing base for military supplies, while blockading Southern ports to prevent such supplies reaching the Confederates.

This caused the Confederates to seek foreign allies, who would be able to trade with them quite ethically at this stage, as Lincoln had not yet turned the war into a formal crusade against slavery.

By the end of the first year (April 1862), the war in the West had started with a couple of small Union victories, followed by the dramatic and decisive Battle of Shiloh, which re-asserted Northern dominance of Western Tennessee.

In the East, McLellan was making slow preparations for the Peninsula campaign, which would soon bring glory to the Confederate commander Robert E. Lee.