OCS History Lesson 3 Exam Questions & Answers 100% Verified
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Battles of Palo Alto / Buena Vista - ANSWER-Terrain:
• Open flat terrain; favors Mexican cavalry. Also favored Americans' mobile artillery. This neutralizes the cavalry advantage.
Mass/flexibility/coordination/training:
• Very flexible and could easily mass the horse artillery. They were wel...
OCS History Lesson 3 Exam Questions &
Answers 100% Verified
Battles of Palo Alto / Buena Vista - ANSWER-Terrain:
• Open flat terrain; favors Mexican cavalry. Also favored Americans' mobile artillery.
This neutralizes the cavalry advantage.
Mass/flexibility/coordination/training:
• Very flexible and could easily mass the horse artillery. They were well trained and
well-coordinated.
US Army Infantry at Resaca de la Palma - ANSWER-• The day after; terrain was
mesquite thickets and ravines. This made it difficult for mobile artillery so infantry goes
in.
• US aim: seize NW region of Mexico (annex CA and NM)
• Mexico aim: prevent the annex and teach US a lesson
• US: Multi-axis attacks and blockade. Mexico: betting on poor Am. Domestic support.
1846 Monterrey Campaign and Battle (logistics, impact) - ANSWER-• Taylor's aim was
to seize North part of Mexico and also eliminate Mexican threat therein. They won the
battle and let the POWs go home without weapons so aim was partially met.
• Slow to arrange for logistical support, which was mostly by contract in those days.
• Received an over-abundance of volunteers who could not be supported by the slim
logistics. These men suffered from disease so the advance was delayed.
• Steamboats gave the army the ability to proceed inland via the Rio Grande. They
wanted wagons but they were in short supply and the Mexican roads didn't favor them.
They instead utilized local pack mules and oxcarts.
• President Polk was not happy with this victory because it did not change Mexico's
mind and increased congressional criticism.
1847-48 Mexico City Campaign (+disease, logistics, Chapultepec) - ANSWER-• El
Vomito Negro or Yellow Fever ravage Mexico's east coast and affect Scott's army. To
prevent disease outbreak, they quickly moved to the foothills. First major amphibious
landing in US Army history.
• Logistics will be a challenge because of the terrain. The route was 250 miles and goes
from the tropics up to the mountains and across a desert.
• Small army to Scott's disposal. Good planner. Set up depots. Morale and discipline
high.
• Chapultepec is a castle on the isolated hill. Key terrain at an intersection so they
decide to take it. It is not easily bypassed. Single-axis attack.
• Planning v Chance: he sees everything and counts the cost of every measure. Chance
is not playing a dominant role in Scott's Campaign.
, Hardee's Tactics - ANSWER-• Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics. We reacted to
the appearance of new weapons like Minie Balls/rifled muskets and tried to account for
them.
• Minie ball/rifled musket combo = reload time same as smoothbore and increased
range and accuracy.
• Tactics used more skirmishers to harass/disrupt opposing forces at the front; focus
was still on large regiment-sized units in two ranks, shoulder to shoulder, to maintain
Mass in size and firepower
• Decreased vulnerability time in enemy's expanded kill zone; increased marching
tempo
Strategies: 'Anaconda Plan' / 'Offensive-Defensive' - ANSWER-North/Anaconda Plan
• Scott's plan was to blockade Confederate seaports and seize control of the Mississippi
river as to induce the collapse of the Confederacy. In other words, use the Union's
external lines to isolate the South and destroy its economy and ability to resist.
• Plan is not favorable at first because it envisions a long war. As the US Navy grows,
this plan becomes a key part of the Union strategy.
• Trinity issues; Based on policy? Yes. Based on emotion? No. Based on chance? No.
South
• Aim was to hold on and frustrate the North and secure European support using cotton
to appeal to their needs.
• Forward defense over flexible defense to prevent slavery disruption, retain
domestic/foreign credibility and keep military forces confident.
Offensive/Defensive
• Lee's desire to avoid long, costly war by convincing the North to quit by either:
o Attacking Union advances into the South at opportune time/place to achieve decisive
battlefield wins
o Launching an opportunistic raid into Northern/border territory to get war out of the
South, demoralize the North, and perhaps gain support from border slave states
Civil War combined-arms challenges - ANSWER-• Communications: they had cable
telegraph, signal flags, and runners. No wireless radio. No telephones. Bad visibility
nullify the utility and good visibility allowed enemy to see them.
• Command, Training, and Experience: many commanders were new to the military and
warfighting. Struggled to marshal combined arms.
• Weapons/Tactics: new rifled weapons made cavalry's battlefield effectiveness low.
Artillery couldn't be within rifled musket range and it was hard to mass it quickly.
• Organization: The commanders could not mass these special assets when and where
desired. Some understood the value of massing certain arms early on. At first the
assets were dispersed among subordinate commanders but they learned to mass them
under divisions and brigades later.
• Terrain: Civil War armies fought many battles in terrain that limited the effective use of
cavalry or rifled artillery. Broken/wooded terrain also disrupted good
command/coordination.
Sibley and Van Dorn's Campaigns and Battles (LOCs) - ANSWER-Sibley
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