To - Damon....any comments on the question I posted on 07-10-11 @ 9:48 pm. I always appreciate your remarks...they help
Gee, there were so many technical advances that arrived around the time of the Civil War and changed its course that I hardly know where to start. Railroads and rifled barrels would be at the top of my list though. Rifling with its increased range and accuracy changed the whole picture of battles and rendered the massed infantry attack fruitless waste of life. This was particularly important because leading generals did not understand it and Burnside at Fredericksburg and Lee at Gettysburg failed horribly by sending massed lines of men into fields of fire where the increased range of weapons gave the defenders several accurate shots before the charge could get to bayonet range. It was the end of the war (Petersburg) before the armies really caught on to trench warfare to defend against the rifles.
The railroads made it possible to move armies around from region to region and supply them far from base. This was particularly important to the Northern victory because they had most of the railroads.