Military leadership in the American Civil War Military leadership in the American Civil War Military leadership in the American Civil War was influenced by professional military education and the hard-earned pragmatism of command experience. While not all leaders had formal military training, the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis created dedicated cadres of professional officers whose understanding of military science had profound effect on the conduct of the American Civil War and whose lasting legacy helped forge the traditions of the modern U.S. officer corps of all service branches. President Abraham Lincoln was Commander-in-Chief of the
Missouri in the American Civil War beside bushwhacker "Bloody Bill" Anderson at Centralia, attempted to excuse his murder of a resident of Gallatin during a bank robbery, saying he thought he was killing Samuel P. Cox, who had hunted down Anderson after Centralia. In addition, the vigilante activities of the Bald Knobbers in southwest Missouri during the 1880s have been interpreted by some as a continuation of Civil War-related guerrilla warfare. Missouri in the American Civil War During the American Civil War, Missouri was a hotly contested border state populated by both Union and Confederate sympathizers. It sent armies, generals, and supplies to both sides, was