I have been told, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the strategies used during the American Civil war were behind the technology of that time period. That their use of open field marching, and swarm tactics spent soldiers at a lower level than was necessary.
What would the American Civil war look like, had their been some sort of military strategy revolution before the war took place (minoring the butterflies on the beliefs surrounding the war, why it started, and who fought on each side) and what could cause such?
In what little I know, and have read about the civil war, it seemed as though a more defensive tactics would call for more innovation during the war to break the standstills that could result, but as well that since the bayonet was so important on the front lines in OTL, it could be even more so if closer combat was forced upon the soldiers.