at the beginning of the american civil war, neither the north or the south was nearly well enough prepared for war, and few people imagined the demands and hardships the war would bring. just prior to the war the total peacetime army consisted of a paltry 16,000 men. both sides issued an immediate call to forces from the militia, followed by the immediate awareness of an acute shortage of weapons, uniforms, and trained officers. state militia regiments were of uneven quality, and none had anything resembling combat training. the typical militia drilling at the time amounted to, at best, parade-ground marching. the militia units, from local communities, had never drilled together as a larger regiment, and thus lacked the extremely important skill, critically necessary for the war style of the time, of maneuvering from a marching line into a fighting line. yet both sides were equally unready, and rushed to prepare.