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After the Civil War, Sherman compared wagon supply to rail supply. During the war 160 train cars a day supplied his 100,000 men and 35,000 animals. He estimated that it would have taken 36,000 wagons of six mules to provide an equivalent amount. (1)

It's hard to even imagine what level of effort it must take to supply an army fighting on another continent nor what the cost of such supply might be.

Interestingly, at the time of the Civil War few civilians, even those who wrote of the war, understood this monumental task and how vital it was and how easy it was for an opposing force to disrupt it.