Impact Of Geology On The U.S. Civil War: War From The Ground Up

ScienceDaily ^ | October 7, 2008 | Geological Society of America

[SunkenCiv]

Whisonant and Ehlen also studied the terrain at Antietam, the site of the bloodiest battle in the Civil War, where on 17 September 1862 up to 23,100 soldiers were killed, wounded, or declared missing. "What's so striking at Antietam," says Whisonant, is that "two geologic units underlie [that area]. One is a very, very pure limestone that as it erodes it literally melts. Mostly what you get with that is a very even, level, open surface -- there just aren't a lot of deep holes and high hills that give soldiers a place to hide." On one area of this flat surface, known as Miller's Cornfield, "armies just shot each other to pieces until absolute exhaustion set in."

Nearby, however, a different formation lies beneath the terrain, made up of limestone and dolomite with some shale. "It makes for a very different kind of topography -- dissected topography" that provides good cover and concealment, and according to this study, "the casualties are much lower on that part of the battlefield."

[hellbender]

(Physical) geography is largely based on the underlying geology. Geology determines terrain, and together with climate (and human activity) controls vegetation.

[org.whodat]

Lee did not retreat, he advanced in his chosen direction.

[hellbender]

Someone (maybe the PA Geological Survey) has a fascinating booklet on the influence of geology at Gettysburg. All the hills are underlain by hard igneous rock, while the lowlands are soft shale.

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[kalee]

ping

[kalee]

Dixie Ping

[SunkenCiv]

Fun link on your page:

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Dirty Morty Vane

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[Monkey Face]

LOL!

I didn’t get “Dirty Bess Bonney” from being an “innocent!”

[Mike Darancette]

I was thinking more of the Jackson’s Valley Campaign where he used the cover of the Blue Ridge to keep 3 union armies joining McClellan on the peninsula.

[SunkenCiv]

In those days before effective aerial surveillance, he also relied on mobility and of course the intel (and supplies) he was getting from the locals and the Union wasn’t. :’)

[Sherman Logan]

It's generally agreed Antietam/Sharpsburg was inconclusive on the field, but forced the Confederates to retreat and was therefore strategically a Union victory. Not a complete victory, due to the incompetence of McClellan and Burnside, but enough of one to allow Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. This ended southern hopes of British intervention, and therefore for practical purposes ended their hopes of winning the war.

That's about as decisive a strategic victory as one could hope for.

[org.whodat]

Didn’t realize there was an argument as to what happened.

[Sherman Logan]

Well, you’re the one who claimed the South kicked the cr*p out of the Union there. This is not an accurate representation of what actually happened.

[org.whodat]

Out number two to one. LOL

[org.whodat]

Oh, I did not claim anything, it is fact!

[ErnBatavia]

One of my dreams ...once I don't have the tiedown of an elderly Alzheimers afflicted mother...is to take my cheapie (and as yet, virtually unused) Christmas gift metal detector and travel to some rural area where Civil War activity took place and mine some miniballs or relics.

What a rush. I live in southern California, where nothing much is older than 1950's.......to pull something out of the ground, where it fell 125 years ago would be the hoot of all hoots for me.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) “Some of these houses are over *twenty* years old.” — Steve Martin, from ‘L.A. Story’

[SunkenCiv]

I didn't get "Dirty Bess Bonney" from being an "innocent!"

This has something to do with shivering your timbers, doesn't it?

[TADSLOS]

Fascinating read. Thanks for posting this.