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__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
Now, the question is, was this true scientifically (was there something in the gun powder that "seeds" the clouds and makes it rain) or was this just an observation from a weary soldier who found out it rained a lot in Tennessee?
Stranger things have occurred, Fan. Wasn't it Galileo who was censured for claiming that the earth wasn't the center of the universe? I can poopoo the flat earth people, but I find it perplexing that there is such a learned division on global warming. (I don't believe in man-made consequences, nor whether there is impeding doom, but the implications are far too serious to reject offhand.)
There was not always a rain after an artillery battle. Example: did it rain on September 18th after "artillery hell" at Sharpsburg/Antietam? My judgement: coincidence. That an artillery fight preceeding a rain that was moving in (as it often happens) is purely accidental. Who was it that pointed out that it often rains in Tennessee? If it rains weekly, a few of the artillery fights are going to coincide with a rain.
Did I remember to welcome you to the board?
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Sherman made good use of Pioneers. As Johan Steele mentioned, during the Atlanta Campaign there where designated Pioneer units. Sherman returned them to the regiments.
When he was marching north through the Carolinas, whether or not separate units, the Pioneers managed 10 miles per day through swamps by cutting and cordouring roads. Apparently, these were people who knew how to sharpen an axe and could cut down a six-inch tree in three strokes; trim the branches, cut it to length, and move on to the next in about a minute.
At the risk of betraying a confidence, Johan's father wears the crossed-axe patch when he gets out of the house. He is tougher at his age than I was 20 years ago.
Sherman's strength was not in creating the Pioneer, but in recognizing and using their particular abilities.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Ole... thank you. I have viewed my father as a god for the last 20 odd years. When you have an opportunity to appreciate qualitty and integrity it is truly priceless.
My father has been priceless to me when it comes to understanding just what a Pioneer could do in a few hours. Just the contributions to easing camp life for just one Pioneer, camp chairs & stools helping w/ improving living quarters fortifications. A few Pioneers could literally improve & transform a camp in just a few hours. A few niceties... a chair or stool, improved chimney in a barrack etc, all could make an enormous difference in morale.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
A fine gentleman on another forum supplied these links, in response to my inquiries.
There might be something to it, if there are already some nice nimbus clouds around. The Chinese believe in it and spend some serious money each year "making it rain". There's an explanation of the principle here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/...guns_0805.html
I forgot what culture did it, but one believed that by mimicking thunder, it would inspire the heavens to rain. No where have I read that any Civil War artillerist attempted to emulate that custom. I think they were too busy trying to stay alive, drive back the enemy or disable (kill or maime) them.
If an artillery barrage could create rain, Hiroshima and Nagasaki ought to have created a typhoon to talk about. And then, we might talk about the rains that came without the influence of artillery. Naaah. A nice subject to think about, but there is no connection.
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Thank you all for your kind words and for your excellent answers. My friend and I will do some more research on her relative and submit that to the boards soon. We have read the Pioneer Brigade website that you gave us and got most of our info from there. But we're trying to sift through the letters and see if there is anything of importance or significance there. Unfortunately his letters become rather vague once the Brigade was disbanded and he had to go back to his other duties.
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