Civil War History - "What if..." DiscussionsWhat if they had attacked instead of digging in...? What if he was in charge of the army instead...? Did you ever have a "What if..." question, and you weren't sure where to post it? Here's the place to ask these speculative questions!
Was snooping around the national hurricane center's site and stumbled on something interesting.
The only three year span between hurricane landfalls on the mainland US was between 1861 and 1865.
Typically it's around 2 per year.
What impact do you suppose more normal weather would have had - say one gulf coast hurricane and one hitting between SC and VA? Would it have favored the Union or the Confederacy?
I think hurricane like weather would be a good referee and cause both sides to go to their corners and sulk, plan and or whatever.
The weapons prone to inconsistant fire due to wetness and such; I think both sides wouldn't attempt anything but, tactics which would be more hand to hand, bayonet, sword use.
Then the roads would be soup with mud. So, it wouldn't be successful either, and even with cavalry; the mud would cause horses to work harder and energy spent; would tire in half the time as normal. So, until the roads would be decent; as to move the soldiers,wagons, beef on hoof, artillery, etc.; they would make little or no progress.
Other than laying down planks or half logs to make a 'highway'--or by railroad; progress and movement would be limited, in my opinion.
I suspect that depending on the damage the weather caused, e.g. flooding, down trees, bridge and or road wipe outs; this too would effect troop movements and tactics used.
Just some thoughts.
Respectfully submitted for consideration,
M. E. Wolf
Was snooping around the national hurricane center's site and stumbled on something interesting.
The only three year span between hurricane landfalls on the mainland US was between 1861 and 1865.
Typically it's around 2 per year.
What impact do you suppose more normal weather would have had - say one gulf coast hurricane and one hitting between SC and VA? Would it have favored the Union or the Confederacy?
I'm sure it would have had some, but there were big storms about. They just didn't quite rate on the official scale. If a sudden hurricane were to have a major effect, it would almost have to be on the Union Navy, possibly in the blockade off Mobile, Charleston, or Wilmington.
The three out-of-the-ordinary weather events that had the biggest effect on the armies might be the December 1864 ice storm around Nashville that delayed Thomas' attack on Hood a few days, the massive system of rain that drenched both Rosecrans' Tullahoma Campaign and Lee's retreat from Gettysburg in late June-early July of 1863, and the unusually cold winter in 1864-65 that froze the Hudson River. (That last one prevented farms on the Hudson from delivering contracted animal feed to New York for shipment to Grant's forces at City Point, causing a logistical crisis).
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
An interesting question and an interesting statistic.
I think the answer depends an awful lot on where exactly the storms hit and how strong they are. The biggest potential loser would be the U.S. Navy. Multiple ships lost to the storm would make an already porous blockade even more so. However, imagine hits at Savanna or maybe Charleston and Mobile. A fairly good hit on Confederate territory would strain an already fragile Confederate logistical system - port facilities damaged - roads and bridges washed out - railroad tracks washed away. Not to mention the hit to morale if, say, the Georgia or South Carolina troops find out that their loved ones back home have been wacked by Mother Nature.
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
crippled the Confederacy. It rained practically every day Lee was across the Potomac River, except during the Gettysburg battle of three days.
Stuart nearly didn't get his artillery across the high waters he found on the Potomac River, when crossing into Maryland.
Lee found high water on the Susquehanna River, fords flooded and a lack of pontoon boats to cross and recross that river. Lee would never capture Harrisburg, because of the high water. Union units were protecting the few bridges, Lee could have taken, coming and going. Lee was able to move his army quickly to the Potomac River after Gettysburg, build a defensive line, and cross days later, when the river water receded.
"The Potomac was found to be so much swollen by the rains that had fallen almost incessantly since our entrance into Maryland as to be unfordable."
R.E. Lee
General
CivilWarTalk.com -
A free and friendly Civil War community. 
What if the weather had been normal 
Linear Mode
