Did rocks help the North win the war?

[CSA Today]

"The outcome of the Civil War was influenced by many factors on both sides, including population, finances, the availability of weaponry, naval power and military leadership.

But in a recent study published by the Geological Society of America, a North Carolina professor suggests a less obvious factor: rocks.

"It is not an overstatement to say that rocks helped determine the outcome of the Civil War," said Scott Hippensteel, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "Geology determines terrain, and terrain can be exploited by a skilled commander on both offense and defense."


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article77862987.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Private Watkins]

(Presented without comment...)

 

[leftyhunter]

"The outcome of the Civil War was influenced by many factors on both sides, including population, finances, the availability of weaponry, naval power and military leadership.

But in a recent study published by the Geological Society of America, a North Carolina professor suggests a less obvious factor: rocks.

"It is not an overstatement to say that rocks helped determine the outcome of the Civil War," said Scott Hippensteel, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "Geology determines terrain, and terrain can be exploited by a skilled commander on both offense and defense."


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article77862987.html#storylink=cpy

Great article. If it wasn't for rocks the Confederacy would have easily won and we would all be singing Dixie. Yes I read the article.
Leftyhunter

 

[Bee]

"Geology determines terrain, and terrain can be exploited by a skilled commander on both offense and defense."

Almost every misunderstanding I have had about a battle has been due to my lack of understanding of the battlefield, itself. I have been admonished more than once that one cannot understand many of the command decisions until one sees the battlefield. I hope to remedy much of this confusion as I tramp the fields of Gettysburg in September (and hopefully not run into any rocks)

 

[huskerblitz]

Great article. If it wasn't for rocks the Confederacy would have easily won and we would all be singing Dixie. Yes I read the article.
Leftyhunter

We all know Dixie rocks anyway!

 

[leftyhunter]

We all know Dixie rocks anyway!

If you mean Southern artists like Elvis Muddy Waters Johnny Lee Hooker let's just add all of Sun Records your right. On the other hand their not Confederates either. Neither did they have problems dealing with rocks. Problems with women pharmaceuticals and booze yes but not hard minerals.
Leftyhunter

 

[huskerblitz]

If you mean Southern artists like Elvis Muddy Waters Johnny Lee Hooker let's just add all of Sun Records your right. On the other hand their not Confederates either. Neither did they have problems dealing with rocks. Problems with women pharmaceuticals and booze yes but not hard minerals.
Leftyhunter

Just a little play on words.....

 

[KeyserSoze]

View attachment 100224
(Presented without comment...)

All in all an interesting article.

 

[Youngblood]

I was thinking saltpeter rock for powder.

 

[John Winn]

It's a clever notion but we could just as easily say that volcanism or glaciation helped the Union win as those are two primary forces in landscape formation (certainly as important as the type of rock - which is itself dependent on forces such as heat and pressure). So there. I have spoken.

 

[dlavin]

If we say terrain shaped the course of battles, then yes I agree since most all generals looked to take advantage of key terrain before their opponents. But to take it further and say rocks helped win the war..i dunno, its a stretch. Might as well say weather did the same.

 

[Brenal]

Helped a bit here......

 

[Scottish Rebel]

Unfortunately,this rock certainly helped the North win the war.

 

[Rio Bravo]

Helped a bit here......View attachment 100285

This is just what I was about to Post Brenal - Great minds think alike !!! It was the 9th Louisiana - One of the Tigers' Greatest Moments in the War. Rio

 

[reading48]

They sure did...in the movie Gettysburg....when Sam Hood was told to take that position by Gen Longstreet..he replied '' I protest.... all they have to do is throw rocks down on us''....

 

[CheathamHill]

No.

 

[Gene Green]

Confederates used rocks at Rocky Face Ridge at a point known as Dug Gap.
J. Hamp SeCheverell of the 29th Ohio remembered:

[T]he order was given to advance, which was executed with a rush despite the deadly volleys that were cutting through our ranks. Up! Up! We go to death or victory! And commenced to scale the obstructions close to their works; and now a storm of deadly missiles are hurled against us. Rocks, boulders, and even cart wheels come crashing down upon us. Yet we moved steadily in the deadly advance until ordered back by our officers, when we retired a few paces to reform our line, the fallen trees only separating us from the enemy. Here we made determined and bloody fight, but having no support to cover our flank from the left, yet the regiment stubbornly stood its ground, returning shot for shot until its ammunition was exhausted. More was secured from the cartridge boxes of the dead and wounded, and with this we fought on, determined to hold the position until reinforcements should reach us. Just before dusk an order came from the commanding general for the Twenty Ninth regiment to retire, all the other regiments having done so some time previous…. Our losses in killed and wounded was more than double that of any other regiment engaged: Killed 26, wounded 67, captured 1: total 94.
Kid Rock stole Lynyrd Skynyrd's rock.

 

[CheathamHill]

They sure did...in the movie Gettysburg....when Sam Hood was told to take that position by Gen Longstreet..he replied '' I protest.... all they have to do is throw rocks down on us''....

So a line in a Ted Turner movie (albeit a good one) gives credence to rocks being the straw the broke the camel's back that allowed the North to be victorious?

 

[Rebel_Giratina]

It's no secret that geography shapes history. And geology is the shaper of geography.

 

[Aussie Billy Sherman]

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