1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910299445603321

Autore

Whisonant Robert C

Titolo

Arming the Confederacy : How Virginia’s Minerals Forged the Rebel War Machine / / by Robert C. Whisonant

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2015

ISBN

3-319-14508-8

Edizione

[1st ed. 2015.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (211 p.)

Disciplina

553.09755

Soggetti

Earth

Geology

Mineral resources

Historical geology

History

Culture—Study and teaching

Popular Earth Science

Mineral Resources

Historical Geology

History, general

Regional and Cultural Studies

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Minerals and Warfare -- Terrain and a Tale of Two Nations -- The Land They Fought For -- Niter and Gunpowder -- Bullets, Firearms, and Colonel Chiswell’s Mines -- The Lead Mines Under Attack -- The Saltville Salt Works -- Two Battles and a Massacre -- Iron, Civilizations, and War -- Virginia’s Iron Industry in the Civil War -- Coal, Confederate Mines, and the CSS Virginia -- Confederate Railroads -- Union Raiders in the New River Valley -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This is a fresh look at the American Civil War from the standpoint of the natural resources necessary to keep the armies in the field. This story of the links between minerals, topography, and the war in western



Virginia now comes to light in a way that enhances our understanding of America’s greatest trial. Five mineral products – niter, lead, salt, iron, and coal – were absolutely essential to wage war in the 1860s. For the armies of the South, those resources were concentrated in the remote Appalachian highlands of southwestern Virginia. From the beginning of the war, the Union knew that the key to victory was the destruction or occupation of the mines, furnaces, and forges located there, as well as the railroad that moved the resources to where they were desperately needed. To achieve this, Federal forces repeatedly advanced into the treacherous mountainous terrain to fight some of the most savage battles of the War.