Record Display for the EPA National Library Catalog
RECORD NUMBER: 193 OF 2281Main Title | Arming the Confederacy How Virginia's Minerals Forged the Rebel War Machine / [electronic resource] : | ||||
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Type | EBOOK | ||||
Author | Whisonant, Robert C. | ||||
Publisher | Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, | ||||
Year Published | 2015 | ||||
Call Number | ######## | ||||
ISBN | 9783319145082 | ||||
Subjects | Science (General) ; Geology ; Mines and mineral resources ; History ; Humanities ; Regional planning | ||||
Internet Access |
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Collation | XV, 206 p. 52 illus. online resource. | ||||
Notes | Due to license restrictions, this resource is available to EPA employees and authorized contractors only |
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Contents Notes | 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. 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. |