GDG- Jackson pushing Lee

[Margaret D. Blough]

>>If the Union army had delayed in following Lee into Pennsylvania in 1863,
you have to wonder whether Lee would have decided to send a detachment to
blow up and/or set fire to the coal mines after he captured Harrisburg,
since there were mines just a few miles further to the northeast.

Regards, Tom<<

Easier said than done, including the issue of whether lines of communication could be maintained with the Confederacy. Scranton, for instance, is about 120 miles from Harrisburg.  As for blowing up coal mines or setting fire to coal mines, don't forget that this was before dynamite and, while methane gas naturally occurring in coal mines and coal dust itself can be highly explosive, that is even trickier, even if you are an experienced underground coal miner (my late grandfather was a miner, mine foreman, and certified to use dynamite. I keep some of my personal records in one of his old dynamite boxes). In addition, mine fires are complex things, very dangerous and often next to impossible to put out, but I haven't actually heard of instances of fires being intentionally set.  A lot also would depend on the size of the detachments; I don't think you would have seen Pennsylvania anthracite miners passively stand by and watch their livelihoods destroyed. Don't forget that those anth
racite fields were the birthplace of the Molly Maguires.

Regards,

Margaret




-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Tom Ryan" <pennmardel at mchsi.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> >>Early in the war, Jackson wanted to take an army into the North to destroy 
> > their war-related industries. Davis and Lee were slow to come around to 
> > Jackson's strategy, but, by late 1862 and again in 1863, Lee apparently 
> > recognized that the concept had some merit. << 
> 
> < The 
> trick is in the execution (and getting someone to do it) and the logistics. 
> Did the ANV ever have the resources to operate in enemy territory for 
> prolonged periods? It is far easier said than done to control and/or 
> disable underground coal mines, which, in Pennsylvania were mostly in the 
> Northeast (anthracite) and the west, the bituminous Pittsburgh Seam which 
> was on the other side of the Alleghenies from where Lee entered Pennsylvania 
> as is was the Pittsburgh area with its factories and munitions industry. 
> And, while Pennsylvania was one of the two most industrialized northern 
> states, Northern industrial strength wasn't confined to a few areas.>> 
> 
> Margaret, 
> 
> Actually I am more of an observer here rather than an advocate of either 
> approach. I do find it interesting to kick these ideas around though. From 
> what I recall, Jackson was anxious to go North early on, and had requested 
> an army of some 40,000 which he thought was enough to do the job. 
> Apparently Lee and Davis were skeptical of the merits of such an expedition 
> at that time. However, when Lee went North in 1863, he appeared to have the 
> same outcome in mind that Jackson had earlier. That is, to bring about a 
> political solution to the war by forcing the Lincoln administration to come 
> to the table for peace negotiations. This would come about, as Lee saw it, 
> by the Northern public demanding an end to the war. 
> 
> Jackson, I believe, wanted to bring the North to its knees by destroying its 
> warmaking capability. Jackson may have believed the Union army was too slow 
> to catch up with him if he went North. 
> 
> If the Union army had delayed in following Lee into Pennsylvania in 1863, 
> you have to wonder whether Lee would have decided to send a detachment to 
> blow up and/or set fire to the coal mines after he captured Harrisburg, 
> since there were mines just a few miles further to the northeast. 
> 
> Regards, Tom 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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