GDG- Jackson pushing Lee

[Margaret D. Blough]

Bob,

I agree. Underground mines are still dangerous places to work, and they were far more so nearly 150 years ago.  My grandfather Wardlaw was very proud of the fact that Scotland, where he was born and raised and began his working life as a coal miner, had the first schools of practical mining for rank and file coal miners which he attended. I still have his certificates and his notebooks from his studies there, notebooks that are full of geology and higher mathematics.  The amount of training and the fact that Scotland had an excellent system of basic education for working class children made Scots very much in demand as mine foremen.  I have no doubt that an experienced coal miner could readily disable or effectively destroy a mine, even with the technology available then, but getting oneself in, do what one needs to do, and get out safely is not for amateurs. 

Regards,

Margaret


-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Bob Huddleston" <huddleston.r at comcast.net> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> And there in lies the answer: nowhere that I am aware of are there any 
> discussion about collecting either the knowledge or equipment to damage the 
> mines. And even the overly optimistic Lee and his fellows in the ANV must 
> have realized that getting to the mines and being able to hang around long 
> enough to do something without the intervention of the Federals would have 
> been very difficult. 
> 
> While the miners may not have been supportive of the Republicans, to put it 
> mildly :>), had their livelihoods been in jeopardy, the Rebels would have 
> found themselves involved in a nasty guerilla war. In a stand up fight, the 
> miners against the Rebel cavalry would have led to their defeat. But I doubt 
> that the miners would have fought like that. The ANV, in a hostile 
> neighborhood, with no friends, would have led to this being the discussion 
> group dedicated to the Battle of Schuylkill County. :>) 
> 
> Take care, 
> 
> Bob 
> 
> Judy and Bob Huddleston 
> 10643 Sperry Street 
> Northglenn, CO 80234-3612 
> huddleston.r at comcast.net 
> 
> "The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane." 
> ---Mark Twain, 1907 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com] 
> On Behalf Of Tom Ryan 
> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 6:03 PM 
> To: GDG 
> Subject: RE: GDG- Jackson pushing Lee 
> 
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> Margaret, 
> 
> My family is from Schuylkill County, and were minors in the Shenandoah and 
> Frackville area just north of Pottsville (about 40 miles NE of Harrisburg), 
> which was easily accessible. The Rebels had developed explosives technology 
> during the war in their Torpedo Bureau and Submarine Service, and used it 
> primarily against Union river boats. I do not know that Lee had any 
> explosives experts along with him in Pennsylvania, but it is possible. 
> 
> The Mollies would be hard pressed against a brigade of cavalry with horse 
> artillery. Those folks would have had mixed emotions anyway, since they did 
> not like the Republican government much at all. They had their own version 
> of the draft riots in that county. 
> 
> Lacking explosives, the raiders would likely have done as much damage with 
> artillery as possible, while trying to set fire to the mine shafts. If they 
> had intended to go there as part of the invasion plan, they likely had 
> worked out an MO beforehand for doing as much damage as possible. 
> 
> There were some mines in the Shenandoah area that burned for decades after 
> they accidentally caught on fire in more recent years. They are near 
> impossible to put out. 
> 
> Regards, Tom 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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