WAR AND THE WEATHER, 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWAKD POWEES. C. E. 
 
 REVISED EDITION. 
 
 
 :, wis. 
 
 E. POWERS. 
 1890. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, 
 
 BY EDWARD POWERS, 
 in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 PRESS OF KNIGHT & LEONARD CO., CHICAGO, 
 
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. 
 
 rr^IIE first edition of this book was published in 
 Chicago in 1871, a short time before the occur- 
 rence of the great fire which swept away so large 
 a portion of that city, and the greater part of it was 
 destroyed in that conflagration, together with the 
 stereotype plates. It was not republished ; but the 
 author adopted, instead, the plan of bringing his 
 subject forward by means of public lectures. Other 
 matters, however, prevented a continuance of this ; 
 and his plan for benefiting the human race, and 
 more especially the farmers of America, has, for 
 many years, been held in abeyance. In view, how- 
 ever, of the attention which has been directed in 
 recent years to schemes of irrigation for the arid 
 regions of the West and the manifest impossi- 
 bility of supplying, in that way, the needs of vast 
 sections of the country where the rainfall is never 
 sufficient ; in view, also, of the often recurring 
 drouths that aifiict even those portions of the 
 country w r hich are the most highly favored by 
 nature it is believed that the present is an appro- 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 priate time for again calling attention to a means of 
 relief as yet untried, but which has in it a promise 
 of most beneficent results. 
 DELAVAN, Wis., Sept. 1, 1890. 
 
WAR 
 
 idea that rain can be produced by human 
 agency, though sufficiently startling, is not one 
 which, in this age of progress, ought to be consid- 
 ered as impossible of practical realization. Aside 
 from its connection with the superstitions of certain 
 savage tribes, it is an opinion of comparatively 
 recent origin, and is one which cannot be regarded 
 as belonging, in any degree, to a certain class of 
 notions which prevail among the unthinking, and 
 which, being based neither on reason nor observed 
 facts, are respectable, if at all, only for their anti- 
 quity; but, on the contrary, it is one which is con- 
 fined principally to those who are accustomed to 
 draw conclusions only from adequate premises, and 
 whose belief in the matter referred to has generally 
 been founded on facts which have come under their 
 own observation. "When numerous observers, each 
 independently of the others, arrive at an identical 
 conclusion, in reasoning from facts which they have 
 separately noticed in widely different fields, such 
 conclusion is certainly worthy of respect, and may 
 be assumed to contain the elements of truth. Of 
 this nature is the idea under consideration the 
 
6 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 belief that rain has been, and can be, brought on 
 by heavy discharges of artillery. 
 
 In collecting some of the facts bearing on this 
 question and submitting them to the public, the 
 object of the writer has been to awaken a more 
 general interest in the subject, in the hope that 
 Congress may be induced to cause some experi- 
 ments to be made for the purpose of developing 
 the natural principle that seems to be involved, and 
 determining if it cannot be made of practical use 
 to the country. If it should be conceded as it 
 must be from the evidence that will be presented 
 that battles have produced changes in the weather, 
 it would seem to be an eminently proper subject 
 for legislative action to provide for an investigation 
 of the conditions under which these changes can be 
 made. If lightning and thunder and rain have 
 been brought on by the agency of man, when 
 bloodshed and slaughter only were intended, this 
 surely can be done without these latter concomi- 
 tants. And when we consider the grand results 
 that would flow from an assured power arid well 
 defined method of causing rain to fall at will the 
 mighty step that would thereby be made by man 
 towards the complete control over nature to which 
 he aspires the bare possibility that such a power, 
 heretofore considered as a prerogative of the Deity 
 alone, is within his reach, ought to be sufficient to 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 7 
 
 lead to an earnest inquiry into the truth of the 
 matter, and to an investigation as to the most 
 economical and effective means of applying it, if it 
 should be found to exist. That there is the strong- 
 est reason for believing that this achievement is pos- 
 sible, I have the means of showing; but to verify 
 the truth of the theory by which such power is 
 claimed, and to determine its limits and conditions, 
 can only be done by a well regulated series of 
 experiments with powder and cannon and other 
 appliances. Such experiments, when made, as event- 
 ually they surely will be, should be made at the 
 public expense ; for it is the public who would be 
 benefited in the event of their success. The art of 
 regulating the weather to some extent, if such an 
 art should ever be acquired, is not one on which a 
 patent could ever be obtained, nor would the busi- 
 ness be one in which a monopoly could ever be 
 exercised by an individual. The agricultural class, 
 it is true, would be the one which would be the 
 most directly benefited by it, but the prosperity of 
 this class, as a general rule, leads to the prosperity 
 of all the others. 
 
 Before siibmitting the evidence by which I pro- 
 pose to show the connection between artillery firing 
 and rains, or endeavoring to present a reasonable 
 theory for the assumed direct relation between the 
 two, it may be well to offer a few remarks in 
 
8 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 regard to the commonly accepted theory of rains in 
 general. The air, as is well understood, is the 
 great reservoir in which is collected and stored up 
 the water from which all storms are formed. 
 Extending around the earth to the height of forty 
 or fifty miles, it is capable of holding in suspension 
 a vast amount of this fluid, which it receives from 
 evaporation from the ocean, from lakes, rivers, 
 pools, and from all portions of the earth's surface 
 where any moisture is present. The water, when so 
 evaporated, passes into the air in the form of a 
 transparent and perfectly invisible vapor, and the 
 warmer the air, the greater the amount of this 
 vapor it is capable of absorbing. Rain is formed 
 by the condensation of this vapor and its precipita- 
 tion to the earth ; a partial condensation first form- 
 ing clouds, and rendering the vapor visible. This 
 condensation is supposed to be caused by the cool- 
 ing of the air in which it occurs, whereby the 
 amount of vapor which it is capable of holding is 
 lessened. Thus a warm current of air saturated 
 with moisture meets a cooler current, and the cold 
 of the latter condenses a portion of the aqueous 
 vapor contained in the former, and clouds and rain 
 are the result.* 
 
 * Rain is generally produced by the rapid union of two or more volumes 
 of humid air differing considerably in temperature ; the several portions, 
 when mingled, being incapable of absorbing the same amount of moisture 
 that each would retain if they had not united. If the excess is great it falls 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 It may be added, in connection with this theory, 
 that the greater portion of the aqueous vapor 
 which, by its condensation, forms our rains in 
 North America, is produced by evaporation from 
 the Pacific Ocean. The evaporation from the land 
 and from the streams and lakes, though immense in 
 its total volume, is small compared with that from 
 the ocean, and furnishes but an insignificant portion 
 of the water that falls as rain. This becomes 
 apparent when we consider that as much water 
 must come to us from the ocean as runs into the 
 ocean by our rivers. It follows, from this fact, that 
 there must be streams of aqueous vapor flowing 
 above us as great, in the volume of water they 
 carry, as are the rivers that convey back to the 
 ocean the waters that fall to the earth. Indeed, it 
 is reasonable to believe that these aerial streams are 
 vastly greater than are the rivers which they 
 replenish, for not all the waters which they carry 
 fall to the earth. Vast quantities must pass over 
 us without being condensed until they reach the 
 Atlantic or Arctic Ocean or Northern Europe. 
 There is a great and nearly constant air current 
 moving eastward and northeastward over the Unit- 
 ed States which bears along with it this aqueous 
 
 as rain; if itfsof slight amount it appears as cloud. The production of 
 rain is the result of the law that the capacity of the air for moisture decreases 
 in a higher ratio than the temperature. (Silliman's Principles of Physics or 
 Natural Philosophy, page 656.) 
 
10 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 vapor. All our storms, except a few from the Gulf 
 of Mexico, originate in tliis current, and move east- 
 ward and northeastward along with it. Prof. M. 
 F. Maury, who is recognized as a great scientific 
 investigator, and whose work on the " Physical 
 Geography of the Sea," was the result of great 
 study and research and of a system of observations 
 devised by him and carried out by navigators in all 
 parts of the w T orld, demonstrated in that work many 
 years ago the probable existence of this current, 
 and it has been confirmed in later years by the 
 observations of the signal corps of the United 
 States Army. If there were no oceans the earth 
 would be rainless, and were it not for our vapor- 
 bearing current from the Pacific, our country would 
 be as barren as Sahara. I do not say that the evapo- 
 ration from the land and its waters is without its 
 effects in giving rain. When the moister current 
 above takes on the action which causes condensation 
 of its vapor, the surface stratum of the atmosphere is 
 drawn more or less into the motion and adds to 
 the result. But it is mainly from the ample stores 
 of aqueous vapor, borne along at a high elevation 
 by the vast moving body of air of which mention 
 has been made, that rain many times has been 
 and at any time could be drawn by artificial means. 
 Nature has provided an abundance of water for 
 refreshing our parched fields in times of drouth, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 11 
 
 and has placed it within our reach. The sun is 
 forever at work evaporating it for us from the 
 Pacific, and in giving motion to the winds that bear 
 it to us in never ending streams. It is for us to 
 tap these streams and cause the waters to fall when 
 the means provided by nature to produce this result 
 fail to act at the proper times. 
 
 But dismissing for the present the subject of the- 
 ories, let us proceed to facts facts not one of 
 which, perhaps, would be of any significance if it 
 stood alone and unsupported by the others; but 
 which, taken in the aggregate, furnish the strongest 
 evidence that heavy artillery firing has an influence 
 on the weather and tends to bring rain. 
 
 Let it be premised that, though this statement of 
 facts is far from being a complete one, I have 
 endeavored to make it trustworthy so far as it goes, 
 and to that end have, in every case, referred by 
 foot-notes or in other ways to my authority for the 
 statements made. An important source of informa- 
 tion on the subject treated of has been found in 
 correspondence with officers who took part in our 
 late war ; and in cases where I have depended on 
 such for my facts, I have given their letters in 
 the appendix. Another important source from 
 which facts have been derived, has been the log 
 books of the navy, preserved in the office of the 
 Bureau of Navigation at Washington. The log book 
 
12 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 of a vessel of the United States Navy is a kind of 
 journal, in which is recorded, daily, all important 
 events that take place on board or in which the 
 vessel takes part, together with certain other things 
 which it is the duty of the officer of the watch to 
 note and record at stated periods. Among the lat- 
 ter is a record of the weather; an entry being 
 made in relation to the same generally every hour 
 of the day and night. This record shows the force 
 and direction of the wind, the appearance of the 
 sky, whether clear or cloudy, and if there is rain, 
 hail, sleet, fog, mist or lightning. Drizzling rain, 
 continuous rain, and extraordinarily heavy rain are 
 differently indicated. The temperature and the 
 height of the barometric column are also recorded. 
 These log books, or copies of the same, are trans- 
 mitted to the Navy Department at Washington, and 
 are there kept in the office of the Bureau of Navi- 
 gation. By ascertaining from history or other 
 records the name of any ship or gunboat that took 
 part in any naval battle, or in any attack on a 
 fort or on shore batteries, and looking up also the 
 date on which such action occurred, we can, by 
 searching for the corresponding date in the log 
 book of such vessel, and examining the record for 
 that date and for the days immediately preceding 
 and following it, determine with the utmost pre- 
 cision what the weather was before, during and 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 13 
 
 after such engagement. The evidence which these 
 log books give in regard to the effect of cannon 
 firing in bringing rain, has thus almost the force 
 which actual experiments would have if performed 
 for that sole purpose, though they but imperfectly 
 indicate how much powder or how many guns are 
 required to produce that result. I have examined 
 many of these books, and, as will be seen by the 
 references, have found in them some of my most 
 important facts. Probably many more could be 
 obtained from the same source, as they are a per- 
 fect mine of information on this subject ; but 
 though furnished, through the kindness and cour- 
 tesy of the Bureau, with every facility in the 
 examination of these books, but a limited time 
 could be given to the work, and it has been neces- 
 sarily hasty and far from complete. If the facts, 
 however, which I shall present, are insufficient to 
 convince, it would be in vain to hope to do so with 
 a greater number. 
 
 I shall go back to our war with Mexico for the 
 first instance which I shall mention of rain as a 
 direct result of a battle. This occurred at 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA, MEXICO, 
 
 fought 22nd and 23rd of February, 1847. This 
 was in the dry season in that country; there had 
 been no rain for several months before the battle, 
 
14 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 and there was none for several months after. 
 Three showers, however, followed the first day's 
 engagement, 1 two of which are specially remarkable. 
 On the 23rd, about one or two hours after the 
 severe cannonading that took place between 8 and 
 10 A. M., there was a most violent rainfall for 
 some ten or fifteen minutes. Again, in the after- 
 noon, at about the same interval, after another 
 spell of heavy cannonading, another violent shower 
 of rain fell. The fact before stated, that no rain 
 had fallen for months before the battle, and that 
 none fell for months after at that place, is almost 
 proof positive, not only that the cannonading 
 caused the rain, but that cannonading will bring 
 rain at a time when the atmospheric conditions 
 are apparently in the- highest degree unfavorable 
 to the production of that phenomenon through the 
 ordinary operations of nature. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF PALO ALTO, MEXICO, 
 
 8th May, 1846, also fought in the dry season, was 
 also followed by rain, 2 but the particulars cannot be 
 given. 
 
 THE BATTLE OR SIEGE OF MONTEREY, MEXICO, 
 
 was fought September 21 to 23, 1846, which, like 
 the dates before mentioned, w r as in the dry season. 
 The morning of the 21st was bright and beautiful, 
 
 i See appended letters, Nos. 7 and 27. 2 See No. 30 of Appendix. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 15 
 
 but " soon after the storming of the two forts, Fed- 
 eracion and Soldado, a violent storm came up," and 
 to its " unbroken peltings " General "Worth and the 
 2nd Division were exposed during the night. 3 A 
 similar phenomenon occurred also on the 23rd. 
 The morning was bright and fair, with no indica- 
 tions of rain ; during the day there was heavy 
 cannonading, and u the evening and night closed 
 in with heavy rain." * 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CONTEEEAS, MEXICO, 
 
 was fought August 19, 1847, and at a season when 
 rains were very unfrequent. At Puebla during the 
 months of June and July, and perhaps the begin- 
 ning of August, there had been heavy v falls of 
 rain every afternoon, the skies clearing before sun- 
 set, and the atmosphere being remarkably clear 
 until the next afternoon. Our army commenced 
 its march from Puebla on the 7th, and from that 
 time until the 16th the days were generally, if not 
 always, clear, bright, and beautiful. 5 On the 16th 
 the movement commenced at Chalco, and on the 
 next two days there was some rain, but it was not 
 heavy. The morning of the 19th was bright and 
 clear, 6 and such was also the afternoon 7 at the usual 
 hour for rains. 
 
 But on this day "the battle raged furiously, and 
 
 3 See No. 27 and No. 30. * See No. 28. 5 See No. 26. 6 See No. 28. 
 7 See No. 26 of Appendix. 
 
16 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 for more than three hours the entire force was 
 under a heavy fire." "Night at length put an end 
 to the conflict;" and "a cold rain soon afterwards 
 began to fall in torrents." 8 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CHTJKUBUSCO 
 
 was fought the next day, which was bright and clear. 
 The day after it rained heavily. 9 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MOLINO DEL KEY, MEXICO, 
 
 fought September 8, 1847, was also followed in the 
 afternoon and evening by a hard rain. 10 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CHEPULTEPEC, MEXICO, 
 
 fought September 13, 1847, was also followed by rain ; 
 and whatever doubt may be entertained as to the 
 significance of the facts of rain following the battles 
 of Contreras and Churubusco, on account of their 
 nearness to the wet season, it cannot be doubted that 
 at this time the dry season had fully set in. The day 
 of the battle was followed by a dark and cloudy 
 night, 11 with rain in the early morning of the day fol- 
 lowing. The Mexican historian says : " The morn- 
 ing of the 14th was as gloomy and sad as the destiny 
 of the Republic. There was a mist so thick that 
 objects could not be seen at a few steps distance. 
 Soon after, a light shower began to fall which soaked 
 the soldiers," 12 etc. Later in the morning the weather 
 became clear. 
 
 9 See No. 26 of Appendix. & 10 See No. 27. " See No. 27. 12 See No. 30. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 17 
 
 During the late war of the rebellion, the occurrence 
 of the phenomenon under discussion was frequent. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BIG BETHEL 
 
 may be mentioned as an early instance. This battle, 
 fought in Eastern Virginia on the 10th of June, 1861, 
 was soon followed by a copious rain. 13 
 
 Incessant rains attended General McClellan's 
 
 CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN VIRGINIA, 
 
 in July, 1861. It has been published that his troops 
 " had four separate engagements on four days, and 
 before the close of each, violent rains fell." u The 
 
 BATTLE OF RICH MOUNTAIN, 
 
 fought July 10, was one of these, and was followed 
 by one or two rainy days. 15 
 
 The following engagements, which took place in 
 that section of the country later in the same year, 
 were also each followed quickly by rain, viz. : 
 
 BATTLE OF CARNIFAX FERRY, 16 
 
 fought August 10, 1861. 
 
 BATTLE OF CHEAT MOUNTAIN, 17 
 
 fought 13th and 14th September, 1861. 
 
 BATTLE OF GREEN BRIER, 18 
 
 fought October 3, 1861. 
 
 is See No. 39. is See No. 5. n, is See No. 88. 
 i* See page 79. 10 See No. 17. 
 
18 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 BATTLE OF ALLEGHANY SUMMIT, 19 
 
 fought December 12, 1861. 
 
 None of these are classed as great battles, but 
 the firing was, apparently, sufficient to bring rain. 
 At the first great battle of the war the resulting 
 phenomenon was similar, but more intensified. 
 This, the 
 
 FIRST BATTLE OF BULL KUN, 
 
 was fought on the 21st of July, 1861. The day 
 of the battle was bright and clear all through, but 
 the next day was one of drenching rain. The 
 storm commenced about six o'clock in the morning 
 and continued all day and through the following 
 night; the rain, during the afternoon and night 
 especially, falling in torrents. 20 
 As early in the war as the 
 
 SIEGE OF LEXINGTON, MISSOURI, 
 
 which ended on the 20th of September, 1861, in 
 the surrender of Colonel Mulligan to the Confed- 
 erates, the fact that heavy artillery firing was usu- 
 ally followed by rain, had already been noticed in 
 the West. On the 17th the beleaguered garrison 
 were cut off from the river, and thus deprived of 
 water; but to encourage the soldiers to hold out 
 as long as possible for the arrival of the expected 
 reinforcements, it was represented to them, by their 
 
 is See No. 38. 2 See Nos. 1, 3, 20 and 26 of Appendix. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 19 
 
 officers, that the cannonading would surely bring 
 rain to quench their thirst. And this prediction 
 was fulfilled ; though, unfortunately, they had no 
 way to catch the water which their firing had drawn 
 from the skies, except by spreading their blankets 
 to the shower, and then wringing them out. 21 
 
 In the South, as well as in the East and West, 
 rain followed heavy cannonading. An 
 
 ENGAGEMENT NEAR FORT PICKENS, FLORIDA, 
 
 was an early instance. Flag Officer William W. 
 McKean, commanding Gulf Blockading Squadron, 
 in a report to the Secretary of the Navy dated 
 November 25, 1861, thus mentions the circumstance. 
 
 He says: "Sir I have the honor to inform you 
 
 / i/ 
 
 that on the 22nd instant, a combined attack was 
 made upon the rebels at this place by Colonel 
 Brown, of Fort Pickens, and the United States 
 ships Niagara and Richmond under my command. 
 * * * At ten o'clock, at the firing of the first 
 gun from the Fort (the signal agreed upon), the 
 Niagara stood in, followed by the Richmond, and 
 both ships came to anchor. * * * We immedi- 
 ately opened fire. * * * At six P. M. a sudden 
 squall came up from the northward and westward, 
 the wind blowing very fresh, with heavy rain," etc. 22 
 
 21 See No. 4. See also Greeley's " History of the American Conflict,' 1 Vol. 
 I., page 588. 
 
 22 See Documents accompanying Report of Secretary of Navy, of Decem- 
 ber 1, 1862. 
 
20 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 In the middle portions of the country also, as 
 well as in the East, West and South, the phenome- 
 non referred to was, early in the war, exhibited. 
 The 
 
 BATTLE OF LOGAN'S CROSS ROADS 
 
 is an instance. The author of the " American Con- 
 flict," in speaking of the pursuit of the Confed- 
 erates after this battle, says : "It rained as usual," 23 
 a remark which is understood to recognize a truth 
 which it is the object of this treatise to bring for- 
 ward and which receives still more pointed notice 
 on a subsequent page of that work. 24 
 
 THE BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON, 
 
 which all will remember as one of the first great 
 victories of the war for the Union, affords another 
 instance of the kind under consideration. The siege 
 commenced on the 13th of February, 1862, which 
 was a clear, bright day, as was also the next. The 
 artillery firing commenced on the 14th, by a des- 
 perate fight of an hour's duration between Commo- 
 dore Foote's gunboats and the batteries of the 
 fort; the gunboats finally retiring, badly crippled. 
 The next day the battle w^as renewed by the land 
 forces, and ended in a storm of snow, which in 
 turn was followed by one of rain. 25 The weather 
 this day changed to cold a change which, it is 
 
 23 Vol. II., page 43, 24 Vol. II., page 392, 25 See No. 3, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 21 
 
 presumed, would have occurred if there had been 
 no battle ; but the effect of the cold was to turn 
 in part into snow and sleet the storm which the 
 cannonading brought, and which would otherwise 
 have probably been one wholly of rain. 
 
 fought March 7 and 8, 1862, was followed on the 
 morning of the 9th by a hard rain. 26 
 
 All the important operations of the expedition 
 which was sent under General Burnside and Com- 
 modore (afterwards Eear Admiral) L. M. Goldsbor- 
 ough against the Confederate strongholds in North 
 Carolina, were each quickly followed by rain. The 
 first of these was the attack upon and capture of 
 
 KOANOKE ISLAND, 
 
 on the 7th and 8th of February, 1862. Commodore 
 Goldsborough, in his official report, in speaking of 
 the weather at daylight in the morning of the 7th, 
 says : " The sky gave evident signs of a clear day." 
 In the course of the forenoon his gunboats com- 
 menced an attack on the rebel batteries and gun- 
 boats, which was continued through the day. In 
 the night it commenced to rain, 27 and the next day 
 was rainy throughout. On the second day of the 
 fight, the engagement was renewed by the fleet, 
 
 26 See No. 34 of Appendix. 
 
 27 28 Log of the "Stars and Stripes," See also Am. Conflict, Vol II., p. 
 75, and No, 35 of Appendix, 
 
22 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 while the land forces assaulted and carried the 
 works in the rear. The rain which accompanied 
 and followed this day's action, continued until noon 
 of the day following. 28 
 
 The next important movement of this expedition 
 was against 
 
 NEWBERN, NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 The city was taken on the 14th of March, 1862, 
 but there was much heavy firing on the 13th by the 
 gunboats, and in the night there was a pouring 
 rain. 29 ~No rain fell on the day of the assault and 
 capture of the enemy's works, but the day after 
 was very rainy. 30 
 
 The next and last important operation of the 
 expedition above referred to was the 
 
 CAPTURE OF FORT MACON. 
 
 Fire was opened on this work from General Burn- 
 side's siege guns on the 25th of April, 1862, at 
 about six o'clock in the morning, and was continued 
 until late in the afternoon; four of Commodore 
 Gouldborough's vessels also taking part in the 
 action. The sky that morning was clear, and so 
 remained until about six o'clock in the afternoon. 
 At that hour it became overspread with clouds, and 
 the next afternoon it rained, 31 the rain falling heavily 
 for three hours. 
 
 29 " Am. Conflict," Vol. II. p. 77. so Log of the U. S. Steamer " Delaware." 
 3i Log of U. S. Steamer "Daylight," 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 23 
 
 THE NAVAL ACTION IN HAMPTON ROADS 
 
 in which the U. S. Ships Congress and Cumber- 
 land were destroyed by the Merrimack and other 
 Confederate vessels, furnishes another instance of 
 rain following the discharge of artillery. The fight 
 took place on the 8th of March, 1862, a clear, cool 
 day. The next day the one on which the contest 
 happened between the Merrimack and Monitor 
 there were four hours of drizzling rain. 38 
 
 On the Mississippi River, scarcely an action of 
 any moment occurred that was not followed imme- 
 diately by rain. The engagement which resulted in 
 
 THE CAPTUEE OF NEW MADRID, MISSOURI, 
 
 was a marked instance. The fight took place on 
 the 13th of March, 1862; a heavy cannonade was 
 kept up from both sides through the day, and a 
 violent thunder storm raged through most of the 
 night. 33 
 
 AT ISLAND NO. TEN, 
 
 several instances of the kind occurred. The first 
 was at the general attack that was made on the bat- 
 teries of the island by Commodore Foote's flotilla. 
 This attack was made on the 17th of March, 1862; 
 and during the next day, also, the mortar vessels 
 continued to throw shells into the rebel works. 
 
 32 Log of the U. S. Steamer " Roanoke." See also No. 39. 
 
 33 Am. Conflict, Vol. II., p. 55. 
 
24 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 The weather on the first day was clear, and on the 
 second it was the same until six P. M. At that 
 hour the sky became overcast, and thunder showers 
 followed in the latter part of the night. 84 
 
 ANOTHER INSTANCE OF A SIMILAR KIND OCCURRED AT 
 THE SAME PLACE, 
 
 a short time after. Under date of April 3, 1862, 
 eight to twelve A. M., the Log of the "Benton" 
 says: "Clear and calm and very warm. The Ben- 
 ton, Cincinnati and Carondelet have taken position 
 along the Missouri shore and opened fire on the 
 floating battery and Island. The mortars are also 
 actively engaged." The weather w r hich followed 
 this engagement is thus stated, under date of April 4, 
 From four to eight A. M., "Clear weather until 
 six o'clock, then clouded up and threatened 
 rain." From eight to twelve, " Fresh breeze from 
 E. S. E., attended with much rain." From twelve 
 to four P. M., "Passing showers from southward 
 and eastward until two o'clock ; two o'clock till 
 four clear, with moderate breezes from S. W. S." 
 
 This rain, which took place on the fourth, we 
 may suppose to have been brought on by the action 
 of the third. But there was also an 
 
 ACTION ON THE MORNING OF THE FOURTH, 
 
 which, apparently, produced another rain, and one 
 
 34 Log of the " Benton." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 25 
 
 more violent than the first. The nature of this 
 engagement is thus explained in a dispatch from 
 Flag Officer Foote to the Secretary of the Navy, 
 dated April 4, 1862. He says : " This morning the 
 Benton, Cincinnati and Pittsburg, with three mor- 
 tar boats, opened and continued for more than an 
 hour a fire on the rebels' floating battery at Island 
 No. 10. * * * The shells were thrown from 
 the flotilla into different forts of the island, and 
 into the rebel batteries lining the Tennessee shore." 
 Continuing to quote from the Log Book of the 
 Benton for April 4, 1862, the weather a few hours 
 after this action, and after the other shower had 
 fully cleared away, is thus described : From four 
 to six P. M., " Wind South ; " from six to eight P. M., 
 " Fresh breeze from S. and cloudy ; " from eight to 
 twelve P. M., "Variable winds and heavy showers 
 of rain, accompanied with very vivid and constant 
 lightning and some thunder." It was in this thun- 
 der storm that the gunboat Carondelet ran the 
 rebel batteries. 
 There was still 
 
 ANOTHER KAIN FOLLOWING HEAVY CANNONADING AT 
 ISLAND NO. TEN. 
 
 The firing, as referred to in one of the dispatches 
 of Commodore Foote, dated April 8, 1862, occur- 
 red on the seventh. General Pope is spoken of as 
 
26 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 having crossed the river that day under a heavy 
 fire, and reference is made to the reduction of a 
 fort by two gunboats. The rain occurred on the 
 morning of the eighth, and is mentioned in another 
 dispatch of Commodore Foote of that date as a 
 heavy thunder storm. 35 
 
 As the Island surrendered on the eighth, I have 
 no further thunder storms to record as following 
 cannonading at that point. 
 
 At the 
 
 BOMBARDMENT OF FOKTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP, 
 
 on the Mississippi River, below New Orleans, com- 
 mencing April 18, 1862, two days of rather slow 
 firing, in dry weather, by Farragut's fleet, was fol- 
 lowed, on the morning of the third, by some four 
 hours of rain. 36 
 
 THE GRAND ATTACK UPON AND PASSAGE OF THE FORTS 
 
 and destruction of the rebel fleet on the twenty- 
 fourth, was followed by a terrific thunder storm, 
 lasting about five hours. The attack commenced 
 between three or four o'clock in the morning, under 
 a sky which remained cloudless until four P. M.; 
 and the rain commenced between eleven and twelve 
 A. M. next day. 37 This furious storm was raging 
 when the fleet reached the city of New Orleans. 
 
 35 See Documents accompanying Report of the Secretary of the 
 Navy of December 1, 1862. 
 
 36, 37 Log of the Hartford. See also Am. Conflict, Vol. IL, p. 94. Also 
 appended letter No. 41. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 27 
 
 A thunder storm also followed the 
 
 BOMBARDMENT AND PASSAGE OF THE VICKSBURG 
 BATTERIES 
 
 by some vessels of Farragut's fleet and of the 
 mortar flotilla, on the morning of June 28, 1862. 
 The attack was made at three o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, with some thirteen or fourteen vessels, and 
 while they were steaming past the city the firing 
 was rapid and heavy. The weather at the time was 
 clear, with the exception of some detached clouds, 
 and so remained until midnight of that day. Through 
 the remainder of the night clouds and lightning 
 were seen, and the morning brought several hours 
 of weather "squally, with rain and heavy thunder 
 and lightning." 38 
 
 Again, on the morning of June 30, 
 
 THE MORTAR VESSELS ENGAGED THE VICKSBURG 
 BATTERIES. 
 
 The next morning there was a terrific thunder 
 storm, lasting about two hours. The amount and 
 intensity of the lightning, and the violence of the 
 rain in this storm, were extraordinary. 39 
 
 on the morning of July 15, 1862, was also followed 
 by a storm. An expedition had started up the 
 
 38, 39 Log Book of the U. S. Steamship Hartford. 
 
28 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 Yazoo River, that morning, to destroy the rebel 
 ram "Arkansas," when it met that vessel coming 
 down. A severe fight ensued, in which two of our 
 vessels were disabled ; after which the Arkansas 
 escaped into the Mississippi, and took refuge under 
 the Yicksburg batteries, from which unsuccessful 
 attempts were made to cut her out, the last being 
 made in the evening. The weather was clear at 
 the time this fighting commenced, as it had been 
 for nearly two weeks previous ; but between four 
 and six in the afternoon there was a shower; and 
 about midnight a heavy rain commenced which 
 lasted, with varying intensity, until four o'clock in 
 the afternoon of the following day.* After this 
 there was another spell of dry weather, broken by 
 
 ANOTHER ENGAGEMENT AT VICKSBUKG, 
 
 occurring on the 22nd of July, 1862. On this day 
 the " Benton," " Louisville " and " Cincinnati " 
 attacked the upper batteries, while the " Essex " 
 and ram " Queen of the West " w r ent down and 
 attacked the rebel ram "Arkansas" in her place at 
 the levee. The action commenced at 4.30 A. M., 
 the weather being at the time clear and calm, goon 
 after the action a light variable wind sprang up. 
 In the afternoon the sky became overclouded, with 
 light west wind. From four to six P. M., clear 
 
 40 Log of the " Benton." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 29 
 
 and calm again. In the evening it again became 
 overcast, with light wind first from south then 
 from west, and after midnight variable. From noon 
 to four P. M. fresh southwest wind with rain. 41 
 
 Tremendous rains fell during the night of each 
 day of 
 
 THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING, OR SHILOH, 
 
 Tennessee, fought on the 6th and 7th of April, 
 1862. The morning of the sixth was clear and 
 beautiful, with no indications of a storm, but the 
 day's terrific battle was followed by a night of 
 drenching rain. 42 The battle of the next day was 
 also succeeded in the night by a fearful storm, 
 which, in this case, consisted of rain, hail and sleet. 
 "An impressed New Yorker," in writing of the 
 retreat of the Confederate army on this terrible 
 night, says : " And to add to the horrors of the 
 scene, the elements of heaven marshalled their 
 forces a fitting accompaniment of the tempest of 
 human desolation and passion which was raging. A 
 cold, drizzling rain commenced about nightfall, and 
 soon came harder and faster, then turned to pitiless, 
 blinding hail. This storm raged with unrelenting 
 violence for three hours. I passed long wagon 
 trains filled with wounded and dying soldiers, with- 
 out even a blanket to shield them from the driving 
 
 *i Log of the " Benton." <2 See appended Letters, Nos. 3, 14, 16 and 28. 
 
30 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 sleet and hail, which fell in stones as large as part- 
 ridge eggs until it lay on the ground two inches 
 deep." 49 
 
 In the list of military conflicts followed by rain, 
 is also to be placed the 
 
 This battle was fought in Western Virginia, on the 
 8th of May, 1862 ; and the circumstances connected 
 with the rain were such as to aid in confirming 
 an officer, who was present, in his belief that rain 
 was a direct result of battle. 50 
 
 In this list is also to be placed General Banks' 
 
 BATTLE OF WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA. 
 
 Banks' retreat from the Shenandoah Valley was 
 made on the 24th and 25th of May, 1862 ; and the 
 battle occurred on the morning of the 25th, which 
 was a dry, hot day. The weather which followed is 
 thus referred to in history, in connection with the 
 movement which was immediately made by General 
 Fremont, with a view to intercept Jackson on his 
 return from his pursuit of Banks; viz., "Through 
 constant rains and over mountain roads that could 
 be made barely passable, he crossed the Allegha- 
 nies and descended into the Valley." 51 
 
 See note on page 60, Vol. II., of " American Conflict." 
 
 so See No. 38. 
 
 51 American Conflict, Vol. II., p. 137. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 31 
 
 AFTER THE BATTLE OF CROSS KEYS, 
 
 fought in the Shenandoah Valley between Generals 
 Fremont and Jackson, on the 8th day of June, 1862, 
 it again rained in that section of the country, 52 and 
 on the night of the ninth the rain had extended to 
 the southeastern part of the State. 53 The battle of 
 Port Republic was fought by the same forces on the 
 ninth, and again on the night of the tenth rain 
 appeared in Southeastern Virginia." 6 * 
 The history of 
 
 GENERAL M'CLELLAN's CAMPAIGN ON THE PENINSULA, 
 
 from the investment of Yorktown to the sanguin- 
 ary battle of Malvern Hill, presents a continued 
 succession of battles and rains. His first advance 
 was commenced on the fourth of April, 1862, and 
 was stopped on the night of the sixth, by the fire 
 of rebel batteries ; and the cannonading that then 
 and soon after ensued was followed on the seventh, 
 eighth and ninth, at the point of observation of the 
 U. S. Steamer Wachusett, with more or less rain 
 each day. In tracing the subsequent rains, in con- 
 nection with the history of the time, great assist- 
 ance is rendered by some extracts which have been 
 kindly furnished from the journal of Major Gen- 
 eral Heintzelman, who commanded an army corps 
 in the campaign. 
 
 52 See Appended Letters No. 5 and 38. 53, 54 See Document No. 80. 
 
32 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 Commencing with the operations immediately 
 preceding the 
 
 CAPTURE OF YOKKTOWN, 
 
 we find from the journal referred to, that on the 
 second of May, 1862, "some five hundred shot and 
 shell were fired by the rebels," also that on the night 
 of the third " the rebels were very busy until after 
 midnight firing." This firing, however, brought no 
 rain, though on the third it " threatened rain." 55 On 
 the night of the third they abandoned their works at 
 Yorktown, and being pursued, the next day there 
 ensued, at 
 
 FOKT MAGRUDEK, 
 
 in front of Williamsburg, a sharp cannonade. 56 During 
 the following night a heavy rain set in. 67 
 The next day was fought the 
 
 BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG. 
 
 It rained through the day and into the night follow- 
 ing. 58 
 
 THE FIGHTING ON THE CHICK AHOMINY, 
 
 between the advance of the army and the rebels, 
 commenced on the twenty-fourth of May. On the 
 twenty-seventh we read of " pouring rains." 59 At 
 this date occurred the 
 
 55 See No. 20 of Appendix. 58 See No. 20. 
 
 56 American Conflict, Vol. II., p. 182, 59 American Conflict, Vol. II., p. 141. 
 
 57 See No. 20 of Appendix, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 33 
 
 BATTLE OF HANOVER COURT HOUSE, 
 
 and on the thirtieth there was a heavy thunder 
 storm, the rain falling in torrents. 60 
 
 On the afternoon of May 31, and morning of 
 June 1, was fought the great 
 
 BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS, OR SEVEN PINES. 
 
 On the morning of the second it began to rain; 
 during the night of that day it rained heavily; and 
 on the night of the third and morning of the fourth 
 the very flood-gates of heaven seemed to be opened. 
 By the fearful rains which followed this battle, the 
 surrounding country was flooded, and movements on 
 the part of either army rendered, for a time, almost 
 impossible. 81 
 
 The weather after this rain remained unsettled 
 for some days but without attempting to show 
 a connection between this fact and the firing that 
 occurred in the meantime between the two armies 
 still facing each other on the Chickahominy, I will 
 pass over a period of about two weeks to notice 
 some 
 
 GUNBOAT FIRING ON JAMES RIVER. 
 
 In the journal of Major General Heintzelman it 
 is recorded, under date of June 17, 1862, "The 
 gunboats were firing nearly two hours to-day ; " and 
 
 eo See No. 20. 
 
 61 See No. 20. Also Gen, McClellan's official dispatches. 
 
34 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 under date of the eighteenth, " Since dark a heavy 
 wind and rain." 62 
 
 ARTILLERY FIRING IN FRONT OF HOOKER. 
 
 Gen. Heintzelman, also, in his journal from 
 which these extracts are given, speaks of musketry 
 and artillery firing along Hooker's front on June 
 21, and of rain on the twenty-second and twenty- 
 third, though neither the firing nor the rains appear 
 to have been of much consequence. 63 
 
 MORE ARTILLERY FIRING. 
 
 Under date of the twenty-fourth it is recorded: 
 "At dawn heavy musketry commenced, soon fol- 
 lowed by artillery ; " and, " Had another heavy rain 
 a little before night." 64 
 
 Let me pause here a moment to remark, what 
 indeed must be obvious, that neither artillery firing 
 nor any means within the resources of nature, can 
 extract an unlimited amount of water from a lim- 
 ited amount of air within a limited time. In the 
 month of June up to and including the date last 
 given, vast quantities of rain had fallen on ground 
 occupied by the contending armies. The presence 
 of so much water in the atmosphere immediately 
 over the scene of these conflicts can only be ac- 
 counted for by the existence of vapor-bearing cur- 
 
 62 63 64 See No. 30 of Appendix, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 35 
 
 rents from the ocean," to which I have already 
 alluded and of which I shall say more hereafter. 
 The famous 
 
 SEVEN DAYS' FIGHT 
 
 commenced in the afternoon of the twenty-sixth of 
 June, 1862, with the battle of Mechanicsville,* 6 though 
 there was an affair on the preceding day that 
 involved a loss of some five hundred men in killed, 
 wounded and missing. On the twenty-seventh was 
 fought the sanguinary 
 
 BATTLE OF GAINES* MILL, 
 
 and on the twenty-eighth there was considerable 
 artillery firing, but no regular battle. The twenty- 
 seventh was a bright clear day, as was also the 
 twenty-eighth, except that on the morning of the 
 twenty-eighth there was, for a time, an appearance 
 as of coming rain ; but on the night of the twenty- 
 eighth and morning of the twenty-ninth, it rained 
 heavily.* 6 This rain appears to have been con- 
 fined to a comparatively limited extent of country. 
 On the twenty-ninth was fought 
 
 THE BATTLE OF SAVAGE ? S STATION. 
 
 A heavy thunder storm followed in the night, 
 passing over a part of the country east of and near 
 the battle-field, though perhaps not reaching the 
 
 65 For the authority for this division, see Greeley's American Conflict, 
 Vol. II., page 167. 66 See No. 26, of Appendix. 
 
36 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 field itself. At a point on the Pamunkey River 
 between White House and the York River, the 
 storm lasted with varying severity for from five to 
 six hours, during two of which the rain fell in 
 torrents. 67 
 
 Next day was fought the battle of Glendale, 
 and on the next day after (July 1, 1862,) the 
 fearful 
 
 BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL. 
 
 A terrific storm followed, commencing before 
 daylight the next morning, 68 and continuing through 
 the day. and during most of the following night; 
 and accompanied, during a portion of its progress, 
 with hail, 69 as well as with thunder and lightning, 
 and torrents of rain. This storm appears to have 
 extended over all the surrounding country. 70 
 
 This day of storm (July 2, 1862,) was the last 
 of the historic seven of battle and retreat ; and 
 after the battle of Malvern Hill there is no account 
 of further cannonading until the morning of the 
 3rd, when, at half -past 10 A. M., the rebels com- 
 menced 
 
 THROWING SHELLS INTO THE CAMP, 
 
 at Harrison's Bar, but were soon driven off by the 
 
 67 See Log of U. S. Steamer Sebago on Pamunkey River. 
 
 68 See Nos. 1, 20, 26 and 41. 
 
 69 Log of Steamer Sebago in Hampton Roads. 
 
 TO See Log of Steamer Sebago in Hampton Roads, and of the Galena on 
 James Rr-er 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 37 
 
 fire of the batteries and of the gunboats. In the 
 evening and night of that day it again rained. 71 
 
 While the army remained inactive at Harrison's 
 Bar, after the above battles, there occurred an 
 instance of 
 
 GUNBOAT FIRING ON JAMES RIVER 
 
 followed by rain. In the journal to which reference 
 has been made, is written, under date of July 15, 
 1862, "there has been some gunboat firing down 
 the river." Also, under same date, "at dark a 
 heavy thunder storm." 72 
 
 Having shown that all the great battles of Gen. 
 McClellan's campaign against Richmond were 
 followed by great rains, and most of the minor 
 collisions by rains more than proportionately heavy, 
 I will next show that rain also followed all the 
 principal engagements of the army of Virginia, 
 commanded by Maj. Gen. Pope, which soon after 
 the date last above referred to, advanced against 
 the enemy in Virginia, by way of Culpepper Court 
 House, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. 
 The first engagement of this campaign was 
 
 fought August 9, 1862, between Gen. Banks' corps 
 and a superior force under Stonewall Jackson. 
 
 71 Log of the U. S. Steamer Galena on James River. 
 
 72 See No. 20 of Appendix. 
 
38 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 Kain followed as usual; 73 but as the amount of 
 artillery firing in this engagement was small, so 
 likewise was the amount of rain which it apparently 
 produced, a certain proportion being observed 
 between the two as compared with some other 
 battles. 74 
 
 The next engagement of any consequence was at 
 the Rappahannock River, on Gen. Pope's retreat, 
 and consisted principally in 
 
 HEAVY ARTILLERY FIRING AT KELLEY 5 S FORD AND 
 RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, 
 
 on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd August, it being par- 
 ticularly heavy on the 21st and 22nd. In the night 
 of the 22nd a tremendous rain set in, which drowned 
 all the fords, and carried away all the bridges at 
 the front, and rendered impossible an aggressive 
 movement which Gen. Pope had meditated. 75 There 
 was also a shower in the afternoon. 
 
 The next heavy artillery firing was on the night 
 of the 26th, followed by still more on the 27th. 
 During this day, different portions of Gen. Pope's 
 forces were engaged with the enemy, the most 
 serious encounter being the 
 
 FIGHT AT BRISTOW STATION, 
 
 in which there was a loss of some three hundred 
 men on each side. This was followed, at about 9 
 
 is See Nos. 11 and 38, Appendix. 75 Am. Conflict, Vol. II., p. 178. 
 % See No. 38. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 39 
 
 o'clock in the evening, by a little rain, and on the 
 day following by a heavy shower. 78 
 We come next to the 
 
 SECOND BATTLE OF BULL KUN 
 
 fought on the 29th and 30th of August, 1862. The 
 battle commenced in the morning of the 29th, and 
 was followed on the morning of the 31st and after- 
 noon of the next day by heavy rains. 77 
 
 The last of this series of engagements was the 
 
 BATTLE OF CHANTILLY, 
 
 fought September 1, 1862. It was commenced at 
 5 P. M., by two divisions under Gen. Keno, which 
 attacked a superior force under Stonewall Jackson, 
 and were repulsed. Afterwards, Gen. Kearney 
 "advanced and renewed the action in the midst of 
 "a thunder-storm so violent that ammunition could 
 "with great difficulty be kept serviceable, while 
 " the roar of cannon was utterly unheard at Centre- 
 " ville, barely three miles distant." 78 To the can- 
 nonading on the last day of the preceding battle 
 this storm should, perhaps, in a great measure be 
 attributed. 
 At the 
 
 GREAT BATTLE OF ANTIETAM, 
 
 in Maryland, the phenomenon of rain following the 
 
 76 See Nos. 20 and 38, Appendix. 77 See Nos. 1, 5, 11, 20, 22, and 38. 
 78 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 188. See also Nos. 11 and 20. 
 
40 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 discharge of artillery was again exhibited. The 
 battle was fought on the lYth of September, 1862; 
 the rain was on the afternoon of the 18th, and con- 
 sisted of a sudden and heavy shower. 79 
 
 THE BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE, OK CHAPLIN^ CREEK, 
 KENTUCKY, 
 
 fought between the armies of Generals Buell and 
 Bragg, on the 8th of October, 1862, furnishes a 
 remarkable instance of rain following artillery 
 firing, during a time in which the state of the 
 atmosphere would be considered by some as exceed- 
 ingly unfavorable to the production of that phe- 
 nomenon. A great drouth was prevailing in the 
 State at that time, causing severe privation and 
 suffering in the army both to men and animals ; 80 
 but the battle seems to have brought a change, for 
 a heavy rain followed. 81 This fact is important, as 
 it shows that a state of drouth by no means proves 
 that there are not ample supplies of aqueous vapor 
 somewhere within reach of the noise and concussion 
 produced by the discharge of ordnance, and which 
 can be drawn on for rain at any time. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE, ARK., 
 
 fought Dec. Y, 1862, furnishes a somewhat similar 
 instance. "We read in history that the weather 
 
 79 See Appended Letters Nos. 1, 2, 22, and 33. 
 
 so Am. Conflict, Vol. II. page 218. si See No. 8. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 41 
 
 at the time was clear and dry; 82 and yet we learn 
 that on the day after the battle it rained. 83 
 The firing at the 
 
 CAPTURE OF VAN BUREN, ARK., 
 
 was also followed by rain. 84 
 A heavy storm followed the 
 
 ATTACK ON THE DEFENCES ON THE NORTH SIDE OF 
 VICKSBURG, 
 
 by the formidable expedition that was sent against 
 that place in December, 1862, under General Sher- 
 man and Admiral Porter. From the commence- 
 ment of the debarkation of the troops, on the morn- 
 ing of the 26th, until the battle, the weather was 
 good, being for the most part "clear and pleasant." 
 There was some preliminary fighting on the 28th, 
 and on the 29th the grand assault was made, the 
 battle commencing early in the day. Between four 
 and six in the evening rain commenced to fall, and 
 from eight to midnight it came down in torrents. 
 This rain continued until about eight o'clock the next 
 morning. 85 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO, OR STONE RIVER, 
 
 is one of the many great battles that have com- 
 menced in fine weather and ended in pouring rain. 
 
 82 American Conflict. Vol. II. page 37. 
 
 83 See Nos. 4 and 34, Appendix. 
 
 84 See Appendix No. 4. 
 
 85 Log of the Benton. See also Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 291. 
 
42 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 This battle was fought on the 31st of December, 
 1862, and 1st and 2nd of January, 1863. The first 
 day of the battle was bright 86 and clear, but on the 
 last a heavy storm set in, which continued through 
 the night and a great part of the following day. 87 
 
 We have seen that nearly all 88 the battles, both 
 great and small, of the Eastern armies, up to and 
 including that of Antietam, were followed by rain. 
 After Antietam, the next great battle fought by the 
 Army of the Potomac was the 
 
 BATTLE OF FKEDERICKSBURG, VA., 
 
 fought Dec. 13, 1862, and the same is true of this 
 as of the others. The day of the battle, with the 
 exception that there was a fog in the morning, was 
 bright and sunny, 89 but a heavy storm of rain fol- 
 lowed, commencing on the night of the 15th, while 
 the army was re-crossing the Rappahannock. 90 
 
 Next in order of the battles of the Army of the 
 Potomac was the 
 
 BATTLE OF CHANCELLOKSVILLE, 
 
 fought May 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 1863, and at this, too, 
 the same phenomenon was exhibited. On the third 
 day after the commencement of the movement, in 
 
 86 Greeley's American Conflict, Vol. II. p. 279. 
 
 87 See Letters No. 8, 14, 16, 28 and 29. Also, Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 280. 
 
 88 The battle of South Mountain, Md., fought Sept. 14, 1862, seems to 
 have been the most marked exception to the general rule. 
 
 89 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 344. 
 
 o See Appendix Nos. 1, 2, 13, 22, 31 and 38. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 43 
 
 the midst of a rapid cannonade, there came on a fear- 
 ful thunder storm, and for a time the soldiers fight- 
 ing in the woods were unable to distinguish the 
 " artillery of heaven" from that of earth. 91 In the 
 afternoon and night of May 5, the storm was so 
 violent as to cause a great flood in the Rappahan- 
 nock, sweeping away some of the pontoons forming 
 the bridges on which the army was that night re- 
 crossing the river, thus delaying the movement 
 and threatening for a time to lead to serious conse- 
 quences. 92 
 
 It also rained 93 immediately after the 
 
 BATTLE OF BEVERLEY FORD, VIRGINIA, 
 
 fought June 9, 1863. This was a sharp fight, lasting 
 about half a day, the forces engaged on the Union 
 side consisting, besides cavalry, of two brigades of 
 infantry and two batteries of artillery detached from 
 the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 Following Chancellorsville, the next great encoun- 
 ter of the Army of the Potomac with that of General 
 Lee was 
 
 THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, PA., 
 
 fought July 1, 2 and 3, 1863; and this, too, was fol- 
 lowed by a rain, and one that would compare, in the 
 amount of water that fell, with the rains which had 
 followed any of the previous battles. The battle was 
 
 91 See Appendix No. 24. 93 See Appendix No. 11. 
 
 92 See Appendix Nos. 1, 2, 12, 22, 25 and 38. 
 
44 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 fought in clear weather, except that during the first 
 day's fight there was a slight shower, and again an- 
 other in the evening of that day, but they were both 
 so unimportant as to have been generally unnoticed. 
 The great rain commenced on the night of the 3rd, 
 about six hours after the firing had ceased; and 
 through the 4th, and also part of the 5th, it rained 
 furiously. The storm must also have extended a great 
 distance southwestward, as it caused a flood in the 
 Potomac which lasted several days, stopping in the 
 meantime the retreat of the rebel army. 9 * At West- 
 minster, about thirty miles in a southeasterly direc- 
 tion from the battle-field, the rain seems to have 
 commenced about eighteen hours later than at the 
 latter place; and it continued to rain there heavily 
 through the second night after the battle. 95 
 
 After the return of the Confederate army to Vir- 
 ginia, pursued by the Army of the Potomac, rain 
 still continued to follow their battles. The 
 
 ENGAGEMENT NEAR BEISTOW STATION 
 
 may be mentioned as an instance. A former engage- 
 ment at that place has already been referred to. The 
 second was a fight which occurred on the 14th of 
 October, 1863, between portions of the respective 
 armies, in which six pieces of artillery were captured 
 from the Confederates, while the loss to the Union 
 
 94 See Nos. 2, 3, 5, 11, 20, 24, 26, 31 and 38 of Appendix. 
 5 See No. 12 of Appendix. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 45 
 
 side in killed and wounded was about 200 men. This, 
 on the 16th, was followed by a heavy rain, rendering 
 the creeks unfordable, and seriously interfering with 
 the plans of the Union commander. 96 
 The affair of 
 
 MINE RUN, VA., 
 
 is another instance. This movement took place in 
 November, 1863. The heaviest fighting was on the 
 27th, being such as to entail a loss on either side 
 of from 300 to 500 men in killed and wounded. The 
 next day at evening there was a pelting rain. 97 
 The 
 
 DESTKTJCTION OF THE EEBEL STEAMER, NASHVILLE, 
 
 near Fort McAllister, Ga., by the U. S. vessels, 
 Montauk, Seneca, Wissahicon, and Dawn, furnishes 
 a good instance of heavy rain apparently brought on 
 by an action in which only a moderate number of 
 guns were employed. On one side were the Union 
 vessels named, which fired deliberately, and on the 
 other the Nashville and the fort. The engagement 
 took place on the 28th of February, 1863, and lasted 
 two hours and three-quarters. The following is from 
 the log of the steamer Montauk: 
 
 February 28, from 12 to 4 A. M., " Light, variable 
 airs and clear weather." * * * "At 7.07 opened 
 fire on the Nashville, aground in 7 mile reach." 
 
 % Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 396. 9? American Conflict, Vol. II. p. 401. 
 
46 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 From 12 to 4 P. M., " Light easterly winds and 
 partially overcast." 
 
 From 6 to 8 P. M., " Moderate wind from S. W.; 
 cloudy and rainy." 
 
 From 8 to 12 midnight, " Light baffling winds and 
 much rain." 
 
 February 29, from 12 midnight to 2 A. M., " inces- 
 sant rain." 
 
 March 1, 8 to 12 A. M., " Pleasant." 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CARNEY 5 S BRIDGE, LA., 
 
 fought January 14, 1863, and in which four gunboats 
 and four or five regiments of troops were engaged, 
 was followed in the night by a furious rain, which 
 commenced about 1 A. M., and continued with vary- 
 ing severity until 8. There had been some rain the 
 night before, and the morning of the action was 
 cloudy. 98 
 At 
 
 PORT HUDSON, 
 
 on the Mississippi River, a number of naval and mili- 
 tary engagements occurred that were each followed 
 by rain. The first that will be mentioned was the 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE BATTERIES 
 
 by Admiral Farragut, with a number of vessels of 
 his fleet, on the night of the 14th of March, 1863. 
 Fire was opened at about half-past 11, and "soon 
 
 98 Log of the " Calhoun." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 47 
 
 " the earth trembled to the roar of all the rebel 
 "batteries."* A vast bonfire was kindled, by the 
 light of which the rebel gunners poured their fire 
 into the passing vessels, while the latter replied 
 with broadside after broadside, as each came within 
 range. This commotion of earth and air was not 
 without its effects. The weather of the day pre- 
 ceding and morning following the action showed 
 blue sky, with detached clouds; and at the com- 
 mencement of the fight there was a light breeze 
 blowing from the northward. Soon after the battle 
 commenced, however, it became calm, and so con- 
 tinued until about 9 o'clock the next evening. 
 But before this time the storm had commenced 
 coming up between 12 and 1 in the afternoon. At 
 1 it rained, and at 2 it poured. From this time 
 until 10 o'clock at night it rained incessantly, the 
 rain, until 8, falling in torrents." 
 The 
 
 ASSAULT ON PORT HUDSON, 
 
 by Gen. Banks, May 27, 1863, was also followed by 
 heavy rain. The sky, on the morning of that day, 
 was cloudless, but on the 29th it rained heavily and 
 continuously for four hours. 100 
 
 Again, on the 9th of June, 1863, during a spell 
 
 * Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 329. 
 
 99 Log of the U. S. Steam Sloop "Hartford." 
 
 100 Log of the Hartford. See also No. 41 of Appendix, 
 
48 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 of clear and pleasant weather, it is recorded in the 
 log book of the "Hartford," that heavy firing was 
 heard at Port Hudson. The next morning the sky 
 became overcast, but the clouds afterwards dispersed, 
 and from 4 to 8 A. M. it was again "clear and 
 pleasant." But, on the morning of this day (the 
 10th) an attempt was made by Gen. Banks, under a 
 
 HEAVY FIRE OF ARTILLERY 
 
 to establish his lines within attacking distance of 
 the enemy's, works. 1 The firing was heavier than 
 that of the day before, and within less than twenty- 
 four hours it was followed by floods of rain. The 
 log of the Hartford for the llth says : " About 3.20 
 A. M., squall of wind ; let go the port anchor ; rain 
 came up from northward, and continued to blow 15 
 minutes, and rain until 4 A. M." (the end of the 
 watch). The officer of the next watch (from 4 to 8 
 A. M.) enters in the log the following: "Heavy 
 firing at Port Hudson during the watch, also heavy 
 rain." 
 
 This latter 
 
 FIRING AT PORT HUDSON 
 
 was followed, after a cessation of the above storm 
 for some hours during the middle of the day, by a 
 violent shower in the latter part of the afternoon. 2 
 Again at the 
 
 i Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 335. 2 Log of the Hartford, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 49 
 
 SECOND GENERAL ASSAULT UPON POET HUDSON 
 
 the same phenomenon was repeated. This assault 
 was delivered on the 14th of June, 1863. The 
 weather on the 12th had become " clear and 
 pleasant, with light breeze from northward;" but 
 on the 16th it again rained heavily, with thunder 
 and lightning, and with squalls of wind as before. 3 
 
 I have mentioned the bombardment and passage 
 of the Yicksburg batteries on the Mississippi by 
 Admiral Farragut, on the night of June 28, 1862, 
 as an engagement followed soon by a storm of rain 
 with heavy thunder and lightning; and his passage 
 of the Port Hudson batteries has also been referred 
 to as succeeded by a tremendous and long-continued 
 shower. It remained for Admiral Porter to try, at 
 the former place, a similar experiment. We might 
 naturally expect that, if Farragut could bring rain 
 by steaming past rebel batteries and engaging them 
 as he passed, Admiral Porter could do the same, 
 and so it proved. As an exploit of war, the passage 
 of the Vickburg batteries by Porter equalled that 
 of Farragut, performed at an earlier period. As 
 a scientific experiment for the artificial production 
 of rain, it was still more successful. 
 
 PORTER'S PASSAGE OF THE VICKSBURG BATTERIES 
 was made on the night of April 16-17, 1863. Eight 
 
 3 Log of the Hartford. 
 
50 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 gunboats passed down, and when opposite to the 
 city, " in a moment the whole bluff was ablaze 
 with the flashes and quaking to the roar of heavy 
 guns rising, tier above tier, along the entire water 
 front of the city." 4 The action lasted a little less 
 than two hours, terminating at about 1 o'clock in 
 the morning of the 17th. It occurred during a 
 spell of " clear and pleasant " weather ; but on the 
 18th, from 6 to 8 P. M., there was "rain at inter- 
 vals," and from 8 to 12, "heavy squalls, with con- 
 tinuous thunder and lightning, and deluges of rain." 5 
 The rain continued to fall heavily until about 4 
 o'clock next morning. 
 The 
 
 BATTLE OF RAYMOND, MISS., 
 
 fought May 12, 1863, was followed, on the 14th, 
 between the hours of 9 and 11 A. M., by a tremen- 
 dous shower. 6 
 During the 
 
 SIEGE OF VICKSBURG, MISS., 
 
 which commenced May 19, and ended July 4, 1863, 
 there were numerous showers, though at that point 
 they were not generally heavy. The following are 
 some of the days on which it rained, 7 viz.: 
 
 4 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 301. 
 
 5 Log of the U. S. Ram "Lafayette." 
 
 6 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 306. 
 
 7 These dates and facts are taken from the Log of the "Blackhawk," 
 except the first, which is from that of the " Benton." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 51 
 
 May 22, 27, 28, and 31, June 10, 15, 16, 23, and 
 24. Besides the days on which there was rain, it 
 was " cloudy, with appearance of rain," on the 21st 
 of May; and cloudy at different hours on the fol- 
 lowing days, viz. : May 23 and 25, June 3, 5, 11, 17, 
 18, 19, 20,21, 25, and 26; with "passing clouds" 
 on the 27th and 30th. On these days it would 
 generally become cloudy for only a few hours, and 
 then clear off again. 
 
 While the circumstances attending this siege are 
 not such as to afford strong evidence in support of 
 the proposition that artillery firing can at all times 
 be made to bring heavy rain, neither do they fur- 
 nish evidence to the contrary. 
 
 Kain followed the 
 
 that ensued on the morning of January 31, 1863, 
 when two iron-clad Confederate vessels came out 
 and attacked the Union blockading fleet. The 
 weather previously had been clear, and so remained 
 until 8 A. M. of the next day. It then began to 
 get cloudy; at noon the sky was completely over- 
 cast; at 7:30 in the evening there was a "light 
 sprinkling of rain," and from midnight to 8 A. M. 
 the weather is described simply as u rainy." 8 
 
 During other operations by the army and navy in 
 
 8 Log of the " Keystone State." 
 
52 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 front of Charleston, - in the year 1863, engagement 
 after engagement was followed by rain. Of a long 
 series of fights, there were but two where the phe- 
 nomenon was not exhibited, and these were followed 
 by overclouded skies. 9 
 
 THE ATTACK ON THE DEFENCES OF SECESSIONVILLE, 
 
 on James Island, by General Hunter, was one of 
 those where storm quickly succeeded battle. The 
 engagement took place on the morning of June 16, 
 1863, and eight hours of continuous rain followed it, 
 commencing between 7 and 8 o'clock in the morn- 
 ing of the 17th. 10 
 The 
 
 ATTACK ON MORRIS ISLAND, 
 
 July 10 and 11, 1863, is another of the list. The 
 bombardment, assault and capture of the batteries 
 on the south end of the island was made on the 10th, 
 and the unsuccessful attack on Fort Wagner on the 
 llth. The sky during the first day was cloudless ; 
 on the second it was cloudy in the morning and 
 thickly overcast in the evening, and on the following 
 night it rained with extraordinary violence. 11 
 
 Another of this series of engagements was the 
 
 ATTACK ON GENERAL TERRY ON JAMES ISLAND, 
 
 made at daybreak on the morning of July 16, 1863, 
 
 9 Attacks of April 7 and Sept. 5, 1863. 
 
 10 Log of the U. S. Steamer "Pembina." 
 
 11 Log of the " Catskill," 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 53 
 
 and which was repulsed by the aid of five gunboats, 
 which happened to be near. This was only a few 
 days after the storm just mentioned, but it had 
 passed off and none but* detached clouds were visi- 
 ble in the sky. It commenced clouding up, how- 
 ever, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon ; between 8 
 and 9 in the evening it had become rainy and 
 squally, and at 11 if commenced to pour in torrents. 
 This storm, which continued the greater part of the 
 night, 12 and, after an intermission, through part of 
 the night following, is spoken of in history as " ter- 
 rible." 1S 
 
 Next in the list is the 
 
 BOMBARDMENT OF FORT WAGNER, 
 
 on the 18th of July, 1863. The gunboats com- 
 menced firing at 8.30 in the morning, and the 
 larger vessels and land batteries at 12.30. " On 
 our side fully a hundred great guns steadily thun- 
 dered. * * * As the day declined the roar of 
 our great guns, no longer incessant, was renewed at 
 longer and longer intervals, and finally ceased ; our 
 iron-clads, save the Montauk, returning to their 
 anchorage ; while a thunderstorm burst over land 
 and sea, sharp flashes of lightning intermitting and 
 intensifying the fast-coming darkness." 14 * * * 
 
 12 Log of the " New Ironsides." 
 
 13 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 476. 
 
 H G.reeley'8 American Conflict, Vol, II. p. 476. 
 
54 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 This storm continued until 4 o'clock the next morn- 
 ing. 15 
 
 Again, on the 20th of July, as shown by the log 
 book of the " New Ironsides," there was 
 
 HEAVY FIRING ON FORT WAGNER. 
 
 Rain followed in the night of the 21st, also on the 
 night of the 22nd and 23rd. 
 
 Again, on the 24th of July there was 
 
 ANOTHER ATTACK ON SUMTER, WAGNER AND CUM- 
 MINGS POINT BATTERIES. 16 
 
 Heavy rain followed, commencing at 1 A. M. on 
 the 25th, and continuing until 11 A. M. 17 
 Again, on the 28th of July there was 
 
 MORE HEAVY FIRING, 
 
 the " James Island batteries firing on our batteries, 
 our mortar batteries firing on Fort Wagner." 18 Rain 
 followed the next day at 2 A. M. 19 
 
 The next engagement of this series was the one 
 that ensued 
 
 on Sumter, Wagner, and the Cummings' Point bat- 
 teries. This was on the 17th of August, 1863, 
 commencing at a very early hour in the morning. 
 There was a light wind at the time from the north- 
 is Log of the " New Ironsides." 
 16, n, is and 19 Log of the " New Ironsides," 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 55 
 
 west, and the sky showed blue with detached clouds. 
 At 7 A. M. the wind became variable, and at 2 P. M. 
 it blew lightly from the southeast ; at 6 P. M. the 
 rain began to fall, and for four hours it poured 
 without intermission. 20 The wind changed at 7 
 P. M. to the northeast, but it blew gently all that 
 day, though we read in history that on the 18th and 
 19th a heavy northeaster raged. 21 
 
 I do not doubt that my readers are wearied with 
 the sameness of this recital, but I am not yet done 
 even with the list of engagements before Charleston. 
 On the 23rd of August, commencing at 3.15 and 
 lasting until 6.30 in the morning, there was an 
 
 ATTACK BY FIVE MONITORS ON FORT SUMTER, MOULTRIE 
 REPLYING. 
 
 There had been no rain since the storm last chron- 
 icled, nor were there apparently any indications of 
 rain when the action commenced, though there was 
 that morning a fog; but within less than twenty- 
 four hours the sky became overclouded, and in 
 another hour it rained. 22 The history of 
 
 from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, furnishes a further 
 instance of the remarkable connection between mili- 
 tary operations and rain. There was a good deal 
 
 20 Log of the " New Ironsides." 22 Log of the " New Ironsides." 
 
 21 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 479. 
 
56 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 of artillery firing in this movement, 23 and for seven- 
 teen successive days it rained every day. 2 * The 
 engagement at 
 
 LIBERTY GAP, 
 
 fought about the 24th of June, 1863, was followed 
 by heavy rain. 25 The same is true of the 26 
 
 BATTLE OF SHELBYVILLE 
 
 fought on the 27th June, 1863. After this engage- 
 ment, Elk River became so swollen as to stop for 
 some days the pursuit of the retreating Confed- 
 erates. 27 
 
 The following may or may not be an instance 
 worth recording of the occurrence of rain follow- 
 ing the discharge of artillery. At Tebb's Bend, 
 on Green River, in Kentucky, on the 4th of July, 
 1863, the rebel General Morgan, with a force of 
 two regiments and four guns, made a desperate but 
 unsuccessful attack on a Union force under Col. O. 
 H. Moore, which lasted for several hours. The next 
 day he spent seven hours, commencing at sunrise, 
 in endeavoring to 
 
 REDUCE THE DEFENCES OF LEBANON. 
 
 A rain followed, for we read that he finally charged 
 into the place, set it on fire and compelled its sur- 
 render; and that at dark a furious rain came on, 
 
 23 See No. 16, Appendix. 20 See No. 14. 
 
 24 Am. Conflict, Vol. II., p. 409. 27 See Am. Conflict, Vol. II., p. 410. 
 
 25 See No. 29, Appendix. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 57 
 
 during which he raced his prisoners ten miles in 
 ninety minutes to Springfield all except one, who 
 being unable or unwilling to keep up with the rest, 
 was shot, 28 
 
 A rain occurred also after 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA, GA., 80 
 
 fought Sept. 19 and 20, 1863. A circumstance con- 
 nected with the weather noticed after each day of 
 battle was a dense fog; the one on the morning 
 of the 20th w r as so thick that objects could scarcely 
 be distinguished at a few steps distance. 31 The bat- 
 tle was fought in the woods, where but little artil- 
 lery could be used, and where we might expect 
 that the effect of concussion would be lessened by 
 the interference of the trees with the movement 
 of the air. The precise time when the rain occurred 
 is no^ stated, but it is probable, from the reasons 
 above given, that it was a little longer in " brewing " 
 and less in quantity than the rains which generally 
 follow great battles a supposition to which addi- 
 tional probability is given by the fact that, by 
 some who were present, this rain is not remembered. 
 
 AT THE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, 
 
 fought on the 23rd and 24th of November, 1863, a 
 
 28 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 405. 
 
 so See No. 14, Appendix. 
 
 31 See Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 419. Also No. 8, Appendix. 
 
58 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 circumstance occurred of a similar nature, and fully 
 as remarkable as would have been the production 
 of rain. On the 24th " darkness at 2 P. M. arrested 
 our victorious arms, the mountain being now envel- 
 oped in a cloud so thick and black as to render 
 further movement perilous, if not impossible." 32 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MISSION KLDGE, 
 
 fought the next day, was followed by rain. 33 During 
 Gen. Banks' 
 
 RED RIVER CAMPAIGN, 
 
 in the spring of 1864, in which there was more or 
 less fighting daily for several weeks, there was 
 much showery weather, 3 * but the precise dates on 
 which rains occurred I have not been able generally 
 to ascertain. Probably many of them were showers 
 which extended over only a limited space of coun- 
 try as on the seventh of April we read that a 
 heavy rain occurred which greatly retarded the 
 rear of his extended column but did not reach its 
 front. 35 
 
 A FIGHT ON THE ATCHAFALAYA EIVER 
 
 has been mentioned 36 as one where the phenomenon 
 was specially noticeable, from the weather previ- 
 ous to the fight having been so clear and bright. 
 
 32 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 439. 
 
 33 See No. 29, Appendix. 
 34,36 See No. 41. 
 
 35 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 539. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 59 
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT NEAR MARKSVILLE 
 
 (or Maiistira), which took place May 16, 1864, was 
 followed by nearly a week of rain. 87 
 
 GEN. STEELE'S CAMPAIGN IN ARKANSAS, 
 
 made while Gen. Banks was operating in the adjoin- 
 ing State, was also attended with heavy rains, 88 some 
 of which, it is not impossible, may have had their 
 origin in the part of the country then occupied by 
 the latter. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MARKS MILL, 
 
 fought by a portion of his command on the 25th 
 of April, 1864, was followed by rain, for we read 
 that "by daylight of the 27th his army was across 
 the Washita and in full retreat amid constant rains." 39 
 
 which was a continuous battle for ninety days, there 
 were heavy rains at short intervals. 40 
 
 AT THE BATTLE OF DALLAS, GA., 
 
 fought May 26, 1864, the circumstance was specially 
 noticeable. 
 
 Great rains followed most of the battles of Gen. 
 Grant's campaign against Richmond. The first 
 engagement which took place upon his advance 
 across the Rapidan w r as the 
 
 37 See No. 41 of Appendix. 39 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 553. 
 
 38 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 552. M See Nos. 3, 8 and 29, of Appendix. 
 
60 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS, 
 
 fought May 5 to 9, 1864, the heaviest fighting being 
 on the 5th and 6th, and being for the most part an 
 infantry battle, as it took place in the woods, where 
 artillery could not be used to advantage. A little 
 rain appears to have fallen* 1 on the 8th or 9th, 
 which increased to heavy thunder-storms after the 
 first day of the 
 
 BATTLE OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE, 
 
 which was a continuation of the Wilderness battle, 
 and one in which much artillery was brought into 
 action. This terrible battle was fought on the 10th, 
 llth, and 12th. Heavy rain set in on the night of 
 the 10th. 42 On the afternoon of the llth it also 
 rained heavily. On the morning of the 12th there 
 was a fog of exceeding density, and at noon rain 
 set in again and fell in torrents, accompanied with 
 thunder and lightning. 43 This storm extended over 
 a hundred miles southeastward, and there lasted, 
 with varying intensity, until midnight of the 13th. 44 
 
 GEN. BUTLER'S BATTLE OF BERMUDA HUNDREDS, 
 
 fought on the morning of May 16, 1864, was fol- 
 lowed by rain in the evening. 45 There was also 
 
 41 See No. 26. 
 
 42 See No. 33. 
 
 See Nos. 2, 25, 33. Also Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 571. 
 
 4* Log of the U. S. Steamer, " Commodore Perry," on James River. 
 
 45 Log of the U. S. Steamer, " Agawam," on James River. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 61 
 
 rain on the 18th and 19th, on both of which days 
 there was fighting along his front. 
 
 GEN. GRANT'S BATTLE OF NORTH ANNE RIVER, 
 
 which was the next battle of his campaign after that 
 of Spottsylvania, was followed by a heavy storm 
 of rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning. 46 
 The battle was fought on the 23rd of May, 1864, 
 and the storm commenced the day after, 47 and lasted 
 during portions of three days. 48 
 A spirited 
 
 FIGHT AT HAWES SHOP, 
 
 which occurred on the 28th of May, and in which 
 the aggregate loss on both sides was some 1,200 
 men, was followed in the night of that day by rain 49 
 on James River. 
 
 Tremendous rains accompanied and followed the 
 
 BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR OR BETHESDA CHURCH 
 
 which was the next engagement of this campaign. 
 This fearful battle was fought on the 1st, 2nd, and 
 3rd of June, 1864 ; the commencement, on the 1st, 
 being at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. So far as can 
 be known from the state of the weather some fifty 
 miles southeastward, there had been no rain since 
 the night of May 28 ; and the battle was com- 
 
 46 See No. 25, Appendix. 
 
 47 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 579. Also Log of Steamer Agawam. 
 
 48 Log of U . S. Steamer Agawam. 
 
 49 Log of U. S. Steamer Agaxvmn. 
 
62 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 menced under a cloudless sky. 50 But on the night 
 of the 2nd there was a heavy rain ; the next night 
 there was another, and the third day of battle was 
 followed by a third. Each separate day's encounter 
 seems to have been followed by a separate rain, and 
 the last the one in which, for a time, the fighting 
 was so furious that in the space of twenty minutes 
 " fully ten thousand of our men were stretched 
 writhing on the sod, or still and calm in death " 51 
 was followed by one of some twenty-four hours' 
 duration, commencing in the afternoon of the suc- 
 ceeding day. 62 
 
 The following are some of the other engagements 
 of this campaign that were followed by rain, viz.: 
 
 August 12, 1864. Eain followed on the 14th. 53 
 
 A SECOND ENGAGEMENT AT BAILEY'S CREEK, 
 
 August 16, 1864. Eain followed on the 17th. 64 Battle 
 for the possession of the 
 
 WELDON RAILROAD, 
 
 fought August 18, 1864. Thunder-storm followed in 
 the night. 55 
 
 50 Log of the " Agawam." 
 
 51 Quoted from Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 582. 
 
 52 Log of the U. S. Steamer "Agawam," on James River. See 
 also No. 2 of Appendix. 
 
 53 54 Log of the Steamer Agawam. 
 55 56 See 25 and 36, of Appendix. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 63 
 
 Two other engagements occurred on the line of 
 the Weldon Railroad, August 21, 1864. Same re- 
 mark as to the above. 56 
 
 ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF FORT HARRISON, 
 
 September 29, by General Butler. Eain next after- 
 noon 57 on James River. 
 
 ATTEMPT TO RETAKE FORT HARRISON, 
 
 by the rebels, September 30, 1864. Rain in the 
 night and next forenoon on James River. 68 
 
 BATTLE ON THE SQUIRREL LEVEL ROAD. 
 
 Heavy rain immediately after. 59 At a point on the 
 James River, the shower occurred between 8 P. M. 
 and midnight of the same day. 60 
 
 ACTION AT THE FRONT, 
 
 October 2, 1864. Rain next afternoon. 61 
 
 BATTLE OF HATCHER ? S RUN, 
 
 fought October 27, and the last one of Grant's 
 battles for the year 1864. A heavy storm followed, 
 accompanied with thunder and lightning. 62 At 1i 
 point on the James River the rain poured for seven 
 hours 63 during the night after the battle. 
 In West Virginia, the 
 
 5758 eo ei 63 Log of the Steamer Agawam. 
 
 59 See No. 24. 
 
 62 See Appendix, Nos. 24 and 25. 
 
64 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 FIGHT AT DUBLIN BRIDGE, 
 
 May 10, 1864, was followed by a fall of rain. 64 
 In the Virginia Valley, the 
 
 BATTLE OF NEWMARKET, 
 
 fought May 15, 1864, was also followed by rain. 65 
 There was some 
 
 CANNONADING AT MARYLAND HEIGHTS 
 
 on the night of July 6, 1864, and sharp fighting 
 on the 7th, which was followed, on the night of 
 the 7th, by a little rain, and on the next night 
 by an "awful rain." The previous weather had 
 been very dry. 66 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WINCHESTER 
 
 (Crook's), fought July 24, 1864, was also preceded 
 by a long spell of dry weather; but the next day 
 there was a hard rain. 67 
 
 The general character of the weather in the 
 Shenandoah Valley in the months of August and 
 September, 1864, was that of drouth, and it is only 
 remembered as such by an officer who has favored 
 me with a communication upon the subject. 68 Yet 
 an actual record that was kept of the weather in 
 that section, during a part of the time mentioned, 
 shows frequent instances of 
 
 e* See No. 17. 65 See No. 23. ee See No. 18. 
 
 67 and 68 see Appendix, Nos. 17, 18 and 23. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 65 
 
 I quote : 
 
 August IT. " Clear at daylight." " Heavy fire 
 of artillery " during the day. 
 
 August 18. " Bain." 
 
 August 19. " Skirmishing near Berryville." 
 
 August 20. "Rain." 
 
 September 3. " Cloudy ; heavy artillery and 
 musketry in the direction of Berryville." "Rain." 
 
 On the same day. " Still fighting far away into 
 the night." Next day. "Rain." 
 
 Skirmishing also on the 4th. Rain on the 5th. 
 
 Also on the 5th, " Skirmishing heavy." Septem- 
 ber 6, "Rain all day." 
 
 September 9, " Smart skirmishing." September 
 10, "Rain." September 12, "Rain." 
 
 September 13, " Clear ; " " Cannonading heavy." 
 September 14, "'Rain-" 15, "Cloudy;" 16, 
 "Rain." 
 
 The above memoranda were made by a Confed- 
 erate officer, who was killed at the battle of Ope- 
 quan Creek, near Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864, and 
 some extracts from whose diary have been pub- 
 lished. 70 
 
 What entry he would have made had he lived after 
 that battle and the battle of Fisher's Hill, fought 
 
 69 See No. 18. 
 
 TO in Putnam's " Record of tne Rebellion," Vol. XL p. 153. 
 
66 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 three days later, remains a mystery; but in the 
 southeastern part of the same State (Virginia) it 
 rained hard soon after each of those battles 
 the first rain occurring on the night of the 21st 
 and the second about the middle of the day on 
 the 23d. 71 1 
 
 At the naval action and the bombardment of 
 the forts at the entrance of Mobile Bay, further 
 instances of the phenomenon under consideration 
 were exhibited. There had been a shower on the 
 day preceding the commencement of operations, 
 but the weather on the evening of that day, and at 
 the commencement of the first engagement, was 
 such as the words, " blue sky with detached clouds," 
 are used in the navy to describe. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE FORTS AND BATTLE WITH THE 
 GUNBOATS, 
 
 which took place on the morning .of August 5th, 
 commencing at 6.45 A. M., was followed by about 
 two hours of rain, which commenced at nine 
 o'clock A. M. 72 
 
 JL 
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT GBINES, 
 
 on the 6th, was followed by a thunder-shower on the 
 8th. 73 
 
 71 Log of the Steamer "Agawam " on James River. 
 
 72 Log of the U. S. Steam Sloop " Hartford." 
 
 73 and 74 Log of the U, S. Steam Sloop " Hartford," 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 67 
 
 THE BOMBARDMENT OF FOET MORGAN, 
 
 on the 9th, was followed by two excessively stormy 
 days on the 10th and llth, on which there was rain, 
 thunder and lightning and squalls of wind. 7 * The 
 rain which fell at this time is described by an officer 
 who was present, as exceedingly copious. 75 . 
 
 THE BATTLE OF FRANKLIN, TENN., 
 
 was followed by a rain that froze as it fell, and 
 covered the country with ice. 76 .This battle was 
 fought Nov. 30, 1864. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE CEDARS 
 
 was also immediately followed by rain. 77 This battle 
 was fought shortly after the battle of Franklin, by 
 troops under Gen. Milroy, sent from Murfreesboro 
 to the relief of Fortress Rosecrans, invested by the 
 rebels Dec. 4. 
 
 THE GREAT BATTLE OF NASHVILLE, 
 
 fought Dec. 15 and 16, 1864, was followed by one 
 of the most tremendous rains that have ever been 
 noticed in connection with military operations. 78 
 For several days the rain fell incessantly. " The 
 country was flooded; the brooks were raging 
 rivers," and " the roads were hardly passable in the 
 rear of the fleeing foe.' 
 
 "79 
 
 75 See No. 4 of Appendix. 78 See Nos. 5, 28 and 2i> of Appendix. 
 
 76 and 77 See No. 5. 79 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 687. 
 
68 WAR AND THE WEATHER, 
 
 AT THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT FISHER, 
 
 Dec. 24 and 25, 1864, we again find rain following 
 heavy explosions. The experiment which was tried 
 of exploding a shipload of powder under the walls 
 of the fort, took place at 1.45 A. M. of the 24th, and 
 the bombardment by the fleet commenced at half- 
 past 11 A. M., and continued during the remainder 
 of the day. The next day it was renewed for seven 
 hours. On the first day there were no indications 
 of rain, nor had there been on the day preceding; 
 but on the second day, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, 
 it became cloudy, and at 7 in the evening rain com- 
 menced, which continued through the greater part 
 of the night. During the first part of the night it 
 only drizzled, but in the latter part for two hours it 
 rained heavily. The morning that followed was 
 rainy and squally, and after an intermission rain 
 fell asrain in the middle of the day for about an 
 
 O t/ 
 
 hour. 80 
 
 THE SHELLING OF THE WOODS 
 
 by the gunboats on the 27th, during the re-embark- 
 ation of troops belonging to the expedition, whose 
 operations at Fort Fisher have just been noticed, 
 was followed by more rain on the 28th, though on 
 the 27th there had been none. 81 
 
 The expedition against Fort Fisher above referred 
 
 so Log of the U. S. Steamer "Malvern." 
 si Log of the Steamer " Malvern." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 69 
 
 to will be remembered as the one which was unsuc- 
 cessful. But the 
 
 SECOND EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT FISHER, 
 
 and the one that effected its capture, met, in the 
 character of the weather that attended its opera- 
 tions, a somewhat similar experience. In the latter 
 case, however, the storm was principally hail instead 
 of rain. The operations of the fleet commenced 
 in a heavy bombardment in the night of January 
 12, 1865, to cover the landing of the troops. There 
 were no clouds during the day, except detached 
 ones, and from 9 P. M. until midnight the sky was 
 perfectly clear. But in the afternoon of the 13th 
 there was a hail storm, commencing at 2 P. M., and 
 lasting, with an intermission of two hours, until 
 midnight, after which it broke away. 82 
 
 THE FIRING IN THE NIGHT 
 
 of the 13th was followed by a second change of 
 weather on the 14th, the sky becoming overcast 
 for four hours ; 83 but the weather afterwards re- 
 turned to its normal condition "blue sky with 
 detached clouds." 
 
 The bombardment, assault, and capture of the 
 fort on the 15th, was followed on the 16th by two 
 hours of drizzling rain. 84 
 
 82 Log of the U. S. Steamer "Malvern." 
 83, 84 Log of the U. S. Steamer " Malvern." 
 
70 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF AVERYSBORO, N. C., 
 
 fought March 18, 1865, was also followed by rain. 
 History relates that at the close of this battle, 
 "Night fell dark and stormy." 85 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BENTONVILLE, N. C., 
 
 fought March 18, 1865, was likewise followed by 
 rain, which on the 21st was heavy. 86 
 
 "We have seen that at the bombardment and 
 capture of the lower forts at Mobile Bay, rain 
 followed each operation of the fleet. The same is 
 true of the operations of the army of Gen. Canby, 
 and fleet of Rear- Admiral Thatcher, in the 
 
 REDUCTION OF THE UPPER FORTS AND CAPTURE 
 OF THE CITY OF MOBILE, 
 
 months of March and April, 1865. 
 
 The preliminary firing by the army and navy in 
 approaching the city was followed by rain on the 
 evening and night of March 2T. 87 The nature of 
 some of this firing is shown by the following 
 extract from the New York Times of April 7, 
 1865, viz. : " Gen. Steele's command met with much 
 opposition, but no regular battle was fought until 
 at Mitchell's Fork, on the morning of the 27th, 
 where the enemy, numbering 800, made a stand, 
 
 85 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 707. 
 
 86 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 708. 
 
 87 Log of the U. S. Steamer "Octorara." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 71 
 
 and after a severe fight were repulsed." There was 
 also some gunboat firing about this time, and two 
 of our vessels were blown up by torpedoes and 
 destroyed. Previous to this rain there had been 
 none for five or six days at the place or places of 
 observation of the steamer " Octorara," one of the 
 vessels engaged in the operations. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF SPANISH FORT 
 
 was opened on the 28th. The firing of this day 
 and the next was followed by a heavy thunder- 
 storm in the night of the 29th, accompanied with 
 squalls of wind. 88 
 
 Several other showers occurred, the last being on 
 the 9th, the last day of the siege, and following the 
 tremendous fire which was concentrated on Spanish 
 Fort at nightfall on the previous day, and which 
 effected its reduction. 
 
 The rain which followed the various engagements 
 of this and the former expedition against Mobile, 
 is described by an officer who was present, as more 
 copious than any he had ever before witnessed. 89 
 
 fought February 6, 1865, was followed next morn- 
 ing by a fall of snow.* 
 
 At the renewal of active operations before Rich- 
 
 88 Log of the Octorara. * See No. 33 of Appendix. 
 
 89 See No. 4 of Appendix. 
 
72 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 mond in the spring of 1865, storm still followed 
 battle. 
 
 THE GENERAL ADVANCE BY GRANTS ARMY 
 
 was made on the 29th of March, 1865, on which 
 day was fought the battle of Quaker Road, and all 
 that night and next day rain fell heavily. 90 
 
 The last instance of the kind drawn from the late 
 war of the rebellion which I shall mention is the 
 
 BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS, 
 
 immediately preceding the capture of Richmond. 
 This battle, fought March 31, 1865, was, like so 
 many others before it, followed by rain. 91 Before 
 the battle commenced, the storm which followed 
 the previous battle had ceased. 92 
 
 So far I have only given instances of rain follow- 
 ing the discharge of artillery occurring in the 
 United States and Mexico, and in wars in which 
 the army and navy of the United States took part. 
 But in other parts of the world the same phenom- 
 enon has been noticed. The first instance that will 
 be mentioned is one that was observed in the 
 harbor of Rio de Janeiro, by one of our naval 
 officers, in 1843 or 1844, on the occasion of the 
 arrival there of the Princess of Naples, afterward 
 Empress of Brazil. She was accompanied by the 
 
 90 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 731. See also Nos. 2 and 33 of Appendix. 
 
 91 See No. 2. 
 
 92 Am. Conflict, Vol. II. p. 731. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 73 
 
 Neapolitan and Brazilian squadrons, and upon her 
 arrival, the fortifications and foreign squadrons 
 began to fire. The firing continued for an hour or 
 more, when the sky was suddenly obscured, and 
 heavy showers followed. Previous to this, the 
 weather had been clear and beautiful. The next day 
 was calm and partly overcast ; as soon as the firing 
 of salutes was resumed, the breeze sprang up, and 
 the rain began to fall. 93 
 
 THE BATTLE OF DRESDEN, 
 
 was fought on the 26t'h and 27th of August. " On the 
 27th the battle was renewed, under torrents of rain, 
 and amid a tempest of hail." (Scott's Napoleon, 
 chap. 27, p. 190.) 9 * 
 
 THE BATTLE OF LIGNY, 
 
 fought on the 16th of June. " After the battle the 
 weather was dreadful, as the rain fell in torrents." 
 (Scott's Nap. chap. 27, p. 323. ) 95 
 
 is said to have been followed after thirty-six hours 
 by a long rain; but reliable authority for this 
 statement can not be here given. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF ETLAU, 
 
 fought on the 8th of February. "The action com- 
 menced at daybreak. Two strong columns advanced 
 
 as See No. 37 of Appendix. 94, 95 Espy's " Philosophy of Storms." 
 
74 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 for the purpose of turning the right and storming 
 the centre of the Russians, but they were repulsed 
 in great disorder. The Russian infantry stood like 
 stone ramparts, and kept back the enemy with a 
 heavy and well-sustained h're from their artillery. 
 About midday a heavy storm of snow commenced 
 falling, which added to the obscurity caused by the 
 smoke from the burning village of Serpallen." 
 (Scott's ]S T ap.) 96 
 
 Capper on Monsoons, page 171, says : 
 
 AT HABEAS, ON THE 4:TH OF JUNE, 1776, 
 
 " morning fair, noon cloudy, in the evening rain. 
 N. B. More than two hundred pieces of cannon 
 fired in salutes ; quaere whether it occasioned the 
 rain ? This quaere is particularly appropriate, as 
 this is the dry season on the Coromandel coast, and 
 it did not rain after this till the 30th of the 
 month." 97 
 " During the 
 
 SIEGE OF VALENCIENNES 
 
 by the allied army, in the year 1793, it rained 
 violently every day soon after the heavy cannonad- 
 ing commenced. The allies employed 200 heavy 
 ordnance, and the besieged had about 100, and they 
 were frequently all in action at one time." 98 
 
 M. Arago says, "I shall here repeat two facts 
 which occur to my own memory, in the hope that 
 
 96, 97, 98, Espy's "Philosophy of Storms." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 75 
 
 they will lead to analogous statements. On the 
 25th of August, 1806, being the day selected for 
 the 
 
 " ATTACK ON THE ISLET AND FORTRESS OF DANN- 
 HOLM, NEAR STRAUSLAND,' 
 
 " General Fririon, that he might harass and fatigue 
 the Swedish garrison, ordered it to be cannonaded 
 during the whole day. In spite of these powerful 
 and continued discharges of artillery, a violent 
 thunder-storm visited the spot at 9 o'clock in the 
 evening. Again it happened, oddly enough, that 
 
 THE ENGLISH LINE OF BATTLE SHIP, THE DUKE, 
 
 of 60 guns, was struck with lightning, in the year 
 1793, whilst it was cannonading one of the batteries 
 of the Martinico." " 
 
 During the late war between France and Prussia, 
 the occurrence of storms of rain after battles was 
 specially noticeable, particularly so in the months 
 of August and September; and the accounts from 
 the battle-fields contained many allusions to the 
 subject. For instance, immediately after the 
 
 BATTLE OF SEDAN, 
 
 at which the French emperor was taken prisoner, 
 we read, in a telegram dated Donchery, September 
 3, " It is raining torrents." 
 
 Again, at the bombardment of Strasburg, in a 
 
 99 Espy's " Philosophy of Storms. 1 " 
 
76 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 dispatch dated Strasburg, September 8, via London, 
 10th, we read, " There are daily thunder-storms 
 and the Rhine has risen, driving the inhabitants 
 from their cellars." 
 
 Such accounts, bringing to mind occurrences of 
 a similar nature which took place in our own war, 
 and which strongly impressed the writer at the 
 time with the idea of the practicability of obtaining 
 rain at will by the use of gunpowder, led him to 
 believe that the time had come when some experi- 
 ments ought to be made in the matter, other 
 than those which are incidental to battles and 
 sieges, and determined him to ask the co-operation 
 of those who had observed the phenomena in ques- 
 tion, in bringing the subject forward. The day 
 after the first publication of an article written with 
 this view, a letter appeared in the New York Even- 
 ing Post, showing that the matter had already 
 received much attention on the other side of the 
 Atlantic, and giving many facts bearing upon it. 
 The letter is dated at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Sept. 
 14, 1870, but was not published until October 5. 
 The following are some extracts: 
 
 "Since the commencement of actual hostilities 
 between Germany and France that is, from about 
 the first week in August to the present time, we 
 have had in this part of Germany scarcely a day 
 without rain, generally continuous, and often accom- 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 77 
 
 panied with thunder-storms. This phenomenon has 
 called the attention of the German press to the 
 subject, and some valuable historical facts connected 
 therewith have been brought to light; and there 
 appears to be little doubt, judging from the data on 
 hand, that the many storms and rains which we 
 have had in Germany for the past six weeks a 
 most unusual thing at this season here have been 
 brought on by the cannonading and firing of small 
 arms in Alsace and Lorraine. 
 
 " The Leipsic lllustrirte Zeitung calls to mind a 
 remarkable phenomenon observed in the revolu- 
 tionary year 1849. The city of Of en lies on the 
 banks of the Danube, here running due south. The 
 hill on which the fortress is situated has an eleva- 
 tion of two hundred and thirty-eight feet above that 
 river. It is surrounded on three sides by mountains : 
 on the south by Gernhardsberg, on the southwest 
 by the Adlersberg, on the west by the Schwabenberg 
 (one thousand two hundred feet high), and on the 
 north by the Geisbtirg (also one thousand two hun- 
 dred feet high). As the insurgents, at noon, on the 
 4th of May, 1849, approached the fortress, the latter 
 commenced firing eighty-four guns, eighteen and 
 twenty-four pounders, in order to prevent the 
 besiegers from planting their batteries. Towards 
 evening the cannonading on both sides was furious, 
 and a stable in the fortress was already on fire. The 
 
78 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 sky, which had been perfectly clear for a number 
 of weeks, became overclouded, and towards mid- 
 night a gentle, fine rain fell, the wind being per- 
 fectly calm and the shower continuing from one till 
 three. A clear morning followed. The previous 
 fine weather continued up to the evening of the 
 17th, when a fearful storm raged, coming as usual 
 from the west. A house on the Schwabenberg 
 was struck by lightning, and the storm ended with 
 a cloud-burst which cost the besieged the lives of 
 a number of horses and men. This storm is sup- 
 posed to have been produced by a 
 
 SIX HOURS BOMBARDMENT OF THE CITY OF PESTH, 
 
 by General Hentzi, from Of en, on the 13th of May, 
 during which engagement six immense mortars of 
 great calibre produced tremendous concussions for 
 a distance of several miles around. 
 
 " In the year 1859, an uncommonly violent hail- 
 storm fell in the faces of the Austrians during the 
 battle of Solferino. 
 
 AFTER THE FIRST BATTLE IN THE LAST WAR BETWEEN 
 FRANCE, SARDINIA AND AUSTRIA, 
 
 there followed such important rains that even small 
 rivers were impassable ; and, 
 
 DURING THE GREAT BATTLE OF SOLFERINO, 
 
 there broke out such a violent storm that the fight- 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 79 
 
 ing was interrupted. In July, 1861, McClellan's 
 troops, on the upper Potomac, had four separate 
 engagements on four days, and before the close of 
 each, violent rains fell. 
 
 "The Bohemian campaign of 1866 was accom- 
 panied during the whole course by violent rains. 
 After 
 
 THE BATTLE OF KOZNIGGRATZ, 
 
 violent rain storms hindered the harvest from being 
 properly garnered. 
 
 "The letters of the soldiers in the field, in the 
 present war, are full of accounts of ' sleeping on the 
 wet ground,' and complaints of the inclemency of 
 the weather. The 5th of August following 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WEISSENBERG, 
 
 was intensely warm. The night of the 6th was 
 rainy, and the morning following 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WOEKTH, 
 
 when the telegrams of victory came, found the 
 streets full of water-pools and the sky overcast with 
 gray, heavy clouds. Since then, we have not had 
 six fine cloudless days. 'From the 6th to the 31st 
 of August,' says the lllustrirte Zeitung, ' it rained 
 every day, often accompanied by thunder ; and these 
 continuous and violent rains have caused great dam- 
 age in those districts where the harvest was not in 
 before the 6th; the corn has been washed out, the 
 
80 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 straw has been rotted, and the crops have no more 
 value.' 
 
 "THE BOMBARDMENT OF STRASBURG 
 
 is accompanied by the grandest meteorological spec- 
 tacles. The thunder of the cannon, the blazing of 
 the houses, and the curve fire of the shells, are often 
 intermingled with the roar of thunder and the 
 flashing of lightning. The storms seem to come 
 from the Vosges, to break over the doomed city, 
 and then to spread over the valley from the Ehine 
 to the Schwarzwald, where the grass and trees are 
 almost as green as in spring ; and it is well known 
 that, when the war was declared, Baden, Alsace and 
 France were suffering from drouth. Great rains 
 fell in Hungary on the 15th of August, the day 
 after 
 
 THE FIRST BATTLE AROUND METZ. 
 
 In Germany the grapes will be spoiled unless the 
 sun shines with its usual power. We are inclined 
 to think that the storms here are caused by the firing 
 in Alsace, and, up to a week ago, by the bombard- 
 ment of Strasburg. For the past three or four days 
 fine weather has set in; and it is a fact that the 
 firing at Strasburg is no longer carried on so 
 strongly, the King having sent orders that the city 
 should now be spared as much as possible from 
 shells. We have had thunder-storms here which 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 81 
 
 surpassed in grandeur and power everything in the 
 experience of the 'oldest inhabitant." 1 
 
 That the operations of armies will bring rain in 
 otherwise rainless countries seems to be shown by 
 what took place during the 
 
 CONQUEST OF KHIVA, ASIA, 
 
 by the Eussians, as detailed in the letter of 
 the celebrated war-correspondent, J. A. MacGahan, 
 which will be found in the Appendix. It is not 
 claimed, however, that the facts detailed are of 
 special significance in connection with this subject, 
 in view of the uncertainty as to precisely when the 
 cannonading referred to occurred. The principal 
 value attached to them is in that they add confirma- 
 tion to a principle elsewhere more fully brought out, 
 that the dryness of the air of any country does not 
 preclude the possibility of rain. Rain comes from 
 humid currents ; and if a rainless country has such 
 currents flowing over it, it may have rain no matter 
 how dry the air may be at the earth's surface. 
 
 Peru in South America is another so-called rainless 
 country ; yet in August, 1873, a heavy rain occurred 
 there lasting three hours and inflicting a damage esti- 
 mated at over a million dollars; the roofs of the 
 houses in that country not having been so con- 
 structed as to shed rain. While there are no precise 
 data to indicate how this rain was brought on, 
 whether by 
 
82 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 BLASTING KOCKS 
 
 in the mountains or otherwise, yet it was supposed 
 to have been caused by the operations of Henry 
 Meiggs in the construction of railroads in that 
 country; and the people of Lima gave him the 
 credit or rather the discredit of it. An interest- 
 ing account of this rainstorm and of the consterna- 
 tion which it. caused was published in the Chicago 
 Tribune of September 7, 1873. 
 
 The foregoing facts, showing that in different 
 parts of the world, and in all seasons, heavy artillery 
 firing is almost invariably followed by rain, are 
 believed to be sufficient to establish fairly well, if 
 not perfectly, the proposition that to produce this 
 phenomenon at will is within the reach of human 
 power. Some of the storms which have been men- 
 tioned would doubtless have occurred if there had 
 been no cannonading ; indeed, in such a large num- 
 ber of days, the chances are that, on some, rain in 
 any case would have fallen. But no calculation of 
 chances can make it appear a reasonable supposition 
 that rain would have occurred on all, through the 
 ordinary operations of nature alone. The average 
 annual number of thunder-storms in the latitudes of 
 the United States, is a fraction less than 20* a 
 number totally insufficient to give them with the 
 
 * The average of thunder-storms annually, between latitudes 30 
 and 50 is 19 9-10. Silliman's Philosophy, p. 660. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 83 
 
 almost unfailing regularity with which they oc- 
 curred. 
 
 We have seen that, in our late war, almost every 
 battle of the Eastern armies was followed by rain ; 
 that rain followed all the great battles of the West, 
 and most, if not all, of the battles of the South ; 
 that it not only followed single battles, but fre- 
 quently each engagement of a series ; that on land 
 and on the water, in the interior and on the coast, 
 on the Mississippi, on the Gulf and on the Atlantic, 
 again and again, storm followed battle ; and that 
 the phenomenon, confined to no section, was also 
 peculiar to no season. We have seen that not only 
 in our late war, but in the Mexican war, as well, it 
 occurred again and again, and even in the very 
 midst of the dry season ; and that in North America, 
 in South America, in Asia and in Europe, it has 
 occurred under circumstances which compelled the 
 attention of the observers. These facts have a 
 significance that can not be lightly set aside, and 
 if they do not furnish the positive proof, they fully 
 warrant the belief, that artillery firing always tends 
 to bring rain, and is often the actual cause of its 
 occurrence. 
 
 But the question will naturally arise, why is not 
 every battle followed by rain why is it that an 
 amount of artillery firing that in one case brings 
 rain, will sometimes fail to bring it in another? 
 
84 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 This question can be better answered after a further 
 consideration of theories as to how cannonading 
 produces rain at all ; but it may be remarked here, 
 that it is by no means certain that heavy cannon- 
 ading does not invariably cause rain somewhere, 
 even if it does not at the spot where the tiring 
 occurs. 
 
 In twelve instances of heavy firing by the naval 
 and military forces operating against Charleston, 
 that I have investigated, occurring from January 
 31 to September 5, 1863, ten were followed by rain, 
 and each of the others* by an overclouded sky. In 
 one of the latter cases the sky became overclouded 
 for sixteen hours on the second day after the en- 
 gagement, and in the other case for twelve hours 
 on the day after ; from which facts it may fairly 
 be surmised that it rained in both cases at some 
 place not far distant. 
 
 If it be admitted for the sake of argument, how- 
 ever, that heavy artillery firing sometimes fails to 
 produce rain, either at the spot where the firing 
 occurs or at any place in range of the air currents 
 which exist at a high elevation still, this would 
 not be evidence that a way may not be discovered to 
 so conduct the firing as to bring rain at all times 
 with unerring certainty. It is probably in the man- 
 ner of the firing, as well as in the amount, that we 
 
 * Attacks of April 7 and Sept. 5. Log of the New Ironsides. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 85 
 
 must look for the peculiar influence that brings the 
 rain. If it be the heat alone that the firing evolves 
 that exerts that influence, then it would depend 
 principally upon the amount; but'I do not believe 
 such to be the case. Professor Espy, some years 
 since, claimed that he could cause rain by means of 
 great fires, and cited rains following battles and con- 
 flagrations as facts in support of his theory. He 
 maintained that all rains were caused by an ascend- 
 ing current of air, which drew the air to it from 
 all directions, and that the condensation of the aque- 
 ous vapor was due to the cold caused by the expan- 
 sion of the air as it rose. He believed that all that 
 was necessary, in order to bring on a rain, was to 
 build a great fire so as to heat the air and cause it 
 to ascend, and that after an ascending column was 
 once formed, the fire might be allowed to go out, 
 and the upward current would still continue. The 
 manner in which the process would go on and, 
 according to his theory, the process is the same in 
 the case of any rain may be thus described: The 
 air, as it rises, expands ; by its expansion it becomes 
 cold ; by its cold a portion of its aqueous vapor is 
 condensed into cloud ; by the latent heat given out 
 in this condensation, the air is warmed and made to 
 rise higher, causing a further expansion and a fur- 
 ther condensation of vapor: the surrounding air, in 
 the meantime, rushes in to take the place of that 
 
86 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 which is thus ascending and passing off, and goes 
 through the same process. 
 
 But though Professor Espy's philosophy con- 
 tains much that has been generally accepted by 
 meteorologists as true, and though there seems to 
 be abundant evidence that great conflagrations and 
 volcanic eruptions sometimes bring rain, yet he 
 was probably mistaken if he believed that it was 
 practicable to bring rain in the way he proposed 
 in sufficient quantities to be of service to agricult- 
 ure and at a cost which would make it pay as an 
 economic measure. To cause rain by building a 
 great fire would be too expensive a proceeding. It 
 would require too large a fire to be practicable, and 
 its effects at different times would be too variable 
 and uncertain. Even the great fire which destroyed 
 the city of Chicago in 1871 produced but a moder- 
 ate shower ; but this can scarcely be taken as a fair 
 example, as there was such a heavy wind blowing 
 at the time of the fire that the heat was carried 
 off and scattered too much to produce the effect it 
 would otherwise have done upon the higher air- 
 currents. 
 
 But Espy's plan, though impracticable, had the 
 merit of being much like one of the ways in 
 which nature works to bring about the result in 
 question. There are different ways in which nature 
 sets in motion that mingling of air-currents which 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 87 
 
 is necessary, in our latitudes, to produce rain. Some- 
 times the motions of the currents themselves may 
 bring them into conflict from causes too remote for 
 our present inquiry. Sometimes the tides in the 
 great ocean of the atmosphere, caused by the attrac- 
 tion of the sun and moon, may have an influence 
 in that direction. At other times the lower current 
 strikes the side of a mountain and is deflected upward 
 into the current above. This, no doubt, is the way 
 in which, most of those storms originate which start 
 in the Rocky Mountains and travel eastward across 
 the United States and Canada. Another way is 
 when, at some sheltered point or on some still, 
 warm day, the heat of the sun causes a column of 
 warm air to rise so as to destroy the equilibrium of 
 the air currents above. This I believe to be the 
 way in which great fires act to bring rain. From 
 what I have said of Espy's theory, however, it will 
 be seen that this is not his explanation ; for he 
 found in the surface air the vapor for his rains. He 
 did not recognize vapor-bearing currents from the 
 tropics as the great and immediate source of our 
 rains. But at the time he wrote, Professor Maury 
 had not worked out his theory of the circulation 
 of the atmosphere nor was the significance of the r 
 eastward movement of storms appreciated, though 
 this movement had been recognized. Both of these, 
 however, are great facts which can not be ignored in 
 
88 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 any theory dealing with the subject at the present 
 day. 
 
 When cannonading brings rain a different force 
 from heat is brought into action, and this force is 
 concussion. It acts in a different way from heat, 
 and its action is more certain and effective. 
 
 I have advanced and emphasized the idea that 
 the greater portion of the rains that fall within the 
 United States are drawn from vapor that comes 
 from the Pacific Ocean. A reliable authority has 
 estimated that enough water evaporates from the 
 ocean in a single year to depress its whole surface 
 eight or ten feet if none went back ; while by some 
 the amount is estimated to be even greater than this. 
 Some of this vaporized water falls back as rain 
 directly into the ocean the rest is carried in great 
 air currents over the continents, where it is precipi- 
 tated as rain or snow, and runs back by the rivers 
 again to the ocean. Some of it may be long in thus 
 returning. Portions of it may be many times 
 evaporated from the earth and many times fall as 
 dew, or, after evaporation, rise to a high elevation, 
 and be drawn with portions of the lower air into 
 the vortex caused by mingling air currents, and be 
 condensed and fall again " as rain ; but in time it 
 must all go back to the sea, while constantly from 
 the sea comes more vapor to keep up the supply. 
 
 The atmosphere surrounding the earth has a cir- 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 89 
 
 dilation which, speaking in a general sense, is 
 definite and uniform from year to year, though 
 modified somewhat hy the seasons. This circula- 
 tion is caused by the heat of the sun acting un- 
 equally upon it in different parts of the world, and 
 acting on different portions of it successively, owing 
 to the revolution of the earth on its axis. 
 
 The vapor-bearing current that supplies moisture 
 to the United States is vast in extent and covers 
 the whole country. It receives its force and motion 
 from the southeast trade wind of the Pacific Ocean 
 and is, in effect, a continuation of that wind, being 
 composed of the same air as that which, as a trade 
 wind, was wafted two thousand miles over the 
 Southern seas. The vapor which it bears along 
 comes principally from that portion of the ocean 
 which lies within the tropics. It is probable that 
 the air containing this vapor is very warm and very 
 fully saturated with it. It is not necessary to my 
 theory that the whole body of this great eastward 
 moving current should be equally warm and equally 
 saturated with vapor the different parts can be in 
 equilibrium without being so but it is probable 
 that there is everywhere and always a stratum 
 sufficiently saturated to produce rain; except, per- 
 haps, at such times as it may be parted or broken by 
 waves of colder air. This warm current from the 
 tropics is called the Equatorial current. The South- 
 
90 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 ern Hemisphere also has an equatorial current pro- 
 duced by the northeast trade wind. 
 
 Above the equatorial current there is a cold cur- 
 rent called the Polar current flowing in nearly the 
 opposite direction. As cold air can not hold as 
 much vapor as warm air even in proportion to its 
 temperature, the polar current contains but little 
 vapor, but it may contain as much as it is capable 
 of holding at its existing temperature ; for this cold 
 current was once a warm, saturated current from 
 the tropical seas. It was first a trade wind, then 
 an equatorial current, and lastly, a polar current. 
 It has travelled many thousand miles since it left 
 the equator and has taken part in many storms, 
 first as a lower current, and then as an upper cur- 
 rent. It has circled around one of the poles of the 
 earth, and is now returning to again form a part of 
 one of the trade winds, and go through the same 
 round as before. During every storm in which it 
 has taken part as a polar current it has received to 
 itself portions of the warm current below it and 
 portions of the surface air lying between the warm 
 current and the earth, and has left behind portions 
 of itself. It has lost most of its vapor, but not all. 
 
 "When contiguous portions of the equatorial and 
 polar currents mix together, rain is the result. A 
 circular motion is produced by the union of the two 
 currents. There is also an upward movement of 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 91 
 
 air within the storm area; for as the vapor con- 
 denses, latent heat is given out, which expands the 
 air in which the condensation takes place and 
 makes it lighter, bulk for bulk, than it was before. 
 And not alone by the release of latent heat is the 
 air made lighter, but the withdrawal from it of the 
 vapor contributes directly, also, to that result. As 
 the air of the mingling currents thus rises, it 
 draws into the motion the surface air, thus com- 
 municating to that air, to a considerable extent, 
 the circular motion above mentioned, and also giv- 
 ing to it an inward motion toward the centre of 
 the storm. It is not unlikely that there is also in 
 the vicinity of where the action is greatest a down- 
 ward motion. There may be no positive proof of 
 this, but we may reason that it is so from general 
 principles ; for we know that in the economy of 
 nature, the beneficent effects of rainstorms are not 
 confined to furnishing moisture for vegetation arid 
 water for man's use; they are a part of the machinery 
 provided for mixing the atmosphere so that its con- 
 stituent elements are kept in the same proportion in 
 all parts of the world. Besides the motions which 
 have been mentioned circular, upward and inward, 
 with possibly a downward the whole' storm has a 
 motion eastward or northeastward. This is one of 
 the fundamental laws which guide the officers of 
 the Signal Service in their predictions of the 
 
92 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 weather. It is not negatived by the fact that an 
 east wind often precedes and accompanies a storm. 
 When this is the case at any place it indicates that 
 the storm centre is passing to the south of that place. 
 The east wind does not bring the storm. The storm 
 is brought by the equatorial current, and moves 
 with it. The east w T ind is caused partly by the 
 circular motion which the air in the two currents 
 takes on when they unite, and partly by the suc- 
 tion caused by this air rising and passing off as it 
 parts with its vapor. This circular motion is 
 always, in the Northern Hemisphere, in the reverse 
 direction to the motion of the hands of a watch, 
 and in the Southern Hemisphere it is always in 
 the same direction as the hands of a watch. We 
 can easily see why the direction should be different 
 for the two hemispheres when we consider that the 
 equatorial current, in the Northern Hemisphere, 
 flows in a northeasterly direction, while in the 
 Southern Hemisphere it flows in a southeasterly 
 direction ; and further, that the polar current crosses 
 the equatorial in the Northern Hemisphere from 
 the northeast and in the Southern Hemisphere from 
 the southeast. 
 
 Sometimes spurs of these currents unite and 
 reach down to the earth, causing tornadoes, the 
 source of whose terrific power is a problem difficult, 
 to solve, and of which I shall have more to say 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 93 
 
 further on. It may be stated here, however, that 
 tornadoes always revolve in the same direction as 
 other storms, showing that the primary cause of the 
 revolution is the same in both cases. 
 
 Returning to my main subject I would say that 
 anything that will cause the equatorial current to 
 mix with the polar current above it will bring rain. 
 This is what concussion does when a large number 
 of cannon are fired and the firing is rapid and 
 long continued. 
 
 But how does concussion do this ? I shall reply 
 by suggesting different explanations, either one of 
 which, I trust, will stand the test of common sense 
 and be found not to conflict with any known laws 
 of physical science. Facts are of more importance 
 than theories, but in order that a knowledge of 
 facts may lead to the most useful results it is 
 necessary that they should be supplemented by 
 reasonable theories. Such theories may not at the 
 outset be absolutely correct, and if with the pro- 
 gress of knowledge these theories should be found 
 to contain error they should be changed to meet 
 new facts as they transpire. 
 
 Let us then, first, consider concussion as an actual 
 force capable of causing motion by direct action. 
 The violent effects of heavy concussions in certain 
 cases are too well known to need more than a 
 passing notice. The breaking of windows by the 
 
94 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 discharge of cannon is not an unusual occurrence. 
 The statement that water-spouts at sea are broken 
 up by the discharge of cannon is one with which 
 all are familiar. Cannon firing is often employed 
 to cause the bodies of drowned persons to rise to 
 the surface of the water. A less familiar instance 
 of its effects was seen at the bombardment of Forts 
 Jackson and St. Philip in the number of dead fish 
 that floated down the river. In this connection also 
 I would call attention to what is said in the interest- 
 ing letter of Gen. McNulta* which will be found 
 on another page in relation to the effect of the 
 firing at the inauguration of Gov. Halm at New 
 Orleans on the smoke issuing from the chimneys 
 of the city. A kind of pressure seemed to be 
 exerted very much greater than would be supposed. 
 These circumstances render not unreasonable the 
 idea that the effect of artillery firing upon a hor- 
 izontal current or moving stratum of air may be 
 very great. Such a current, being necessarily in 
 exact equilibrium with the air above and below it, 
 would yield to the slightest force, and it may easily 
 be conceived that the concussion produced by a 
 number of cannon fired simultaneously would cause 
 it to bend upward. Apply the idea to the case of 
 two currents, one above the other and moving in a 
 different direction, the upper one cold and the 
 
 * No. 4 of Appendix. 
 
WAR AND TEE WEATHER. 95 
 
 lower one warm, and both containing as much aque- 
 ous vapor as their respective temperatures will per- 
 mit. The effect of heavy concussions often and 
 quickly repeated would very likely be to throw 
 them upward over the spot where the firing takes 
 place, and finally with their own motion to bring 
 them together. A spiral motion would result from 
 their union ; larger and larger portions of the two 
 currents would becomre involved in the change ; the 
 two bodies of air would become mixed, and the 
 conditions required by the Huttonian theory of rain 
 would be fulfilled. 
 
 Another way in which it may be supposed that 
 heavy concussions often repeated act to cause a 
 current of air saturated with vapor to rise and mix 
 with a current above, remains to be considered. It 
 is frequently the case that the first phenomenon 
 following a battle is a dense fog. I have given 
 but little prominence to this circumstance in the 
 foregoing statement of facts, but it seems to show 
 that concussion may operate directly to cause con- 
 densation of aqueous vapor, for fog results from 
 condensation of a portion of the invisible vapor in 
 the atmosphere into drops large enough to be seen. 
 If concussion, by forcing particles of aqueous vapor 
 together, condenses even a very little of the vapor 
 contained in an air current, it may in so doing 
 change very materially the conditions governing 
 
96 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 the motion of such current. By the condensation 
 of a little vapor some heat would be evolved 
 throughout that portion of the current in which 
 the condensation took place. This heat would 
 rarif y, though ever so little, that part of the cur- 
 rent, and give it a tendency to rise.' This effort 
 to rise would cause some of it to mix with the 
 colder current above. ^ In this way a circular motion 
 would be started and a process initiated which 
 would gather strength and volume by its own 
 action. For, when the two currents began to 
 mix, the mixing would cause condensation of more 
 vapor and thus would cause the setting free of 
 more latent heat, and the setting free of more 
 heat would cause greater rarifaction of the air 
 ancl a stronger tendency to rise, and thus the 
 process would go on at a constantly accelerating 
 rate of progress until vast volumes of air would 
 become involved in the new motion and rain- 
 clouds be formed. 
 
 So far as our knowledge of this subject ex- 
 tends, when cannon firing brings rain it generally 
 brings it at the place where the firing takes place. 
 It may seem at first glance that there would be 
 a difficulty in reconciling this fact with the ex- 
 istence of a moving stratum of air in which most 
 of the vapor is brought which makes the rain. 
 It would seem as though the centre of the storm 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 97 
 
 would be far east of the place where the circu- 
 lar motion was initiated by the time the storm 
 had fully developed. It may, indeed, be possible 
 that this is so, and that the place of firing will 
 be found to be always in the western part of the 
 storm area. Still, it would not be a violation of 
 reason nor of probability to suppose that the 
 storm centre remains stationary over the place 
 where the firing takes place until the storm is 
 fully established. At the commencement, the new 
 action set up would be confined to the upper 
 stratum of the lower current and the lower 
 stratum of the upper current. These, mingling 
 together, would set up a rotary motion, but as a 
 whole, the air partaking of this motion would per- 
 haps move neither very far east nor very far 
 west, being acted on by opposing forces, one 
 tending to carry it eastward and the other west- 
 ward. When, however, large enough volumes of 
 air become involved in the motion to produce 
 rain, the storm will move eastward along with the 
 warm current ; while the air which lias yielded 
 up its vapor will probably be added partly to 
 the cold current, above, and partly to the surface 
 air below. 
 
 There has occurred to me still another and an 
 entirely different explanation of the possible manner 
 in which cannon firing acts to bring rain, and I 
 
98 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 will here give it. As before stated, it has been 
 established by the observations of the Signal 
 Corps that all our storms except those moving up 
 the coast from the Gulf of Mexico move across 
 the country from west to east. There is seldom a 
 time when there is not a storm thus in motion. 
 Sometimes the storm is moving across the northern 
 part of the country, sometimes across the middle 
 part, sometimes across the southern part, and some- 
 times across the country from southwest to north- 
 east. Sometimes there are two or more storms in 
 progress at the same time. Sometimes several 
 storms move in succession across the same part of 
 the country, causing an excessive amount of rain in 
 that section ; while, at the same time, some other 
 part of the country has no rain and suffers from a 
 drouth. ISTow it may be possible that a spell of 
 heavy cannon firing, instead of initiating a new 
 storm as I believe it to do, may simply draw to 
 the place w r here the firing takes place, a storm 
 already in motion somewhere to the westward. If 
 this should prove to be the true explanation, which, 
 however, I very much doubt, we must still look for 
 the reason of it in the action of concussion upon 
 air currents ; for concussion is a shock whose effects 
 must extend to the extreme limits of our atmos- 
 phere unless its force is expended in the condensa- 
 tion of vapor though this force diminishes in pro- 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 09 
 
 portion to the square of the distance from its initial 
 point. If to divert storms from their natural 
 courses should be found to be the limit of our control 
 of the rainfall, even that measure of power would 
 be of immense value to the country if properly 
 utilized ; for by it we could secure a more uniform 
 distribution of the rainfall and prevent any one 
 portion of the country from receiving an excessive 
 amount while another portion was suffering from 
 the lack of it. The good to be derived from 
 such a regulation of the rainfall, however, would 
 come principally to the states east of the Missis- 
 sippi River. There is far more of hope for the 
 western portions of Kansas, Nebraska and the 
 Dakotas and for the arid regions beyond in the 
 theory that a new storm can always be produced 
 and that it will be heaviest at the place where it 
 is originated. 
 
 The question, however, as to whether rain can 
 at all times be produced and whether or not it 
 can be made to pay can only be settled by means 
 of experiments. In conducting these experiments 
 the object ought not to be at the first to see with 
 how small an expenditure of money or of powder 
 a rain storm can be produced, but the great aim 
 in the first experiment ought to be to make it a 
 success if success is possible. Let us first demon- 
 strate that we can make it rain after that, let us 
 
100 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 seek for the most economical way to do so. Pos- 
 sibly it will be found in the nse o'f dynamite 
 exploded in the midst of the equatorial current it- 
 self. But if we should commence with a small 
 experiment there is danger of failure, and this 
 would give occasion to many who do not un- 
 derstand the principles involved to cast ridicule 
 on the project, and might lead to its abandon- 
 ment. But with success attending the first experi- 
 ment, however great the expense of it may have 
 been, the country would vieAV w T ith approval such 
 further experiments as might be necessary to 
 bring the system to a practical working basis. 
 
 In order to eliminate as far as possible the 
 chances of failure in our first experiment, we 
 ought to take advantage of the experience gained 
 in our late war in making it rain when far dif- 
 ferent objects were had in view. If we do this 
 we shall not be sparing of our powder nor in 
 the number of cannon employed. We shall place 
 our guns in two lines about as far apart as we 
 should be likely to do if engaged in actual battle, 
 the guns in each line pointing towards the other 
 and somewhat elevated, and fire them as rapidly 
 as the safety of the gunners will admit of for, say 
 about seven hours, in one day first for three hours, 
 then, after an intermission of three hours, for four 
 hours longer. I would propose to keep up, for so 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 101 
 
 many hours this uproar on the earth and in the 
 heavens, not because I believe it would ordinarily 
 be necessary to do so in order to bring rain, but 
 because it might possibly be so at the time and in 
 the place selected for the experiment. In order to 
 produce the heaviest possible concussions we should, 
 during a portion of our firing, connect all our guns 
 together with an insulated wire, and fire them sim- 
 ultaneously by means of electricity. Though I be- 
 lieve that this manner of firing would be the most 
 effective of any, I would limit it on our first trial, 
 lest we depart too far from the way in which we 
 have reason to believe that rain has been produced 
 before. 
 
 An idea awaiting verification or disproval is that 
 a spell of rapid firing, followed in a few hours by 
 another a little longer continued, will produce the 
 greatest effect with the least amount of powder. 
 Among the things noticed in a study of the meteor- 
 ological records in the log books of the navy, is 
 that the sky sometimes becomes overcast after a 
 naval battle, then clears off, and then becomes over- 
 cast a second time, before it rains, and all within a 
 short space of time. Another is that the barometer 
 will sometimes fluctuate during a battle, and that 
 sometimes it rains after the second fall of the mer- 
 cury. The first noticeable movement of the mercury 
 in the barometer after the commencement of a battle 
 
102 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 seems sometimes to be a slight rise. The move- 
 ments of the barometric column during battles, 
 however, are frequently so irregular, owing doubtless 
 to other causes than the firing, that they seem to 
 have but very little value in adding to our knowl- 
 edge of the specific effect upon the atmosphere of 
 the firing. 
 
 The change in the height of the barometer caused 
 by an ordinary naval battle, is generally not very 
 great, seldom exceeding two-tenths of an inch. At 
 the bombardment and passage of the Yicksburg 
 batteries by Admiral Farragut on the morning of 
 June 28, 1862, the movement of the barometric 
 column was much less, even, than this. But after 
 the naval action off Charleston January 31, 1863, 
 there was a fall in the barometer of nearly half an 
 inch. 
 
 I will remark here that it is not the diminished 
 pressure of the atmosphere, as shown by a fall in the 
 barometer, that brings rain. On the contrary aside 
 from such causes for barometric fluctuations as the 
 winds and the tides in the atmosphere it is the 
 rain, together with the motion of the air in which it 
 occurs, that causes the diminished pressure or area 
 of low barometer. The mingling of the equatorial 
 and polar currents, the condensation of vapor, the 
 release of latent heat and the circular motion are, 
 together, the causes that diminish the weight of the 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 103 
 
 atmosphere within the storm area and in front of it, 
 and cause the mercury in the barometer to fall. 
 
 Returning to the question as to why artillery firing 
 does not always bring rain, I will remark that the 
 great reason, and the one that overshadows all the 
 rest is, that it is not always that enough guns are 
 brought into action and fired simultaneously, or if 
 fired together, that this kind of firing is not long 
 enough contkmed. There may be minor reasons, 
 also, having reference to the arrangement of the 
 guns, to the continuity of the firing, and to the 
 intervals between diiferent spells of firing. All these 
 would need to be understood in order to produce 
 the greatest amount of rain by the least expenditure 
 of powder. But in a great battle there is such a 
 large amount of firing, so many simultaneous shots, 
 such a diversity in the arrangement of the guns, 
 and such a continuity in the noise concussion fol- 
 lowing concussion that it generally happens that all 
 the conditions necessary to bring rain in large quan- 
 tities are fulfilled. In order to understand why very 
 heavy concussions would produce an effect, while 
 lighter ones might produce none, let us consider what 
 concussion is. To get an idea of it, suppose a num- 
 ber of billiard balls to be laid in a straight row, 
 the contiguous balls touching each other, and sup- 
 pose the ball at one end of the row to be struck 
 in the direction in the line of the row. The first 
 
104 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 ball receiving the blow will transmit it to the next, 
 this to the third, and so on. In the same way, in 
 concussion, the atoms and molecules composing the 
 atmosphere strike each other, the motion being in 
 straight lines in every direction from the point where 
 the shock originates. In the case of the billiard 
 balls, the harder the blow the farther will the ball 
 at the extreme end of the row fly from the others, 
 and the greater the pressure on the intermediate 
 balls. So, in the case of the atoms and molecules 
 of the atmosphere, the harder the blow of concus- 
 sion the greater the pressure at those points where 
 its action is effective. Hence, while the concussion 
 of a single shot, no matter how often repeated, 
 may not affect the aqueous vapor in the equatorial 
 current, yet the greater blows struck by many can- 
 non being fired at once may produce an effect upon 
 it which would astonish us if we could see what 
 actually takes place. For further illustration, let us 
 suppose, in the case of the row of balls, that instead 
 of all of them being elastic, there were two balls 
 lying adjacent in the row which were made of thin 
 glass and filled with water; the blow on the first 
 ball in the row would shatter these two, and the 
 water in them would run together. Whether or 
 not the blow would proceed farther would depend 
 upon its initial force. Suppose, similarly, that in 
 a row of molecules reaching from the cannon's 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 105 
 
 mouth into the heavens there were two mole- 
 cules of aqueous vapor adjacent to each other, 
 would not a heavy shock of concussion shatter the 
 envelopes of heat by which they were surrounded, 
 and cause the two to unite into one particle? And 
 if there were many molecules of vapor lying on 
 such lines, would not the number of such conden- 
 sations depend upon the force of the shock? A 
 .portion of the latent heat belonging to the mole- 
 cules so united would thus become free. Suppose 
 this took place in the body of the equatorial cur- 
 rent. It would be a virtual transmission of force 
 from the cannon's mouth into that current. Enough 
 condensations of this kind would destroy the equi- 
 librium of that current, in the manner described on 
 page 96. But we must have concussions heavy 
 enough to strike the requisite blows, or they will 
 produce no effect. 
 
 Again, in those very rare cases in which it is 
 claimed and cannot be shown otherwise that battles 
 were not followed soon by rain, it may be that 
 there was much more artillery on one side than on 
 the other. While it cannot in the present state of 
 our knowledge on the subject be shown that the 
 meeting of opposing shocks of concussion is a 
 necessary element in bringing rain in this way, yet 
 it is fair to surmise that it may in some way add 
 to the energy of the upward force. It may be, 
 
106 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 also, that, except in very favorable circumstances 
 and when the first firing is exceedingly sharp and 
 concentrated, it is requisite that, after a few hours, 
 a second impulse should be given by a second spell 
 of firing. 
 
 These considerations, I think, will show that it 
 would be illogical to reject the whole theory and 
 refuse to put it to the test of experiment because 
 there may have been some instances of tolerably 
 sharp artillery firing which were not followed by 
 rain. If the circumstances connected with such 
 could be fully known it would doubtless appear 
 that, if the firing was heavy, it was very short. 
 There have been days and weeks of artillery skir- 
 mishing which brought no heavy rain though 
 it sometimes brought showers. That it did no 
 more furnishes no argument against the theory 
 under consideration. The force that, if concen- 
 trated, would have brought heavy rain was too long 
 drawn out it was dissipated and went to waste. I 
 opine that but a very poor argument could be made 
 out against my theory by an examination of cases 
 where battle or artillery firing was not followed 
 by rain. I do not know of a single really great 
 battle of which this can be said and proved. If 
 any one of my readers who took part in our late 
 war should think he remembers such, let him 
 look over my list of battles followed by rain and 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 107 
 
 see if it is not there, and if there let him balance 
 the evidence I furnish against his own recollec- 
 tions or the want of them. And if he thinks he 
 remembers even artillery skirmishes which were 
 not followed by rain, let him take warning from 
 the rash utterance of one of my correspondents 
 who, in speaking of such skirmishes in the Shen- 
 andoah Valley in August and September, 1864, 
 which he dignifies by the name of " daily battles," 
 declares that they were accompanied by an "unus- 
 ual drouth," and deduces thence an argument 
 against my theory; while I am able to show by 
 an actual record that there were ten rainy days 
 in that region included in less than one half of 
 the period mentioned.* Now in saying this I do 
 not question the general accuracy of my correspon- 
 dent's statement. I admit that there was a drouth ; 
 I admit that the ten rains did not break up that 
 drouth ; and my conclusion is that, while artillery 
 skirmishing will sometimes bring showers, it re- 
 quires heavier firing to bring .long continued and 
 soaking rains. 
 
 The author has, on two occasions, memorialized 
 Congress on the subject of experiments. In his 
 first petition he referred mainly to the facts, and 
 in his second, to the philosophy bearing on the 
 subject. This latter petition was presented through 
 
 * NOS. 17 aild 18 Of Annpndi-r 
 
108 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 Hon. C. B. Farwell, of Illinois, on February 28, 
 1874, and was as follows: 
 
 To the Honorable the House of Representatives of 
 
 the United States : 
 
 Your petitioner, two years ago, presented to your 
 honorable body a memorial setting forth certain 
 facts going to show that the discharge of artillery 
 in heavy batteries, continued for a few hours, 
 will bring rain in large quantities ; and asking 
 that an experiment might be performed with pow- 
 der and cannon of the United States to determine 
 if drouths cannot in this way be prevented. He 
 now renews his petition for such experiments, and 
 begs leave to present some facts of a different 
 kind from those before stated, which tend to add 
 to the credibility of his theory. 
 
 In a work of that distinguished investigator of 
 natural phenomena, the late M. F. Maury, on the 
 "Physical Geography of the Sea," it is claimed 
 that the principal portion of the aqueous vapor 
 that forms the rain that falls within the United 
 States is brought by atmospheric currents from 
 the Pacific Ocean. It is contended that the great 
 southeast trade wind of the Pacific, which meets 
 the northeast trade wind near the equator, after 
 rising there, flows over that trade wind to the 
 belt of calms near the tropic of Cancer, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 109 
 
 where it descends and becomes a great southwest 
 rain-bearing current across our continent ; and 
 that, above this current, is a great polar current 
 flowing in nearly an opposite direction. The south- 
 east trade wind of the Pacific which becomes 
 thus a great vapor-bearing current above the 
 United States, extends from the surface of the 
 ocean to the height, it is supposed, of about three 
 miles. It moves over the ocean for about two 
 thousand miles, and with slight interruptions, it 
 blows perpetually. The amount of vapor which 
 it takes up is inconceivably great ; for it is calcu- 
 lated that as much water is evaporated from the 
 ocean in one year as would depress its whole 
 surface eight or ten feet. It is true that much 
 of the vapor that rises from the ocean falls back 
 into it again afterwards, as rain, but the amount 
 which is carried over the continents is immense, and 
 vast quantities of it, transparent and invisible, must 
 pass over the United States, to fall afterwards as 
 rain or snow on the Atlantic Ocean, in Northern 
 Europe and in the polar regions. 
 
 Now, the deductions of Maury in relation to 
 winds and air currents, made from thousands of 
 observations taken in all parts of the world, seem 
 to be confirmed so far as the existence of a rain- 
 bearing current over this continent is concerned, by 
 the observations of the Signal Corps of the United 
 
110 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 States Army ; for it is found that nearly all our 
 principal storms come from the westward and south- 
 westward ; and this, as Maury shows, will be the 
 course naturally taken by the air of the southeast 
 trade wind when it becomes an atmospheric current 
 in the Northern Hemisphere. The observations of 
 aeronauts also add confirmation to his theory, for 
 they declare that they have found an eastward cur- 
 rent which they believe to be constant. 
 
 Your petitioner, therefore, respectfully represents 
 that these facts give reason to believe that there 
 are, at all times, vast quantities of aqueous vapor 
 passing over us from the Pacific Ocean; that the 
 existence of an extremely cold current above the 
 vapor-bearing current gives reason to believe that 
 the conditions necessary to produce rain in the 
 manner in which we are taught by the Huttonian 
 theory it usually is produced, are always present, 
 and that the occurrence of heavy rains after battles 
 gives reason to believe, not only that such condi- 
 tions always exist, but that the process by which 
 clouds and rain are formed from the invisible 
 vapor can, at any time, be set in motion. 
 
 And your petitioner further represents that, while 
 the observations of the Signal Corps show that on 
 an average as many as nine storms traverse our 
 country from west to east in a single month, these 
 storms are yet so unequally distributed that some 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. Ill 
 
 portions of the country suffer at times from terrible 
 drouths, while others are drenched with excessive 
 rains; and that, if it should be found that there 
 is in the effects of heavy concussions a power such 
 as to cause storm centres to deviate from their 
 natural courses, a system for distributing the rain- 
 fall can be worked out which, by leading to the 
 prevention of forest fires and by adding to our 
 agricultural resources, will be of inestimable value 
 to the country. 
 
 [Signed] EDWARD POWERS. 
 
 Let us now proceed to discuss some of the objec- 
 tions to the theory under consideration. It might 
 appear from the letters published in the Appendix 
 that the opinion became general in our army, 
 during our late war, that artillery firing brought 
 rain. Such, however, was not the case, as there 
 were a vast number who gave no thought to the 
 subject and there are some who, when their atten- 
 tion was afterwards called to it, expressed doubt 
 that this effect was ever produced. The few, how- 
 ever, who, in correspondence with the author, have 
 expressed such doubt, generally base their opinion 
 on what can be shown to be unsound premises. 
 If, in speaking from memory, they say of such 
 or such a battle that it was not followed 
 by rain, it can generally be shown by affirmative 
 
112 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 evidence that their memory is at fault. Objec- 
 tions of this kind it would be useless for me to 
 quote here for the purpose of controverting ; as 
 my facts are elsewhere presented, and the evidence 
 by which they are supported is either given or 
 referred to in such a way that it can be found 
 by any seeker after the truth. 
 
 Gen. J. H. Wilson, of the United States En- 
 gineers, who is one of the doubters, treats the 
 subject very fairly when he says : " I am con- 
 strained to say that my experience, extending 
 from the first to the last days of our late war, 
 during which I participated in nearly all our 
 great battles, does not justify me in pronouncing 
 an opinion favorable to your hypothesis in refer- 
 ence to the influence of cannon firing in produc- 
 ing rain. 1 should add, however, that I have 
 given but little attention to the subject, and, 
 therefore, do not wish to be understood as saying 
 that you are incorrect in your suppositions. The 
 question, although not a new one, is, as you justly 
 remark, one of great interest, and should be settled 
 by experiments directed solely to that end. I do 
 not regard the casual recollections of officers in 
 reference to such a matter as of any great value. 
 A well directed series of experiments would be 
 of infinitely more service towards the formation of 
 true opinions. Trusting that your investigations 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 113 
 
 may be so encouraged as to enable you to arrive 
 at the truth, whatever it may be, I am, etc." 
 
 Col. C. H. Crane, Assistant Surgeon General 
 United States Army, says : " If it could be shown 
 that rains were decidedly more frequent immedi- 
 ately after battles than antecedent probability 
 would lead us to expect that is, for instance, if 
 the day after a great battle was rainy in sixty 
 casss out of a hundred, while the average proba- 
 bility of a rainy day, in the places where the battles 
 were fought, was only twenty per cent. it would 
 then remain to be inquired into whether battles 
 were not commonly preceded by a number of days 
 of dry weather that made military movements more 
 active and brought the armies together." 
 
 The sixty cases in one hundred supposed above 
 are very far short of the real number ; but letting 
 that pass, I will say that if it were true that battles 
 are generally preceded by several days of dry 
 weather, this circumstance would be rightly regarded 
 by most persons as furnishing an argument for the 
 theory that maintains that the battles cause the suc- 
 ceeding rains, rather than one against it. At any 
 given time during a spell of dry settled weather, it 
 is more reasonable to expect that the next day will 
 be fair than that it will be rainy. If rains naturally 
 occurred at regular intervals, then, in considering 
 whether a rain following a battle was or was not 
 
114 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 produced by the battle, it would be necessary to 
 inquire whether it was not the time for rain, 
 though there had been no artificial cause to pro- 
 duce it but, occurring at irregular intervals as 
 they do, this point would seem to be one which 
 has no material bearing on the question. This 
 will be more apparent, if we consider how it 
 would affect the credibility of the theory if it 
 could be shown that battles were generally pre- 
 ceded by wet weather, instead of dry. Indeed, 
 in the case of two or three battles, it has been 
 mentioned as a fact bearing against it, that they 
 were preceded, as well as followed by rain. Thus 
 it is seen that while one individual would doubt 
 that a battle caused the rain which followed it, 
 because there had been previous dry weather, and 
 it was time to expect rain, another would enter- 
 tain the same doubt in reference to another battle 
 because there had been rain immediately previous 
 and it was reasonable to expect more. Such 
 reasoning requires only to be stated to show its 
 fallacy. From the mere fact of dry or wet 
 weather before a battle, it cannot be predicated 
 what should be the weather which follows it. 
 
 An officer, whose name is withheld for the reason 
 that his letter has been mislaid, says : " The difficulty 
 is this : to cause rain by concussion of the atmos- 
 phere, you must have the atmosphere charged with 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 115 
 
 aqueous matter a thing beyond your control. There- 
 fore, while I believe that when charged with moist- 
 ure, violent and protracted concussion may precipi- 
 tate and hasten the fall of rain, I doubt whether, in 
 the absence of a proper hygrometrical condition 
 (which is always the case in times of drouth), any 
 concussion would produce rain." 
 
 If the world had learned nothing in relation to 
 the atmosphere since the days of Espy, the above 
 would be a strong argument against the practicability 
 of producing rain by cannonading in a time of 
 drouth. But in view of the researches of Prof. 
 Maury to which reference has been made, it may 
 be said to have no force whatever. We do not get 
 our rains from the surface atmosphere, and it makes 
 but the slightest difference whether that atmosphere 
 is dry or moist. Our rains, as before stated, are sup- 
 plied by the Pacific Ocean, and the vapor is brought 
 to us by the equatorial current of the atmosphere. 
 If any one doubts this, let him read Maury's 
 "Physical Geography of the Sea." He will find the 
 fact proved therein as conclusively as it is possible 
 to prove anything in regard to nature that we cannot 
 see with our visual organs. Indeed, no sane man 
 would say that the rivers could forever pour their 
 waters into the sea without the sea giving them back 
 to the land. These waters, in our own country, run 
 principally into the Atlantic ; but which ocean gives 
 
116 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 them back? Maury says it is the Pacific, and he 
 adduces the strongest evidence in support of his 
 theory. How, then, do they come ? Will it be said 
 that the vapor comes diffused uniformly through the 
 whole body of the atmosphere ? If that were so, 
 then California, being nearest the source, would be 
 the dampest state in the Union. But this is not so ; 
 on the contrary, California has the dryest air of any 
 except, perhaps, Colorado and other mountain states. 
 The air of California is but little affected by its 
 proximity to the ocean. Even on the very sea shore 
 it is not so moist as in the Mississippi Yalley. And 
 why is the air dry in California and Colorado, while 
 it is damp in the Mississippi Yalley and in the 
 eastern states ? It is because the equatorial current 
 does not, as a rule, discharge its waters upon those 
 states except during a certain season of the year. It 
 passes over them, and begins to precipitate its vapors 
 after passing the mountains. It is not the moisture 
 of the surface air east of the mountains that causes 
 the rains; it is the rains that cause the moisture. 
 California and Colorado might, perhaps, become 
 moist, damp states if the air-currents passing over 
 them were shaken up so as to cause frequent rains 
 during the summer. This, however, might not be 
 desirable. Those states might prefer to retain their 
 character as great sanitariums for the cure of pul- 
 monary complaints, rather than gain the advantage 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 117 
 
 to agriculture which frequent summer rains would 
 give. 
 
 But some reader may say, "So distinguished a 
 scientist as Prof. Benjamin Silliman, a letter from 
 whom you publish, takes the ground, inferentially, 
 that rains come from the ordinary atmosphere such 
 as we have at the earth's surface. He does not 
 believe that any amount of cannonading would bring 
 rain from the dry air of Arizona, and he ignores 
 the existence of any special air-currents charged 
 with vapor." To this it may be said that it was 
 twenty years ago that Prof. Silliman wrote the letter 
 referred to, and that he simply held to some of the 
 old ideas taught by Hutton and Espy. Meteorology, 
 at that time, had probably been more neglected than 
 any other science. His letter is valuable for the 
 support it gives to my proposal for experiments, but 
 not for any light which it throws upon the subject 
 under discussion. But the time is coming when 
 scientists will recognize the truth before stated, that 
 it is not the moisture in the surface air of any 
 country, not even excepting those lying within the 
 tropics, that causes the rains in that country, but on 
 the contrary, it is the rains that cause the moisture, 
 by furnishing water for evaporation from the land 
 and from the lakes and rivers to which they give 
 rise and which they supply. To hold otherwise, as 
 many have done, is to place effect for cause and 
 
118 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 cause for effect a thing of which this is not the 
 only instance to be found in the treatment which 
 meteorological questions have received. 
 
 I will add that, while no cannonading will bring 
 rain out of the dry surface air of Arizona, it un- 
 doubtedly has brought rain from humid currents 
 flowing over a stratum of air as dry as that of 
 Arizona, as instanced in the rains that fell in Mexico 
 after so many of the battles of our war with that 
 country. 
 
 Before dismissing this part of our subject, it may 
 be well to consider a little further the effect of rains 
 and of drouths on the lower atmosphere. We all 
 know that during and immediately after a spell of 
 rainy weather the air is full of moisture. This is 
 owing to the great evaporation made possible by 
 the presence of so much water on the ground or 
 falling as rain-drops through the air. During a 
 spell of drouth, on the other hand, the air is dry. 
 What has become of the water which evaporated; 
 and why is not the air at the earth's surface as 
 moist as during the time when the evaporation was 
 the greatest? It is because a large portion of the 
 invisible vapor, warmed by the heat of the sun, has 
 risen to a higher altitude. This is the reason why 
 the vapor brought to the coast of California by the 
 surface winds from the Pacific is perceptible but for 
 a short distance inland in that state. It sometimes 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 119 
 
 condenses into fogs along the coast, but the morning 
 sun dissipates them, and returns the vapor to its 
 invisible form, and it rises and passes over the state 
 at such an elevation that the surface air remains 
 dry. Here is an important point, and it is amazing 
 that the meteorologists do not seem to have recog- 
 nized it. When water evaporates, it hastens to rise 
 to work its way upward between the gaseous atoms 
 of the atmosphere. Cloudy weather retards its rise, 
 bright sunshine hastens it. The longer the sunshine 
 continues with absence of rain, the more the surface 
 air divests itself of its moisture. It is true it cannot 
 part with all its vapor, even in a desert where it 
 never rains ; for there is a point where it can get no 
 lower in moisture, owing to the circulation of the 
 atmosphere which brings in some vapor from afar. 
 But in a country like ours, the longer a drouth has 
 continued, the greater the amount of vapor which 
 has risen to those regions where it must be in order 
 to take any part in the production of rain. 
 
 But what further becomes of the water which 
 evaporates from the earth and ocean in the tem- 
 perate and frigid zones? It falls as rain; but in 
 order that it may do so, there must be a rainstorm 
 formed by the mingling of portions of the equatorial 
 and polar currents. When this takes place, the 
 upper portion of the surface air is drawn into the 
 motion as has been before stated, and the vapor 
 which it contains helps to make the rain. 
 
120 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 I am aware that in giving tins explanation of the 
 way in which the evaporation in our latitudes adds 
 to the rain, I am differing from some high scientific 
 authority. Elysee Reclus, an eminent French savant, 
 holds that raindrops, in passing through the air, 
 pick up the aqueous vapor and add it to themselves. 
 He says in his work entitled, "The Ocean, Atmos- 
 phere and Life," speaking of raindrops, "In trav- 
 ersing the atmospheric strata saturated with moist- 
 ure, each drop enlarges itself on the way by other 
 scattered droplets, and continually brings back to 
 the earth the pluvial moisture which has evaporated." 
 He gives a reason for this theory, but admits that 
 the fact on which he founds it is not conclusive 
 evidence, for he proceeds to explain his fact in a 
 different way. In my view he is wholly at fault in 
 what I have quoted ; for I believe it more true to 
 what we know of evaporation in general, to hold that 
 the rain-drops themselves evaporate to some extent in 
 falling, and leave more moisture in the lower stratum 
 of the atmosphere than there was before the rain. 
 
 But I have no fault to find with Monsieur Reclus' 
 philosophy, so far as it goes, in regard to the 
 primary cause of rain in the temperate and frigid 
 zones. He says: "Beyond the equatorial zone most 
 of the showers are, so to speak, not formed on the 
 spot by the condensation of ascending vapors, but 
 are brought from afar by the currents of the 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 121 
 
 atmosphere." Equally true is it that even in the 
 equatorial zone most of the vapor that forms the 
 showers that fall on the land is brought by atmos- 
 pheric currents from the ocean. 
 
 Considering further the objections to my theory, 
 I note that there is a class of critics, happily few in 
 number, who approach the subject without any inten- 
 tion to treat it with judicial fairness, and without any 
 desire to find in it the germs of a truth worthy of 
 investigation and development. Starting out with a 
 predetermination to write it down, they seek to be- 
 little or ignore the strong points of the argument, 
 while they make the most of the weaker ones, and 
 misrepresent it in every possible way. Conspicuous 
 among such was the critic of the Nation, a weekly 
 paper published in New York, when, nineteen years 
 ago, the first edition of this book was published. 
 The newspaper referred to had at that time a style 
 of criticism as was remarked of it later whose 
 principle seemed to be that of the then editor's 
 countryman at the famous fair, "Wherever you see 
 a head, hit it." Here is an example of the fairness 
 of that paper's critic. In pretending to give a speci- 
 men of my facts, he selected an inconsequential cir- 
 cumstance taken from Gen. Heintzelman's journal 
 headed, "Artillery firing in front of Hooker," and 
 which, as he could scarcely have failed to see, was 
 given place in the book, not from its supposed 
 
122 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 importance, but from its connection with other mat- 
 ter. Why were not some of the great battles or 
 the bombardments of forts or shore batteries which 
 were followed by great rains mentioned instead of 
 this ? In the light of what I have said the answer 
 is obvious. 
 
 Again, in pointing out a better way for investi- 
 gating or presenting the subject than the author 
 had adopted, he said : " Mr. Powers should have 
 confined himself to a narrow space and time, and 
 given the weather record for every hour during the 
 period selected." If he refers to battles on land, it 
 passes comprehension how any man in his senses 
 should think it possible to give such precise data 
 when no such records were taken within hundreds 
 of miles of the scene of hostilities, except at such 
 times as a gunboat or ship of war happened to be in 
 the vicinity. For the author to have confined him- 
 self to what w T as recorded by one gunboat or one 
 fleet while operating in any one place, would cer- 
 tainly have been to confine himself to a sufficiently 
 "narrow space and time" so narrow, indeed, that 
 he would have been exposed to far juster criticisms 
 from men of right feeling and good sense than any 
 to be found in the screed of the Nation. 
 
 This critic finds fault, also, with the order in which 
 the battles are arranged. It may be said on this 
 point, that so far as the battles of our late war are 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 123 
 
 concerned, the order is generally the same as that in 
 which they are arranged in Greeley's "American 
 Conflict" an order much more suitable to the pur- 
 pose than would be one more exactly chronological, 
 as by it the different campaigns of the different 
 armies are each separately considered, as are also the 
 different series of operations by ships of war and 
 gunboats against forts and shore batteries on the 
 Mississippi River and on the Atlantic and Gulf 
 coast. But it is of the arrangement of certain bat- 
 tles, etc., taken from Espy's " Philosophy of Storms," 
 that he has most to say. It amuses him to find that 
 " after a battle in Prussia in this century is mentioned 
 a salute fired in Madras in 1776, then the siege of 
 Valenciennes in the French Revolution, then the 
 bombardment of a fort in Sweden," etc. But though 
 he considers this arrangement as reckless, he does 
 not show how any different arrangement could have 
 added any force to the evidence given by the facts 
 stated. Espy no doubt was wrong in believing that 
 the heat of the "burning gunpowder was what caused 
 the rains after the battles he mentions ; but he made 
 no serious mistake in his arrangement of them, and 
 it would be puerile to claim that any weakness 
 attaches to his argument on account of it. Equally 
 nonsensical is it to claim that any such attaches to 
 mine in following it. 
 
 Our critic also says: "Irrelevant matters are ad- 
 
124 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 mitted, such as names of generals, military man- 
 oeuvres, numbers killed, compliments to troops (to the 
 Russian infantry at Eylau) ! " Some of these, it is 
 needless to say, were directly relevant, our critic to the 
 contrary notwithstanding, being explanatory to the 
 nature of engagements referred to as producing rain. 
 And as to the compliments to the Russian infantry 
 at Eylau, if he had added that the passage in which 
 he found them was a quotation from " Scott's 
 Napoleon," while the occurrence of rain was the 
 central idea brought forward, his article would have 
 contained one less instance of what was, practically, 
 misrepresentation. 
 
 He goes on and says: "Why does it never occur 
 to the author to tell the calibre of the heaviest 
 guns used in a given case, or w r hether the sky 
 looked like rain before the first discharge?" The 
 calibre of the heaviest guns ! If it were possible to 
 obtain this information, of what use would it be in 
 a preliminary exposition of the subject? Of what 
 use would it be even as a guide in performing an 
 experiment, unless we knew how many of them were 
 used, and how many times each was fired ? Twenty 
 pounders, or even twelve pounders, will bring rain 
 as well as one hundred pounders, if enough of them 
 are employed. And the implication that the author 
 had never told whether the sky looked like rain 
 before the first discharge shows, either that our critic 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 125 
 
 had not read the book, or that his inclination to mis- 
 represent was uncontrollable. There are at least 
 thirty cases in the book where the state of the 
 weather or the appearance of the sky before the 
 action is mentioned. In the Appendix to the first 
 edition, also, there were printed twenty pages of 
 meteorological records taken from the log books of 
 various ships and gunboats, and which gave, among 
 other information, precisely the kind which he de- 
 manded, but which tables he was so inconsistent, and 
 at the same time so saturated with malice or so 
 destitute of ordinary common sense, as to pronounce 
 " worthless because disconnected." They are omitted 
 from this edition of the book, not because of his 
 opinion of them, but because the essential facts 
 which they contain are elsewhere stated, and because 
 it is probable that but few readers would take the 
 trouble to study them, as most certainly did not the 
 critic who complained of a lack of information as to 
 "whether the sky looked like rain before the first 
 discharge." By the wild and reckless manner in 
 which he flourished his shillaleh in this instance, 
 he would seem, so to speak, to have delivered a blow 
 on his own head. 
 
 Continuing, he asked, "Why is it that only five 
 of Bonaparte's battles are alluded to ? Were all the 
 rest followed by fair weather ? " As others may ask 
 the eame question, I answer, I do not know. Many 
 
126 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 things have happened in the world of which history 
 has preserved no record. Possibly records may 
 somewhere exist which would reveal what the 
 weather was after each and every one of Bonaparte's 
 battles, but I have made no extended search for 
 them, nor have I thought the knowledge indispen- 
 sable. 
 
 The American Journal of Science, in its criticism 
 of the book, said : " He takes no account of the cases 
 unfavorable to his theory, in which rain follows a 
 battle only after a very long interval." There is 
 reason enough for this. There may have been some 
 small battles and smart artillery skirmishes which 
 were not followed by rain, but I do not believe that 
 there was ever a great battle in which much artillery 
 was used, that did not produce it. If, for want of 
 records, this sequence cannot be shown of all the 
 great battles of modern times, no one is justified 
 thereby in declaring a negative. 
 
 The journal referred to wholly passes over the 
 main idea for which I have sought to gain adher- 
 ents namely, that a series of experiments in the 
 matter ought to be made with such aids as only 
 a government can supply. It also brings into the 
 discussion what is, substantially, a misstatement of 
 fact viz.: that, throughout the region from which 
 my examples are mostly collected, rain falls upon 
 an average, once in three days. Now, whatever 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 127 
 
 may be the average number of rainy days in a 
 year, counting all those- on which there is a mere 
 sprinkle, it certainly is not true that we have, 
 with this degree of frequency, such rains as those 
 which follow great battles. If this were so we 
 should be in the midst of a continued deluge ; 
 and in view of the terrible drouths that so often 
 afflict the country it is the veriest trifling to op- 
 pose such an argument against the theory under 
 discussion. 
 
 This journal was also kind enough to point out 
 what it considered would be the "truly scientific" 
 mode of examining this subject; but the method 
 it recommended would be totally impracticable for 
 the reason that a sufficient amount of the data 
 that would be required has never been recorded 
 and does not exist. It proposed, in effect, that 
 the fact of rain following soon after battles should 
 be rejected as not having any bearing on the 
 question, and that no conclusion should be allowed 
 except what could be drawn from a comparison 
 of the average intervals between the end of one 
 rain and the beginning of the next the average 
 interval between the conclusion of a rain next 
 preceding a battle and the one next following 
 it being compared with the average interval be- 
 tween two successive rains when no battle had 
 occurred. 
 
128 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 Now, as rains occur at exceedingly irregular 
 intervals and as the number varies for different 
 years, it would require many years of war to en- 
 able a comparison to be reached in this manner 
 that could be relied on. It would also require that 
 all the battles that were taken into account should 
 be fought in one place, and that a careful meteor- 
 ological record should be kept at that place dur- 
 ing the years in which they were fought and also 
 during an equal number of years preceding or 
 subsequent thereto. But taking things as we find 
 them, and considering that the battles of our late 
 war were fought at different places over a vast 
 extent of country and that no meteorological rec- 
 ords were kept except by the navy, the sugges- 
 tion that the subject should be examined in this 
 manner is simply absurd. The manner in which 
 I have proposed that it should be examined that 
 is by experiments this paper probably does not 
 think would be scientific, as it did not allude to 
 it. 
 
 It was denied by implication that I had shown 
 that artillery firing had ever caused rain, but no 
 attempt was made to explain on any other hypoth- 
 esis any of the striking facts brought forward, as 
 for instance why it rained during the battle of Buena 
 Yista fought in Mexico during the dry season, or why 
 it rained at Madras on the 4th dav of June, 1776, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 129 
 
 after the tiring of salutes, though this was in the 
 dry season on the Coromandel coast. It is true 
 that such examples do not prove with the force of 
 a mathematical demonstration that rain can be pro- 
 duced by human agency, but they give ample 
 ground for the assertion with which I set out, that 
 there is the strongest reason for believing such to 
 be the fact. 
 
 While denying that I had established my propo- 
 sition in a satisfactory manner the writer of the 
 criticism referred to was inconsistent enough to 
 admit that he was "inclined to the opinion that 
 great battles do exert some influence in the pro- 
 duction of rain." And how, may I ask, did he ar- 
 rive at such an opinion? Was it by any such pro- 
 cess as that which he pointed out as the proper 
 method to be adopted in examining the subject ? 
 Was it not from the simple statement of facts and 
 sequences such as I have detailed in this book, and 
 from the further knowledge that intelligent men 
 who had witnessed the phenomena referred to, 
 believed that battles caused rain? If then, for such 
 reasons he was inclined to this opinion and would 
 even " be pleased if Mr. Powers or some other per- 
 son w r ould resume the discussion" with data such 
 as only another and a longer war could supply, it 
 is a little remarkable that he should have been un- 
 willing that others should form an opinion on the 
 
130 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 same kind of evidence as that which influenced his 
 own mind. 
 
 Evidently the journal referred to was satisfied 
 that it had shown that there was nothing of con- 
 sequence in the book, and that, after its exposition 
 of the same, none of its readers would care to see 
 it for themselves ; for it omitted the customary 
 notice of its place of publication. Claiming to be 
 Especially devoted to science, it showed both in 
 what it said and in what it neglected to say and 
 especially in wholly ignoring my argument for the 
 only common-sense and practical way by which the 
 question in consideration could be determined that 
 it was animated by the same hostility to anything 
 new that has characterized, as a class, those claim- 
 ing to be the special devotees and exponents of 
 science in all times. 
 
 Turning now to a point which, if not directly 
 belonging to our subject is connected with it in 
 some degree, as is everything relating to the mo- 
 tions and states of the atmosphere, let us consider 
 for a moment the nature of cold waves, their cause 
 and motion. It is the more important that we 
 should glance at this subject, for the reason that 
 theories should always be consistent with known 
 facts and that our theory of the artificial produc- 
 tion of rain, as developed in this book, has for one 
 of its main supports the alleged fact of the exist- 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 131 
 
 ence of the equatorial and polar ^ currents and that 
 the polar current is above the equatorial and moves 
 toward the southwest. It may be asked how this 
 fact can agree with the fact that we have cold 
 waves coming down from the northwest. It may 
 be answered that the agreement between the two 
 is perfect if we assume that a cold wave is caused 
 by the polar current breaking through the equatorial 
 and making an irruption into the atmosphere below 
 it. Far to the north the equatorial current must be 
 thinner than in our own latitudes and more liable 
 to be divided up into streaks or separate streams. 
 Between these, portions of the polar current forces 
 its way and pours floods of cold air into the lower 
 atmosphere. Now the lower atmosphere has the 
 same general motion as the equatorial current, being 
 carried along with it that is, to the eastward and 
 northeastward. The air from the polar current 
 meeting it can no longer continue on its former 
 southwest course, but must _ take a course which 
 will be the resultant of the two forces acting on 
 it, and this course will be towards the southeast. 
 But it may be asked, " Why, then, should not storms 
 also travel from northwest to southeast?" Because 
 the equatorial is so much stronger than the polar 
 current, and because so much larger portions of the 
 former than of the latter are involved. But un- 
 doubtedly the motion of storms is less to the north- 
 
132 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 ward and more directly to the eastward than that 
 of the equatorial current. 
 
 There is a possible objection that might be offered 
 to the proposed experiments for bringing rain storms 
 artificially in that they might work damage as 
 well as confer benefit. It might be said, " Sup- 
 pose you try an experiment for the production of 
 rain and you overdo the business, so that instead 
 of refreshing showers you have deluges. Sup- 
 pose the creeks rise that buildings are washed 
 away that men, women and children are drowned, 
 that lightning strikes houses and kills the inmates, 
 that it strikes barns and the farmer's gathered crops 
 are burned and his stock killed, and worse than all, 
 suppose that cyclones are generated that reach down 
 and destroy all within their path ! Would your in- 
 terference with the workings of nature then be a 
 blessing to humanity? And who will pay for the 
 damage done? If Congress appropriates money for 
 the experiment will Congress make another appro- 
 priation to reimburse the losses?" It is a good 
 reason why Congress rather than private individuals 
 should undertake these experiments, that if there 
 should be any damage done the injured parties 
 would know where to look for redress. There are 
 many public-spirited and philanthropic men of 
 wealth numbered among our citizens to whom the 
 cost of a few such experiments would not be felt, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 133 
 
 and one of whom, perhaps, could be persuaded to 
 undertake them, were it not for such considerations 
 as the above. But if one such should furnish the 
 means for such experiments, would he not be liable 
 to be harassed by lawsuits by parties who would 
 claim that they had been damaged thereby if rain 
 should result? True, the lawyers could not cite 
 any statute forbidding an individual to make it rain 
 and they might search in vain in the reports of 
 the Supreme Court decisions of all the states 
 and of the United States for a precedent for 
 mulcting a man in damages for having done so. 
 A new question in jurisprudence might thus arise ; 
 but in spite of the absence of precedents it might 
 be that the defendant could escape only by deny- 
 ing that he did make it rain and defying the plain- 
 tiff to prove that he did thus stultifying himself 
 in a manner that would be highly inconsistent 
 with an earnest desire to advance useful knowl- 
 edge and scientific truth. But some one may ask, 
 "If it should rain heavily soon after the experi- 
 ment, would it not be easy to prove that the exper- 
 iment caused the rain ? Do you not claim that you 
 have proved that battles cause rain?" No, I do not 
 claim that I have proved it by evidence that would 
 be satisfactory in a court of law ; I only claim that 
 I have shown it to be extremely probable. The 
 truth of the theory can only be demonstrated by 
 
134 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 predicted results, and it would require many 
 such to make the demonstration such as would 
 till the requirements of legal evidence. 
 
 But, seriously, so far from storms brought on 
 artificially being likely to prove unusually dangerous, 
 they will be, I believe, in one respect at least, the 
 very means of averting danger. Though the rain 
 that follows battles often cornes in torrents and 
 deluges, yet the copiousness of the fall simply shows 
 the abundance of the vapor from which it is drawn ; 
 while the general rule that the heavier the tiring 
 the greater the rain indicates that there is, underly- 
 ing it, a principle that needs only to be understood 
 to enable us to procure rain in greater or less quan- 
 tities as may be desired. Though thunder and light- 
 ning often accompany such rains, yet we are liable 
 to have these with our rains however produced, 
 and it would be folly to refuse the boon of showers 
 because of such accompaniments. And though 
 there are sometimes squalls of wind, yet these are 
 not a source of serious danger. Battles have never 
 produced tornadoes ; on the contrary there is reason 
 to believe that battles have produced a state of 
 weather unfavorable to their occurrence. Was there 
 a single tornado in the United States during our 
 four years of war ? Can it not be said, at least, that 
 our country was unusually free from them at that 
 time? If so, may we not fairly anticipate that an 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 135 
 
 occasional rain-storm brought on by cannon firing 
 will give a steadiness to the air-currents and keep 
 them at such a height above the earth that torna- 
 does will be abolished? If cannon could be h'red 
 in the vicinity of a tornado at the instant it appears 
 or at any time while on its destructive course, 
 it would be broken up and the furious air-currents 
 that produced it would recede into the heavens 
 w r here they belong. Water-spouts at sea are pre- 
 cisely the same thing as tornadoes on the land, and 
 the breaking up of them by cannon firing is a 
 fact that does not seem to admit of dispute. But 
 on land it would be impossible to have our can- 
 non ready at all places to attack them whenever 
 and wherever they might appear. Our safety lies 
 in preventing them from forming. Probably with 
 one station in each State supplied with cannon this 
 could be done by simply producing a rain as often 
 as the needs of vegetation might require. If that 
 would not do, then the object could probably be 
 accomplished by watching the sky for indications 
 of danger, telegraphing these indications to the 
 central station whenever they appeared at any place 
 within the State, and firing at that station. I do 
 not expect to find ready acceptance to this idea ; it 
 would be contrary to the experience of the world, 
 if such should be given ; the very mention of such 
 a thing is enough to provoke shouts of derision in 
 
336 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 some quarters; but I maintain that there is reason 
 to hope that the prevention of tornadoes is not be- 
 yond the reach of human power, and that the bare 
 possibility of it is an additional reason why all the 
 possibilities for the control of the weather that lie 
 in the use of powder and cannon should be worked 
 out, and worked out without delay. 
 
 In this connection it may not be out of place to 
 ask whence comes the terrific power of the torna- 
 do? It may be looked for, first, I think, in the 
 inherent force of the two currents that unite to 
 form it; and, secondly, in the heat and electricity 
 loosened by the rapid condensation of aqueous 
 vapor, the funnel-shaped, revolving cloud being the 
 imperfect conductor that conveys the electricity to 
 the earth. How the heat and electricity operate 
 to intensify the whirling motion which the funnel- 
 shaped cloud receives from its parent air-currents 
 is a mystery ; but we know that they are both forces 
 and modes of motion. "We also know that heat is 
 given out by condensing vapor, and that heat is 
 convertible into electricity. Those who, in attempt- 
 ing to explain this meteor, reject electricity as one 
 of its chief factors, come far short of accounting 
 for its tremendous power and its strange freaks ; 
 and those who ignore both the action of air-cur- 
 rents and of electricity fail to give an explanation 
 which in any degree accounts for them. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 137 
 
 What is called " Fen-el's Theory of Tornadoes" 
 seems to have met with a good deal of favor,- but 
 to my mind it is very unsatisfactory. If I under- 
 stand it correctly, it holds that the destructive force 
 of the tornado resides in an inrushing surface blast 
 that pours into the funnel-shaped cloud at its lower 
 end and rushes up thorugh a vacuum in its centre; 
 and that this rush of air is caused by atmospheric 
 pressure. But how can atmospheric pressure de- 
 velop the force exhibited by a tornado, seeing that 
 it is only about fifteen pounds to the square inch? 
 
 This theory accounts also for the force of the 
 whirl by seeking to apply the "law of the preser- 
 vation of areas" to supposed indrawing masses of 
 air moving in a circle. What is the "law of the 
 preservation of areas," or, in other words, the "law 
 of equal areas in equal times"? It may be ex- 
 plained, substantially, thus : Suppose one ties a 
 leaden ball or other weight to the end of a string 
 and fastens the other end of the string to a pencil, 
 then, taking the pencil in his hand he whirls the 
 ball around, letting the string wind up, meantime, 
 on the pencil. Now, by the law of the conserva- 
 tion of areas, the string passes .over equal areas in 
 equal times ; the ball moving enough faster as it 
 approaches the pencil to compensate for the short- 
 ening of the string. In order to make this illustra- 
 tion strictly correct the ball should revolve around 
 
138 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 a fixed point which should have no sensible thick- 
 ness, and the string should be shortened in some 
 other way than by wrapping around it. As applied 
 to astronomy the law may be explained thus : If 
 we suppose an imaginary line to be drawn from any 
 planet to the sun, this line will pass over equal 
 areas per second in whatever part of its orbit the 
 planet may be. I will add for the information of 
 the unlearned reader, for whom this explanation 
 is intended, that the planets revolve around the 
 sun in elliptical or elongated orbits, so that any 
 planet is always either approaching nearer to the 
 sun or moving farther away from it. Now, by the 
 law of the conservation of areas, when a planet 
 is moving away from the sun its velocity dimin- 
 ishes, and when it is moving towards the sun its 
 velocity increases just enough to preserve the equal- 
 ity of the areas passed over per second by the im- 
 aginary line above mentioned. This is the law, as 
 I have said, by which Ferrel's theory endeavors to 
 account for the force of the whirl in tornadoes; 
 but in claiming that the air in the whirl, or air ap- 
 proaching the whirl, obeys the same law as a solid 
 body would obey if tied to the end of a string 
 and whirled around, it makes a wholly unwarranted 
 assumption. The law referred to does not apply 
 to the case at all, seeing that the air in the w r hirl 
 or air said to be approaching the whirl is neither 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 139 
 
 tied to the end of a string nor held from flying 
 off on a tangent by a force of attraction such as 
 keeps the planets in their orbits. 
 
 The theory referred to also holds that the vacuum 
 which it claims to exist in the centre of the tornado 
 is caused by the centrifugal force of the whirl, which 
 throws the air away from the centre ; but why it 
 throws this air a certain distance from, the centre 
 without throwing it off on a tangent is not explained. 
 But as the whole theory seems to hinge on the absurd 
 assumption that these moving particles of air are 
 governed by the same laws as those which hold the 
 planets in their orbits, it cannot, of course, be thought 
 that this point needs any explanation. Another 
 point that seems to have escaped the attention of 
 those who adhere to Ferrel's theory is this : Atmos- 
 pheric pressure can raise water in a pump to the height 
 of not over thirty-four feet ; yet a tornado passing over 
 a pond will draw the water from it and carry it to 
 an immense height. There must be something differ- 
 ent from atmospheric pressure to do this. 
 
 Prof. Davis, of Harvard College, who has adopted 
 this theory, in a little book of which he is the au- 
 thor, entitled " Whirlwinds, Cyclones and Tornadoes," 
 denies that there is any downward motion in the tor- 
 nado for to admit it would be fatal to the theory 
 and yet he tells of a timber four inches square being 
 driven three and one-half feet into the ground, only 
 
140 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 forty-five feet from its starting point! Surely this 
 timber could not have been acted on by a furious 
 ^-rushing wind when thus forced into the ground, 
 nor could it have penetrated to that depth from 
 simply falling by its own weight after having been 
 carried along only forty-five feet. 
 
 Prof. Davis appreciates the fact that a tornado is 
 confined to clearly defined limits, and says : " At a 
 little distance one side or the other there is not 
 only no harm done, but there is no noticeable distur- 
 bance in the gentle winds." Yet he fails to see that 
 this is wholly inconsistent with the doctrine that 
 there is a furious in-rushing wind from outside the 
 tornado into the centre. 
 
 These are not all the arguments that could be ad- 
 vanced to show the fallacy of the theory referred to, 
 but they are enough. 
 
 I believe the truth to be that there is an upward 
 motion in the centre and a downward motion on the 
 outside of the funnel-shaped cloud, both motions being 
 spiral or like the threads of a screw, and that this 
 meteor is a machine worked by electricity and com- 
 plete within itself. While some of the surrounding 
 air with which it comes in contact may be drawn into 
 it, it does not get from that air its motion nor force. 
 And there is no more reason for denying that elec- 
 tricity is the motive force in this machine, in that we 
 cannot understand its mode of action, than there 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 141 
 
 would be for a savage from the wilds of Africa to 
 deny that an electric car was propelled by a force 
 similar to that which he sees flashing through the 
 storm cloud, because he could not understand how it 
 was done. The untutored savage is no more igno- 
 rant in regard to the operation of the electric motor 
 than is the most learned scientist in regard to the na- 
 ture of electricity and its mode of action in some of 
 its manifestations. 
 
 It may not be out of place to offer a few remarks in 
 relation to the proposal to irrigate the Dakotas by 
 means of artesian wells. It is claimed by some that 
 these States are situated over an immense artesian 
 basin, and that by boring numerous wells an abun- 
 dant supply of water can be obtained. Now, while it 
 may be true that there exists a supply of water suffi- 
 cient to keep running a limited number of wells, it 
 is exceedingly doubtful if this supply is sufficient to 
 meet the wants of agriculture for any extensive 
 district. In order that there may exist such a supply, 
 two things are imperatively necessary : one is that the 
 artesian basin must have its head in a region where 
 there are abundant rains, and the other is that this 
 region must be considerably higher than the region 
 which is to be supplied with water from it. If the 
 Dakotas are connected with such a region in the way 
 referred to, it must be very far distant, and the more 
 distant it is the higher it needs to be in order that the 
 
142 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 flow of water may be adequate to the demands. So 
 distant, indeed, must be the region where the artesian 
 basin of the Dakotas has its head that it is more than 
 likely that if a large number of wells were bored 
 it would be quickly drained of the water that has ac- 
 cumulated in it. Hence it would be exceedingly 
 risky for the people of these States to undertake 
 extensive works of the kind referred to, for it might 
 be in the end that the last condition of those States 
 would be worse than the first they might find 
 themselves burdened with a heavy debt, while their 
 irrigation works were useless. It is a mistake to 
 assume in treating of this subject that what one 
 well will do would be done by each one of a thou- 
 sand, and to forget that in whatever way the earth 
 is watered the source must be fed by rains or snows. 
 The earth has no inexhaustible reservoir of water 
 from which the Dakotas can be supplied, except the 
 ocean. This is salt, and we do not want its waters 
 through subterranean channels. We could not have 
 them if we did, for they can come to us only through 
 the medium of evaporation and precipitation. Let 
 the Dakotas look first for these waters in the skies 
 above them before entering into an extensive outlay 
 to reach uncertain streams in the earth below them 
 streams which, if they exist at all, must bring their 
 waters, in slowly trickling currents from the distant 
 mountains or from some high plateau in the unexplored 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 143 
 
 depths of British America. It is very much to be 
 feared that if very many wells should be bored the 
 principal gain would be to those who would furnish 
 the machinery and do the work. 
 
 Judging from the letters which I have received 
 since commencing in 1870 an attempt to bring 
 forward the subject of rains produced by cannon 
 firing, I believe that the country would regard with 
 interest some experiments in the matter, and would 
 not begrudge the expense, even if they should prove 
 unsuccessful in leading to a practical use of the 
 principle under discussion. In some other matters 
 connected with science, the government has justly 
 considered that an expenditure of public funds was 
 calculated to be of public benefit; but where, in 
 anything of the kind it has ever undertaken, has 
 there been so promising a field for such action as 
 here? A just and equal regard for the interests of 
 different classes of the people also requires that, if 
 the production of rain at will and at moderate 
 expense is within our reach, it should be known, 
 and known, that it should be acted on. The system 
 of storm telegraphy is for the benefit of commerce ; 
 let the interests of agriculture also be considered. I 
 do not forget that it is claimed that the weather 
 telegrams and predictions are for the benefit of 
 agriculture as well as of commerce, but it would be 
 difficult to show in what way they practically are so. 
 
144 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 And if it is a legitimate subject for legislative 
 expenditure to provide a means of giving warning 
 to the merchant and shipper of the approach of 
 hurricanes, or for giving notice, each day, to the 
 dwellers in cities of the probabilities of the weather 
 for the day, it is no less so to provide relief for the 
 farmer when his fields are parched with drouth, if 
 this is practicable. And if millions can be appro- 
 priated for topographical and irrigation surveys 
 which, in the end, may make the land to be reclaimed 
 cost double its value, and, apparently, can only inure 
 to the benefit of a later generation ; ought not a few 
 thousands to be appropriated to test the value of a 
 plan designed to benefit the farmers of to-day, and 
 whom these costly surveys can never help ? A 
 remark of Prof. Maury, in writing* on a subject 
 relating to the work of the Signal Service, will apply 
 with equal force to this. He says : " Hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars are lavished upon scientific ex- 
 peditions for the observations of eclipses, for prose- 
 cuting geologic speculations, the survey of distant 
 lands, and even for explorations in Arctic ice in 
 search of the mysterious pole. How insignificant 
 are such objects when placed by the side of that 
 now before us ! " 
 
 No one, of course, will understand me as proposing 
 that the government should proceed at once to 
 
 *In Scribner's Monthly for February and March, 1871. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 145 
 
 establish stations through the country for the pur- 
 pose of furnishing rain in different sections as it is 
 needed ; what is known of the subject is entirely 
 insufficient, as yet, to warrant such a procedure. 
 When the power of steam was first discovered the 
 world was not ready to build steamships and rail- 
 roads ; nor, when the first electric battery was made, 
 was it ready to lay telegraphic cables under the 
 Atlantic. But from small beginnings that promised 
 much less than does to-day the undeveloped prin- 
 ciple presented in this book, how much has the world 
 accomplished! Yet it has only been done through 
 experiments, patient and persistent; experiments 
 that, had they been as costly as those which are 
 now proposed, would never have been made, and 
 man would have remained to this day unconscious 
 of half his powers. 
 
 But the proposed experiments, though costly con- 
 sidered as an individual undertaking for any but the 
 very wealthy, would be but a trifle to a great nation 
 like ours. We have the powder, and we have the 
 guns and the men to serve them, and we ought not 
 to leave to other nations nor to after ages the task 
 of solving the great question as to whether the control 
 of the weather is not, to a useful extent, within the 
 reach of man. 
 
 It is time, also, that some new methods should 
 be adopted in the study of meteorology. Thousands 
 
146 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 of observations are taken and recorded of barometric 
 heights, temperatures, etc., that have no practical 
 value whatever. "We live at the bottom of the 
 great ocean of the atmosphere an ocean that has its 
 tides and its currents its eddies and its whirlpools 
 its calms and its storms its heat and cold and moist- 
 ure and the most stupendous movements in that 
 ocean take place far above us, and are invisible to 
 us. The meteorologist, with his barometric and 
 thermometric and hygrometric and other instruments, 
 can note some of their effects too often treating 
 these effects as causes but there are great verities 
 in connection with them which his instruments can 
 never reveal to him. I do not decry the value of 
 such observations to a certain extent ; but expectancy 
 needs to be supplemented with action, and to the 
 observation of changes and conditions should be 
 added the force that will compel them. 
 
 I append some letters from distinguished officers 
 and others in regard to the matter under discussion. 
 My apology to the writers for the use so made of 
 their favors, is found in the importance which I 
 believe the subject to possess and in the impossibility 
 of presenting it in its proper light except by showing 
 how the phenomena which I have described are 
 regarded by some of those who witnessed them. 
 As documents in support of what has been advanced, 
 they are too valuable to remain hidden from the 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 147 
 
 world ; and as they relate wholly to matters con- 
 nected with history and natural philosophy, I believe 
 there can be no impropriety in making them public. 
 
LETTERS AND OTHER PAPERS. 
 
 No. 1. 
 From Brevet Major General Elisha G. Marshall, U. S. A. 
 
 ROCHESTER, N. Y., Dec. 7, 1870. 
 MR. EDWARD POWERS: 
 
 Sir Yours of Nov. 28 was received a few days ago. In reply, 
 I would state that your article I have seen in many of our scien- 
 tific papers, and was then pleased with your views, as often myself 
 and other officers, during the war, were well acquainted with the 
 fact that artillery firing, etc., caused rain. 
 
 I will give you facts, which I happen to recollect as far as 
 Grant's campaigns. 
 
 First Bull Run One day's fight. Heavy rain next day. 
 
 Second Bull Run Two days' fighting. Heavy rain day after 
 fighting, extending beyond our retreat at Centreville. 
 
 Malvern Hill Two days' fighting. Very heavy rain next day 
 after battle, extending to our retreat at Harrison's Landing. 
 
 First Fredericksburg Heavy rain after fight. 
 
 Antietam Heavy rain. 
 
 There was a rain after Chancellorsville, and, as far as I can 
 recall, after every battle where much artillery was used through 
 all of Grant's campaign. 
 
 Grant's campaign was more of one continuous fight from Wil- 
 derness to end of war, so that I would not pretend giving data. 
 
 The above notes are given you after conferring with Brevet Major 
 General C. J. Powers, Vol., Col. 108 N. Y. Vols., who happened 
 in at this time. Your theory, in reference to this phenomena I 
 consider correct, and deserves full consideration from Congress, 
 and research ; and I shall be glad to assist you in obtaining the 
 hearing of those you wish, as far as my humble means go. You 
 will find that every officer, almost, of any education or thought, 
 
 151 
 
152 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 will be apt to agree with your views, as this matter was often 
 spoken of during the war. 
 
 Is it not the same principle we call to operation when we fire 
 artillery over the spot of a drowned person ? 
 
 Cannot the Surgeon General, from his surgeons' meteorological 
 observations, give you fuller data,* or put you in correspondence 
 with his corps, who were present at every battle, and they, after 
 careful thought, give you all you seek? You will find the re- 
 ports of army surgeons reliable. 
 
 Truly, 
 
 E. G. MARSHALL, U. S. A. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 From General Joshua L. Chamberlain, Governor of the State 
 of Maine. 
 
 STATE OF MAINE, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, ) 
 AUGUSTA, Dec. 12, 1870. f 
 
 MY DEAR SIR: My Adjutant General has sent me your letter, 
 referring to the effect of heavy firing on the atmosphere leading 
 to storms and rain. It is a most interesting matter. The fact 
 of such sequences (if they may be called so, without begging 
 the question,) I have often noticed. Certainly a heavy storm of 
 rain occurred after the great battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, 
 Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Be- 
 thesda Church (or Coal Harbor), Petersburg, Five Forks, etc ; and 
 often, I well remember, in what we called small engagements 
 (though they would be called battles in Europe), such as the fight 
 on the "Quaker Road," March 29, 1865, for a late instance, in 
 which there was a sharp, concentrated fire of infantry and artillery 
 for a couple of hours, a very heavy rain would surely follow. 
 This fact was well noticed, and is well remembered by many a 
 poor fellow who, like myself, has been left lying, desperately 
 wounded, after such engagements for these rains are balm to the 
 fever and anguish of the poor body that is promoted to the ranks 
 of "casualties." 
 
 * Col. C. H. Crane, Assistant Surgeon General, says, in reference to this 
 matter: "Very few meteorological reports were sent to this office during 
 the war, and those few came from posts distant from the scene of hostili- 
 ties. 1 ' 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 153 
 
 I am sure you will find ray testimony confirmed by the recollec- 
 tions of every soldier. 
 
 * # * * * 
 
 JOSHUA L. CHAMBERLAIN, Governor, 
 Late Brev. Maj. Gen. commanding 1st Div., 5th Corps. 
 
 No. 3. 
 From General Elliott W. Rice, late of Iowa. 
 
 OFFICE OF ELLIOTT W. RICE, ATTORNEY AT LAW, ) 
 1424 F ST., WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 3, 1870. f 
 MR. EDWARD POWERS, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 My Dear Sir I have your letter of Oct. 22, enclosing your let- 
 ter in the Post in relation to storms produced by firing of can- 
 non. I remember well that many of our heavy battles were fol- 
 lowed by rain. At Donelson the weather was clear and cool and 
 exceedingly pleasant, but soon after the engagement a snowstorm 
 was upon us, which was followed by. rain. Sunday morning of the 
 battle of Shiloh was clear and beautiful, almost yes, entirely 
 beyond description. The day's terrific battle was followed by a 
 drenching rain, that all who were there must well remember. 
 The same thing occurred in the Atlanta campaign, particularly at 
 Dallas ; also, at first Bull Run ; at Gettysburg. In fact, the oc- 
 currence was so frequent that there can be but little doubt that the 
 rain, in many instances, must have been produced by the commo- 
 tion produced by battle. A Confederate Colonel, now in my 
 office, informs me that it was frequently remarked, in their army, 
 that great battles were frequently, if not generally, followed by 
 storm. I trust you Will pursue this interesting subject, which may 
 result in a discovery of incalculable benefit to the world. I regret 
 that I have not time to write to you more fully on the subject. 
 
 Very truly, E. W. RICE. 
 
 No. 4. 
 From Gen John McNulta, of Illinois. 
 
 BLOOMINGTON, ILL., Dec. 13, 1870. 
 EDW. POWERS: 
 
 My Dear Sir In reply to your favor of the 10th, not only has 
 it been my experience that rain follows soon after every heavy 
 
154 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 cannonading, but that this was very generally conceded and un- 
 derstood in the army, and acted upon by the soldiers in preparing 
 for it after every battle. I remember, particularly, that in the 
 garrison at Lexington, Mo., when water could not be had, it was 
 urged by myself and other officers encouraging the men to hold 
 out for a few hours, and that the cannonading would bring rain to 
 quench their thirst; and it did bring the rain, but found us with- 
 out the means to catch it in sufficient quantities. There are large 
 numbers of soldiers in your city who will remember this circum- 
 stance, and the wringing of their blankets to get water. 
 
 I have often thought of the matter, and am well satisfied that 
 the theory you advance, in the printed slip sent me, is correct ; 
 and, also, that the rain is produced quicker when there is no wind 
 (unless it be a wet wind) than with wind, unless there be a range 
 of hills or mountains to the leeward. 
 
 The officers of the Mississippi fleet could, I think, give some 
 important facts, from their shelling small squads of the enemy on 
 shore, with reference to this matter. The inauguration of Gov. 
 Hahn, at New Orleans, was accompanied with cannonading, and 
 noise of musical instruments and anvils, infantry firing, etc., and 
 was soon followed by very heavy rain. When the rebel ram ran 
 by the city, the cannonading, only for a few minutes, was followed 
 by rain. The passage of the forts at Mobile bay, the bombard- 
 ment of Fort Gaines, afterwards of Fort Morgan ; again of Span- 
 ish Fort and Blakely; the landing of our troops at Pascagoula, 
 and firing a few shots "with field pieces on shore; the battle of 
 Sterling Farm, and the fight on the Atchafalaya river were fol- 
 lowed, in a few hours, with heavy rains. 
 
 I was with the first troops that passed down the river (Herron's 
 Division, 13th Army Corps,) after the surrender of Vicksburg, to 
 Port Hudson. We found it very muddy there (July) and also at 
 Yazoo City, when taken by our troops, July 12, 1863. Everybody 
 remembers that there was no trouble in keeping moist at Vicks- 
 burg. It rained, after cannonading, at all the places named; but 
 why I have named this region of country is because it seemed to 
 impress me with its peculiar susceptibility in this respect. I be- 
 lieve that in the dryest time, without wind, or a light wind off 
 Ponchartrain, the firing of one hundred guns at New Orleans 
 will bring on rain in a few hours, and almost certainly in large 
 quantity. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 155 
 
 At the inauguration of which I speak, I obtained, during the 
 firing, a seat on a housetop, on Lafayette square, where I could 
 look down and see the multitude. It was, literally, as dry as a 
 chip, without a cloud to be seen, when the ceremonies commenced. 
 (Chimneys presented the appearance of miniature volcanoes, spas- 
 modically sending up soot, and here and there one with fire and 
 ashes. The escape of the compressed air from a chimney, occa- 
 sioned by the concussion of artillery, is infinitely greater than 
 would be supposed. There seems to be a sort of hydraulic press- 
 ure to it.) My recollection now is that the artillery practice had 
 not commenced more than an hour when there was a perceptible 
 change in the atmosphere a kind of haziness. That night and 
 the next morning it rained "fearfully hard." 
 
 What effect would be produced on our prairies I am unable to 
 say, yet believe the difference could not be great, as the aqueous 
 vapors contained in our atmosphere cannot be much less than in 
 that near the ocean or large rivers. At the battle of Prairie 
 Grove, Ark., the wine blew parallel with the mountain range. I 
 suppose there was an average of twenty field guns in constant use 
 for five hours. Cloudy at dark or a little after (Dec. 7). At 2 
 o'clock a. m., 8th, the atmosphere was remarkably clear, and the 
 stars shone with unusual brilliancy. At 3:30 it was "pitch 
 dark." Daylight showed a few filmy clouds, with the light wind 
 blowing against the mountain range. M. brought rain. 
 
 Soon (several days) after we crossed the Boston Mountains we 
 found a light breeze blowing against the mountains from the op- 
 posite side. We had some artillery firing say thirty or forty 
 rounds near Lee's creek, early in the morning, with a clear sky. 
 Here I remember that it was urged by some of our officers that 
 artillery should not be used on the small number of the enemy's 
 cavalry that were in front of us, for the reason that it would bring 
 on rain, and thereby retard us in the pursuit of the enemy. We 
 got the rain in less than two hours. After the firing at the cap- 
 ture of Van Buren, the wind still light, moving nearly at right 
 angles with the mountain range, we got rain in a few hours. 
 
 I remember that the rain following the several engagements on 
 Mobile bay was more copious than I ever witnessed before the 
 cannonading by the army and navy being unusually heavy, es- 
 pecially at the lower forts. This, you will remember, was in the 
 summer, or dry season. It is possible that I may have known an 
 
156 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 instance where there was heavy firing that was not followed by 
 rain, and that the matter may have escaped my notice. There are 
 other instances when I know it did occur, but deem it unnecessary 
 to cite them, as I have given you the cases that seem most im- 
 portant, and which attracted my attention. I am compelled to 
 hastily refer to the matter, and have scarcely time to read what I 
 have written, and would not have written this much but from a 
 desire to encourage you in prosecuting your investigations, for I 
 seem to know you are right. I hope you may succeed in fully 
 demonstrating your theory, and in making some practical use of 
 it. 
 
 There are, as you doubtless are aware, animals that anticipate a 
 storm hogs, for instance. If you have an opportunity, after the 
 firing of a salute of say thirteen or fifteen guns, observe them care- 
 fully, and I think you will find them acting as they do preceding 
 a storm, although there may be no rain. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 J. McNui/rA. 
 
 No. 5. 
 From Gen. R. H. Milroy, of Indiana. 
 
 DELPHI, IND., Dec. 19, 1870. 
 MR. EDWARD POWERS: 
 
 Dear Sir Yours of the 8th inst. was duly received, containing 
 the enclosed printed slip, and asking me to state whether, in my 
 military experience, I had noticed the fact " that battles are gen- 
 erally followed by a rainfall." I regret that my attention was not 
 called to this matter during the war that I might have noticed and 
 made note of such facts, as I doubt not their existence. The Espy 
 theory of producing rain is the only one I recollect hearing of prior 
 to our late war. About the close of the war I heard it mentioned 
 that heavy artillery firing produced rain, and in looking back over 
 battles in which I participated, or was near, I thought I could see 
 strong proof of the theory. The battle of Rich Mountain, in July, 
 1861, was followed by some one or two rainy days; Cross Keys, in 
 June, 1862, the same ; second Bull Run, August, 1862, two days' 
 heavy firing in dry weather, followed by refreshing showers; Get- 
 tysburg battle, heavy artillery firing for two days, in July, 1863, 
 followed by such heavy rains as to raise the Potomac, and stop the 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 157 
 
 retreat of the rebel army for some days; battle of Franklin, Tenn., 
 about the 1st of December, 1864 fine weather at the time of and 
 previous thereto for many weeks, but was followed by rain that 
 froze as it fell, and covered the country with ice ; battle of the^Ce- 
 dars, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., in December, 1864, preceded for 
 some days by artillery firing from Fortress Rosecrans, was followed 
 by rains; the battle of Nashville, soon afterwards, was followed by 
 much rain. 
 
 These are all the instances I can now recall of "Heavens weep- 
 ing o'er our battles." There is more artillery being used in the 
 battles now going on in France than was ever used in any preced- 
 ing war on earth, and the newspapers tell us that France has been 
 having extraordinary quantities of rain and great floods. May not 
 this fact account for our pleasant dry fall and winter, so far? 
 
 There are none of the laws of nature of which science is so utterly 
 ignorant as those governing weather, and yet there are no laws the 
 knowledge of which would be of more benefit to mankind. You 
 are, therefore, engaged in a most noble and beneficent inquiry, 
 and I most sincerely wish you success, and hope that Congress will 
 grant you all you ask to enable you to prosecute your experiments. 
 There is no reason why science should not obtain a knowledge of 
 and utilize the laws governing weather. 
 
 Begging pardon for my delay in answering your inquiry occa- 
 sioned by my press of business and for the hasty and unstudied 
 manner of the foregoing answer, 
 
 1 am, very respectfully and truly, 
 Your most ob't serv't, 
 
 R. H. MILROY. 
 
 No. 6. 
 From, Prof. Benj. Silliman, of Yale College. 
 
 NEW HAVEN, Nov. 19, 1870. 
 ED. POWERS, ESQ.: 
 
 Dear Sir In reply to yours of the llth, received to-day, I have 
 to say that it by no means follows that in times of drouth the 
 atmosphere does not contain a considerable quantity of water, 
 dissolved as vapor. The capacity of the air for moisture increases 
 with the temperature, and, in our country east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, we seldom see a state of the air where it does not 
 
158 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 contain a large amount of moisture. The amount of moisture 
 requisite for saturation of air at different temperatures, is as fol- 
 lows, viz.: 
 
 1 cubic meter of air, at C, holds 5.4 grammes. 
 1 " " " " 10 " " 9.74 " 
 1 " . it gfjO n 22 5 tl 
 
 In very dry climates the air is often very low in moisture, as at the 
 Red Sea, during a simoon, when not over T ^ of saturation is pres- 
 ent. In this latitude, 60 per cent, of the saturation is a usual 
 and healthful quantity. The "dew point," of course, is the test of 
 saturation. I have seen, in Arizona, 40 F. difference between the 
 wet bulb and the dry bulb thermometer, and there, I believe, no 
 cannonading would bring rain out of the air. 
 
 I consider, however, that the matter you have in hand is a per- 
 fectly fair subject of experiment, and in view of the fact that there 
 are times (and we have all seen such) when a good shower would 
 be worth millions of dollars in money, it is certainly worth a few 
 thousands spent in noise, at a proper time, to determine the ques- 
 tion, " Will He bow His heavens and come down ? " 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 B. SILLIMAN. 
 
 No. 7. 
 From Brevet Major General Henry W. Benham, U. S. Engineers. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., Nov. 15, 1870. 
 MR. EDWARD POWERS, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 Dear Sir I have been greatly hurried, during the past few 
 weeks, so that I have not had time to reply, as I would desire to, 
 on the subject of your inquiry as to my opinions or experiences in 
 the matter of the effect of cannon firing to cause rain at any or all 
 states of the atmosphere. 
 
 I would say to you now, however, very briefly, that I have a 
 most decided conviction on this subject as I have had for many 
 years, and that is, that the firing of cannon, to any great extent, 
 will always, or almost always, cause rain. Independent of several 
 cases in the last war of the rebellion, where rain accompanied or 
 followed the battles in quick succession, I will only now refer 
 particularly to one case, which, I doubt not, the recollections of 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 159 
 
 many men in your vicinity who were members of Hardin's or 
 Bissell's regiments, at the battle of Buena Vista, February 23, 
 1847, will corroborate. This is the fact: that about one or two 
 hours after the severe cannonading between 8 and 10 A. M. that 
 is, between 11 and 12 o'clock we had a most violent rain-fall for 
 some ten or fifteen minutes. I recollect holding my body forward 
 over my holsters, and bringing up my frock coat skirts to keep my 
 holsters and pistols dry. Again, in the afternoon, at about the 
 same interval, after the last fatal charge, when Colonels Yell, 
 Hardin, McKee, and Lieut. Col. Clay fell, when there was a 
 heavy cannonading a second time, another violent shower of rain 
 fell, wetting us all again. And what I considered the satisfactory 
 proof that this was caused by the shocks to the atmosphere pro- 
 duced by the cannon fire, is the fact that no rain had fallen in that 
 vicinity for many months previously I was told six or eight 
 months, and none fell, as I know was the case, for three or four 
 months after that battle, as I continued at that position. 
 
 Trusting this may be of some use as an item towards sub- 
 stantiating your views, which, I do not doubt, can be utilized, as 
 you proposed, 
 
 1 am, very truly yours, 
 
 H. W. BENHAM. 
 
 No. 8. 
 From General Geo. W. Smith, of Illinois. 
 
 LAW OFFICE OF GEO. W. SMITH, ) 
 
 No. 86 WASHINGTON ST., CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 1871. j" 
 MR. EDWARD POWERS: 
 
 Dear Sir I have your letter of yesterday. In reply, I was 
 present at Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, the 
 various engagements between Chattanooga and Atlanta, Franklin 
 and Nashville. 
 
 I remember that rain followed most of the above named battles, 
 and particularly Perryville, Stone River and Nashville. Chicka- 
 mauga was succeeded by a dense fog. 
 
 Yours, truly, 
 
 GEO. W. SMITH. 
 
160 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 No. 9. 
 From General Wm. Vandever, of Iowa. 
 
 DUBUQUE, Oct. 15, 1870. 
 ED. POWERS, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 Dear Sir Your favor of the 13th inst., with enclosed news- 
 paper article, received and read with interest. 
 
 I do not think that I can give any particular information to 
 guide you in your investigations. My observation, however, dur- 
 ing the war, satisfies me that your theory is correct. Great battles 
 were generally followed by storms of rain. This peculiarity was 
 often the subject of comment in the army. 
 
 If, from such facts, you can suggest any feasible mode of bom- 
 barding the clouds and bringing down rain, the country will be 
 indebted to you. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 WM. VANDEVER. 
 
 No. 10. 
 
 Extract from a Letter from the Adjutant General of the State 
 of Ohio, dated Columbus, Oct. 17, 1870. 
 
 * * * * Your theory has always been a pet "hobby " 
 of my own and my observation, during the late war, led me to 
 believe in its correctness. I have always noticed that heavy firing 
 was followed by copious showers, with an uniformity which satisfied 
 me that it was not mere coincidence. The best way to decide the 
 matter, however, would be to institute a series of experiments dur- 
 ing dry weather, when the barometrical signs indicated a continu- 
 ance of drought. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. A. KNAPP, Adjutant General. 
 
 No. 11. 
 
 Extract from a Letter from the Adjutant General of Wisconsin, 
 dated at Madison, Oct. 26, 1870. 
 
 * * * I had occasion to notice myself that our battles were 
 generally followed by rain during the war, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 161 
 
 At Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862, the battle was followed by 
 a slight rain. The weather was, at the time, intensely hot, and 
 the engagement was short, and but little artillery used. At the 
 second battle of Bull Run, August 27 and 28, 1862, the rain poured 
 in torrents. The closing engagement of that series of battles, that 
 of Chantilly, was stopped by a drenching shower. At Chancellors- 
 ville, May 3, 1863, we had torrents of rain in about forty-eight hours 
 after the cannonading was over. At Beverly Ford, June 9, 1863, we 
 brought on rain by a sharp musketry and artillery fire, lasting half 
 a day. At Gettysburg, where some three hundred cannon pounded 
 from 12 till 4 o'clock, and musketry incessantly for three days, we 
 had a night and day of pouring rain, setting in about six hours 
 after the firing had ceased. Yours respectfully, 
 
 E. E. BRYANT, AdjH General. 
 
 No. 12. 
 
 The foregoing letter fixes,, approximately, the time 
 of the commencement of the rain at the battle-field, 
 after the battle of Gettysburg. The following extract 
 from a letter from Colonel John Gibbon, 7th Infantry, 
 U. S. A., speaks of the same rain as it occurred at a 
 point some thirty miles southeastward. 
 
 ' ' Immediately after the battle of Chancellorsville, there was a 
 terrific rain storm, May 5, 1863. This was also the case after the 
 battle of Gettysburg, the rain commencing to fall about twenty- 
 four hours after the heavy cannonading of the 3d of July ; and at 
 Westminster, about thirty miles from the battle-field, continued 
 to rain heavily all night." 
 
 No. 13. 
 
 Mr. Abbott Mott, of the Engineer Department, 
 U. S. A., in a communication to an officer, says of the 
 commencement of the rain at Fredericksburg : 
 
162 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 " At the battle of Fredericksburg, I was on the skirmish line the 
 night of the retreat, and consequently, was among the last to cross 
 the Rappahannock on said retreat. I distinctly remember a very 
 heavy rainstorm commenced while we were crossing on the pontoon 
 bridge. This battle was notable for the amount and weight of 
 ordnance used." 
 
 No. 14. 
 From General J. A. Garfield, of Ohio. 
 
 HIRAM, 0., Oct. 28, 1870. 
 EDW. POWERS, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 Dear Sir In answer to yours of the 22d, I have to say that, 
 while I did not take such observations as a scientific experiment 
 requires, I did observe the frequent occurrence of heavy showers 
 very soon after the battles in our late war. It was a matter 
 much talked of in the army, and there was a general impression 
 that the atmospheric disturbance caused by heavy cannonading, 
 hastened or created showers. I remember that heavy showers fol- 
 lowed almost immediately after the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, 
 Shelbyville and Chickamauga. But while these coincidences are 
 curious and interesting, they are chiefly valuable from the fact that 
 they challenge the attention of scientific men, and may lead to a 
 discovery of causes which will prove valuable to our knowledge of 
 meteorology. Very truly yours, 
 
 J. A. GARFIELD. 
 
 No. 15. 
 From Gen. */. M. Hedricks, of Iowa. 
 
 COURIER OFFICE, OTTUMWA, Oct. 28, 1870. 
 MR. EDWARD POWERS, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 My opinion fully concurs with the theory of your article. I 
 have, however, never taken time to investigate the phenomena suf- 
 ficiently to give you an intelligent theory on the subject at present. 
 It is a highly interesting and important matter, and should be 
 investigated. 
 
 In great haste, your ob't servant, 
 
 J. M. HEDRICKS. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 163 
 
 No. 16. 
 
 From Gen. Jas. Barnett, of Ohio, late Chief of Artillery, 
 Dept. of the Cumberland. 
 
 CLEVELAND, 0., Oct. 28, 1870. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ. : 
 
 Dear Sir I am in receipt of your favor of 22d inst., enclosing 
 your article from the Evening Post. It was a remarkable fact, 
 which I think most of our army officers will recollect, that many 
 of our battles were accompanied with rain, or rain immediately 
 followed. Such was the fact at Pittsburg Landing and Stone 
 River, and I think at other general engagements in our depart- 
 ment. Chickamauga and Mission Ridge may have been exceptions, 
 but of this I am not sure. Our advance from Murfresboro, in 
 which a good deal of artillery firing was done, was accompanied 
 by rain all the way. I desire to talk with some of my army friends, 
 who assemble here on the 24th ult., and will take pleasure in writ- 
 ing you further on the subject after we compare notes. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. BARNETT. 
 
 No. 17. 
 From Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio. 
 
 STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, ) 
 COLUMBUS, Oct. 31, 1870. f 
 
 Dear Sir Your favor, with slip enclosed as to rain following 
 battles, is at hand. There was a notion of the sort often men- 
 tioned in the army I belonged to. Off hand I have no opinion 
 about it. Rain followed within twenty-four hours in the follow- 
 ing cases : 
 
 Carnifax Ferry, Sept. 10, 1861. 
 Dublin Bridge, May 10, 1864. 
 Winchester, July 24, 1864. 
 No rain after : 
 
 South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862. 
 Lynchburg, June 20, 1864. 
 Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864. 
 Fisher's Hill, Sept. 22, 1864. 
 Other battles I don't recollect about. 
 
164 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 On hearing of the attempt to investigate this subject by you the 
 most conspicuous fact occurring to me was against the theory 
 suggested. 
 
 In August and September, 1864, the Shenandoah Valley was the 
 scene of unending warfare daily battles cannon firing from day- 
 light to dark, and with it an unusual drouth. In September, 1870, 
 no cannon firing, and an unprecedented flood. 
 
 But my memory supplies too few facts to warrant an opinion. 
 
 Sincerely 
 
 R. B. HAYES. 
 
 While I accept the affirmative evidence given in 
 the foregoing letter, I trust that my distinguished 
 correspondent will pardon me if I show that his 
 memory was at fault in relation to some of the mat- 
 ters of which he speaks, and that the argument 
 he draws against my theory has really no " conspic- 
 uous fact" for its foundation. It will be seen from 
 the paper which follows that an actual record has 
 been kept of ten different rains occurring in the 
 region of which he speaks between Aug. 18 and Sept. 
 16, 1864, inclusive. The man who kept this rec- 
 ord was killed at the battle of Opequan Creek, 
 which was the second battle of Winchester, spoken 
 of in the foregoing letter, and his record is there- 
 fore silent in regard to the weather following that 
 battle. As mentioned on page 66, however, it 
 rained in the southeastern part of the same State 
 on the second day after this battle ; also on the day 
 after the battle of Fisher's Hill, as shown by the 
 weather record of the steamer Agawam, then on 
 James River. 
 
WAR AND T1IE WEATHER. 165 
 
 No. 18. 
 
 Extracts from the Diary of Lt. W. Ashley, of Vaughn's Bri- 
 gade, Co. C Battalion, Thomas' Legion, Wharton's Division, 
 Breckenridge's Corps, Gen. Early's Army; who was killed at 
 the Battle of Opequan Creek, near Winchester, Va., September 
 19, 1864* 
 
 Newmarket, Va., Saturday July 1, 1864. Daylight. Start 
 through Edinburgh, * * * hot * * * . 
 
 July 2. Strasburg. Straggled and got a good dinner; en- 
 camped near Middletown. 
 
 July 3. Start through Newtown * * * . 
 
 July 4. Start to Martinsburg. Yanks had left in a hurry. 
 Lots of plunder, * * * still hot and dusty. 
 
 July 5. Clear. * * * Marched to Potomac River, near 
 Shepherdstown; waded it. * * * 
 
 July 6. Clear; still no rain. * * * Made foot of Maryland 
 Heights about 11 p. M. 
 
 July 7. Cannonading all night; daylight start ; we are now in 
 position as reserve. Sharp fighting going on immediately in front ; 
 shells coming unpleasantly near every once in a while ; passed over 
 a man's foot in our road just now taken off by a cannon ball ; sup- 
 pose we are about one mile from their works. Harper's Ferry ; 
 dark; moved out over mountain to Rollersville by 2 A. M.; rain, 
 rough and very dark. 
 
 July 8. Clear. * * * Awful rain during the night, all and 
 everything wet through. * * * 
 
 (The diary shows no more rain until after the battle of Winches- 
 ter, fought July 24, 1864.) 
 
 July 24. Clear; army in motion * * * * heavy shells 
 and bullets coming thick among us * * * * drove the Yanks 
 under a hot fire several miles through Winchester. * * * 
 
 July 25. Rain ; all wet through and cold. * * * 
 
 August 17. Clear at daylight; ordered into front * * * 
 ordered to charge the enemy; did so, under a heavy fire of 
 artillery and small arms. * * * The fight was continued 
 until 11 P. M. * * * 
 
 August 18. Rain. * * * 
 
 August 19. Hazy. * * * Skirmishing near Berryville. 
 
 *See Putnam's "Record of the Rebellion," Vol. XI. p. 153. 
 
166 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 August 20. Rain. * * * 
 
 September 3. Cloudy. * * * Heavy artillery and musketry 
 in direction of Berryville ; rain ; still fighting far away into the 
 night. 
 
 September 4. Cloudy, Started to scene of last night's action 
 
 * * * sharpshooters already engaged. 3 p. M. Flanked to 
 left, and lay until night, endeavoring to draw them out to fight. 
 They won't leave their entrenchments ; bullets are whistling around 
 us close. * * * Rain, cold and disagreeable. 
 
 Septembers. Rain. Skirmishing heavy * * * heard firing 
 in our front. * * * Rain falling heavy. * * * 
 
 September 6. Rain all day. * * * 
 
 September 9. Clear, cold night * * Smart skirmishing. * 
 
 September 10. Rain. * * * 
 
 September 12. Rain. * * * 
 
 September 13. Clear; fighting on our left; * * * fighting 
 is winding to our right ; * * * it is very heavy. 2 p. M. Can- 
 nonading heavy on our right. 
 
 September 14. Rain. * * * 
 
 September 15. Cloudy. * * 
 
 September 16. Rain. * * * 
 
 No. 19. 
 From Major General S. P. Heintzelman, U. S. A. 
 
 NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 1870. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Civil Engineer, Chicago: 
 
 My Dear Sir Your letter of the 6th of October, with its en- 
 closure, I have received, and gladly contribute my mite towards 
 the establishment of your theory. 
 
 I have been keeping a journal all my life, mostly a mere record 
 of facts, and as a general thing I mention the weather. The en- 
 closed notes have been carefully extracted from this journal. I 
 find that I have recorded, almost daily, the weather, and whether 
 there was firing, from the first Bull Run, July 21, 1861, to Sep. 
 tember, 1862, when I was placed in command of the defences of 
 the south side of the Potomac. 
 
 I have the impression that rain can be produced by the concus- 
 sion of the atmosphere ; and the only question in my mind has been, 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 167 
 
 will it pay? It will depend upon the area of country that can be 
 affected. Can not some cheaper material be employed to produce 
 the concussion than gunpowder? 
 
 A curious fact was brought to my mind the day after I received 
 your letter. In conversation with a gentleman who moved on the 
 Southern side, he inquired whether I had ever observed that during 
 the war in Virginia there were no turkey buzzards in the vicinity of 
 the armies. I recollect the fact, and attribute it to the great ex- 
 tent of atmosphere affected by the concussion of artillery firing, 
 thus driving those timid birds away. This would go to show that 
 the atmosphere is affected to a sufficient extent to make it practi- 
 cal, or that it will pay. 
 
 These observations have a greater value, as when they were re- 
 corded I had no theory to sustain. 
 
 I am, sir, yours truly, 
 
 S. P. HEINTZELMAN. 
 
 No. 20. 
 
 Notes from Journal kept ly S. P. Heintzelman, Commanding 
 Third Army Corps, from July, 1861, to September, 1862. 
 
 July 21, 1861. This was a clear, hot day the first battle of 
 Bull Run. I reached my door in Washington the next morning, 
 at 6 a. m. " It commenced to rain a little before we got in." 
 
 Camp Winfield Scott, Yorktown. Va., Saturday, May 3, 1862. 
 "Threatened rain this morning, but turned clear and pleasant. 
 
 * * * Some five hundred shots and shell were fired yester- 
 day by the rebels. Not much firing to-day." * * "The rebels 
 were very busy till after midnight firing" (artillery). 
 
 Sunday, May 4, 1862. * * "This is a bearutiful morning." 
 Rain commenced Sunday night. "It commenced raining in the 
 night." 
 
 The battle of Williamsburg was fought Monday, May 5, 1862. 
 It rained all day and into the night. My impression is that it was 
 clear the day after the battle. 
 
 Williamsburg, May 8 (Thursday), 1862. "A beautiful day." 
 Wednesday was Franklin's affair at West Point. 
 
 Savage's Station, Saturday, May 31, 1862. "We had a very 
 heavy thunder storm late in the afternoon yesterday, and till in 
 the night. It rained in torrents. * * It has been cloudy all 
 day." 
 
168 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 Savage's Station, June 1, 1862. "The clouds broke away early 
 in the day, and it was warm." 
 
 Savage's Station, June 2, 1862. "Before daylight I got another 
 dispatch from Marcy to sustain Sumner with all my force. As I 
 had already made arrangements for any contingency, I did not get 
 up till it got light. It was then raining* a little. I dressed, and 
 when the sun rose we had a rainbow. I think we will have a 
 pleasant day." 
 
 Savage's Station, Tuesday, June 3, 1862. "Heavy rain and 
 thunder storm last night. This morning has been hot. Mercury, 
 atone time, in my tent, 94." * * "All the wounded of 
 my troops, and the prisoners, were sent off in the last train at 9 
 p. M. It commenced to rain pretty steadily before." 
 
 Savage's Station, Wednesday, June 4, 1862. " It rained more 
 heavily last night and this morning, till about 9 A. M., than I 
 have known for years. The whole country is flooded, both in the 
 front and on the left. No enemy can move, even should he try, 
 which I don't think he intends on this flank, after his defeat." 
 
 Savage's Station, Thursday, June 5, 1862. " It has been cloudy, 
 and threatening rain with a few drops to-day." 
 
 Savage's Station, Friday, June 6, 1862. "It has been cloudy, 
 and drizzled several times during the day. The weather is dis- 
 agreeable enough." 
 
 Savage's Station, Saturday, June 7, 1862. " Cloudy this morn- 
 ing, but sun came out. In afternoon, a thunder storm, and now 
 clearing off." 
 
 Savage's Station, Sunday, June 8, 1862. "This has been a 
 pleasant day." 
 
 Savage's Station, Monday, June 9, 1862. "Quite cool, but 
 pleasant, drying winds." 
 
 Savage's Station, June 10, 1862. " Rainf most of the night and 
 this morning. Now a mist." * * " From top of a tree got a 
 sketch. Two rebel flags were seen on a large building in Rich- 
 mond, from this tree." 
 
 Savage's Station, Wednesday, June 11, 1862. " Cold last night. 
 
 *The rains of June 2, 3 and 4 followed the battle of Fair Oak or Seven 
 Pines, fought May 31 and June 1, 1862. The heaviest of these rains, it will 
 be noticed, fell on the night of June 3, and morning of June 4. 
 
 t Fremont's battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic, in Virginia, were 
 fought June 8 and 9, 1862. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 169 
 
 Rain ceased in the night, and pleasant to-day. High winds dry- 
 ing the roads rapidly." 
 
 Savage's Station, Saturday, June 14, 1862. "A beautiful 
 morning." 
 
 Savage's Station, Sunday, June 15. * * " We have some 
 thunder and lightning, with rain, and the air cooled greatly. 
 From 93 to 66. The enemy have been firing at our pickets, and 
 we have lost some men /both in front of Hooker and Kearney." 
 
 Savage's Station, Monday, June 16, 1862. " Cool, but pleasant 
 morning. Mercury, 57. A great change since yesterday. We 
 have had considerable skirmishing yesterday and to-day." 
 
 Savage's Station, Tuesday, June 17, 1862. "Cool night and all 
 day. Mercury very little above 70, and cool wind. * * The 
 gunboats were firing near two hours to-day." 
 
 Savage's Station, Wednesday, June 18, 1862. "Cool last night 
 and this morning, but getting warm again. * * About sun- 
 down there was some picket firing in front of Sumner, with rapid 
 artillery firing. It lasted only a few minutes. * * Since 
 dark, a heavy wind and rain." 
 
 Savage's Station, Thursday, June 19, 1862. " The rain, last 
 evening, did not last long. This morning the roads are dusty. 
 * Cool morning, but warm day." 
 
 Savage's Station, June 21, 1862. "Warm and dusty to-day. 
 It was unusually quiet all day, till late in the afternoon, when, 
 suddenly, a brisk fire of musketry rang along Hooker's front, fol- 
 lowed by artillery." 
 
 Savage's Station, June 22, 1862. * * " There was picket 
 firing, at intervals, most of the night. At ten minutes before 3 
 A. M., several volleys were fired in rapid succession, * * 
 but it only lasted a few minutes. * * We have had a few 
 drops of rain since dark. * * Mercury has been 93 to-day, 
 and little wind." 
 
 Savage's Station, Monday, June 23, 1862. " Quite warm till 
 afternoon, and then showers of rain with a little thunder. * * 
 All has been very quiet since yesterday morning. What can all 
 this mean ? * * It is quite cool since the rain, with some 
 rain and lightning, and may rain more." 
 
 Savage's Station, Tuesday, June 24, 1862. * * "We had a 
 very heavy rain storm, and thunder and wind, at midnight. The 
 telegraph wires are down. * * At dawn, heavy musketry com- 
 
170 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 menced, and soon followed by artillery. I thought it the attack, 
 and had all up, but it did not last but a few minutes. We after- 
 ward heard the rebels beat reveille. Had another heavy rain a little 
 before night; has cooled the air much." 
 
 Savage's Station, Wednesday, June 25, 1862. "The rain made 
 the morning and day pleasant." 
 
 [NOTE. This is the affair of the " Orchards," in which my com- 
 mand lost some five hundred men, and pushed forward our pickets 
 the object of our attack.] 
 
 Savage's Station, Thursday, June 26, 1862. "For several hours 
 this afternoon, heavy artillery firing has been going on, on our 
 right. * * The firing is very steady and continuous, although 
 it is getting dark. There must be quite a battle." [NOTE. This 
 was the battle oi Mechanicsville.] 
 
 Savage's Station, Friday, June 27, 1862, 5| P. M. " The battle 
 still continues on the right." [NOTE. This was the battle of 
 Games' Mills.] 
 
 Savage's Station, Saturday, June 28, 1862. "At 3 A.M., a 
 heavy picket firing commenced, then joined in with artillery. 
 * * There was, occasionally, artillery and some musketry firing 
 during the forenoon. The enemy made a very determined attack 
 on General Smith, and got into one of his redoubts. His infantry 
 drove them out, etc., etc. * * I feared, this morning, it would 
 rain." " In the night of the 28th, got an order to fall back to the 
 lines I held May 31. * * * It was foggy." [NOTE. On the 
 29th the battle of Savage's Station was fought.] 
 
 Junction Charles City and Quaker Roads, Monday, June 30, 
 1862. [NOTE. Battle of Glendale fought.] 
 
 Thursday, July 2,1862. * * "It commenced raining soon 
 after light." [NOTE. This was at Malvern Hill the day after 
 the battle.] * * "It was now about 6 A. M., and raining 
 hard." 
 
 Berkley's Farm, Thursday, July 2, 1862. "It rained hard in 
 the night, and it is doubtful whether it will clear off now. * * 
 At half-past 10 A. M., the rebels commenced throwing shells into 
 our camp, etc. * * It has not rained since morning, but it is 
 not clear yet." 
 
 Near Berkley's Farm, Friday, July 4, 1862. " Clear sunshine. 
 The roads and ground are drying rapidly." 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 171 
 
 Harrison's Bar, Tuesday, July 15, 1862. * * " Mercury was 
 96 to-day, but at dark a heavy thunder storm, and now down to 
 740^ * * There has been some gunboat firing down the 
 river." 
 
 Harrison's Bar, Wednesday, July 16, 1862. "Mercury, 90. 
 In the evening, a heavy thunder shower." 
 
 ******* 
 
 Junction of Warrenton and Alexander and Orange Railroads, 
 Tuesday, August 26, 1862. " The weather, the last few days, has 
 not been very hot, but quite dusty. " 
 
 Warrenton Junction, Wednesday, August 27, 1862. " There 
 was some artillery firing in the night, and again this morning." 
 
 Manassas Junction, Thursday, August 28, 1862. ' Some artil- 
 lery firing on our left, at 8 A. M." [NOTE. On the 27th was the 
 affair at Bristow Station.] * * " We had quite a heavy shower 
 as we passed Manassas Junction, but it only extended a short dis- 
 tance." [NOTE. On the 27th, in the evening, about 9 P. M.,we 
 had a little rain. The ride from Warrenton Junction to Bristow 
 Station, on the 27th, was very warm and dusty.] 
 
 Bull Run battlefield, near the Henry House, Friday, August 29, 
 1862. " At 10 o'clock A. M., reached the field a mile beyond the 
 stone bridge. Firing had commenced again." [NOTE. This is 
 the first day of the second Bull Run.] 
 
 Saturday, August 30, 1862. [NOTE. This is the second day of 
 second Bull Run.] 
 
 Centreville, Va., Sunday, August 31, 1862. " At daylight it com- 
 menced raining. * * The rain did not last very long, but it is 
 still cloudy. * * There was some firing this morning, but not 
 much." 
 
 Fairfax C. H., Va., Tuesday, September 2, 1862. On the day 
 before, between Centreville and Fairfax C. H., "Heavy thunder 
 and rain storm, at 6 p. M. * * After the rain, rode on a mile 
 or so, and stopped opposite Kearney's left flank." [NOTE. This 
 was near'Chantilly.] 
 
 Arlington, Md., September 10, 1862. " There has been a heavy 
 wind storm, but scarcely rain enough to lay the dust. Next day, 
 
 rain showers all the forenoon." 
 
 S. P. HEINTZELMAW. 
 
 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. The memoranda furnished concerning the time 
 the army lay at Harrison's Bar are for the most part omitted, not being of 
 special significance. 
 
172 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 No. 21. 
 From Gen. John C. Starkweather, of Wisconsin. 
 
 SUNNY SIDE FARM, OCONOMOWOC, Nov. 8, 1870. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ. : 
 
 Dear SirM.j house and its contents having just been destroyed 
 by fire, prevents me (as to time) answering your favor in detail. 
 I can therefore only say, in general terms, that I agree with you 
 fully. Yours truly, 
 
 JOHN C. STARKWEATHER. 
 
 No. 22. 
 From Gen. RoVt A. McCoy, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, HARRISBURG, Nov. 14, 1870. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Civil Engineer, Chicago, 111. ; 
 
 Dear Sir Your favor relating to the subject of artillery fire 
 producing rain, and requesting statement of my recollection as to 
 rains following the principal battles of the late war has been 
 received. My time being very fully occupied by official duties, 
 leaves me but little opportunity to make you a satisfactory reply, 
 and the fact that I have not my memoranda book within consult- 
 ing distance, compels me to write from memory. 
 
 The whole scope of my service in the army was in Eastern Vir- 
 ginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, with the army of the Potomac, 
 and at no time exceeding 200 miles from the Chesapeake or Dela- 
 ware bays. 
 
 This fact should be taken into consideration when considering 
 the effects of our battles on the atmosphere or currents of air. My 
 recollection is, that after the battle of Antietam one in which 
 much artillery was used it rained the following day, the 18th 
 September, 1862; that rain fell in considerable quantity on Tuesday 
 after the Saturday of battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in December, 
 1862 think some rain fell before Tuesday. A very large number 
 of cannon were in position on the Stafford heights and the Fred- 
 ericksburg and Mayre's heights; the valley between was densely 
 filled with smoke from the discharge of cannon, small arms and 
 the burning of the town. The sight was grand. The sun appeared 
 to toil through the density of smoke. 
 
 It rained on the third day, I think, of the Chancellorsville battle, 
 May 3, 1863. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 173 
 
 Very heavy rain fell after the battle of Gettysburg-; in fact the 
 night of the last day of the battle your correspondent was soaked 
 with rain whilst examining and arranging outposts. 
 
 My recollection does not serve me as to the three days of the 
 Wilderness battle, but in the execution of my duties I got very 
 wet one day near the close of the battle of Spottsylvania C. H., 
 1864. 
 
 I omitted to mention that it rained very hard immediately after 
 the second battle of Bull Run, August 31, 1862. 
 
 I am not prepared to go into any scientific argument for or 
 against the theory, but believe that the concussions jarring of the 
 atmosphere by the sound, as well as disturbance of it by the smoke 
 of battle, produced rain. 
 
 I am inclined to the opinion, that the smoke is not without its 
 effect in producing rain, for I remember to have observed when a 
 boy, living in the interior of this State, that in the early fall, the 
 farmers who had cleared new lands usually burned the brush and 
 log heaps about one time, causing dense smoke through the valley, 
 and remember that rain usually followed ; also after the burning 
 over of mountain lands. 
 
 But as I have before remarked, that all my experience and 
 observation have been confined to a narrow limit not far from the 
 sea, where greater moisture exists in the atmosphere than farther 
 inland, perhaps that fact might have had much to do with the 
 frequent rains apparently caused by firing and by smoke. If con- 
 cussion, or jarring the air, is the moving power, then the firing 
 should be directly up in the air, or rather by batteries placed at say 
 one or two miles apart, and fired into the air at a proper angle and 
 towards each other. 
 
 Begging your pardon for inflicting upon you so crude a letter, I 
 have the honor to be, Very truly yours, 
 
 ROB'T A. McCoY, 
 Late Ass't Adj't Gen'l 3d Div. 5th Army Corps, Army of Potomac. 
 
 No. 23. 
 From General J. M. Campbell, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 JOHNSTOWN, PA., Nov. 16, 1870. 
 ED. POWERS, ESQ. : 
 
 Dear Sir Your favor of the 7th inst., with enclosed slip, I 
 find awaiting me on my return home. 
 
174 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 At present I can remember but two battles during our late war 
 which were closely followed by rain. The first, after the battle of 
 New Market, Va., on the 15th of May, 1864, the other after the 
 battle of Winchester (Crooks), Va., July 24, 1864. There were, 
 doubtless, others, but I ^cannot recall them with distinctness. I 
 have heard the idea you advanced frequently discussed since the 
 war, and believe there is " something in it." 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 J. M. CAMPBELL. 
 
 No. 24. 
 From General E. L. Dana, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 WlLKESBARRE, Nov. 21, 1870. 
 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., C. E. : 
 
 My Dear Sir Since the receipt of your favor of the 7th inst. I 
 have been engaged in holding court, with no leisure until this 
 evening for a reply. 
 
 I showed your article to several military gentlemen of this town, 
 who concur in their recollection that nearly every great battle of 
 the late war was either attended, before its close, or immediately 
 followed by a heavy fall of rain; generally with much electric 
 action. The occurrence was the subject of remark. I think on the 
 third day after the commencement of the Chancellorsville move- 
 ment, and in the midst of a rapid cannonade, there came on a 
 fearful thunderstorm, and, for a time, we were at a loss, in the 
 thick woods, to distinguish the " artillery of heaven" from that of 
 earth. 
 
 At Gettysburg, on the 4th of July, the day following the decisive 
 conflict of the 3d, characterized by the heaviest cannonade of the 
 war, there was a severe storm, a large quantity of water falling. 
 There was a slight fall of rain during the battle of the 1st of July, 
 at Gettysburg, and in the evening. 
 
 In one of the operations before Petersburg, I think in October, 
 1864, which was there called the Squirrel Level Road, a heavy rain 
 followed immediately after the action. The same coincidence 
 occurred in the two actions at Hatcher's Run. 
 
 The rain which fell at Chancellorsville August, 1863, to 
 which I have referred, you may recollect, was such as to raise the 
 river and threaten our pontoon bridges, and, probably, hastened 
 our re-crossing the river. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 175 
 
 These meagre reminiscences touching the question suggested in 
 your letter, with those of General Osborne, to whom I showed your 
 article, are all that I am able to recall distinctly at present. We 
 had many rainstorms, of course, at other times. 
 
 The mountains around our valley of Wyoming occasionally 
 take fire, and, after a day or two of burning, form nearly a circle. 
 A rain opportunely occurs, about this time, and extinguishes it. 
 Prof. Espy, some years ago, had a theory of the effect of fires in 
 producing rain. 
 
 I am, very truly, etc., 
 
 E. L. DANA. 
 
 With the foregoing letter, General Dana was kind 
 enough to forward the following from General E. S. 
 
 Osborne : 
 
 No. 25. 
 
 WlLKESBARRE, Nov. 19, 1870. 
 
 GEN. E. L. DANA: 
 
 General The letter of Mr. Powers to you, and also the article 
 containing remarks relative to the supposed effect of artillery fire 
 in producing rain have been read by me, and in compliance with 
 your desire, I would state that heavy storms followed the following 
 battles, viz. : Chancellorsville, Wilderness, North Anna River, Wei- 
 don Railroad, and Hatcher's Run. Upon these occasions I am 
 positive that we had very heavy rain, accompanied with thunder. 
 Whether other battles in which the Army of the Potomac was 
 engaged were followed by storms I do not now distinctly 
 remember. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant and friend, 
 
 E. S. OSBORNE. 
 
 No. 26. 
 From Brevet Major General Henry J. Hunt, U. S. A. 
 
 FORT ADAMS, NEWPORT, R. L, Nov. 13, 1870. 
 Mr. EDWARD POWERS, Chicago, 111.: 
 
 Dear Sir Your note of the 18th of October, with its enclosure, 
 reached me in due course. My absence for a portion of the time 
 
176 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 since, and other duties, have prevented ray returning an earlier 
 answer. 
 
 I cannot at this time give very accurate answers to your ques- 
 tions respecting the occurrence of storms after battles, but, in 
 many cases, I can remember with sufficient certainty their occur- 
 rence, and very nearly the period within which they occurred. 
 
 The battle of Churubusco, in the valley of Mexico, was fought on 
 the 20th of August, 1847. The rainy season must have been closed, 
 or near its close. At Puebla, during the months of June, July and 
 perhaps the beginning of August, there were heavy falls of rain 
 every afternoon, the skies clearing before sunset, and the atmos- 
 phere being remarkably clear until the next afternoon ; but I re- 
 member that on the march from Puebla, which commenced 7th 
 August, the days were, generally, if not always, clear, bright and 
 beautiful. On the 14th the whole day was bright and clear. I 
 was specially engaged that day on duty, which I remember. I be- 
 lieve the 15th was a similarly clear day, as was the 16th, the date 
 of the commencement of the movement round Chalco. There was 
 some little rain on the 17th or 18th, but it was not, I believe, 
 very heavy. The 19th was clear and beautiful in the afternoon, 
 at the usual hour for rains. I remember that I was watching the 
 movement taking place at Contreras from a distance at the time. 
 I think that night was cloudy, dark, and perhaps rainy. I do 
 not think the rain was very heavy. There had been cannonading 
 at Contreras during the day. 
 
 Since writing the foregoing I have found General Scott's report 
 of this action. He describes the fire of artillery as heavy, the ene- 
 my having twenty-two guns mounted, to which we could only 
 reply with a battery or two of six-pounders, and one of mountain 
 howitzers. I doubt if all the enemy's guns were used, or could be 
 brought to bear that afternoon. However, General Scott says in 
 one place: "It was already dark, and the cold rain had begun to 
 fall in torrents on our unsheltered troops." He afterwards refers 
 to the night march of the troops being hindered by "mud and 
 rain." I was under partial shelter that night, which may account 
 for my recollections not being vary clear of " torrents of rain." 
 
 The battle of Churubusco was fought the next day, which was 
 bright and clear; I don't remember rain. The day after it rained 
 heavily whilst we were on the march to Tacubaya. I do not re- 
 member with sufficient distinctness the condition of the weather 
 
WAR AND THE WEATE1ER. 177 
 
 after other Mexican battles; nor, considering the nearness of the 
 period named to the rainy season, are the above facts, perhaps, of 
 great significance. 
 
 The 21st of July, 1861, the day of the battle of Bull Run, was 
 clear, hot and bright all day long. The next afternoon there were 
 " torrents of rain," which continued all night. 
 
 The battle of Games' Mill was fought June 27, 1862. It was a 
 bright, clear day, as was also the 28th, but on the night of the 28th 
 and morning of the 29th it rained heavily. 
 
 The 29th and 30th of June were fair, bright days. The battle of 
 Malvern was fought July 1, a bright, clear day. During the night 
 it commenced raining, and on the 2d and 3d, also, I think it 
 poured down. 
 
 I do not remember that the battle of Antietam was followed by 
 rain. It may have been; I do not remember. Nor can I speak 
 positively as to that of Fredericksburg, Decamber 11-13, 1862. 
 
 The battles of Chancellorsville, May 2-4, were fought, I believe, 
 throughout in fair weather. In the afternoon of the day the 
 army recrossed (5th) it poured rain raising the river, sweeping off 
 the bridges, so cutting off the movement until they could be re- 
 stored and continued all night and part of the next day. 
 
 The battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1, 2 and 3, in clear 
 weather. On the 4th it rained furiously, and continued part of 
 the 5th. 
 
 I do not remember that violent rain followed the battle of the 
 Wilderness. There was not much artillery fire compared with the 
 magnitude of the forces engaged. This was on the 5th and 6th. 
 There was rain, I believe, on the 8th or 9th, during the first fight 
 on the right at Spottsylvania C. H. After the heavy fighting 
 there, the army on its move to the left, to renew the attack, did so 
 through a heavy storm of rain, which continued next day. 
 
 The fighting, however, from the 4th of May to the 27th, when 
 the army crossed the Pamunkey, was so continuous that little, if 
 any, conclusion from the rains that happened in that period could 
 be drawn, as affecting the question of cause. 
 
 As to the temperature and direction of the wind at these times, 
 I cannot give you any information worth recording. The occur- 
 rence of rains soon after battles I have noticed frequently, but 
 whether previous statements that such was often the case, or 
 whether the frequency of the occurrence attracted my attention, I 
 
178 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 cannot say. Frequently without means of keeping memoranda on 
 pressing subjects, of course I had neither time nor opportunity to 
 record such facts. Indeed, the necessity of trusting to memory 
 for many things is what enables me to recall circumstances of 
 time, place and weather that permit me to write this letter, which 
 I fear you will not find very useful, but it is the best I can do to 
 comply with your request. I regret exceedingly that I cannot do 
 better. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 HENRY J. HUNT, Maj. Gen. Bvt. 
 Late Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac. 
 
 No. 27. 
 
 From Brevet Brigadier General P. V. Hagner, of the Ord- 
 nance Department, U. S. A. 
 
 WATERVLIET ARSENAL, WEST TROY, N. Y., Dec. 28, 1870. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Chicago: 
 
 Sir I have received your note of the 24th, and respond with 
 pleasure to your inquiries. I have no doubt that heavy firing of 
 artillery is, almost invariably, soon succeeded by a fall of rain, and 
 I think it will be proven that this effect is due to some other cause 
 than the heat evolved in burning gunpowder. It would seem, also, 
 pretty certain that a second spell of firing in the same vicinity will 
 not produce a second rainstorm within a day or two (or more) 
 after the first. You will have a good chance of deciding the exact 
 amount of influence due to tfiis by observing carefully the reports 
 from the Prusso-French battle-fields. The matter is alluded to 
 under the head of " Rain following the discharge of ordnance," in 
 the "Annual of Scientific Discovery," page 392, year 1862, and 
 page 333, year 1863. 
 
 All accounts of the battle of Waterloo tell of the heavy rains dur- 
 ing that battle. The same is true of many others of Napoleon's 
 battles. 
 
 About the battles of Mexico, concerning which you ask my re- 
 membrance, I can refer you to Henry B. Dawson's " Battles of the 
 United States," where, on page 467, siege of Monterey, September 
 21, 1846, after a continuous engagement, " Soon after the storm- 
 ing of the two forts, Federacion and Soldado, a violent storm came 
 up;" and page 468, "the men were exposed to the unbroken pelt- 
 ing of a pitiless storm during the night." Also page 473, " Gene- 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 179 
 
 ral Worth and second division, as has been seen, spent the night 
 entirely exposed to the peltings of a severe storm." 
 
 Battle of Buena Vista, page 491, the firing commenced on the 
 morning of the 22d of February, and ' ' at night the cold wind and 
 drizzling rain which chilled the bodies." But there was heavier 
 firing on the 23d, while at night the " moon shone;" page 497. 
 
 Battle of Contreras, page 563: "The battle raged furiously, 
 and for more than three hours the entire force was under fire. * 
 
 * * Night at length put an end to the conflict, and a cold 
 rain, which soon afterward began to fall in torrents," (as I well 
 remember). 
 
 I am almost certain that in the afternoon and evening of the 8th 
 of September, after the battle of Molino del Rey, there was a hard 
 rain. It was clear until 1 or 2 o'clock, I remember. 
 
 We fired all day of the 12th of September, at Chepultepec, but 
 not very rapidly (as we could not spare many shot). It was clear 
 the 13th, but, I think, rained before night on the 12th. (I do not 
 feel certain, however, and cannot now confirm my impression.) 
 It was dark and cloudy the night of the 13th (when I was throw- 
 ing some shells and shot from San Cosine Garita to let the Mexi- 
 cans feel where we were}, but bright enough the morning of the 
 14th, when we marched into the city. 
 
 I am sorry that I cannot be more definite in my information. 
 Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 P. V. HAGNER. 
 
 General Hagner, in a subsequent letter, mentioned 
 that lie thinks he has a distinct recollection of rain 
 which occurred after the battle of Chepultepec, be- 
 tween the time he was firing from the Garita of 
 San Cosme and sunrise on the morning of the 14th. 
 
 No. 28. 
 From Major General Thos. J. Wood, U. S. A. 
 
 DAYTON, 0., Jan. 9, 1871. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Civil Engineer, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 Dear Sir Your note of the 28th ult., covering a slip from the 
 Chicago Post written by you, is received. 
 
180 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 The theory suggested by you of the relation of cause and effect 
 between great atmospheric disturbances, such as are caused by the 
 heavy cannonading in great battles and the occurrence of rain imme- 
 diately afterwards, is not new ; but the suggestion of a series of ex- 
 periments, with a view to the determination, with reasonable satis- 
 faction, whether the theory is true, for the purpose of making it 
 practically useful, is novel and well worthy of consideration. 
 
 A collation of facts, drawn from many reliable sources, might 
 well serve as the basis of further experiments. 
 
 Many battles, as all know who have had any experience on the 
 subject, have been followed by rain, while others have not. This 
 fact would seem to indicate that if the atmospheric disturbances 
 caused by the firing in battle have any effect in producing rain, 
 the actual accomplishment of rain depends, in a great measure, if 
 not chiefly, on the condition of the atmosphere. The condition of 
 the atmosphere should, hence, be one of the chief factors to be ob- 
 served in the experiments you propose. 
 
 With these preliminary remarks, I will give you a few facts 
 drawn from my own personal experience. 
 
 Battle of Monterey, September 23, 1846. Morning bright and 
 fair, with no indications of rain. Heavy cannonading during the 
 day. The evening and night closed in with heavy rain. 
 
 Battle of Contreras, August 19, 1847. Same remarks applicable 
 as to battle of Monterey. 
 
 Battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. Same remarks as to Monterey. 
 
 Battle of Stone River, December 31,1862. Much heavy cannon- 
 ading, followed by sleet, snow and rain. 
 
 Battle of Nashville, December 15 and 16, 1864. Same remarks 
 applicable as to battle of Stone River. 
 
 I might mention similar facts drawn from my own experience or 
 historical reading, but these, with such as you will doubtlessly de- 
 rive from like sources, will probably answer your purpose. 
 
 Very respectfully, etc., TH. J. WOOD, 
 
 Major General, U. S. Army. 
 
 No. 29. 
 From Major General R. W. Johnson, U. S. A. 
 
 ST. PAUL, MINN., Jan. 10, 1871. 
 
 My Dear Sir Yours of the 28th ult., with enclosure, is received. 
 Throughout the late war I had frequent occasion to observe that 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 181 
 
 heavy cannonading was soon followed by rain. I was present and 
 engaged in the battles of Stone River, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, 
 Mission Ridge; the campaign to within three miles of Atlanta; 
 and also the battle of Nashville. Heavy rains followed Stone 
 River, Liberty Gap, Mission Ridge and Nashville. During the 
 Atlanta campaign, which was a continuous battle of ninety days, 
 we had heavy rains at short intervals. After the battle of Chicka- 
 mauga no rain fell ; but it must be remembered that this battle was 
 fought in the woods, where artillery could not be handled easily, 
 and there was but little cannonading on that field. It was so com- 
 mon for rain to succeed battles that I think it was generally con- 
 ceded that these showers were brought about by the heavy firing. 
 In my own opinion I am satisfied that rain can be produced by 
 a heavy cannonading. My own experience satisfies me, and I 
 think the opinion became general during the war. 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 R. W. JOHNSON, 
 Major General, U. S. A., retired. 
 
 No. 30. 
 From Major General ScJiuyler Hamilton, of New York. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY, Jan. 14, 1871. 
 EDW. POWERS, ESQ., Chicago, 111.: 
 
 Dear Sir Your favor of December 24, 1870, was only received 
 yesterday. You will see by the enclosed envelope why. As to the 
 subject of rain after heavy firing in battle, I can say as to Monte- 
 rey that, though the day on which the battle commenced was in 
 the morning bright and beautiful, a heavy rain fell in the evening, 
 viz., September 21, 1846. I think the same phenomena was exhib- 
 ited September 22 and 23. I was so grievously wounded at the 
 time of the battles of Molino del Rey and Chepultepec, as to be 
 unable to participate. However, at Mira Flores, the affair in 
 which I was wounded, where the firing of small arms was very brisk 
 for a time, a bright afternoon and day was followed by a heavy 
 fall of rain. I have referred your note to Col. H. L. Scott, who 
 was Chief-of-Staff and Adjutant General to Gen. Scott, in Mexico, 
 asking him as to his recollections as to Molino del Rey and Che- 
 pultepec. I merely state my recollection as to the fact that rain 
 fell on the occasions referred to by me. I think my observation 
 
182 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 has been, wherever I have been engaged, that the concussion pro- 
 duced by the heavy fire of a battle has been invariably followed by 
 rain. Such was the case after Palo Alto, Mex., also. 
 I remain your obedient servant, 
 
 SCHUYLER HAMILTON. 
 
 In referring the writer's inquiries to Colonel 
 Scott, as General Hamilton was kind enough to do, 
 the following correspondence ensued : 
 
 Col. H. L. Scott will oblige me by stating if he has any recollec- 
 tion about the weather after Molino del Rey and Chepultepec, 
 Mex., as I wish to oblige the writer of enclosed by a simple state- 
 ment of the fact of rain or no rain leaving to him his theory. 
 Yours truly, 
 
 SCHUYLER HAMILTON, 
 Late Major General of Volunteers, 
 
 DEAR HAMILTON I am unable to recollect whether it rained or 
 not after Molino del Rey, and I probably should not be able to 
 recollect how it was after Chepultepec and the City of Mexico, but 
 in the " Mexican History of the War in Mexico " I find the follow- 
 ing passage: " The morning of the 14th (September) was as gloomy 
 and sad as the destiny of the Republic. There was a mist so thick 
 that objects could not be seen at a few steps distance. Soon after 
 a light shower began to fall, which soaked the soldiers, and the 
 cold increased that was felt." 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 H. L. SCOTT. 
 
 No. 31. 
 From Major General John C. Robinson, U. S. A. 
 
 BINGHAMTON, N. Y., Jan. 16, 1871. 
 EDW. POWERS, ESQ., Chicago: 
 
 Sir Your favor of the 28th ult., forwarded from Washington, 
 has been received. In reply 1 would say that I have not the slight- 
 est doubt of the correctness of the theory you mention. 1 have 
 observed that all great battles in which I have been engaged (par- 
 ticularly those of several days' continuance) were followed by heavy 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 183 
 
 rains. Some of the battles in Mexico, the battles on the Chicka- 
 hominy, the seven days' battles, the battle of Fredericksburg, and 
 the battle of Gettysburg were immediately followed by very heavy 
 rains. That heavy cannonading will produce rain, does not, in my 
 opinion, admit of doubt. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, etc., 
 
 JOHN C. ROBINSON, 
 
 Major General, U. S. A. 
 
 No. 32. 
 From Major General J. M. Schofield, U. S. A. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, Jan. 19, 1871. 
 MR. EDWARD POWERS, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 Dear Sir Your letter of October 15, has, unintentionally, 
 been left unanswered until now. I cannot attempt to give, from 
 memory, specific facts which would be of value to you, but the 
 general fact of a fall of rain during or immediately following 
 heavy discharges of artillery and musketry, has been, in my ex- 
 perience, so common, and regarded so much a matter of course, 
 as to attract no special notice in individual cases. My impression 
 has been, however, that this phenomenon results only when the 
 quantity of moisture in the atmosphere approaches nearly the 
 point of saturation, and when any considerable disturbance of 
 equilibrium might naturally be expected to produce condensation. 
 In a calm, moist atmosphere, heavy discharges of artillery are, I 
 think, very generally followed immediately by a fall of rain. Be- 
 yond this my experience does not enable me to express an opin- 
 ion. 
 
 The subject you have under consideration is one of much inter- 
 est, and may prove to be of no little importance. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 J. M. SCHOFIELD. 
 
 No. 33. 
 
 Extracts from a Letter from Major H. S. MelcJier, dated 
 Portland, Maine, Feb. 18, 1871. 
 
 "Antietam, September 17, 1862, was the first battle I was 
 in. The first day's fighting was sharp, with heavy artillery firing; 
 
184 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 the next day there was a very sudden and heavy shower of rain ; 
 had been none for five days previous." 
 
 ''Alder, June 21, 1863. A general skirmish, with but little 
 artillery. Next day foggy, with quite a fall of rain. Had been 
 very dry for two weeks." 
 
 Major Melcher also mentions the rains after 
 Fredricksburg, Chancellors ville, and Gettysburg; 
 but as these are elsewhere sufficiently described, his 
 description is omitted. In regard to the battle of 
 Spottsylvania, he says : " A very heavy rain storm 
 set in the night of the 10th. 
 
 Of subsequent battles : 
 
 " Being wounded, I did not rejoin the army till October, so that 
 I cannot speak of the results of operations in front of Richmond 
 and Petersburg ; but at the battle of Dabney's Mills, February 6, 
 1865, where considerable artillery was used, afternoon of the 6th, 
 a storm of rain and snow set in next morning." 
 
 ' ' The first day's operations in front of Petersburg, which re- 
 sulted in the fall of that place and final overthrow of the rebellion, 
 was followed by a heavy rain storm, which continued all night and 
 the day following." 
 
 No. 34. 
 From Colonel R. Kennicott, of Illinois. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL., Feb. 22, 1871. 
 
 Dear Sir Yours, of yesterday, is at hand. In reply I have 
 the honor to state that I was at the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. 
 It did rain after that battle ; I think the morning after, March 9, 
 1862, when a very heavy shower fell. 
 
 I did not march with the command up Red River, and did not 
 belong to the army or armies engaged at the other places you 
 mention, save at Vicksburg. I was present there from June 14 to 
 the fall, but do not remember about the rainfalls, though I think 
 there were several light showers. I think we had rain just after 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 185 
 
 Prairie Grove, and I have several times noticed that cannonading 
 was followed by rain. 
 
 With regrets that I have no data with which to furnish you, 
 I am, sir, very'respectfully yours, 
 
 R. KENNICOTT. 
 
 No. 35. 
 From Rear Admiral L. M. GoldsborougJi, U. S. Navy. 
 
 NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 25, 1871. 
 EDW. POWERS, ESQ.: 
 
 Dear Sir In reply to yours of the 22d, received by the mail of 
 yesterday, I have to say that my impression is quite decided upon 
 the subject to which you advert, but it is impossible for me at this 
 time to furnish you with the details you wish without a research 
 which I have not now the time to make. It is my firm belief that, 
 invariably, an early fall of rain follows a heavy firing of artillery, 
 continued for a few hours in a limited district of space. It may 
 be, however, that the phenomenon is more likely to occur on land 
 than at sea; and 1 am inclined to think that such is the case. 
 
 As well as I can now recollect, rain occurred the next day after 
 the bombardment of Roanoke Island, if not during the night of 
 the same day, February, 1862. But to get the facts you want, 
 with precision, I would commend you to consult our Log Books. 
 They are carefully kept preserved in our Bureau of Navigation, 
 and they give the weather, at short intervals, for every day of the 
 year, recorded, too, in the most systematic manner. In a word, 
 they will tell you, beyond all doubt or dispute, exactly what 
 weather did occur after every naval engagement. * * * 
 They are a source to which you should appeal for the most reliable 
 information in regard to the subject you have in hand, which, to 
 my apprehension, is fraught with interest, and can be worked up 
 probably, to the advantage of science, if not to special benefit. 
 Rain, for instance, as we all know, is the best of fertilizers ; and a 
 means within general reach may be discovered to cause it to de- 
 scend when most wanted. Philosophy holds all things to be pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 L. M. GOLDSBOROUGH, 
 
 Rear Admiral, U. S. Navy. 
 
186 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 No. 36. 
 From General Julius White, of Illinois. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL., Feb. 26, 1871. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., C. E.: 
 
 Dear Sir In reply to your note of the 20th inst., asking the 
 result of my observatiqns, during the late war relative to the 
 theory that rains are produced by the firing of artillery, I would 
 state that the only marked instance within my recollection oc- 
 curred in the month of August, 1864, at about the time the Wei- 
 don railroad was taken by the Fifth Corps, under General War- 
 ren. 
 
 During the fighting which ensued upon that event, say from 
 the 18th to the 26th, within which there were two battles fought 
 by the Fifth, and a part of the Ninth Corps, and one about five 
 miles south by the Second Corps, I noticed and called the attention 
 of some of the officers with whom I was associated, to the fact that 
 the sun rose and set for a number of days upon skies which were 
 free from clouds, yet the rain fell copiously during the nights. 
 
 It was regarded as remarkable, if not anomalous, and the theory 
 to which you allude was somewhat discussed, at the time, in con- 
 nection with the fact. 
 
 It is proper to state that there was one day (the 21st), when a 
 heavy fog prevailed brought to my recollection by the fact that 
 the enemy attacked on that morning. 
 
 The effect upon the health of the troops, and especially upon 
 my own, gave me further reason to remark the state of the 
 weather, and I attribute a subsequent long sickness to the extreme 
 heat during the days, and copious rains of the nights, during the 
 period mentioned. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 JULIUS WHITE. 
 
 No. 37. 
 
 Extract from a Letter from Commander E. Barrett, U. S. 
 Navy, dated Ordnance Office, Navy Yard, New York, 
 March 1, 1871. 
 
 " From boyhood I noticed that the atmosphere was affected by 
 the firing of heavy ordnance. My attention was first attracted to 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 187 
 
 the subject in 1843 or 1844, in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. We 
 had had beautiful weather: a change was brought about by the 
 arrival of the Princess of Naples, now Empress of Brazil. She 
 was accompanied by the Neapolitan and Brazilian squadrons. On 
 her arrival the fortifications and foreign squadrons began to fire. 
 The firing continued for an hour or more, when the sky was sud- 
 denly obscured, and heavy showers followed. The next day was 
 calm and partly overcast; as soon as the firing of salutes was 
 renewed, the rain began to fall, and the breeze sprang up." 
 
 No. 38. 
 From Captain N. J. Manning, 23d Ohio Vol. Infantry. 
 
 BARNESVILLE, 0., Oct. 31, 1870. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Civil Engineer, Chicago, 111. : 
 
 Sir I noticed an article in the New York Evening Post, entitled 
 "Artillery firing and rain," signed by you, and requesting the 
 experience of any one who had observed the same ; and I, in re- 
 sponse to that, will give you some of my experience and observa- 
 tions. 
 
 I was a member of the 25th Ohio Vol. Infantry from the 10th of 
 June, 1861, until the 27th of July, 1864, and participated in all the 
 engagements the regiment was in between said dates (excepting 
 the taking of Fort Wagner, on Morris Island, in front of Charles- 
 ton, S. C.,) to wit: Cheat Mountain, Green Brier, Allegheny Sum- 
 mit, Monterey, Bull Pasture Mountain, in West Virginia ; the pur- 
 suit of Jackson, by Fremont, up the Shenandoah Valley, which 
 ended in the battle of Cross Keys ; Cedar Mountain ; Pope's 
 retreat, which culminated in the second battle of Bull Run ; Fred- 
 ericksburg and Chancellorsville, in Virginia ; and last, not least, 
 the battle of Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania in all of which engage- 
 ments, or wherever there was artillery practice of any moment, I 
 observed that rain fell either during the engagement or immediately 
 thereafter, and the quantity of rain seemed to be in proportion to 
 the amount of artillery firing, and I thought then, and I believe 
 now, that the firing caused the rain. 
 
 The rain falling, on all the' foregoing instances, without a single 
 exception, convinced me that it could not be merely a coincidence, 
 but that the rain was brought on by the firing, and I think there is 
 
188 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 no doubt of it. I also heartily concur with you in your views that, 
 in time of drouths, large amounts of money could be made to the 
 country, at a little expense, by the use of powder in that manner. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, 
 
 N. J. MANNING, 
 Late Captain 25ih 0. V. I. 
 
 No. 39. 
 
 NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 1870. 
 
 Sir I notice your article in to-day's Telegram, and believe its 
 theory is correct. Have thought so since 1861, and my idea was 
 confirmed by every heavy cannonading or musketry fire in my 
 vicinity. 
 
 There were quite heavy rains very soon after the fight at Big 
 Bethel, the naval battle in Hampton Roads between the Monitor 
 and Merrimac, etc., etc., and the very severe battle at Malvern 
 Hills. 
 
 It struck me as a curious fact that the amount of rain which 
 fell after each battle, seemed to be very nearly in proportion to the 
 amount of powder that was burnt. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 FRED. M. PATRICK, 
 
 Of 10th N. Y. Vol. Inft. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Chicago, 111. 
 
 No. 40. 
 From General E. W. Serrell, of New York. 
 
 OFFICE OF E. W. SERRELL, CIVIL ENGINEER, ) 
 64 AND 66 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 1870. f 
 Sir I am favored by your letter of the 28th ult., received to- 
 day. 
 
 In reply to your request, permit me to say that, from my earliest 
 recollection it was always understood that rain would follow the 
 celebration of the 4th of July in this city when an unusual display 
 was indulged in, and years ago your suggestion was considered, 
 here, very reasonable. * 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 189 
 
 In the Department of the South, during the war, so well was this 
 thing understood, and the correctness of the theory recognized, 
 that we always looked for rain after heavy cannonading, and at the 
 bombardment of Morris Island, James Island, and several other 
 places, rain followed by sundown or soon afterwards. I have not 
 my army journal with me, but this I remember well, that both in 
 the South and in Virginia, if rain did not follow a general engage- 
 ment, we considered it the exception, not the rule ; and I think 
 most officers, especially engineers who keep journals, will agree 
 with me, that such is their recorded experience. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 EDWARD W. SERRELL. 
 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Chicago, 111. 
 
 No. 41. 
 From a Soldier of a Massachusetts Regiment. 
 
 RICHMOND, MCHENRY Co., ILL., Dec. 26, 1870. 
 EDWARD POWERS, ESQ., Civil Engineer: 
 
 Dear Sir In looking over the columns of a newspaper The 
 Watchman and Reflector dated October, 1870, I chanced to see 
 an article written over the above signature, making some sugges- 
 tions, and, at the same time, inviting a statement of facts concern- 
 ing the effect of the explosion of gunpowder on the atmosphere, in 
 respect to rain, etc., etc. I will scan a three years' experience in 
 the army with a condensation that might be styled ' ' multum in 
 parvo." 
 
 I was a soldier in the war of 1861 ; member of a Massachusetts 
 regiment ; was in Gulf Department, and most of the time in 
 Louisiana ; was stationed on Ship Island three weeks. The troops, 
 13,000 strong, drilled six hours a day ; at least two days in each 
 week, the whole number were put through sham fights, in which 
 some 80,000 rounds of blank cartridges were fired. The day fol- 
 lowing the first firing was foggy and cloudy ; the succeeding night 
 it rained hard. At the second drill of this sort only two brigades 
 fired cartridges, and one battery fired a few rounds. In the night 
 a heavy thunder storm arose, and three men were killed by light- 
 ning in one company. Though there was no more rain in the 
 remaining days that we were on the Island, there was much dull 
 weather. 
 
190 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 During the bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Phillip, we 
 had much heavy weather, especially the last days of the bombard- 
 ment ; and, for several days thereafter, rain fell copiously. During, 
 or soon after the various battles and skirmishes in which we were 
 engaged, we almost invariably had heavy weather, and not unf re- 
 quently torrents of rain fell. 
 
 Up to end of first eighteen months service, though I kept a diary, 
 I had not once thought of the probable cause of sudden changes in 
 the weather, which, according to my diary, had occurred every 
 time that the army moved from one position to another, and, as a 
 consequence, became engaged with the enemy. My attention was 
 first seriously attracted to the matter by repeatedly hearing super- 
 stitious soldiers, as I considered them, remark that fate was 
 against us, because every time we moved we had to wallow in the 
 mud ; that we had pleasant weather in camp, but whenever we 
 were set in motion "the rains descended, the floods came," etc., 
 etc. Partly on account of superstitious gossip and gloomy predic- 
 tions, and partly to gratify my own curiosity, I resolved, from this 
 date to keep a clear and regular account of the weather, both in 
 camp and in the field. I did keep a strict account, but the diary 
 was afterwards burned on the steamer Washington, so I am 
 obliged to chronicle from memory. The storming of Fort 
 Hudson, May 27, 1863, was followed by torrents of rain. There 
 was much wet weather during the whole siege, extending far 
 inland, and as far south as the Gulf. Immediately after the assault 
 of June 14, there were several days of dull weather, and much 
 rain. 
 
 On the Red River campaign, where there was continual fighting, 
 for thirty-two days in succession, and several hard contested battles, 
 there was much heavy weather. A heavy thunder storm generally 
 followed the first or second day after a general engagement. This 
 was especially the case where numerous batteries of artillery were 
 brought into action. A severe engagement took place near the 
 Atchafalaya River, La. When the battle began the sun shone 
 cledr not a cloud in sight. Early in the evening the artillery of 
 both contending armies opened a terrific cannonade, which lasted 
 about three hours. Next morning, rain began to fall. The two 
 armies met on the plains of Marksville. The result was a bloody 
 and destructive encounter, followed by nearly a week of rain. This 
 action took place in May, 1864. During my three years' exposure 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 191 
 
 as a soldier, I do not recollect of any considerable engagement not 
 followed by heavy weather and rain. This result was invariably 
 the case when numerous batteries of artillery were brought into 
 action. 
 
 I have given a plain statement of facts upon a subject worthy the 
 careful consideration and investigation of scientific men. Looking 
 at this matter in the light of discoveries of the past, that have done 
 so much to enlighten and benefit the human race, it certainly is 
 not impossible, nor even improbable that, at no distant day, the 
 elements may be so controlled that rain shall descend at the will 
 of man. 
 
 I am sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 MARSHALL M. CLOTHIER. 
 
 No. 42. 
 
 From J. A. MacGahan, a Celebrated War Correspondent, who 
 was with the Russian Army in its Conquest of Khiva, Asia. 
 
 AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, COOPER INSTITUTE, ) 
 NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 1874. \ 
 
 Dear Sir Your letter of Feb. 9 only reached me a day or two 
 ago, owing to my absence from the city, which will account for the 
 delay in answering it. 
 
 In reply, I will say that the rain occurred some two weeks after 
 the fall of Khiva and after the last artillery firing, which was tol- 
 erably incessant for a day, principally from pieces of four and six. 
 This rain was what would be called in this country a light rain, 
 which lasted a night. It would have been called a wet night. 
 
 The other was some time later, and commenced immediately on 
 the lighting of a great number of fires in the Toorkman country 
 by the Russians, who were burning the houses and wheat stacks of 
 the Toorkmen. They burned a strip of country some four miles 
 wide by fifty long in the space of four days. The rain only fell 
 the first day. It was what would be called a " drizzle." 
 
 Hoping you may be able to use the facts I have herein commu- 
 nicated for the furtherance of science, 
 Believe me, I remain, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. A. MACGAHAN. 
 
192 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 The following letter in the possession of the au- 
 thor is appended to show what has been the attitude 
 towards this subject of certain distinguished men, 
 some of whom are now no more. It may be said 
 that they might have done more in aid of the project 
 then, as now advocated, but under the circumstances 
 it was much for them to do to thus publicly bear 
 witness to the importance of the subject, and give 
 encouragement for further efforts in its behalf. 
 Doubtless they would have done more* had not the 
 author, then the only exponent and promoter of the 
 proposed scheme to benefit humanity, himself laid 
 it aside to wait for a more auspicious time. And 
 whatever else may be said, the fact that such names 
 as these are attached to this letter, however incon- 
 sequential that letter may appear, ought to place the 
 subject above the reach of ridicule from smaller 
 minds, if it does no more. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 17, 1874. 
 PROF. EDWARD POWERS: 
 
 Dear Sir Having noticed that your recent lectures on the in- 
 fluence of artillery firing in producing rainfall have elicited some 
 favorable comments from the press, and believing the matter to be 
 of much interest to science, if not of practical importance to 
 the country, we should be glad if you would afford those in this 
 
 *The newspapers state that Senator Farwell has caused to be inserted 
 in the agricultural bill now pending in the United States Senate (August, 
 1890) an item appropriating two thousand dollars for experiments similar to 
 those asked for by the author in his memorial to Congress, but differing 
 from them in that dynamite is to be used instead of gunpowder, and is to 
 be exploded at a great height above the earth. If this is true it shows that 
 Mr. Farwell is convinced that there is something in this subject that is 
 worthy of investigation, and that he has the courage of his convictions. 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 193 
 
 city who may be interested in the subject an opportunity to hear 
 you upon it. 
 
 C. B. FARWELL 
 JOHN P. C. SHANKS, JOHN McNuLTA, 
 
 L. M. GOLDSBOROUGH, J. A. GARFIELD, 
 
 M. H. CARPENTER, I. C. CLEMENT, 
 
 JOHN COBURN, JOHN A. LOGAN, 
 
 W. T. SHERMAN, HORATIO KING. 
 
 The following reply to the above appeared in the 
 Washington Star of Feb. 21, 1874, and in the Chron- 
 icle of the same date : 
 
 To the Hon. C. B. Farwell and others, Senators and Represents 
 
 tives in Congress, the General of the Army, Hear Admiral in 
 
 the Navy, etc.: 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I thank you for your invitation, and will say, in reply, that 1 
 have engaged to deliver ray lecture on the subject to which you 
 allude, on Monday evening, the 23d instant, under the auspices of 
 the "American Union Academy of Literature, Science and Art," 
 at the lecture room of the Young Men's Christian Association, in 
 this city. 
 
 I am, yours very respectfully, 
 
 EDWARD POWERS. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 20, 1874. 
 
 The following brief synopsis of the lecture ap- 
 peared in the National Republican of February 24, 
 1874: 
 
 At a special meeting of the American Union Academy of Litera- 
 ture, Science and Art, held last evening in the Chapel of the 
 Young Men's Christian Association, Lincoln Hall, I)r. A. G. 
 Mackey in the chair, and J. C. Will, secretary ; 
 
 Prof. Edward Powers, of Chicago, delivered an able address on 
 the influence of the firing of artillery in producing rainfall. The 
 speaker, in the first part of his lecture, presented facts which he 
 had been at much pains to collect from history, from the log- 
 books of the navy, from correspondence with officers of the army 
 
194 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 and from other sources, in relation to the weather following battles. 
 These were so arranged as to make the evidence which they afforded 
 cumulative. For example, some interesting facts were given to 
 show that all great battles in which much artillery is used are fol- 
 lowed immediately by rain. The mere fact that rain follows bat- 
 tles, however, is not conclusive that the battles cause the rain. But 
 add to it the fact that the rain following such battles is almost 
 always very heavy, and the evidence is strengthened ; for the 
 majority of the rains that occur in the ordinary course of nature 
 are light ones. Proceeding then to a consideration of the rains 
 following other engagements than great battles, circumstances are 
 found that still further add to the probabilities that battles cause 
 rain ; and when it is also found that rain follows battles fought in 
 a time of drouth, that it follows battles fought in the dry season 
 in Mexico and salutes fired in the dry season on the Coromandel 
 coast in India, and finally, that it follows battles fought in a 
 country usually rainless the year round, the argument that battles 
 cause rain becomes almost a demonstration. 
 
 In endeavoring to account for the production of rain by artillery 
 firing, Mr. Powers totally rejects the theory of Espy, who, some 
 thirty-five years ago, proposed to bring rain by building large fires. 
 He considers the effect due, not to the formation of an upward 
 current of air by heat, but to the action of concussion upon hori- 
 zontal currents always existing above us. He refers to Maury's 
 " Physical Geography of the Sea" for evidence going to show that 
 there are above this continent two great atmospheric currents, the 
 lower one of which flows from the south westward, and brings from 
 the Pacific Ocean the greater portion of the aqueous vapor that 
 forms the rain that falls in the United States, and the upper one 
 of which is a cold current flowing in nearly the opposite direc- 
 tion. The concussion of heavy artillery firing, he believes, rarefies 
 the air in the lower and more humid of these currents and causes 
 it to mix with the cold current above. Thus the cold of the upper 
 current condenses the vapor of the lower, and clouds and rain are 
 formed. This is consistent with the Huttonian theory of rain. 
 Fire will also rarefy the humid current if the fire is large enough 
 for the heat to rise to it ; but this method of producing rain would 
 be an exceedingly expensive and uncertain one. 
 
 The way in which heavy concussions rarefy the rain-bearing 
 current, Mr. Powers believes, is by condensing, by its direct 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 195 
 
 action, a little of its vapor, and setting free the latent heat of this 
 vapor. 
 
 The reason why a storm produced by a battle does not commence 
 at the battlefield is, according to Mr. Powers' theory, that the 
 rarefied air is carried away by the current before it has had time to 
 mix with the cold air above. After the storm is well under way, 
 however, the upper current will generally cause it to spread not 
 only back to the battlefield, but also to a great distance on each 
 side. The force of the latent heat evolved from the condensing 
 vapor will also aid in widening the circle of the storm. Its prin- 
 cipal motion, however, will probably be along with the vapor- 
 bearing current. 
 
 Prof. M. F. Maury, in his "Physical Geography of the Sea," 
 claims that the great atmospheric current from the southwest is a 
 continuation of the southeast trade wind of the Pacific Ocean. 
 This wind reaches from the surface of the ocean to the height, it is 
 supposed, of three miles. It moves over the ocean for more than 
 two thousand miles, and with slight interruptions, it blows per- 
 petually. 
 
 At the equator it rises, and, as claimed by Maury, passes over the 
 northeast trade wind ; then, coming nearer the ocean, it becomes 
 the atmospheric current above mentioned. The amount of vapor 
 which it takes up from the ocean and precipitates as rain on land 
 and sea in the northern hemisphere is exceedingly great. Mr. 
 Powers places these facts alongside of the facts developed by his 
 investigations in relation to the occurrence of rains after battles, 
 and argues that there is always an abundance of aqueous vapor 
 above us, whatever may be the condition of the air at the earth's 
 surface. In a time of drouth, the vapor-bearing currents are un- 
 interrupted as they flow over the country, and the vapor is carried 
 off to form rain in the Northern Atlantic and snow in the Polar 
 regions. But we need not allow it to so go to waste. When the 
 ^influences which nature has provided to cause disturbances in 
 those currents fail to act, we can produce the required disturbance 
 in them by the firing of artillery, and so bring rain in any quan- 
 tities desired. 
 
19G WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 SELECTED ARTICLE. 
 
 From the " Golden Age" for the week ending May 11, 1872. 
 
 THE ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF RAIN. 
 
 BY EDWARD POWERS. 
 
 That man should possess the means of bringing rain at will, 
 has become one of the necessities of the world. The drouth comes 
 on our fields, and the labors of the husbandman are brought to 
 naught. It prepares our cities for conflagrations, and the work of 
 years is swept away in a day. It dries to tinder the vegetable 
 accumulations composing the soil in our forests, so that the fire 
 creeps stealthily over vast tracts, ready, when the hurricane comes, 
 to light up the whole in a conflagration which overwhelms all 
 whose homes lie in its devouring track. And yet we make no 
 effort, by striking at drouth itself, to prevent a recurrence of these 
 disasters. While, in some fields of effort, the present age has gone 
 forward with vast strides in the development of nature's resources, 
 we are still, in respect to one vital matter on which the prosperity 
 and even the very life of nations depend, subject to chance or the 
 caprice of ever-changing circumstances. With an atmosphere 
 around us containing a vast ocean of aqueous vapor with air 
 currents above us bearing rivers of moisture from the tropics and 
 over the sea we make no effort to produce those conditions which 
 will cause the needed portions of that moisture to fall and water 
 the parched earth. 
 
 Indeed, so chimerical seems the idea that such a thing is even 
 possible that, when advanced, it is dismissed as the vagary of a 
 dreamer. In no way, it is thought, can man influence the rainfall 
 except by prayer to the Almighty. He alone, it is believed, can 
 bring the lightning and the thunder and the rain. He giveth and 
 he withholdeth the showers when and where he will, and vainly 
 would man seek to wield a power that belongs to him alone. But 
 how short-sighted is the philosophy or religion which concludes that, * 
 because a wise and beneficent Providence has so arranged the forces 
 of nature that the earth is refreshed with rain from time to time 
 without the volition or aid of man, it was never designed that man 
 should control these forces so that they would minister more fully to 
 his welfare. As well say that because the earth, in its pristine 
 wildness, produced fruits for his sustenance, it was therefore never 
 designed that he should plant nor dig nor prune in order to obtain 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 197 
 
 them in better quality and greater abundance. Nature, unaided, 
 gives us fruits, and the savage seeks not to increase the supply nor 
 to render it unfailing from year to year; so nature gives us rain 
 and while to the savage what is thus given may be sufficient, it is 
 not so to civilized man unequally distributed as it is irregular in 
 its times and uncertain in its amounts. And why should we ex- 
 pect that heaven would freely give us from the air what we require 
 from that source, while withholding from us what we need from 
 the earth except as the reward of toil and effort. 
 
 But these would be vain words were there not reason to believe 
 that a means exists by which we might, if we would, bring down 
 supplies of rain whenever and wherever needed. These means 
 cannot now be fully explained ; the plan requires experiments to 
 test and develop it ; but never in the first steps toward any of the 
 great discoveries which the world has made, was there greater 
 promise of results than there is in this ; and there seems but little 
 room for doubt that a way could be worked out by which we might 
 have rain at will if man could but be induced to follow up the in- 
 dications that point the way to so grand an achievement. Heavy 
 rain almost invariably follows great battles the natural conclusion 
 from which fact is, that great noises are among the conditions 
 which cause condensation of aqueous vapor in the formation of 
 rain. That artillery firing under a cloudless sky can be made to 
 cause condensation of clouds and rain from the aqueous vapor in 
 the air, I believe can be proved beyond a shadow of doubt, if Con- 
 gress would but grant the powder, cannon, and other appliances 
 necessary to perform the experiment. One experiment, it is true, 
 might not develop a method for obtaining rain at will and at mod- 
 erate expense, but if successful in obtaining it at all it would be 
 the first step in the solution of the great problem. 
 
 If great noises will cause rain, some other less expensive way may 
 be devised to produce them. It was noticed, even in ancient times, 
 that great rains followed battles and it is not impossible that the 
 shouts of a great multitude, with the clashing of metal on metal, 
 may produce the same effect upon the air as the firing of cannon. 
 Should all the inhabitants of a city at a given hour unite in creat- 
 ing an uproar with hands and voices, it would seem to one in our 
 day as though the world were returning to barbarism ; but in the 
 higher civilization of some age to come, this may perhaps be a 
 common occurrence. 
 
198 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 But the experiment with cannon is suited to the present age, 
 and shall it not be tried? There are many among the most intel- 
 ligent in the land who believe that battles cause rain and in the 
 influence of that belief is the greatest hope that such an experi- 
 ment will be authorized. Yet I fear that with all the promise of 
 results which it holds out, such an experiment will never be under- 
 taken until a few more lands have been desolated with famine, un- 
 til a few more cities have been reduced to ashes, or until more 
 forests, with villages and their inhabitants,* have become food for 
 the devouring element. But he who doubts that man will yet 
 control the rain so that it shall come at his command, has but a 
 contracted and short-sighted view of the triumphs over nature 
 which await the race in the future. 
 
 * Allusion is made here to the forest fire which swept over the village 
 of Peshtigo, Wis., and the surrounding country, in 1871, and in which it 
 was estimated that about a thousand people lost their lives. There had 
 before been a similar fire at Miramichi in New Brunswick, and there has 
 been one in Michigan since this article was written ; both very destructive 
 to property and to human life 
 
APPKOXIMATE ESTIMATE 
 
 OF THE COST OF THE TWO FIRST EXPERIMENTS 
 AS PROPOSED FOR BRINGING RAIN. 
 
 In presenting an estimate of the cost of two such 
 experiments as the author recommends as the most 
 suitable for the first trials for producing rain, it may be 
 premised that there are, in the United States arsenal 
 at Rock Island, Illinois, several hundred field and siege 
 guns of various calibers. This includes serviceable, 
 unserviceable and obsolete guns. The number of 
 gun carriages is not quite so great as the number of 
 guns, but probably there are many more than enough 
 for the desired purpose. The guns are mostly dis- 
 mounted and it would cost to mount them, about five 
 dollars for each field piece and about ten dollars for 
 each siege gun that might be employed. The charge 
 of powder for guns of different caliber is as follows : 
 
 For 30 pound Parrott 41bs. 
 
 " 100 " " .... 10 " 
 
 " 200 " " 16 " 
 
 " 300 " " 25 " 
 
 " 8-inch siege Howitzer 4 " 
 
 " 8-inch smooth bore gun 16" 
 
 " 10-inch " " 25 " 
 
 The kind of powder suitable for the purpose is 
 worth about twenty-five cents per pound. It is be- 
 
 199 
 
200 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 lieved that with 200 siege guns of various calibers 
 and with plenty of cartridges containing an average 
 charge of ten pounds of powder each, we could make 
 all the noise that would be necessary to accomplish 
 the purpose desired. It is assumed in the following 
 estimate, that the experiments would be performed 
 under the direction of the Agricultural Department, 
 the War Department being asked for nothing but the 
 loan of the guns and for a few weather telegrams. 
 Probably the latter department would be glad if it 
 could get rid, permanently, of its obsolete guns, as they 
 are useless for any other purpose than to make a noise 
 and bring rain. 
 
 It may be asked, " Why estimate for two experi- 
 ments; why would not one experiment be equally 
 satisfactory as an initiatory step in the proposed di- 
 rection ? " Because it is important to determine, not 
 only whether or not we can originate a storm when no 
 storm is reported by the Signal Service as in motion 
 from the West, but also whether or not a Signal 
 Service storm can be made to deviate from its natural 
 course. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 Mounting 200 siege guns at $10 each, . . . $ 2,000 
 
 Railway transportation for 200 siege guns at $40 each, 8,000 
 
 40, 000 blank cartridges at $2.50 each, . . . 100,000 
 
 Fifty tons hay for wadding at $12 per ton, . 600 
 
 10,000 electric primers at $150 per M. . 1,500 
 
 Electrical battery and insulated wire, . 500 
 
 Services of 10 men 26 days at $2.50 per day, . . 650 
 
WAR AND THE WEATHER. 301 
 
 Services of 600 inen 26 days at $1.50 per day, ; ! $23,400 
 
 Rent of grounds for experiments, . . . . 250 
 
 Return transportation of guns to arsenal, . . 8,000 
 
 Dismounting and putting away guns at arsenal, . . 2,000 
 
 $146,900 
 Add 10 per cent, for contingencies, . . 14,690 
 
 Total, . . . ; . . ; * ., $161,590 
 
 Estimated cost of each experiment, ... $ 80,795 
 
 Even if every good rain storm produced artificially 
 should cost as much as above estimated for one of the 
 preliminary experiments, such cost would be insignifi- 
 cant compared with its value ; for a rainstorm is 
 oftentimes worth millions of dollars to the country. 
 But the cost will be much less than that after the Ag- 
 ricultural Department shall have brought the system to 
 perfection and shall have established its stations and 
 equipped them with artillery and other necessary 
 appliances. The following is an estimate of the sup- 
 posed cost of a good rain storm under such circum- 
 stances : 
 
 6, 000 blank cartridges at $2. 50, .... $15,000 
 
 7| tons hay for wadding at $12, .... $0 
 
 Electrical supplies, 800 
 
 Wages of 1 man 10 days, 50 
 
 Wages of 1 man 10 days, 30 
 
 Wages of 300 men 10 days, 3,000 
 
 $18,970 
 
 Add 10 per cent, for contingencies, . . 1,897 
 
 Total, ....... $20,867 
 
 The above is on the supposition that the men will 
 be employed permanently, and that, on an average, 
 
202 WAR AND THE WEATHER. 
 
 three rain storms will be produced per month at any 
 station. The number of stations for the whole 
 country would probably be very few, unless needed 
 for the control of cyclone weather. 
 
 In case the Agricultural Department of the Govern- 
 ment shall have, by 1893, perfected the system of 
 producing rain artificially, the author would suggest 
 that the manner of doing this would be something 
 new to show to the foreign visitors to the World's 
 Columbian Exposition. As, however, the cost of pro- 
 ducing a storm for their entertainment would prob- 
 ably be about ten thousand dollars more than the 
 amount last above estimated, by reason of the ad- 
 ditional heavy items of expense that would be in- 
 curred in the transportation of guns and men from the 
 nearest government station to the vicinity of Chi- 
 cago ; and as the guns could not be brought very near 
 to the city owing to the danger of breaking all the 
 windows in the exposition buildings by the concus- 
 sions, the better plan would be to let those who might 
 desire to see how the elements of nature are made to 
 obey the will of man, visit such station at a time 
 when the department in charge shall decide that a 
 rain is needed. 
 
GENERAL LIBRARY - U.C. BERKELEY 
 
 600071^57