NextThreeDays: Event Display

Civil War Lecture Presented By Bob Whisonant
Venue: Radford Public Library, Radford
Directions: Google Map Link
Date: Thursday, November 10, 2011
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Event Types: Speaking Engagements
Cost: Free

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Description:
Radford University Professor Emeritus Bob Whisonant will present a lecture entitled: "Bay, River, and Valley: The Impact of Virginia’s Geography and Topography on Civil War Campaigns and Battles". The lecture is free and open to the public.

Whisonant is a military geologist who has studied the significant roles Virginia’s topography played in many Civil War campaigns.

As northern armies developed strategies for invading southern states during the Civil War, Virginia and its varied geographic features presented a number of opportunities and challenges for both Union and Confederate operations.

Three large topographic features of Virginia dominated military strategic thinking and operations, Whisonant said.

“First, the Chesapeake Bay and its river inlets provided unbreakable water highways for Union armies to attack from the east,” he said. “Next, the west-to-east-flowing Piedmont rivers, most especially the Rappahannock, created a series of natural defensive barriers for Confederates to repel Federal incursions.”

The third topographic feature, Whisonant said, was the Shenandoah Valley, which “formed a military corridor used by both sides but particularly by southern armies who utilized its northeastward trend to advance into the Union homeland.”

Whisonant’s lecture is sponsored by the Radford Heritage Foundation and Glencoe Museum.

For more information, contact Scott Gardner at 540-731-5031 or info@glencoemuseum.org or visit: http://www.radford.edu/content/radfordcore/home/news/releases/2011/november/civil-war-lecture.html