New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-03
NOES the war make rainy weather?
The Weather Man laughs scien-
.;Cc coc GGert LAUGH and GAYS "NO"
tific, confident laugh and says an

tifc confident laugh and says mo
But the old G. A. r. man, who marched to
the end of the parade on Decoration Day,
brghtens up at the mere thought Of Bull Run
and Gettysburg and quick asseverates,
"S-U-R-E|
And, half closing his eyes as he recalls those
days, he says: The Battle of Bull Run was
fought on July 81, 1861 1t was hot and clear
and bright all day. The next afternoon there
were torrents of rain, which continued all
night The Battle of Gettysburg was fought
July l, ., 3, 1868, in clear weather. On the
4th it rained furiously and continued part of
the 5th."
Added to this testimony is the following
letter from the late President James A. Gar
field. who was brave general on many battle
fields:
Hiram Ohio, oct. IS, 1870.
Ed,o. Powers, Chicago III.
Dear Sir; In answer TO yours Of the 22nd, /
hare TO sag that, lchle / did not take such OBJ
serUations as a scientific experiment requires,
I did observe the frequent occurrence OF heaUy
showers Uery soon after the battles an on" late
7rar. II lCaS a matter much talked OF an the
crmy. and there iC0S q general impression thdt
the atmospheric disturbance caused By heGry
cannonadipg FASTENED or created Showers /
remember that heary showers followed almost
immediately after the battles Of Shiloh, Stone
Riger, SheIbyriUe and Cbickamouga. BIT
,r,,di ,Ifr-
csting. they arc chiefly Ualuable from the fact
that then challenge tho attention Of scientific
men, end may lead to discovery Of causes
,rbich uH prouc UoIuobIe to our knolgledge Of
o,eteorology. Very truly yours,
j. 4. GARFIELD.
From Brevet Major General Elisha G. Mar
shall. U. s. A.. of Rochester, N. ". came this
testimony in 1870:
First Bull Run-Onc days fight. Heavy
rain next day.
Second Bull Run-Two days fighting.
Heavy rain day after fighting, extending be-
yond our retreat at Centrevie.
Malvern Hill-Two days fighting. Very
heavy rain next day after battle, extending TO
our retreat dL IldIIlSOi I<dHuiiiS'
First Fredericksburg-Heavy rain after
fight
"Antietam-Heavy rain.
There was rain after Charlottesville,
and. as far as / can recall, after every battle
where much artillery was used through all Of
Grants campaign
General Joshua l. Chamberlain, who was
Brcvet Major General commanding the First
Division, Fifth Corps, and who in 1870 was
Governor of Maine, wrote that he had often
noticed the sequence of storms after battles
Said he: Certainly heavy storm of rain
occurred after the great battles of Antietam
Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Gettysburg,
the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Bethesda
Church Tor Cold Harbor), Petersburg, Five
Forks, etc. and often, ! remember, in what we
called small engagements Though they would
be called battles in Europe), such as the fight
on the Quaker Road March %, 1865, for
late instance, in which there was a sharp. con-
centrated fire of infantry and artillery for
couple of hours, very heavy rain would
surely follow. This fact was well noticed and
is we'll remembered by many poor fellow who,
like myself, has been left lying, desperately