JOHN WESLEY POWELL AT FORT D, CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI

The career of the heroic ‘one-armed major', John Wesley Powell, integrated his lifelong practice of observation applied in later practical use. Biographers of Powell have concentrated on his life and historical events that surrounded his career. Few in-depth analyses are present of the events that tempered his thinking from other than a historical perspective. Indirect conclusions from a geological perspective potentially offer new insights into decisions he made during his experiences during the American Civil War. After Powell was mustered in as a lieutenant in the US Army as a lieutenant with the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, he was assigned at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

He led the construction efforts of four forts that were to protect Cape Girardeau from Confederate attack, and was installed as the commander of Fort D that directly overlooks the Mississippi River, on the southeastern side of the city. Did his experiences shape later events in his career as an officer in the Civil War? Lessons learned by Powell at Cape Girardeau probably shaped his thinking and contributed to later success during the Civil War by Union troops, if his geological perspective is examined in detail.