Talk:Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia

Geography of the area
A Geographical Note to Editors: I do not know what source it is that so frequently and grievously confuses the river system of the Shenandoah Valley, but whatever its source, it is annoyingly incorrect. There is no "Shenandoah River" in the immediate vicinity of Staunton or Waynesboro, though both of those areas drain into the Shenandoah eventually. The Augusta County area of the Valley is drained by three tributaries of the South Fork Shenandoah: The Middle River flows into the North River, which in turn meets the South River at Port Republic to form the South Fork Shenandoah. Calling the South River the "South Fork" places the site of this battle some thirty miles from its actual location, on top of a completely different battlefield fought at a different time. This error and similar ones have been repeated across all battles fought in the Upper Valley, so please be aware of it and seek to avoid it in the future.

The geography of Virginia doesn't help; the "South River" named in this article has its headwaters only a few hundred yards from another "South River" which actually does flow south into the Maury River, which used to be named the North River, which is a tributary of the James River.

Also, if someone would name the erroneous source which forms the basis of the articles on the Battles of Waynesboro, Piedmont, Port Republic, and Cross Keys, please note it here so that we may better identify how to avoid the reintroduction of these errors. Sofa King (talk) 17:13, 8 September 2010 (UTC)