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Confederate railroads in the American Civil War

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A railway mounted mortar and its crew used during the Siege of Petersburg.

During the American Civil War, the Confederate States Army depended heavily on railroads to get supplies to its lines.

History

The outbreak of war had a depressing effect on the economic fortunes of the Confederate railroad industry. With cotton crop being hoarded in an attempt to entice European intervention, railroads were bereft of their main source of income.[1] Many were forced to lay off employees, and in particular, let go skilled technicians and engineers.[1] Due to a general sentiment that the war would not last long, initially Confederate rail operators did not seek, nor build, alternative sources of iron for rail construction and repair.[2]

Though railroad contracts to port-towns had ceased, due to the combined effects of the Cotton export policy and the Union naval blockade, lucrative government contracts were doled out to rail operators with lines supplying men and arms to the front line of Tennessee and Virginia.[1] A consortium of rail operators had decided upon a universal rate for government contracts; "a uniform rate of two cents a mile for men and half the regular local rate for munitions, provisions, and material, and also agreed to accept Confederate bonds at par in payment of government transportation."[3]

In addition, lines east of the Mississippi were divided into four or more islands of different gauges, broad gauge and standard gauge, while lines west of the Mississippi were mainly isolated lines of a different broad gauge.[citation needed]

1861

As troop movement began in earnest in May and June 1861, a crippling problem was discovered; many rail lines terminated in towns without connecting to continuing lines.[4] Instead, cargo would have to be unloaded, driven across town, and then reloaded. Soldiers, and other passengers, would often have to stay overnight to catch a continuing train the next day.[4] When the Confederate government attempted to rectify this problem, they ran into local opposition. Towns preferred the lack of connection, since it required the hiring of teamsters and populated hotels with guests.[4] Railroad operators, while not opposed to connecting lines, were opposed to the possibility of sharing rolling stock with rival companies.[4]

In April 1863, the presidents of the southern railroads again convened in Richmond and again addressed Secretary Seddon on the condition of the rails and appealed to Congress for remedial legislation...No record is available which shows that these recommendations were acted upon by the confederate government.[5]

1862

As 1862 opened, the Confederacy achieved an amazing first in the history of railroads, by planning, constructing and then operating the first[dubious – discuss] railroad ever designed and used exclusively for military purposes. They built a 5.5 miles (8.9 km) spur off the Orange and Alexandria Railroad at Manassas Junction toward Centreville, Virginia known as the Centreville Military Railroad. It served to supply the Confederate defenses on the Centreville Plateau along the north side of the Bull Run feed into the Occoquan River.[citation needed]

As the war waged on attempts were made by railroad operators to acquire railroad supplies abroad, lacking in Confederacy's small industrial base.[6] The problem of supplies had become increasingly acute, especially amongst the already small supply of engines and cars. Stressed by overuse, lacking material to make repairs, and the conscription of men who could make them, rail operators were predicting a breaking point as early as 1862.[7] While railroad operators attempted, throughout the war, to get assistance from the Confederate Congress, the response was either indifferent or hostile.[6]

1863

It wasn't until mid-1863 that the Confederate government initiated an overall policy, and it was confined solely to aiding the war effort.[5] With the legislation of impressment the same year, rail roads and their rolling stock, came under the defacto control of the military. In March, 1864, the Quartermaster General ordered all passenger trains to give governmental trains the right of way.[8] By mid-1864, all passenger service in the Confederacy had come to a standstill.[8] Transport of goods for civilian use was also affected, exacerbating shortages brought on by war-time devastation, rampant speculation and hoarding, and the Confederacy's impressment policy.[8]

1864

In the last year before the end of the war, the Confederate railroad system was always on the verge of collapse. The impressment policy of Quarter-master's ran the rails ragged. Feeder lines would be scraped for replacement steel for trunk lines, and the continual use of rolling stock wore them down faster than they could be replaced.[9]

Union Use

As the Union armies pushed further into Confederate territory, they came into ownership of former Confederate rail way lines, or what was left of them. Confederate troops generally applied a scorched-earth policy towards railroads when they were in retreat.[10] Union troops would often have to rebuild an entire line from scratch for it to be usable.[10] Due to the vagaries of the war, some lines would be rebuilt 6 or 7 times by differing sides, especially in states like Virginia, where fighting was most intense.[10][11]

Expansion

Attempts were made to enlarge the Confederacy's rail system by adding or connecting lines. Of the three major rail projects the Confederate congress proposed and funded, only one of them, a connection between Danville, Virginia, and Greensboro, North Carolina was completed.[12] Ironically, while the Confederate constitution forbade internal improvements to aid commerce, nothing within it was said anything about improvements to aid war-time defense.[13]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Ramsdell, p. 795.
  2. ^ Ramsdell
  3. ^ Ramsdell, p. 796.
  4. ^ a b c d Ramsdell, p. 797.
  5. ^ a b Mary Elizabeth Massey Ersatz in the Confederacy University of South Carolina Press, Columbia. 1952, p. 128.
  6. ^ a b Ersatz, p. 128.
  7. ^ Ramsdell, p. 799.
  8. ^ a b c Ersatz, p. 129.
  9. ^ Ramsdell, pp. 809-10.
  10. ^ a b c Riegel, pp. 127-28.
  11. ^ Riegel, p. 133.
  12. ^ Ramsdell, p. 801: The other two lines funded, but never completed, were a line between Meridian and Selma, Alabama, which was abandoned after the fall of New Orleans and another, a connection between Rome, Georgia and Blue Mountain, Alabama, which was not finished before the end of the war.
  13. ^ Currie, p. 1311.

See also

References

  • Currie, David P. "Through the Looking-Glass: The Confederate Constitution in Congress, 1861-1865" Virginia Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 5 (Sep., 2004)
  • Diamond, William. "Imports of the Confederate Government from Europe and Mexico." The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Nov., 1940)
  • Mary Elizabeth Massey Ersatz in the Confederacy. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia. 1952
  • Ramsdell, Charles W. "The Confederate Government and the Railroads" The American Historical Review, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Jul., 1917)
  • Riegel, R.E. "Federal Operation of Southern Railroads during the Civil War." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Sep., 1922)
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