Originally aired on December 15, 19995 - In part 68 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson discusses the history of the railroad during the 1860s and describes the effect the war had on the development of the Iron Horse.
#68 – The Iron Horse
It is a shame that railroads nowadays have gone to such lengths to distance themselves from the people. The story of the nation’s rise to industrial superiority is the story of railroads, and nothing illustrates better the importance of the “iron horse” on American life than the Civil War.
In the 1820s, America pioneered the rail system. Twenty-five years later, boom times began. Some 8,500 miles of track in 1850 would become 31,000 miles of railroads by 1860. That was more trackage than in all the rest of the world. Yet a natural accompaniment of phenomenal growth were deep problems.
A standard gauge did not exist. Cars were not interchangeable on the lines. The result was confusion and – in the case of civil war – a logistical nightmare. At war’s onset, Chicago had eleven railroads stations and eleven unconnected lines. Similarly, of five railroad stations that converged on Atlanta, no two were of the same gauge. Goods passing through on one line had to be unloaded and transferred to cars of another company.
In addition to different gauges and different terminals, the locomotives were of assorted shapes and sizes. The most common was the so-called “American type”, which had two leading wheels and two drivers on each side. In railroad parlance, it was a 4-4-0. It also sported a balloon-type smokestack, large cowcatcher, decorative headlight, and boxed cab. These wood-burners belched waves of smoke – much of which, along with cinders, flew into the open windows of the cars.
The average passenger train of Civil War days consisted of five to eight wooden cars, which swayed dangerously at thirty miles per hour. Yet the coming of the railroad altered American life. A New York – to – Chicago trip, formerly three weeks by wagon, took only two days by rail. Shipping costs were cut in half because the iron horse saved enormous time in transporting goods.
Warfare between North and South in 1861 brought the first railroad war on a large scale. Military leaders on both sides had to work with this new factor in devising strategy and tactics as well as logistics. Entire campaigns were fought for the possession of strategic rail lines. As time would show, generals who planned offensives that ignored or made poor use of railroads usually failed. Campaigns making efficient use of nearby rail systems in the main succeeded.
Railroads literally opened and closed the Civil War in Virginia. The first major battle of the war in the Old Dominion was fought for control of Manassas Junction. When General Lee abandoned Petersburg in April, 1865, his withdrawal west of necessity followed the Richmond and Danville Railroad. Union cavalry deflected Lee’s retreat by getting astride the line at Jetersville. Lee’s weary forces continued along the Southside Railroad until Federal infantry won the race to Appomattox Station.
Railroads received enormous benefits as a result of the Civil War. Among the innovations that came from the conflict were hospital trains, armored cars, heavy mortars mounted on flatcars and employed as mobile artillery, plus the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union, founded in 1863.
Further, Northern rail companies got land, right-of-ways, financial subsidies, and high compensation for the use of their lines and rolling stock. The war gave added impetus for a continental railroad that would connect the two oceans. It also sparked movements toward a standard gauge, better equipment, and the need for close cooperation between the many lines.
The railroads gained much from civil war. The American people gained much from them. On the one hand, the existence of rail lines doubtless made the bloody contest shorter than it might otherwise have been. On the other hand, what the railroads learned put them in a better position to transport a new union confidently into the unknowns of the future.
