Union victory clearly “rode the rails.” Not
only were Northern commanders able to
use the railroads to transport heavy
artillery to and from the battle zone, they
also created mobile “railroad batteries”
(above)—heavy guns mounted on
flatcars, often protected by armor. Unlike
horse-drawn artillery, railroad batteries
could be fired on the move.
The North’s technological and strategic
advantage in using the railroads was vital
to its victory. In 1864, rail capacity was
the sole reason that General William T.
Sherman could contemplate his advance
on Atlanta, despite Rebel cavalry raids
that targeted Federal railroads. General
Ulysses S. Grant’s siege of Petersburg
relied heavily upon the efficient operation
of the U.S.M.R.R.The Railroad in War
The introduction of railroads revolutionized how future wars would be fought. The vast
geographic scope of the Civil War meant that they were the only realistic way to move troops
with any measure of speed. Never again would army logistics rely solely on wagons and roads.
THE UNION TIGHTENS ITS GRIP 1863I
n the first year of the war, the
Lincoln administration recognized
the need for an overarching
authority to harness the power of the
Northern railroads. The Railroad and
Telegraph Act, passed on January 31,
1862, gave President Lincoln full
authority to nationalize any railroad
and impress its equipment or
employees into federal service. The War
Department wasted no time in creating
the United States Military Railroads
(U.S.M.R.R.) in February, and Lincoln
placed Daniel C. McCallum, an
experienced railroad administrator, at
its head. McCallum and the U.S.M.R.R
coordinated all rail supply of the federal
armies with the private companies.
They also repaired
and made use of
damaged Southern
railways, as well
as building and
operating
military lines.
Assisting McCallum in his task was
a retinue of officers and directors, of
whom the most prominent was the
German-born Herman Haupt, the
U.S.M.R.R’s chief of construction and
maintenance in Virginia. Through
most of 1862 and 1863, Haupt supplied
several Union armies by railroads. In
the Second Bull Run campaign, General
Stonewall Jackson destroyed a critical
bridge in northern Virginia, which
temporarily crippled Union resupply
efforts. Haupt and his motley crew of
railroad workers, engineers, and
contraband slaves repaired the bridge
in two weeks using only green lumberBEFORE
By 1860, America had some 30,000 miles
(48,280km) of railroad tracks, mostly
owned by a dozen prominent companies.
NORTHERN DEVELOPMENTS
Every year, new engine designs increased
the power of locomotives and also their load
capacity. In the North, where industry and
population centers demanded rapid transit
and banks wanted to invest in the infrastructure,
railroads flourished and expanded.
SOUTHERN RAILROADS
The railroads of the South were chiefly built
to transport cash crops, such as cotton,
from plantations to riverfront depots or seaports.
Track gauges were often incompatible
between lines, and there was a shortage of
locomotives. Few railroads crossed state
borders or rivers.
to arrive just in time for the First
Battle of Bull Run. In the spring
of 1862, railroads in Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Alabama allowed
General Albert S. Johnston to assemble
his army before the Battle of Shiloh.
In July 1862, more than 30,000 men
under General Braxton Bragg were
dispatched by rail from Mississippi to
Chattanooga in under two weeks.
This speedy transfer allowed Bragg to
launch his invasion of Kentucky in the
fall that year.
A year later, many key railheads
had fallen to the Union. In 1864, even
more were seized, including the critical
junction at Atlanta. This effectively
crippled the South’s ability to use its
railroads and gave the Union armies
more opportunities to redeploy troops
for decisive victories.By the end of the Civil War, the North had
built an additional 4,000 miles (6,440km)
of railroad, while the South had built only
400 miles (644km).WEB OF IRON
The massive reach of the U.S.M.R.R. network
covered 16 Eastern and 19 Western
railroads. Along these ran 419 locomotives
pulling 6,330 cars.
The growth of the railroad industry during the
war created investment opportunites for postwar
entrepreneurs willing to bet their livelihoods on
the iron horse. Such celebrated figures as
Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, and
Andrew Mellon all invested heavily in
railroad lines. One such, the Transcontinental
Railroad, completed in 1869, connected the
Pacific Coast states with the rest of the nation.AFTER
Mobile mortar
In 1864–65, Union forces used this railcar-mounted
13-in (330-mm) mortar—nicknamed the “Dictator” or
“Petersburg Express”—to pound the Confederate-held
town of Petersburg from a distance of 2.5 miles (4km).and saplings. This feat
prompted Lincoln to say,
“I have seen the most
remarkable structure that
human eyes ever rested upon.
That man, Haupt, has built a
bridge ... over which loaded
trains are running every hour,
and upon my word, gentlemen,
there is nothing in it but beanpoles
and cornstalks.”Against the odds
For the South, the history of railroad
construction and operation during the
Confederacy’s brief lifespan was one of
initial success followed by steady
deterioration. President Jefferson Davis,
like Lincoln,
realized the
significance that
railroads would
have and, in
December 1862,
the Confederate
War Department appointed Colonel
William M. Wadley as supervisor “of
all railroads in the Confederate States.”
Until late 1863,Wadley and his
successor Frederick W. Sims managed
impressively, despite a chronic lack of
raw materials or factories, to repair
lines and equipment. In July 1861,
General Joseph E. Johnston moved an
army in the Shenandoah Valley by railTECHNOLOGYRAIL POWER
Line repairs
Union laborers work on track near Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, after the Battle of Stones River in late January- A new railroad had to be built from Nashville to
enable the Union army to continue its advance.
The miles of railroad
track (34,240km) in
the Union states at the start of the war
in 1861, compared with the Confederate
states’ 9,000 miles (14,500km).21,276