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Rail transport in the American Civil War
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During the American Civil War, the Confederate States Army depended heavily on railroads to get supplies to its lines.
HistoryThe 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. Many were forced to lay off employees, and in particular, let go skilled technicians and engineers. 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.
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. 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."
As troop movement began in earnest in May and June of 1861, a crippling problem was discovered; many rail lines terminated in towns without connecting to continuing lines.
Instead, cargo would have to be unloaded, driven across town, and then reloaded. Soldiers, and other passengers, would often have to stay overnight in order to catch a continuing train the next day. 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. Railroad operators, while not opposed to connecting lines, were opposed to the possibility of sharing rolling stock with rival companies.
As the war wore on attempts were made by railroad operators to acquire railroad supplies, lacking in Confederacy's small industrial base. abroad. 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. While railroad operators attempted, throughout the war, to get assistance from the Confederate Congress, the response was either indifferent or hostile.
It wasn't until mid-1863 that the Confederate government initiated an overall policy, and it was confined solely to aiding the war effort. 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. By mid-1864, all passenger service in the Confederacy had come to a standstill. 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.
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 in order to lay down replacement steel for trunk lines, and the continual use of rolling stock wore them down faster than they could be replaced.
Union UseAs 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. Union troops would often have to rebuild an entire line from scratch in order for it to be usable. 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.
ExpansionAttempts were made to enlarge the Confederacy's rail system by adding or connecting lines. Of the three rail projects the Confederate congress proposed and funded, only one of them, a connection between Danville, Virginia, and Greensboro, North Carolina was completed. Ironically, while the Confederate constitution forbade internal improvements to aid commerce, nothing within it was said anything about improvements to aid war-time defense.
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