What Role Did Railroads Play In The American Civil War

Eduardo Gonzalez
10-30-16
US History
Mr. Aguilera
Trains and War
The invention of the railroad and trains caused a boom in industrial growth. It allowed goods and people to be transported farther and faster than ever before, but it didn’t only boost economies it also expanded the ranges and longevity of wars. Railroads allowed for larger number of supplies to be transported. Not only did the railroads allow for supplies to be moved faster it also allowed for troops and reinforcements to be moved faster. Ammunition and food could be sent to soldiers and generals who had diminishing supplies this meant that battles could last longer. Most battles lasting about 2-3 days and a few lasting almost a month. The fact that railroads played a huge role

In fact, one huge blow to the south was their lack of focus on locomotion. The south had used British iron to repair and build locomotion, so when the north blockaded southern ports resources began to dwindle. Eventually most southern trains were either destroyed or in need of repairs. The ones that were still in service were still damaged; averaging 10 miles per hour compared to 25 before the war. [1] Not only that, but they also used lots of wood as fuel, and as the war progressed more and more factory workers were drafted into the army. Essentially causing their wood depots to become empty. Train crews eventually had to stop mid travels to cut and load

As seen in during the Battle of Gettysburg; southern generals were worried about their supplies and the supply lines, because they had to be horse pulled since the Virginia Central Railroad didn’t have many tracks near the battle. This meant that southern supplies took longer to arrive than northern ones, causing food, ammunition, and weapons to run dry. At one point, General Robert E. Lee had to forage the countryside to feed his troops. Just the raw number of items that could be transported because of locomotion was unheard of before. This is best summarized by General William T. Sherman during the Atlanta Campaign in which he said, “That a single stem of railroad [from Louisville to Atlanta], 473 miles long, supplied an army of 100,000 men and 35,000 animals for a period of 196 days . . . That amount of food and forage would have taken 36,800 wagons of six mules . . . each day, a simple impossibility . . . in that region of the country,” [2] this statement shows how important supply lines were to the longevity of battles and wars. Another example was in the winter of 1863, where President Lincoln ordered Union army reinforcements of 25,000 men and 10 batteries of cannons to join the battle in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thanks to the speed of rail, this torrent of troops and firepower covered the 600–mile distance in only eleven days. Since Chattanooga was an important Confederate rail and industrial center, many historians