The central Confederate government encountered problems dealing with the states throughout the war inn regards to railroads.
Another problem was that existing tracks and rolling stock were so often cannibalized for iron to put on naval ironclads
It took the Confederate government two years to get some semblance of a plan worked out for its railroads. 1863. Railroads became under de facto control of the military, but there was no record that this ever became so.
Mr. Banks talked quite a bit about the Confederate use of railroads during the First battle of Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign as well as the Great Locomotive Chase and the moving of Longstreet's Corps to Bragg in the Chickamauga/Chattanooga Campaign.
Longstreet's soldiers experienced quite a series of rerouting and ended up going through North and South Carolina and Georgia to get there.
By 1865, the Confederacy's railroads were in ruins, however, they recovered very quickly as it was important to rebuild the South.
--Old Secesh
Charlie Banks gave the presentation.
Strap rails were the most dangerous ones. Steel rails were better than iron ones.
The North outproduced the South by a 9 to 1 margin in rail tonnage.
The cost of an engine was $10,000.
Two Confederate officers were somewhat in charge of the country's railroads: Abraham Myers and Lucius Bellinger Northrup.
There is still a question as to whether Stonewall Jackson moved Baltimore& Ohio rolling stock, including engines, from Harpers Ferry to places further in Virginian in Virginia.
--Old Secesh
Yesterday we had the first meeting of the year for the McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table at the Woodstock Public Library. It was both a live and a Zoom meeting and Charlie Banks gave a presentation on Confederate Railroads. He is quite the expert on Civil War railroads.
His main thing was that it was the failure of the Confederate railroad system that was a big reason for the failure of the new country.
Railroads across the United States increased their mileage drastically in the decade before the war. But the South lagged way behind the North. In the South the Atlantic Ocean states had 5400 miles, Gulf states 2063 and South interior states 2666.
In the North, Chicago had become a major railroad hub with 11 railroads going through there.
In contrast, the future capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, had five, but none of them connected which caused unloading and reloading of cargos. Plus, making it worse, the lines had differing gauges. (Most Northern railroads used 4'8" gauge while Southern ones went with 5 feet.
--Old Secesh
The McHenry County Civil War Round Table will have the opening meeting of the 2024 year this coming Tuesday, March 12 at the Woodstock Library (Illinois).
We will be having a special presentation by Charlie Banks on Confederate Railroads.
The meeting starts at 7 pm at the library at 414 W. Judd Street. It can also be seen on ZOOM.
Before the meeting some of us will be getting together at 3 Brothers on Illinois Highway 47 in Woodstock for dinner or snack. (And, we don't just talk Civil War.) Meets at 5 pl.
--Old Secesh
Here are four other Civil War folk:
OLIVER CHRISTIAN BOSBYSHELL (1839-1921)-- Claims he was the first Union soldier wounded by enemy activity in the war after receiving a bruise on his head after being hit with an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer as his regiment marched through Baltimore to relieve Washington, D.C. on April 17, 1861.
CLARISA F. DOYLE (1832-1921)--Army nurse during Civil War. President of National Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War.
JOHN TROUT GREBLE (1834-1861)-- First USMA graduate killed at Battle of Big Bethel.
HERMAN HAUPT (1817-1905)-- Union general and engineer. Revolutionized U.S. military transportation, particularly with the railroads.
--Old Seceh
Ely Parker got a job as an engineer on John Smith's staff. Grant needed an engineer and got Parker who served in that capacity on Grant's staff for the remainder of the war.
Smith's division was the first to enter Vicksburg after its surrender on July 4, 1863.
Then the division went to Chattanooga. After Chattanooga, Smith was in charge of the task of keeping Union railroads open during the Atlanta Campaign. His troops were at Altoona Pass, but he wasn't there.
Smith went with Sherman in his March to the Sea and during the Carolina's Campaign, Smith said that the water was "not deep enough for navigation, but too deep to say we came by land."
He was still with Sherman when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered at Bennett Place.
He didn't go to the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., and was sent to Memphis to serve as military governor of Western Tennessee.
John Smith mustered out in 1866 as commander in the volunteer service, but chose to remain in the regular Army and was made colonel of the 27th U.S. Infantry.
--Old Secesh
** General Longstreet was able to move his corps from Virginia to Georgia by rail and took Union forces by surprise which led to victory at Chickamauga.
** Improvements were made in steam engines plus safety measures.
** Smoothbore cannons were best against infantry.
** Whitworth cannons had a range of 5 miles. There were some at Fort Fisher.
** Two main Union foundries: West Point and Pittsburgh.
** Trench warfare.
--Old Secesh
** At the beginning of the war, the Confederacy had 1/3 of the rolling freight, 1/5 of the locomotives and 1/10 of the telegraph stations.
** Neither the Union or Confederate railroads were ready for war.
** Rails at the time were made of iron, not steel. This caused frequent derailments.
** The Wilmington & Weldon Railroad was one of the longest continuous ones in the country.
** A major problem facing war railroads was the differing gauges of railroad tracks (how far apart they were). In 1986, the U.S. adopted a standard railroad gauge.
** Gauge was based on the standard distance that Roman chariot wheels were apart.
** Then, there were Sherman's Neckties.
--Old Secesh
** Left and right shoes.
** Shoddy uniforms (where the term shoddy came from in the Civil War)
** Lincoln had his own private telegraph.
He went to Fortress Monroe 14 times during the war and had private meetings there. It was away from the prying eyes of Washington, D.C.. Plus, the commander there, Benjamin Butler had his iwn private netwodk of spies and informants.
** Repeating rifles, but the knock against them was that they used too much ammunition.
** Railroads had a boom in the 1840s and 1850s. In 1850, there were 9,000 miles of rails, by 1860 there were 30,000.
However, of that, 21,000 miles were in the Union and 9,000 in the Confederacy.
--Old Secesh
** Henry Haupt organized supply and troop movements during the Gettysburg Campaign.
** He had permission to commandeer Virginia railroads, but now got control over those railroads in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
** He was a big enemy of Governor Andew of Pennsylvania.
** After the war, Haupt was involved in an oil pipeline and became very wealthy.
--Old Secesh
** Henry Haupt was Lincoln's railroad man.
** He was appointed to the USMA at West Point at age 14 and graduated at age 18. He graduated in July and resigned his commission in September.
** At the Second Battle of Manassas, Union General Pope needed troops. But the question was, where were those troops. These troops were with General Samuel Davis Sturgiss. He kept 10,000 troops out of the action.
** Haupt knew how to use railroads in a wartime sitiation. The United States Military Rail Road was formed to make sure the railroads could help the war effort.
** He rose to prominence during McClellan's Peninsular Campaign
** He was especially good at building bridges, including the 400 foot long, 100 foot-high trestle over the Potomac Creek in Virginia.
--Old Secesh
Since he was buried in this cemetery, we'll be taking a sroadtrip to see some othersof interest buried there.
** MARY ELIZABETH JANE COLTER (1869-1958)
Architect, interior designer credited as "The Architect of the Southwest" for her designs that incorporated Spanish and Indian influences with contemporary designs.
She worked with the Fred Harvey Company and completed 21 projects for them and the Santa Fe Railroad. Also designed the Navajo Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1923 and the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona, in 1929.
This is of special interest to Route 66 fans.
** ALBERT WALTER McMILLAN (1862-1948)
Indian Campaigns Medal of Honor recipient. Awarded it as a member of Co. E, 7th U.S. Cavalry for action at Wounded Knee in December 1890. His father, SAMUEL JAMES RENWICK McMILLAN (1826-1897)) is also buried there. His father was a 2nd lieutenant with the Stillwater Guards in the Dakota Wars in 1862.
Of interest, I already have written about Samuel's brother, Charles, who was a Union general as well, whose daughter Isabel married John Chowning Gesham who was also in the 7th Cavalry and received a Medal of Honor at Wounded Knee.
** Quite a few Civil War brigadier generals are also buried at Oakland Cemetery.
Forrest next crossed into Tennessee and went toward Pulaski, where he ran into an ambush from General John Converse Starkwater's brigade of 6,000 Union troops. Forced to withdraw, Forrest headed to Fayetteville and with a view of destroying railroad tracks by Tullahoma.
Then, he headed to Spring Hill, Tennessee and, with 2,500 men put plenty of false information on the telegraph lines. He headed back to Florence.
The total road covered 500 miles in 15 days in which he captured 3,500 prisoners, artillery, 800 horses, 900 cattle, 2,000 small arms.
His losses came to 47 killed and 293 wounded.
Technically, the raid was a success, but he didn't stop Sherman or make Sherman follow him.
--Old Secesh
On Tuesday, March 8, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table will have a presentation by Gene Salecker on "Nathan Bedford Forrest's Railroad Raid" from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Woodstock Public Library in Woodstock, Illinois, at 414 West Judd Street
It will be both in person and via Zoom. Facemasks are optional.
This is our first meeting of 2022 (as there are no meetings in January and February).
Good to be back.
--Old Secesh
Francis E. Warren's first job in his new town was working as a clerk in a crockery and hardware store owned by a fellow Massachusetts native, A.R. Converse, for whom Converse County was later named. He later became Converse's partner and then bought the business in 1877, renaming it Warren Mercantile Company.
In the fall of 1883, he formed the Warren Livestock Company, a large sheep and cattle operation that eventually grew yo 150,000 acres He also owned the Cheyenne and Northern Railroad and the Brush-Swan Electric Company, which brought the first electricity to Cheyenne.
Wikipedia also lists real estate as a way Warren made money.
He was also responsible for many of the public and private buildings in Cheyenne.
In 1871, he married Helen M. Smith of Massachusetts and the couple had two children Frances and Frederick. His wife died in 1802, and Warren then married his second wife, Clara LeNaron Morgan on June 28, 1911 at age 67.
Helen is buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne. Clara remarried Albert Wells Russel and is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
--Old Secesh
Robert Gilchrist's bridge, the first suspension one over the Hudson River, was dedicated on September 8, 1871, with a great public celebration, complete with a steam locomotive and boxcars and a picnic. However, it turned out that there wasn't enough food, but, alas, plenty of speeches.
The bridge was described as being about 25 feet above the normal water level, 15 feet wide and with a span of 230 feet.
Plans had a railroad depot to be constructed and passenger service could detrain and catch a stagecoach to local towns
Sadly, however, Gilchrist's bridge was not to last for very long. On April 1, 1873, the cables on one side of the bridge gave way after a very heavy snowstorm, causing the bridge to hang upside down on the remaining cable. Later that spring, the bridge was removed so as not to impede the spring logging drive on the river.
Gilchrist returned to Charleston and remained there the rest of his life other than infrequent trips back to the Adirondacks where he began selling off his inherited land.
--Old Secesh
When the Civil War broke out, Robert Gilchrist, though opposed to secession, stayed in Charleston and sided with the Confederacy. He fought to defend the Fort Sumter and Charleston Harbor. He was commissioned an officer and rose to the rank of major under general Beauregard, the commander in Charleston.
The city held out until 1865, when it was abandoned as Sherman marched his Union force through South Carolina.
When the war ended, Robert, his wife and young family, traveled to The Glen to inspect the property owned by his uncle (also named Robert Gilchrist) and Mother (Mary Gilchrist).
Dr. Thomas Durant by then had the Adirondack Railroad, whose completion had been delayed because of the war and was planning to expand his railroad from Saratoga to North Creek. Robert Gilchrist was now in the Adirondacks and had plans to expand into the forest, tourism and resort industries and saw an opportunity with the railroad.
Robert decided to help the railroad locate and had a bridge built across the Hudson River on his property. The project cost $8,000 and was a John A. Roebling-style bridge and hired engineer Charles McDonald to supervise it.
--Old Secesh
