Title: Vital rails : the Charleston & Savannah Railroad and the Civil War in coastal South Carolina /
Authors: Stone, H. David., 1966-
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press,
Year: 2008
Subjects: Charleston and Savannah Railroad History; Railroads South Carolina History; South Carolina History Transportation.; United States History Transportation.
Abstract: "Completed in 1860 and spanning more than one hundred miles across rice fields, salt marshes, and seven rivers and creeks, the Charleston & Savannah Railroad was designed to revolutionize the economy of South Carolina's lowcountry by linking key port cities. With the onset of the Civil War, the railroad became an integral part of the Confederacy's military, economic, and communications efforts along the coast and a frequent - though unsuccessful - military objective of Union assaults. In Vital Rails H. David Stone, Jr., provides the first detailed recounting of the C&S line's complex history and of the railroad's valuable role in the Civil War along the coast."--book jacket.
Contents: Birth of a railroad -- Construction, connection, and the convention -- A Confederate railroad -- Opening guns -- The most formidable earthwork -- Secessionville to Pocataligo -- The business of war -- Singletary's inheritance -- Unbroken lines -- The squeaky wheel -- Unrealized gains -- Foster tries Charleston -- Under siege -- Honey Hill -- Sherman's neckties -- Running the gauntlet -- One more river to cross -- Postwar debts -- Terminus.