page_title: Confederate railroads in the American Civil War
section_title: 1864
hierarchical_section_title: Confederate railroads in the American Civil War / History / 1864
caption_attribution_description: English: Troops destroying a railroad Identifier: boysof61orfoury00coff (find matches) Title: The boys of '61; or, Four years of fighting. Personal observation with the army and navy, from the first battle of Bull run to the fall of Richmond Year: 1884 (1880s) Authors: Coffin, Charles Carleton, 1823-1896 Subjects: Publisher: Boston, Estes and Lauriat Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: et on the Jamesprevented the accomplishment of his purpose. He thereforesent scouts through the Rebel lines to Grant, to inform himof the difficulties he had encountered and consequent changeof plan. I am going to White House, and shall want supplies atthat point, said he. The scouts left him on the 10th at Co-lumbia, and reached Grant on the 12th. Sheridan made arapid march, passing quite near Richmond on the north,and raising a midnight alarm in the Rebel capital. Couriers reported that the enemy were at the outer fortifi-cations, and had burned Ben Greens house, writes a citizenof Richmond. Mr. Secretary Mallory and Postmaster-General Regan werein the saddle, and rumor says the President and the remainderof the cabinet had their horses saddled, in readiness forflight.* Sheridan was not quite so near, and had no thought ofattacking the city. He passed quietly down the north bank ofthe Pamunkey to the White House, where supplies were in wait- * Rebel War Clerks Diary, Vol. II p. 446. Text Appearing After Image: o H CM o 1865.) THE LAST CAMPAIGN. 487 ing. lie rested his horses a day or two, and then moved toPetersburg. At daylight on the morning of the 25th of March Lee madehis last offensive movement. He conceived the idea of breaking Grants line east of Pe-tersburg, and destroying his supplies at City Point. The firstpart he successfully accomplished, but the last could not havebeen carried out. He massed Gordons and Bushrod John-sons divisions in front of the Ninth Corps, for an attack uponFort Steadman and the batteries adjoining. The fort was heldby the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery. It was a squareredoubt, covering about one acre, and mounted nine guns,and was not more than five hundred feet from the Rebel lino.The Rebels tore away their own abatis, and in less than aminute were inside the fort. Almost the whole garrison wascaptured, and the guns turned upon the batteries. Colonel Tidball, commanding the artillery in the NinthCorps, quickly had his men at work. General Parke, com- Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The American Civil War was the first in which large armies depended heavily on railroads to bring supplies. For the Confederate States Army, the system was fragile and was designed for short hauls of cotton to the nearest river or ocean port. During the war, new parts were hard to obtain, and the system deteriorated from overuse, lack of maintenance, and systematic destruction by Union raiders.
  The outbreak of war had a depressing effect on the economic fortunes of the Confederate railroad industry. With the cotton crop being hoarded under the "King Cotton" theory, railroads lost 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 opinion 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.
  Although 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.
context_section_description: In March 1864, the Confederate Quartermaster-General's Department 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 wartime devastation, speculation, 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 quartermasters ran the rails ragged. Feeder lines would be scrapped for replacement steel for trunk lines, and the continual use of rolling stock wore them down faster than they could be replaced.
caption: Union troops destroying a railroad
exif: {}