Civil War Railroad Books

USS ALASKA

Captain
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Unlike Mr. Jenkins' extensive bibliography over on the Naval Board, I don't have that kind of a list so just figured we could go one-by-one.

First up...

'The Railroads of the Confederacy' by Robert C. Black III

"Originally published by UNC Press in 1952, The Railroads of the Confederacy tells the story of the first use of railroads on a major scale in a major war. Robert Black presents a complex and fascinating tale, with the railroads of the American South playing the part of tragic hero in the Civil War: at first vigorous though immature; then overloaded, driven unmercifully, starved for iron; and eventually worn out--struggling on to inevitable destruction in the wake of Sherman's army, carrying the Confederacy down with them.

With maps of all the Confederate railroads and contemporary photographs and facsimiles of such documents as railroad tickets, timetables, and soldiers' passes, the book will captivate railroad enthusiasts as well as readers interested in the Civil War."


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006ASYUC/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

And great maps.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'The Baltimore and Ohio in the Civil War' by Festus P. Summers

"Fascinating history of the active role played by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad during the Civil War. Covers not only the use of the railroad during military operations but also the importance of the line within the military zone. Illustrated with black and white photos and drawings. With extensive footnotes and index."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1879664135/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'That Man Haupt: A Biography of Herman Haupt' by James Arthur Ward

"Herman Haupt was a major figure in the development of American railroads during the 19th century. An engineering graduate of West Point, he helped to construct the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1850s and rose high in the company's ranks. He spent 6 years attempting to bore the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts but was forced to suspend the work and lost his fortune. During the Civil War, he was director of the Union military operations in the eastern theater. After the war, he became chief engineer of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, general manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad's southern interests, chief engineer of the first long-distance crude oil pipeline, and general manager of the Northern Pacific. This scholarly yet readable biography paints a fascinating portrait of an important American who helped to shape the nation into the leading industrial power of the 20th century. With photo sections and detailed index"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807102253/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'Railroads in the Civil War' by John E. Clark

"Despite popular depictions in film and print, soldiers in the American Civil War did not always travel by horse, wagon, or foot. Advances in railroad systems in the decade before the war allowed the movement of large numbers of troops via railway even though railroads had not yet matured into a truly integrated transportation system. Gaps between lines, incompatible track gauges, and other vexing impediments remained in both the North and South. As John E. Clark Jr. explains in this compelling study, the skill with which Union and Confederate war leaders dealt with those problems and utilized the rail system to its fullest wartime potential reflects each side's overall war management ability as an essential ingredient for ultimate victory.

After providing an excellent overview of Union and Confederate railway capabilities and effectiveness at decision-making, Clark details two specific rail movements as case studies in logistical management. Using exciting stories found in diaries and letters as well as official records and telegrams, Clark explains how the Union wisely and confidently organized and directed the massive undertaking and how the Confederacy, having failed to properly mobilize its rail system at war, did not.
Certain to spark debate among Civil War enthusiasts and among business readers, RAILROADS IN THE CIVIL WAR demonstrates why railroads qualified as the first modern management systems in America."


https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807127264/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'That Man Haupt: A Biography of Herman Haupt' by James Arthur Ward

"Herman Haupt was a major figure in the development of American railroads during the 19th century. An engineering graduate of West Point, he helped to construct the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1850s and rose high in the company's ranks. He spent 6 years attempting to bore the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts but was forced to suspend the work and lost his fortune. During the Civil War, he was director of the Union military operations in the eastern theater. After the war, he became chief engineer of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, general manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad's southern interests, chief engineer of the first long-distance crude oil pipeline, and general manager of the Northern Pacific. This scholarly yet readable biography paints a fascinating portrait of an important American who helped to shape the nation into the leading industrial power of the 20th century. With photo sections and detailed index"

https://www.amazon.com/That-Man-Haupt-Biography-Herman/dp/0807102253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509481521&sr=8-1&keywords=That+Man+Haupt:+A+Biography+of+Herman+Haupt

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
Excellent thread. Hopefully we will read all the books on the subject of Civil War railroads. Thanks for posting.
 
'Civil War Railroads' by George B Abdill

"The Civil War, like all others, was not all gunfire and panic. It was supply and transport, trains and trouble on the line, men in Blue and Gray fighting against almost unbelievable odds with lumbering, woodburning engines. This book recounts and pictures these dramatic events and it is need to round out the story of the War Between the States. It is written and prepared by a present day engineman who has a profound respect for history and the part the railroads played when the bloody conflict set brother against brother. Here in quaint and curious scenes which no man alive today has ever seen is the actual record of Civil War railroading, many of the photographs printed here for the first time - the rolling stock, stations, bridges, car floats and rail-borne artillery - wrecks, raids and wild rides. Here are exciting eyewitness accounts of guerilla warfare, adventures behind enemy lines, vivid stories of the Iron Horse at work and in adventure. Also learn about such noted Army railroaders as Generals Herman Haupt and Daniel C. McCallum; conductors Carter Anderson and William Fuller; Engineer Jeff Cain and Superintendent J. H. Devereux."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007DVMS4/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheer,
USS ALASKA
 
'The Northern Railroads in the Civil War, 1861-1865' by Thomas Weber

"Time has been very good to Thomas Weber's Northern Railroads in the Civil War, 1861-1865. First published by Columbia University Press in 1952, it has been out of print since the 1970s, but never out of demand. It has emerged as the premier account of the impact of the railroads on the American Civil War and vice versa. Not only did the railroads materially help the north to victory through movement of troops and materiel, but the war materially changed the way railroads were built, run, financed, and organized in the crucial years following the war.

"Thomas Weber's study of northern railroads during the Civil War remains the obvious treatment of an important topic. His analysis rests on solid research and leaves no doubt that the North's excellent use of railroads contributed significantly to Union victory."
-- Gary W. Gallagher


"Thomas Weber's... analysis rests on solid research and leaves no doubt that the North's excellent use of railroads contributed significantly to Union victory."
-- Gary W. Gallagher"


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1258100932/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'Victory Rode the Rails: The Strategic Place of the Railroads in the Civil War' by George E. Turner

"Early in the Civil War both the North and South were confronted with an entirely new problem in logistics. George Edgar Turner writes: "It began to appear that important railroad junction points were to become major military objectives." Victory Rode the Rails portrays the decisive military advantage enjoyed by the side that controlled the railroads. Turner was a retired lawyer and insurance executive when his book was first published in 1953.
It "remains the best introduction to the subject of railroads and military operations during the Civil War," says Gary Gallagher in presenting this book to a new audience."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0837163315/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 
To all you railheads and foamers, even though I know we will occasionally slip into modern ferroequinology, I ask that you limit your foaming and geeking to the Civil War period as much as possible.

Jim

Sir, I might be the first one to break your above guidance...the below book is not purely about the ACW but I feel it is important to the understanding of that period's railroading. Kinda like trying to understand WWII but not knowing anything about the Washington or London Naval Treaties...

Hope this is OK.

'The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice' by John K. Brown

"The largest maker of heavy machinery in Gilded Age America and an important global exporter, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia achieved renown as one of the nation's most successful and important firms. Relying on gifted designers and skilled craftsmen, Baldwin built thousands of standard and custom steam locomotives, ranging from narrow gauge 0-4-0 industrial engines to huge mallet compounds. John K. Brown analyzes the structure of railroad demand; the forces driving continual innovation in locomotive design; Baldwin's management systems, shop-floor skills, and career paths; and the evolution of production methods. "

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0801868122/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

"The Civil War at first appeared disastrous for Baldwin. According to John K. Brown in The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice, at the start of the conflict Baldwin had a great dependence on Southern railways as its primary market. In 1860, nearly 80 percent of Baldwin's output went to carriers in states that would soon secede from the Union. As a result, Baldwin's production in 1861 fell more than 50 percent compared to the previous year. However, the loss in Southern sales was counterbalanced by purchases by the U.S. Military Railroads and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which saw its traffic soar, as Baldwin produced more than 100 engines for carriers during the 1861–1865 war.

By the time Matthias Baldwin died in 1866, his company was vying with
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works for the top spot among locomotive producers. By 1870 Baldwin had taken the lead and a decade later, it was producing 2½ times as many engines as its nearest competitor, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Census."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Locomotive_Works

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
Sir, I might be the first one to break your above guidance...the below book is not purely about the ACW but I feel it is important to the understanding of that period's railroading. Kinda like trying to understand WWII but not knowing anything about the Washington or London Naval Treaties...

Hope this is OK.

'The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice' by John K. Brown

"The largest maker of heavy machinery in Gilded Age America and an important global exporter, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia achieved renown as one of the nation's most successful and important firms. Relying on gifted designers and skilled craftsmen, Baldwin built thousands of standard and custom steam locomotives, ranging from narrow gauge 0-4-0 industrial engines to huge mallet compounds. John K. Brown analyzes the structure of railroad demand; the forces driving continual innovation in locomotive design; Baldwin's management systems, shop-floor skills, and career paths; and the evolution of production methods. "

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0801868122/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

"The Civil War at first appeared disastrous for Baldwin. According to John K. Brown in The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915: A Study in American Industrial Practice, at the start of the conflict Baldwin had a great dependence on Southern railways as its primary market. In 1860, nearly 80 percent of Baldwin's output went to carriers in states that would soon secede from the Union. As a result, Baldwin's production in 1861 fell more than 50 percent compared to the previous year. However, the loss in Southern sales was counterbalanced by purchases by the U.S. Military Railroads and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which saw its traffic soar, as Baldwin produced more than 100 engines for carriers during the 1861–1865 war.

By the time Matthias Baldwin died in 1866, his company was vying with
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works for the top spot among locomotive producers. By 1870 Baldwin had taken the lead and a decade later, it was producing 2½ times as many engines as its nearest competitor, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Census."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Locomotive_Works

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
A perfectly acceptable topic.
 
The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America' by William G. Thomas III

"Beginning with Frederick Douglass's escape from slavery in 1838 on the railroad, and ending with the driving of the golden spike to link the transcontinental railroad in 1869, this book charts a critical period of American expansion and national formation, one largely dominated by the dynamic growth of railroads and telegraphs. William G. Thomas brings new evidence to bear on railroads, the Confederate South, slavery, and the Civil War era, based on groundbreaking research in digitized sources never available before. The Iron Way revises our ideas about the emergence of modern America and the role of the railroads in shaping the sectional conflict.

Both the North and the South invested in railroads to serve their larger purposes, Thomas contends. Though railroads are often cited as a major factor in the Union's victory, he shows that they were also essential to the formation of "the South" as a unified region. He discusses the many—and sometimes unexpected—effects of railroad expansion and proposes that America's great railroads became an important symbolic touchstone for the nation's vision of itself."


https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300141076/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'American Railroad Network, 1861-1890' by George Rogers Taylor

"Rapid population growth in the Great Plains and the American West after the Civil War was the result not only of railroad expansion but of a collaboration among competing railroads to adopt a uniform width for track. "The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890" shows how the consolidation of smaller railroads and the growth of capitalism worked to unify the fragmented railroad industry through standardization. George Rogers Taylor and Irene D. Neu cover the emergence of railroads before and during the Civil War, their expansions westward, the gradual adoption of a national rail gauge, and the development of standardized equipment and car interchange rules that set examples for American industry in general. A pioneering work first published in 1956, "The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890" provides a framework for understanding how advancements in technology are both impeded and fostered by political processes and commercial pressures."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674028007/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'John W. Garrett and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad' by Kathleen Waters Sander

"Chartered in 1827 as the country’s first railroad, the legendary Baltimore and Ohio played a unique role in the nation’s great railroad drama and became the model for American railroading. John W. Garrett, who served as president of the B&O from 1858 to 1884, ranked among the great power brokers of the time. In this gripping and well-researched account, historian Kathleen Waters Sander tells the story of the B&O’s beginning and its unprecedented plan to build a rail line from Baltimore over the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River, considered to be the most ambitious engineering feat of its time. The B&O’s success ignited "railroad fever" and helped to catapult railroading to America’s most influential industry in the nineteenth century.

Taking the B&O helm during the railroads’ expansive growth in the 1850s, Garrett soon turned his attention to the demands of the Civil War. Sander explains how, despite suspected Southern sympathies, Garrett became one of President Abraham Lincoln's most trusted confidantes and strategists, making the B&O available for transporting Northern troops and equipment to critical battles. The Confederates attacked the B&O 143 times, but could not put "Mr. Lincoln’s Road" out of business. After the war, Garrett became one of the first of the famed Gilded Age tycoons, rising to unimagined power and wealth. Sander explores how―when he was not fighting fierce railroad wars with competitors―Garrett steered the B&O into highly successful entrepreneurial endeavors, quadrupling track mileage to reach important commercial markets, jumpstarting Baltimore’s moribund postwar economy, and constructing lavish hotels in Western Maryland to open tourism in the region.

Sander brings to life the brazen risk-taking, clashing of oversized egos, and opulent lifestyles of the Gilded Age tycoons in this richly illustrated portrait of one man’s undaunted efforts to improve the B&O and advance its technology. Chronicling the epic technological transformations of the nineteenth century, from rudimentary commercial trade and primitive transportation westward to the railroads’ indelible impact on the country and the economy, John W. Garrett and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is a vivid account of Garrett’s twenty-six-year reign."


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1421422204/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'Civil War Logistics: A Study of Military Transportation' by Earl J. Hess

"During the Civil War, neither the Union nor the Confederate army could have operated without effective transportation systems. Moving men, supplies, and equipment required coordination on a massive scale, and Earl J. Hess’s Civil War Logistics offers the first comprehensive analysis of this vital process. Utilizing an enormous array of reports, dispatches, and personal accounts by quartermasters involved in transporting war materials, Hess reveals how each conveyance system operated as well as the degree to which both armies accomplished their logistical goals.

In a society just realizing the benefits of modern travel technology, both sides of the conflict faced challenges in maintaining national and regional lines of transportation. Union and Confederate quartermasters used riverboats, steamers, coastal shipping, railroads, wagon trains, pack trains, cattle herds, and their soldiers in the long and complicated chain that supported the military operations of their forces. Soldiers in blue and gray alike tried to destroy the transportation facilities of their enemy, firing on river boats and dismantling rails to disrupt opposing supply lines while defending their own means of transport.

According to Hess, Union logistical efforts proved far more successful than Confederate attempts to move and supply its fighting forces, due mainly to the North’s superior administrative management and willingness to seize transportation resources when needed. As the war went on, the Union’s protean system grew in complexity, size, and efficiency, while that of the Confederates steadily declined in size and effectiveness until it hardly met the needs of its army. Indeed, Hess concludes that in its use of all types of military transportation, the Federal government far surpassed its opponent and thus laid the foundation for Union victory in the Civil War."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807167509/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'Engineering Victory: How Technology Won the Civil War' by Thomas F. Army Jr.

"Engineering Victory brings a fresh approach to the question of why the North prevailed in the Civil War. Historian Thomas F. Army, Jr., identifies strength in engineering―not superior military strategy or industrial advantage―as the critical determining factor in the war’s outcome.

Army finds that Union soldiers were able to apply scientific ingenuity and innovation to complex problems in a way that Confederate soldiers simply could not match. Skilled Free State engineers who were trained during the antebellum period benefited from basic educational reforms, the spread of informal educational practices, and a culture that encouraged learning and innovation. During the war, their rapid construction and repair of roads, railways, and bridges allowed Northern troops to pass quickly through the forbidding terrain of the South as retreating and maneuvering Confederates struggled to cut supply lines and stop the Yankees from pressing any advantage.

By presenting detailed case studies from both theaters of the war, Army clearly demonstrates how the soldiers’ education, training, and talents spelled the difference between success and failure, victory and defeat. He also reveals massive logistical operations as critical in determining the war’s outcome."


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1421419378/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'Virginia Railroads in the Civil War' by Angus James Johnston

"Johnston ably demonstrates the major contribution of captured Virginia railroads to the ever-increasing prowess of the northern armies in the state and also describes the new techniques of warfare introduced by the Confederates, beginning with their launching of the first full-scale raids of the war against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the Shenandoah Valley."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007DTYXE/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'The War Came By Train: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad During The Civil War' by Daniel Carroll Toomey

"Beginning with the B & O's reaction to John Brown's Raid in 1859 and ending with the demobilization of the Union Army in 1865, the overall strategy and political aims of the time period are blended with the battles and daily operational challenges of a Civil War Railroad. "Author Daniel Carroll Toomey is a Civil War historian and Guest Curator at the B & O Railroad Museum."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/188624801X/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'Railroads of the Civil War: An Illustrated History' by Michael Leavy

"Over the course of the first half of the nineteenth century, America would find itself following two increasingly divergent tracks: an industrialized North and an agricultural South. By 1860 railroads were firmly entrenched in our culture, reshaping our cities and steering us through the industrial age towards worldwide prominence. From sleepy post towns to the largest east coast cities, the distant hooting of the locomotive whistle drew ever closer and louder, filling listeners with fascination while brightening the eyes of profit-driven industrialists. But this admirable invention, lavishly adorned in brass and iron trimmings, was about to take on a new and deadly role. America’s regional differences would result in a spectacular collision over slavery, and between 1861–1865, the nation fought a savage war. The “iron horse” became a major weapon in the first war fully dependent on railroads. Moreover railroads would escalate and prolong the war, leading to its terrible carnage. Trains were used to move troops rapidly and over great distances, completely changing military strategy. Trains were also used as mobile artillery, armed with large-caliber cannons that could pound cities and fortifications. Trains were a crucial means for supplying the armies on both sides, and it was the severing of the railway lines providing food and munitions to the Army of Northern Virginia that led to Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House.

In Railroads of the Civil War: An Illustrated History, Michael Leavy uses compelling period photographs and drawings and a rich narrative to reevaluate and illuminate the role of railroads in the Civil War. In addition to identifying details about the various trains and ancillary equipment and buildings in the illustrations, the author explains how trains influenced the outcome of battles and the war in general. "


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594161194/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
'Railroads of the Civil War: An Illustrated History' by Michael Leavy

"Over the course of the first half of the nineteenth century, America would find itself following two increasingly divergent tracks: an industrialized North and an agricultural South. By 1860 railroads were firmly entrenched in our culture, reshaping our cities and steering us through the industrial age towards worldwide prominence. From sleepy post towns to the largest east coast cities, the distant hooting of the locomotive whistle drew ever closer and louder, filling listeners with fascination while brightening the eyes of profit-driven industrialists. But this admirable invention, lavishly adorned in brass and iron trimmings, was about to take on a new and deadly role. America’s regional differences would result in a spectacular collision over slavery, and between 1861–1865, the nation fought a savage war. The “iron horse” became a major weapon in the first war fully dependent on railroads. Moreover railroads would escalate and prolong the war, leading to its terrible carnage. Trains were used to move troops rapidly and over great distances, completely changing military strategy. Trains were also used as mobile artillery, armed with large-caliber cannons that could pound cities and fortifications. Trains were a crucial means for supplying the armies on both sides, and it was the severing of the railway lines providing food and munitions to the Army of Northern Virginia that led to Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House.

In Railroads of the Civil War: An Illustrated History, Michael Leavy uses compelling period photographs and drawings and a rich narrative to reevaluate and illuminate the role of railroads in the Civil War. In addition to identifying details about the various trains and ancillary equipment and buildings in the illustrations, the author explains how trains influenced the outcome of battles and the war in general. "


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594161194/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
I've got this one. Good book.
 
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