Food Shipments From South Western Georgia

DaveBrt

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Location
Charlotte, NC
Numerous posts have mentioned the requirement of the railroad system to feed Lee and Richmond from southwestern Georgia. Longstreet, in northeastern Tennessee, and Johnston in northern Georgia, were also supported, to some extent, from this area. Below are figures from the South Western Railroad annual reports to show the amount shipped out. The corn numbers do not show the amount consumed locally, the amount fed to hogs and the amount sent to Andersonville. Corn shipped 150 bushels per car; bacon was 16,000 lbs per car.

Item18601864% Change
Cotton Bales206,30718,575- 91.1
Corn Bushels19,3761,752,581+8,945.1
Bacon Lbs2,238,9375,050,448+125
 
No wonder the wheels and rails took such a beating. That is a lot of mileage. Thanks @DaveBrt, I have followed those other discussions of shipments going north and east. I would presume these traveled mostly up the coastal rail (Weldon), and the Tennessee/West Virginia system to Staunton. I don't believe the link between Greenville and Danville was completed in 1864, was it?
Lubliner.
 
No wonder the wheels and rails took such a beating. That is a lot of mileage. Thanks @DaveBrt, I have followed those other discussions of shipments going north and east. I would presume these traveled mostly up the coastal rail (Weldon), and the Tennessee/West Virginia system to Staunton. I don't believe the link between Greenville and Danville was completed in 1864, was it?
Lubliner.
The Piedmont RR was completed in late Spring 1864. The Tennessee route, through Knoxville, was closed when that city was captured in early Fall, 1863. From the time of the fall of Knoxville to the opening of the Piedmont (8 or so months) ALL supplies for Richmond from the South went through Weldon, then up the Petersburg RR (the Weldon RR of Petersburg siege fame) to Petersburg, then up the Richmond & Petersburg RR and out on whichever RR was supporting Lee.

Weldon and Knoxville were the vital arteries sustaining the Richmond and Lee forces -- choke points as valuable and as vulnerable as Wilmington.
 
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