Member Review Nashville & Decatur RR

[DaveBrt]

Walter Green, Jr., The Nashville & Decatur in the Civil War, 2022, McFarland Publishing, 248 pages, excellent maps, index, bibliography, price $39.

Many of you will know part of this story since the railroad was on the route that Hood used to invade Tennessee and retreat from Nashville.

The three railroads, operating as one, became fully operational in mid-1860 and served the Confederacy until very early in 1862. After the Union took over, the value of the road was based on Union strategic plans. The connection of the massive Union base in Nashville to the Memphis & Charleston RR in northern Alabama provided a way to supply operations for a third route of attack into the western Confederacy (the other two being down the Mississippi River and down the Nashville & Chattanooga RR).

Green is a retired professional civil and structural engineer who lives on the line of the road. His book views the war through the eyes of an engineer and logistician, not an army general. Such a view gives us information on the building, destroying and rebuilding of railroad structures and railroad protection efforts. Battles and raids are discussed as they affected the roads, but are otherwise covered in brief passages. The locations of bridges, stockades and blockhouses are discussed, as are the units and commanders who built and defended them.

Green rounds out the book with histories of the construction of the three roads, their officers, rolling stock and facilities. He also covers the post-war reconstruction of the roads and their merger into a single road.

Thanks to the Union committing much of what they did to written reports and the retention of that material, the book is unusually complete. This is the most complete record of a Civil War railroad that I have read and I highly recommend it to those interested in the war in Middle Tennessee.

 

[Lubliner]

It sounds good that a professional civilian of such capacity would document a complete book on the subject. Do you know if he has written any other books, or planning another one?
Lubliner.

 

[DaveBrt]

It sounds good that a professional civilian of such capacity would document a complete book on the subject. Do you know if he has written any other books, or planning another one?
Lubliner.

He has written articles for the local historical journal and the city of Franklin. I do not know about future book plans.

 

[lupaglupa]

My gr-gr-gr-grandfather was a major investor in the Nashville and Decatur. At his death in 1872 he owned 57 bonds valued at $500 each (roughly $700,000 today). After his death the family split the value of his shares but got in a fight over who got what which led to a bunch of lawsuits.

 

[Lubliner]

My gr-gr-gr-grandfather was a major investor in the Nashville and Decatur. At his death in 1872 he owned 57 bonds valued at $500 each (roughly $700,000 today). After his death the family split the value of his shares but got in a fight over who got what which led to a bunch of lawsuits.

I am surprised those bonds still held any value, unless he acquired them after the war, when the Yanks helped return it to civilian control.
Lubliner.

 

[DaveBrt]

I am surprised those bonds still held any value, unless he acquired them after the war, when the Yanks helped return it to civilian control.
Lubliner.

If the bonds were bought during construction or after the war, why would they not still be valid? The company still existed and was still based on its original charter. Bonds sold during the war could also still be valid, depending on the bond's wording. They usually required dividends and final payment "in the current currency" or words to that effect.

 

[lupaglupa]

I am surprised those bonds still held any value, unless he acquired them after the war, when the Yanks helped return it to civilian control.
Lubliner.

I'm pretty certain he bought them early on, but I'd have to really dig to be sure.

 

[Georgian1950]

I believe that the Nashville & Decatur Railroad was not incorporated until 1866 when the three predecessor lines were consolidated. The lines may have been referred to as the Nashville & Decatur during the War, but the corporation did not exist.

 

[DaveBrt]

I believe that the Nashville & Decatur Railroad was not incorporated until 1866 when the three predecessor lines were consolidated. The lines may have been referred to as the Nashville & Decatur during the War, but the corporation did not exist.

That is true, though the three lines knew full well that they would only be viable if operated as a single company. This had been decided on before the war started, but the war prevented the legislature from passing the required legislation until 1866.