University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2004 Breakdown from within : Virginia railroads during the Civil War era. Larry Edward Johnson 1956- University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation Johnson, Larry Edward 1956-, "Breakdown from within : Virginia railroads during the Civil War era." (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 695. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/695 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BREAKDOWN FROM WITHIN: VIRGINIA RAILROADS DURING THE CIVIL WAR ERA By Larry E. Johnson B.A., The College of William and Mary, 1988 M.A.T., The University of Louisville, 1994 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts Department of History University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2004 Copyright 2004 by Larry E. Johnson All rights reserved BREAKDOWN FROM WITHIN: VIRGINIA RAILROADS DURING THE CIVIL WAR ERA By Larry Edward Johnson B.A., The College of William and Mary, 1988 M.A.T., The University of Louisville, 1994 A Thesis Approved on April 16, 2004 By the following Thesis Committee: Thesis Director ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my wife, Holly, and my children, Holly and Sarah. You are the trinity upon which my life revolves. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Thomas Mackey, my mentor and advisor for the support provided to me in writing this thesis. Without your guidance, careful criticism, and expert advice, this project might have died in place. Your thoughtful comments, suggestions, and the ever so timely kick in the pants kept me going. I would also like to thank my wife, Holly Morrison. To you, dear lady, lowe sincere thanks for the many journeys you made to dusty ages gone by. Your confidence in my abilities and the emotional support you provided helped to make all this possible. To my daughter Sarah, also go my thanks. You are the swan inside the duckling and I believe you too will shine. May you see this effort as a symbol of what hard work brings. To my oldest daughter, Holly, I send thanks for allowing me the privilege of watching a tender girl evolve into a beautiful young woman. Our Williamsburg years will always be priceless. IV ABSTRACT BREAKDOWN FROM WITHIN: VIRGINA RAILROADS DURING THE CIVIL WAR ERA Larry E. Johnson April 16, 2004 This thesis is an examination of the Virginia railroad system during the Civil War. Using extensive and primary secondary sources, the thesis argues that the Virginia General Assembly, the Confederate Government under Jefferson Davis, and the superintendents of Virginia's carriers inadequately utilized one of the state's, and subsequently, the Confederacy's, primary assets. This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one focuses on the limited historiography of Civil War railroads. Chapter two examines the Confederacy's attempts to find a government-level railroad chief. The efforts by Virginia's railroad superintendents to keep their lines operating during a time of civil war are examined in chapter three. Chapter four is a case study of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the only Civil War railroad to operate in the Confederacy and the Union. Chapter five consists of conclusions. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................... .iv ABSTRACT .........................................................................................v CHAPTER I: HISTORIOGRAPHY AND VIRGINIA'S ..................................... 1 WARTIME RAILROADS Historiography ............................................................................. .1 Primary Sources ............................................................................3 Contemporary Sources .....................................................................6 Articles ...................................................................................... .14 Dissertations ................................................................................ 16 Virginia Railroads in 1861 ................................................................20 CHAPTER II: THE CONFEDERACY SEARCHES .......................................... 27 FOR A RAILROAD CHIEF Abraham C. Myers, Confederate Quartermaster General ............................28 William S. Ashe, 1861-1862 ............................................................. 29 William S. Wadley, 1862-1863 ......................................................... .43 Frederick W. Sims, 1863-1865 .......................................................... 52 CHAPTER III: VIRGINIA GEOGRAPHY, STATE OVERSIGHT ........................ 68 AND WARTIME CIVILIAN RAILROAD SUPERINTENDENTS Roads, Turnpikes, Canals, and River Travel. .......................................... 72 The Virginia Board of Public Works .................................................... 81 VI Track Gauges ...............................................................................85 Railroad Superintendents .................................................................. 86 Tredegar Iron Works and Material Procurement...................................... 91 Road Company Cannabilism .............................................................99 Slave Labor and Conscription ........................................................... 111 CHAPTER N: THE BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD: ................................ 123 A CASE STUDY Baltimore Builds a Railroad ............................................................. .124 John W. Garrett, Civil War Superintendent of the B&O ............................ 127 The B&O: A Northern or Southern Railroad? ...................................... .128 The B&O Transports Union Soldiers to Tennessee .................................. 137 CHAPTER V: VIRGINIA'S RAILROADS FAIL TO MEET .............................. .142 TO MEET CIVIL WAR NEEDS The Lack of Strong Leadership ......................................................... 144 Critical Shortages in Materials and Labor ............................................. 146 The Problem of Varying Track Gauges ................................................ 149 The Failure to Regulate the Railroads ................................................. 152 REFERENCES .................................................................................... 160 CURRICULUM VITAE .......................................................................... 167 VII CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: HISTORIOGRAPHY AND VIRGINIA'S CIVIL WAR RAILROADS Like field commanders, politicians during war must face uncertainty and take chances. Between 1861 - 1865, Confederate leaders did not take chances with their railroads. As a result, the Confederate war effort suffered. During the United States Civil War, three experienced and well-trained men served as railroad chiefs for the Confederacy and each man found himself frustrated by the Confederate bureaucracy. In each of the Confederate states, the central government found itself at the mercy of individual railroad superintendents or state boards of public works, each group viewing their state's economic progress and their contribution to the Civil War as one and the same. Southern railroad superintendents understood the value of their relationship to the war effort but rather than embrace the patriotic zeal that swept through the South, they contested and debated the Confederate government on every issue relative to the rails. Little cooperation emerged between the Confederate government and the Confederacy's railroads. This study argues that despite having the most sophisticated rail system in the South at the beginning of the Civil War, several factors contributed to the failure of Virginia's railroads to meet wartime needs. Serious errors in management decisions by Virginia's legislators and road company executives hurt the Confederate cause. Although Virginia's railroads escaped the first rounds of conscription, subsequent manpower drafts 1 drained the carriers of white workers and forced the road companies to resort to slave labor. Material misallocation and a shortage of iron prevented the railroads from operating at full capacity thereby creating a situation where the road companies turned inward and resorted to cannibalism. By the end of the Civil War, Virginia's rail system, once the pride of the South, lay in ruins. Since the war, fIre or wanton destruction have taken a toll on many Civil War records. The flames that engulfed Richmond in the closing days of the war destroyed a great deal of the original records stored at the Confederate Quartermaster and Railroad Bureau offices. Retreating Confederate and invading Union soldiers destroyed additional records. As a result, the historiography of Civil War railroads is both varied and dated. Noted historian Charles W. Ramsdell explained the problems historians encountered as they wrote about any aspect pertaining to the history of the Confederacy. For example, Ramsdell argued