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Category Archives: Weapons
Civil War Railroads – Conclusion
About three weeks ago – on October 19, 2018 – Emerging Civil War called “all-aboard” and chugged into the history of railroads during America’s defining conflict. It’s been a good journey with details about traveling by rail, trains during campaigns, … Continue reading
Posted in Emerging Civil War, Weapons
Tagged Civil War Railroads, civil-war-railroads-18, conclusion
2 Comments
Railroads – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: Confederate Target, Crucial Union Lifeline
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (“B&O”) was chartered in 1828 as one of the first commercial railroads in the world. Construction began that year, connecting Annapolis, Maryland to Wheeling in the far northwestern corner of antebellum Virginia. The B&O eventually … Continue reading
Railroads – The Virginia Central Railroad: A Target For Union Raids
The Virginia Central Railroad was chartered as the Louisa Railroad in 1836 by the Virginia Board of Public Works. The name was changed to the Virginia Central Railroad in 1850. It ran from westward from Richmond and ended in Gordonsville, … Continue reading
Railroads: Management in the War
As with much in the war, it’s not just advantages of more resources, but how they’re applied, that is important. Better railroad management was a key in Union victory. Important advantages that the Union possessed included more railroad mileage (20,000 … Continue reading
Railroads: The Louisville and Nashville Railroad
It is often underappreciated how the Louisville & Nashville Railroad’s status impacted the operations of Major General W.S. Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland. I discuss it in this except from my book about Stones River and Tullahoma: Throughout … Continue reading
Civil War Railroads: An Overview
As we discuss Civil War railroads this month, let’s start out with some basic concepts. It is important to remember that this was new technology when war broke out. No general, North or South, had ever used railroads in wartime … Continue reading
Posted in Weapons
Tagged Antebellum, civil-war-railroads-18, Logistics, military history, Railroad
4 Comments
Civil War Railroads – Introduction
Railroad iron is a magician’s rod, in its power to evoke the sleeping energies of land and water. Ralph Waldo Emerson During the American Civil War, railroad iron evoked and moved more than natural energies. Along the iron tracks rattled … Continue reading
Posted in Weapons
Tagged civil-war-railroads-18, Emerging Civil War, introduction, railroads
4 Comments
Around We Go: In the Monitor Turret
Lieutenant Samuel D. Greene, USN, had a problem. He was encased within a dim, claustrophobic, metal drum—20 feet in diameter—behind eight layers of bolted and riveted 1-inch-thick iron plates in charge of two immense 11-inch Dahlgren shell guns, each 13 … Continue reading
Unvexed Waters: Mississippi River Squadron, Part 2
Part I of this post introduced the unprecedented U.S. Army Western Gunboat Flotilla—soon to be reorganized as the U.S. Navy Mississippi River Squadron—and carried it through the victorious battles of Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862. The next … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Campaigns, Navies, Weapons, Western Theater
Tagged Andrew H. Foote, Battle of Island Number 10, Battle of Memphis, Charles Davis, Charles Ellet Jr., Confederate River Defense Fleet, David D. Porter, Henry Walke, Mississippi Marine Brigade, Mississippi River Squadron, Plumb Point Bend, Siege of Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant, USS Carondelet, USS Cincinnati, USS Mound City, USS Queen of the West, Western Gunboat Flotilla
1 Comment
Sea Power at Port Royal Sound: A Missed Opportunity?
On November 5, 1861, the Confederate Secretary of War established the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida as a military department, assigning one of his most senior and experienced officers, General R. E. Lee, to command it. No … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Emerging Civil War, Leadership--Federal, Navies, Personalities, Weapons
Tagged Battle of Port Royal, blockade, Charleston, Coast Defenses, David Farragut, David Porter, Fort Beauregard, Fort Walker, Joint Army and Navy Operations, Port Royal Sound, Robert E. Lee, Samuel F. DuPont, Savannah, Sea Power, Thomas W. Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant
4 Comments
