1862 | Photograph
African American laborers, free and contraband, worked for the Union Army to build and repair rail lines across the South. Note the bent and broken rails scattered in the background, signs of earlier destruction.
July 25, 1864 | Photograph
1861 | Photograph
1862 | Photograph
Numerous railroad hubs in the Confederacy became sites of repeated fighting, both large- and small-scale. Here, the ruins were the work of the Confederate Army as it abandoned its forward position in northern Virginia to protect Richmond.
1862 | Photograph
McClellan used the Richmond & York River Railroad to position his massive Army of the Potomac just a few miles from Richmond.
1864 | Photograph
1861 | Photograph
Construction corps at work on the Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg Railroad.
1863 | Photograph
Blockade runners became increasingly sophisticated, taking advantage of the latest technological innovations to achieve maximum speed. For Confederates, the blockade--combined with shortsighted Confederate policies of self-reliance--slowed time and cut off communication with the world of nations, damaging Confederate transatlantic ties and claims of modern progress.
March 28, 1863 | Photograph