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  • | Document

    Travel Accounting, Freedmen's Bureau

    An accounting of Freedmen's Bureau-sponsored travel on the Virginia Central Railroad during the first half of 1867. Many emancipated African Americans traveled American railroads to old and new homes in the wake of the Civil War - the Freemen's Burueau paid for much of the travel.

  • | Document

    Travel Order Freedmen's Bureau

    A Freedmen's Bureau travel voucher for 107 adults and 16 children (under 12) - "destitute freedpeople" traveling from Charlotte, North Carolina to Plaquemines, Louisiana. Generally, when large numbers of freedpeople travelled, it was under the terms of a labor contract.

  • | Government document

    Senate Report on Catharine Brown

    The U.S. Senate Committee on the District of Columbia hears testimony about the forcible ejection of Catherine Brown from the Alexandria and Washington Railroad coach. Multiple witnesses are called and the circumstances of her removal are described.

  • | Government report

    Testimony of Major Erasmus L. Wentz, Superintendent of Norfolk and Petersburg R.R

    Major Erasmus L. Wentz, supervising work on the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, testifies as to the quality of contraband labor over that of Irish workers. Wentz notes that the contrabands work for less pay.

  • | Government report

    Testimony of Robert Pitcairn to the Committee

    Robert Pitcairn served as the Pittsburg division superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad and had ordered the double-heading of trains on July 19th for all eastbound traffic. Because trains would be twice as long but run with fewer trainmen, workers on the Pennsylvania refused to run the trains and the strike spread from the Baltimore and Ohio onto the Pennsylvania lines. Pitcairn describes his view of the violence in Pittsburg, emphasizing the restraint of the military and the riotousness of the "crowd." Pitcairn places special emphasis on the role of the women in the crowd.

  • | Government report

    Testimony of Roger O'Mara, Chief of Detectives of Pittsburgh

    Roger O'Mara, Pittsburgh Chief of Detectives testified on February 11, 1878 to the committee appointed to investigate the railroad strikes. He emphasizes the inability of the local police force to serve warrants and restrain the crowd.

  • | Government report

    Testimony by Norman M. Smith, manager of the Pittsburgh transfer station for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company

    Norman M. Smith describes the moment of firing into the crowd in Pittsburgh and his impressions of the military and the "mob."

  • | Government report

    Testimony of Soloman Coulson, a police officer at the time of the Pittsburgh riot

    Testimony given on February 12, 1878 by Soloman Coulson, a Pittsburgh police officer, described the violence at the railroad roundhouse and the makeup of the crowd gathered outside the roundhouse.

  • | Illustration

    Viaduct on Baltimore and Washington Railroad

    A steel-engraved image by Henry Adlard, from a drawing by William Henry Barlett, in American Scenery or Land, Lake, and River Illustrations of Transatlantic Nature.

  • | Illustration

    Hours of Departure of the Passenger Trains

    Note the delicate illustration of the passenger car in this advertisement.

  • | Illustration

    Railroad Results Illustrated in the case of a Railroad of 35 Miles

    An example of the ways opportunities created by railroads pushed Americans to to conceptualize space and time in new ways, this illustration for the article "Thoughts on a Rail-Road System for New Orleans and the Southwest. No. III" emphasizes the commercial opportunities offered by rail networks.

  • | Illustration

    Barnum's City Hotel, Monument Square, Baltimore

    This 1858 advertisement for the Barnum Hotel in Baltimore promotes the hotel, notes a few of its luxuries, and boasts of the ability to house 600 guests. Railroads helped inaugurate a wide array of luxury hotels designed to meet the needs of a traveling public and business class.

  • | Illustration

    Accident on the New York Central Railroad

    This image from the May 28, 1858 edition of Harper's Weekly depicts an accident on a railroad bridge near Utica, New York.

  • | Illustration

    Railroad Cars Traversing the Submerged Wabash Valley

    This image from the June 26, 1858 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a train passing through the Wabash Valley during a flood.

  • | Illustration

    Scene During the Inundation at Cairo, Illinois

    This image from the June 26, 1858 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the flooding of Cairo, Illinois.

  • | Illustration

    The Erie Railroad Accident—the Cars Going Off the Track

    This image from the July 31, 1858 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the beginning of a train derailment on the Erie railroad.

  • | Illustration

    The Scene After the Accident

    This image from the July 31, 1858 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the scene at a train derailment on the Erie railroad.

  • | Illustration

    The railroad depot at Pittsburgh (Harper?s Weekly, December 4, 1858)

    The railroad depot at Pittsburgh (Harper?s Weekly, December 4, 1858). Pittsburgh celebrated 100 years since Fort Duquesne was captured from the French--the railroad depot stood on the site of the old fort, a symbol of the city?s modernity. By 1861 Pennsylvania possessed over 500 depots, so many that 85 percent of the state?s population lived within fifteen miles of a depot.

  • | Illustration

    Artists' Excursion Over The Baltimore & Ohio Rail Road

    Noteworthy for its marvelous illlustrations, this feature article portrays the joys of railroad travel.

  • | Illustration

    Nisi Pro Nobis

    "Except for us" - sun coming out after a cloudy journey.