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  • | Newspaper

    An Alarm Of Fire

    This article from the July 21, 1877 issue of the Baltimore American describes the mob setting fire to railroad passenger cars and an engine.

  • | Law

    An Act to Require Railroad Companies to Provide Separate Cars for White and Colored Passengers

    Virginia's separate coach law, approved in January of 1900 and enacted July 1900.

  • | Illustration

    An "After Donkey Engine"

    This image from the August 11, 1860 issue of Harper's Weekly offers a cartoonist's rendering of the misleading term "AfterDonkey Engine."

  • | Newspaper

    Among the Ruins

    This article from the July 25, 1877 issue of the Pittsburgh Daily Post notes the railroad strike's extensive destruction and details public and private efforts to keep it under control.

  • | Book

    American Notes for General Consideration

    Dicken's American Notes came from his 1842 trip to the United States. The author visited prisons, politicians, and toured primarily in New England and the Great Lakes region. In this excerpt, he describes American train travel in its early period, segregated railcars, and the distinctions between gentlemen's and ladies' cars.

  • | Speech

    Alliance, OH Speech, 1896-08-10

    Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

  • | Illustration

    Alfred R. Waud, "Ruins of the Bridge over the Shenandoah River, Loudon Heights Beyond", 1864

    The partisan war in Loudon County, Virginia, turned especially violent in the fall of 1864. Confederate forces under John S. Mosby captured and killed Union soldiers in retaliation for the burning of civilian homes, and Union general George A. Custer responded by hanging seven of Mosby?s men. Then, on November 6, 1864, Mosby executed several more Union soldiers in response. The fighting took place along the Manassas Gap Railroad line and its bridges.

  • | Illustration

    Alfred R. Waud, "A Guerrilla", 1862

    When guerrillas attacked Union forces, the northern public was outraged. Confederate guerrillas and partisan rangers attacked the railroad and telegraph systems, opening up the war to civilians and exposing the remorseless nature of the national conflict. Their activities played a central role in the war.

  • | Speech

    Albany, NY Speech, 1896-08-25

    Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

  • | Newspaper

    After the Riot

    This July 24, 1877 article from the Pittsburgh Daily Post chronicles the efforts of militia, the police, and citizens to put down the railroad strike.

  • | Photograph

    African American wood choppers? hut on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad

    African American wood choppers? hut on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. Black men, many of them formerly enslaved on the South?s railroads, chopped timber for railroad ties, bridges, and fuel for the U.S. Military Railroads. Stationed at remote camps, such as this, they also faced the constant danger of Confederate partisan and guerrilla raids.

  • | Photograph

    African American Laborers on the U.S. Military Railroad in Northern Virginia, c. 1862 or 1863

    From the beginning of the Civil War, African Americans worked on the railroads, transferring their labor to the Union cause.

  • | Speech

    Ada, OH Speech, 1896-08-10

    Speech by William Jennings Bryan.

  • | Newspaper

    Account of the "Golden Spike" Ceremony, Promontory Point, UT on May 10, 1869

    This account of the "Golden Spike" ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869, as printed in the May 11th edition of the Salt Lake Telegram, describes the festivities involved and lists some of the important attendees. Following the article, the compiler offers a one-sided picture of the situation regarding pay for the Union Pacific's construction crews and details Samuel Reed's actions after the ceremony.

  • | Illustration

    Accident to the Boston Express

    This image from the March 23, 1872 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a train derailment on the Boston Express near Springfield, Massachusetts.

  • | 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.

  • | Book

    A Voice From the South: By A Woman of the South

    Anna J. Cooper, the first African American woman to earn a PhD, worked as a speaker, educator, and reformer. In this excerpt from Voice From the South Cooper addresses the contrast between the expectations of any middle-class, well-dressed woman traveling and the realities of the experience for African American women. Read with Richard Wells' Manners, Culture and Dress of the Best American Society, also featured on this site.

  • A View Of Pendleton

    This is an image of Pendleton, Ohio, the outer station of the Little Miami Railroad, in The Book of the Great Railway Celebrations of 1857.

  • | Illustration

    A Snow Drift On The Pacific Railroad

    This image from the March 19, 1870 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts workers and a snow plow attempting to clear a snow drift on the Pacific Railroad.

  • | Illustration

    A Skirmish Between the Rioters and Police In Eutaw Street, Baltimore

    When members of the Maryland National Guard moved through Baltimore on their way to Camden Station, street violence erupted as strikers and supporters protested the use of armed troops to keep order in Cumberland, Maryland.