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  • | Time Table

    Orange and Alexandria Line "Irregular" Timetable

    This "irregular" timetable, published by the United States Military Railroads department, shows arrival and departure times on the Orange and Alexandria Line for "The Government of Operatives Only."

  • | Illustration

    Pickets of the 1st Louisiana ?Native Guard? Guarding the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad

    United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) recruiters in 1863 fanned out along the railroads, especially in Tennessee, stopping at depots along the route to sign up soldiers. Over 180,000 black men volunteered and enlisted for service in the U.S.C.T. Both white regiments and U.S.C.T. units found themselves guarding railroads and watching for guerrillas.

  • | Photograph

    Railroad construction workers hammer track as a third watches

    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.

  • | Illustration

    Railroad Depot at Resaca, Georgia

    This image from the July 2, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts Union soldiers under the command of General William T. Sherman near a railroad depot at Resaca, Georgia during the American Civil War.

  • | Illustration

    Railroad Junction near Corinth

    Corinth was at the junction of two railroad lines, the Mobile & Ohio and the Memphis & Charleston, and so was strategically important to both sides. This image was published shortly after the Seige of Corinth, in which the city was taken by Union forces.

  • | Photograph

    Railroad mortar "The Dictator" at Petersburg, Virginia, July 25, 1864

  • | Map

    Railroads and war zone counties, 1861?1865

    If the presence of the Union army and/or a battle constituted a war zone, then only in Virginia did the Civil War?s destruction touch the majority of counties. Vast sections of the South remained out of the war zone, but over the course of the war destruction tended to follow closely along the pathways of the major lines of communication and transportation. From Paul F. Paskoff, ?Measures of War: A Quantitative Examination of the Civil War?s Destructiveness in the Confederacy,? Civil War History, Vol. 54, No. 1 (March 2008). (Reproduced with permission of Paul F. Paskoff)

  • | Photograph

    Rails for military railroad, Alexandria, Virginia.

  • | Illustration

    Rebels Destroying the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

    This image from the October 8, 1862 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts three men at Fair View, Maryland observing Confederate forces in the distance working to destroy the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

  • | Photograph

    Ruins at Manassas Junction, March 1862

    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.

  • | Photograph

    Savage?s Station, headquarters of General George B. McClellan, June 27, 1862

    McClellan used the Richmond & York River Railroad to position his massive Army of the Potomac just a few miles from Richmond.

  • | Illustration

    Soldiers' Building Roads in Front of Petersburg

    This image from the November 5, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a train in the distance as Union soldiers under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant build a road near Petersburg, Virginia during the American Civil War.

  • | Illustration

    The "Chattanooga," a Steamboat Built by Soldiers

    This image from the December 5, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the Union steamer "Chattanooga," a steam ship built by Union Soldiers.

  • | Illustration

    The Army of the Potomac - The Great Depot of Supplies on the Railroad

    Northern audiences were hungry for information and images related to the war effort. Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia were focal points and thus often photographed and presented as illustrations.

  • | Illustration

    The Army of the Potomac Supply Depot

    This image from the December 12, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a Union railway supply depot for the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War.

  • | Map

    The Battle of Camden, North Carolina / Fort Macon and Vicinity

    Also known as the Battle of South Mills, the Battle of Camden depicted here took place April 19 and the seige of Fort Macon lasted from March 23 to April 26; both were part of General Ambrose Burnside's North Carolina Expedition. On May 6, 1862, these New York Daily Tribune maps provided readers with detailed images of fields of battle and transportation resources hundreds of miles of away - bringing images of warfare and the geography of an enemy region into their homes.

  • | Map

    The Defenses of Yorktown

    In the wake of the Seige of Yorktown (April 5 - May 4, 1862), readers of the New York Daily Tribune are provided with a map and description of the city's defenses, even as they read about the retreat of rebel forces from Yorktown.

  • | Illustration

    The Interior of a Hospital Car

    This image from the February 27, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the interior of a Union hospital car during the American Civil War. See Woman's Work in the Civil War on this site for the recollections of a hospital train nurse.

  • | Illustration

    The Railroad Bridge Over Bull Run

    This image from the December 12, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the condition of the railroad bridge over Bull Run during the American Civil War and features soldiers from the Union Army of the Potomac.

  • | Photograph

    The roundhouse, Chattanooga Railroad, Atlanta, in 1864