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  • | Photograph

    Fredericksburg from the river. Showing Confederate troops and bridge. (taken at a distance of one mile.)

    Similar in composition to the December 13, 1862 Harper's Weekly image, in this picture the close proximity of armies to one another is evident.

  • | Photograph

    Fortified Railroad Bridge Across Cumberland River, Nashville, Tennessee, 1864

    Confederate guerrilla forces, often operating as regular cavalry units, attacked Union-controlled railroad lines. They shot into trains, destroyed tracks, took prisoners, killed Union soldiers, and burned bridges. Union commanders responded by developing block houses and fortified bridges to protect the vulnerable lines, equipping trains with special armor, recruiting loyal local citizens to ferret out guerrillas, and dispatching special counterinsurgency cavalry units to track down the Confederate guerrillas.

  • | Map

    Field of Operations on the Potomac

    This map from the New York Daily Tribune is an example of the methods newspapers used to help Americans visualize the geography of warfare — shaping their perceptions of the war and the landscapes on which it was fought. This map illustrates the position of Union forces along the Potomac just days before many of the troops headed south to begin the Peninsula Campaign.

  • | Illustration

    Exchanging Salutations with the Enemy

    Harper's Weekly featured regular illustrations of southern towns and battlefields for Northern audiences following the war. This image of Fredericksburg echoes a photograph by Matthew Brady.

  • | Book

    Education of Henry Adams

    The Education of Henry Adams is a personal account of the vast changes wrought on civilization over the course of the 19th century; technology, politics, economics, cultural, and intellectual transformations drive Adams' reflections. In the following excerpts, Adams addresses the transportation revolution.

  • | Photograph

    Eastern view of round house and depot, Orange & Alexandria Railroad

  • | Illustration

    Earth Works near the Rappahannock Railroad Bridge

    This image from the November 7, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts defensive works built near the Rappahannock Railway Bridge during the American Civil War.

  • | Illustration

    Destruction of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad

    This image from the May 21, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts Union soldiers from the First Brigade, Third Division of the Twenty-third Army Corps destroying the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad during the American Civil War.

  • | Illustration

    Destruction of Cars by General Hood

    This image from the October 1, 1864 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the destruction of railway cars by Confederate General John Bell Hood before the evacuation of Atlanta during the American Civil War.

  • | Photograph

    Depot at Hannover Junction, PA

    Northern railroad stations became places to gather for news and information. President Abraham Lincoln passed through Hanover Junction in November 1863 on his way to Gettysburg for the opening of the national cemetery. Crowds gathered to meet the president.

  • | Photograph

    Cumberland Landing, Federal encampment on the Pamunkey River, Virginia, May 1862

    Federal Encampment on the Pamunkey River, Va., May 1862. Union soldiers came into the South by steamer and train in the first year of the war. They closely observed the landscape, assessing and comparing it to their northern communities.

  • | Photograph

    Contrabands at Cumberland Landing, Virginia, May 1862

    In the Peninsular Campaign, Federal forces encountered thousands former slaves who sought freedom and work in the Union army camps. Even if slaves fled slavery, their status was unclear in the first year of the war. In July 1862 Congress declared such refugees from slavery ?forever and henceforth free.?

  • | Photograph

    Confederate guns, Pensacola Bay, 1861

    Columbiad guns of the Confederate water battery at Warrington, Fla., near Pensacola, February 1861. With the railroad to Pensacola under construction and finally completed in May, the Confederates could move large guns and troops more quickly to the coast.

  • | Photograph

    Cars of U.S. Military Rail Road, and bridge built by soldiers

  • | Illustration

    Burning the Rappahannock Railroad Bridge

    This image from the November 7, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the burning of the Rappahannock Railway Bridge on October 13, 1863 during the American Civil War.

  • | Illustration

    Burning the Railroad Bridge 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 destroying a railroad bridge at Resaca, Georgia during the American Civil War.

  • | Photograph

    Boxcars with Refugees at Railroad, Atlanta, Ga., 1864

    With the capture of Atlanta, General William T. Sherman?s army seized an important rail hub for the Confederacy. This image of refugees and African Americans, sitting on rail cars with their possessions, indicates the massive displacement that came with the war.

  • | Photograph

    Bird?s Eye View of Machine Shops, with East Yard of Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Alexandria, Va., [1861-1865]

    In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, African Americans seized the opportunity to work and to travel. Visible just to the left of the railroad shop smokestack and roundhouse stood the old Price and Birch "Slave Pen" at 1315 Duke Street.

  • | Illustration

    Big Shanty Station

    This image from the July 9, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts Union soldiers under the command of General William T. Sherman at "Big Shany Station" near Kennesaw, Georgia.

  • | Photograph

    Barricades at Alexandria, Virginia.