United States Military Railroad

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United States Military Railroad
Orange & Alexandria Railroad rail yard in Alexandria, Virginia
ActiveFebruary 1862[1] – 1865
Country United States of America
Branch United States Army
TypeTransportation
RoleStrategic movement, operational resupply
Nickname(s)"USMRR"
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Daniel McCallum

The U.S. Military Railroad (USMRR) was established by the United States War Department as a separate agency to operate any rail lines seized by the government during the American Civil War. An Act of Congress of 31 January 1862[2] authorized President Abraham Lincoln to seize control of the railroads and telegraph for military use in January 1862.[3] In practice, however, the USMRR restricted its authority to Southern rail lines captured in the course of the war. As a separate organization for rail transportation the USMRR is one of the predecessors of the modern United States Army Transportation Corps.

History

Further information: List of US military railroad civil engineers in the American Civil War
Transportation on the Potomac. Cars loaded at Alexandria can be carried on barges or arks to Aquia Creek, and sent to stations where the Army of the Potomac is supplied, without break of bulk.
Military railroad bridge across Potomac Creek, on the Fredericksburg Railroad

The American Civil War was the first war where railroads were a significant factor in moving troops and supplying forces in the field. The United States Military Railroad organization was established to coordinate this new capability for the

Secretary of War and overlapping authority between departments did affect their operations.[6] Over time the USMRR would buy, build or capture 419 locomotives and 6,330 cars[1] beyond the rolling stock that was requisitioned from the various Northern railroads. When Col. McCallum was first appointed the USMRR system consisted only of 7 miles of the Washington and Alexandria Railroad;[7] however, by war's end the USMRR exercised control over a network of more than 2,000 miles[8]
of military railroads and captured Southern rail lines.

Northern Virginia: 1862

Union soldiers survey wreckage on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.
Further information:
Northern Virginia Campaign

The Virginia Central Railroad and Orange and Alexandria Railroad

were the principal supply lines for the Confederate and Union forces, respectively.

Gettysburg Campaign

Further information:
Gettysburg Campaign

Chattanooga Campaign

United States Military Railroad 4-4-0 locomotive W.H. Whiton (built by William Mason in 1862) in January 1865 with Abraham Lincoln's presidential car, which later was used as his funeral car.
Further information:
Chattanooga Campaign

In the fall of 1863 the Confederate railroads, acting as interior lines of communication, transferred two divisions and an artillery battalion of Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s I Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, by railroad from Virginia to Georgia to reinforce General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee. The troops began arriving at the Catoosa Platform, Georgia on September 19,[9] having begun their journey from Virginia on September 9.[10] Ultimately, only 5 of Longstreet’s 10 infantry brigades arrived in time to participate in the Confederate victory at Chickamauga.[11] Following their defeat, the troops of MG William Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland fell back to Chattanooga, Tennessee where they were surrounded by the Confederates who occupied the heights surrounding the town.

On the evening of September 23, 1863, Secretary of War

Edwin Stanton convened a meeting with President Lincoln, Major General Henry Halleck, Secretary of State William Seward and Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase[12] to review plans to reinforce and relieve the Army of the Cumberland with troops from other Union departments. Major General William T. Sherman, with 4 divisions of the Army of the Tennessee, was already moving east from the vicinity of Vicksburg, Mississippi and expected to arrive in about 10 days.[12] Stanton proposed that reinforcements be sent from the then idle Army of the Potomac, his initial recommendation was to move 30,000 troops in just 5 days to the vicinity of Bridgeport, Alabama.[13] Much debate surrounded the proposal. Halleck opined that such a movement would require at least 40 days[13] and even the President doubted that the troops could reach Washington in 5 days.[13][14] Daniel McCallum of the USMRR was summoned to the meeting and given a basic outline of the plan. After making some quick calculations McCallum declared that the proposed operation could be completed within 7 days.[15] The President ultimately gave the order to begin the transfer of troops from the Army of the Potomac to the west, starting the largest troop rail movement of the war. In 12 days the USMRR moved approximately 25,000 men over 1,200 miles overshadowing the Confederacy's earlier movement of 12,000 men over 800 miles in 12 days.[16]

On September 24 the men summoned to plan the rail movement arrived in Washington to work out the details. Secretary Stanton telegraphed them asking for their assistance even before the President approved the plan:

Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad to deliver the troops to Bridgeport.[23]

While the railroad men planned the movement of reinforcements to the west, Halleck began issuing the orders that assigned actual units to the move. Major General

Manassas Junction, Virginia, to board trains, but had the corps’ artillery march to Alexandria, where the best facilities to load the guns were located.[25]

By the end of operations on September 25, 1863, 5,800 of the 7,500 soldiers in the XI Corps were on trains headed for Bridgeport.[25] By the morning of September 27, 12,600 men, 33 cars of artillery and 21 cars of baggage and horses were in motion.[26][27][28] By 10:30 PM September 30, the first 4 trains of troops reached Bridgeport.[29] By October 3 Major General Hooker was able to report that all of the XI Corps’ troops were at Bridgeport and the XII Corps was passing through Nashville to begin the final leg of the trip.[29] Moving the troops and artillery did not complete the job. On September 27 the railroads began loading the camp baggage, wagons, ambulances, horses and mule teams that were part of the corps. The XI Corps had 261 six mule teams, 75 two horse ambulances, 3 spring wagons and the XII Corps needed 150 four horse teams and 156 six mule teams moved.[30] The last regiment of troops passed through Indianapolis on October 6 and reached its destination October 8, 1863, ending the 1,233 mile troop movement.[31] By October 12, the USMRR and civilian railroads completed the movement of both corps and all of their artillery, transportation, and baggage.[21] From Bridgeport, Hooker marched his force towards Chattanooga to participate in the fighting to relieve the Army of the Cumberland.

Atlanta Campaign

Nashville, Tenn. Fortified railroad bridge across Cumberland River
Further information:
Atlanta Campaign

Petersburg Campaign

Railroad mortar at Petersburg, Va., July 25, 1864
City Point US Military Railroad Depot, looking towards the James River.
Further information: Siege of Petersburg

At the conclusion of the

James River in effort to capture the Confederate rail center of Petersburg and sever Richmond
’s supply lines. The Union did not capture Petersburg before the city's defenders were reinforced by troops from General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The continual Union movement towards the Confederate flanks gave way to digging as siege operations to isolate the Confederate capital began in earnest.

Grant established his headquarters on the grounds of

Benjamin Butler’s Army of the James. In all the United States Military Railroad supplied more than 100,000 troops and more than 65,000 horses and mules with food, equipment and supplies from the waterfront docks on the navigable portion of the James River at City Point.[32]

"Views of the stations of Grant's military railroad from city point to his extreme left—from sketches by A. W. Warren" (Harper's Weekly, December 24, 1864)

Initial railroad operations began when the USMRR rebuilt and restored service along 9 miles of the Petersburg and City Point Railroad’s line.[32][33] As the Union Army steadily extended its siege lines to the south and west, the USMRR construction corps followed in the Army's wake extending rail service from City Point to positions behind the new Union left flank. Eventually the USMRR added 21 additional miles of track which partially encircled Petersburg from the east to the southwest.[32] Parts of the USMRR extension are preserved today within the borders of Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, where a series of four historic markers show the route that the railroad followed behind the Union lines.[34] When Petersburg was eventually abandoned in 1865 the 25 engines and 275 pieces of other rolling stock had logged a grand total of 2,300,000 operating miles.[32]

Commanders

References

  1. ^ a b c Hodges Railroad Tactics p.7
  2. ^ "Records Relating to the U.S. Military Railroads". National Archives. August 15, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Gable, Railroad Generalship, p. 13.
  4. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.48
  5. ^ O.R. Series III, Vol. III (S# 124), p. 1126
  6. ^ Gable, Railroad Generalship, p. 14.
  7. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.21
  8. ^ Hodges Railroad Tactics, p.8
  9. ^ Turner, Victory Rode the Rails, p. 285
  10. ^ Turner, Victory Rode the Rails, p. 284
  11. ^ Turner, Victory Rode the Rails, p. 286
  12. ^ a b Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.4
  13. ^ a b c Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.5
  14. ^ a b Turner, Victory Rode the Rails, p. 289
  15. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.6
  16. ^ Gable, Railroad Generalship, p.6
  17. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.45
  18. ^ Weber, Northern Railroads, p.182
  19. ^ a b Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.53
  20. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.84
  21. ^ a b Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.97
  22. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.101
  23. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.120
  24. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.77
  25. ^ a b Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.73
  26. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.89
  27. ^ Turner, Victory Rode the Rails, p. 291
  28. ^ Weber, Northern Railroads, p.184
  29. ^ a b Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.130
  30. ^ Pickenpaugh, Rescue by Rail, p.131
  31. ^ Weber, Northern Railroads, p.186
  32. ^ a b c d "United States Military Railroad". National Park Service. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  33. ^ Gable, Railroad Generalship, p. 21.
  34. ^ "Fort Lee History". US Army. Retrieved August 10, 2012.

Bibliography

External links

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