The Importance Of Railroads In Georgia History
Railroads and their roll in Georgia history
Railroads and their roll in Georgia history
"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines from one city to another, almost as fast as birds can fly, 15 or 20 miles an hour.... A carriage will start from Washington in the morning, the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at Philadelphia, and sup in New York the same day.... Engines will drive boats 10 or 12 miles an hour, and there will be hundreds of steamers running on the Mississippi, as predicted years ago."
--Oliver Evans, 1800
It is hard to believe as early as 1800 people understood the importance of railroads as a vital means of transportation. From the railroads earliest …show more content…
roots in the 1630 's to the modern diesel engines that move millions of gross tons annually today, there is one thing that has not changed, the importance of the rail industry in America. To understand the role of railroads in Georgia you must first know the history of the railroad itself.
In 1630, a Englishman named Beaumont designed and built wagon roads for English coal miners using heavy planks on which horses pulled carts and wagons. In 1755 the first steam engine in America is installed to pump water from a mine. In 1804 Matthew Murray of Leeds, England invents a steam locomotive which runs on timber rails. This is probably the first railroad engine, and this was viewed by Richard Trevithick before he builds his locomotive later that year. As news made its way overseas the Americans were soon to jump aboard the Locomotive and Rail craze. In 1812 American Colonel John Stevens published a pamphlet containing documents tending to prove the superior advantages of railways and steam carriages over canal navigation. He also states, " I can see nothing to hinder a steam carriage moving on its ways with a velocity of 100 miles an hour." Colonel Stevens was definitely on to something, although railroads were not as power efficient as canal barges they could cross land masses that barges could not. And with steel wheels on steel rails there was very little friction where the wheel met the rail making steam locomotives very efficient. By 1825 the British had already built the first locomotive shop in New Castle and an 8-ton locomotive that could pull 90 tons of coal at 15 miles per hour. This was also the year Colonel Stevens built a steam wagon which he placed on a circular railway before his house in Hoboken, New Jersey. This single event sparked a flame that would spread like wildfire across the united states. In 1827 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) was chartered and in August 1830 ran the first passenger train carrying 36 passengers at 18 mph. 1830 was also the year that the railroads reached the southern states, South Carolina was the first state to have a regularly scheduled passenger service that year.
December 21st, 1836 was an important date in Georgia history, for this day saw the birth of one of the most storied railroads in the Nation, The Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&ARR).
The idea was to build a route that would link the cities of Chattanooga, Tennessee to the ports of Savannah, Georgia and through modern day Atlanta. The railroad saw many obstacles during its construction including economic depression, the loss of Chief Engineer 's who set out to design the state route, and other railroads trying to intervene for their own personnel wealth. There were also success stories from the building of the W&ARR like that of Mark Anthony Cooper. Cooper Returned from the Seminole Wars and in 1843 ran for Governor, although he lost the election he decided to purchase an iron furnace in Etowah. On December 22, 1843 days after the purchase, state legislation approved work to begin north of the Etowah River. Coopers Furnace, which still stands today, benefited tremendously from the railroad, both purchasing his iron and giving him a means by which to reach other customers. The town of Etowah, built around the furnace, flourished. One of the largest obstacles the W&ARR had prior to the civil war and the greatest engineering feat of the time was the Chetoogeta Mountain. Passengers would have to disembark the train and carry their luggage over the mountain to board another train to finish the route to Chattanooga. On May 9th, 1850 under chief engineer William L. Mitchell the tunnel through the Chetoogeta Mountain was complete, and for the first time travel westward was available. The completed railroad proved to be an economic miracle, creating commercial centers up and down the 138 miles of roadbed paid for by the state of Georgia. After completion of the Western and Atlantic Railroad the state of Georgia put it up for sale. The price, one million dollars, was significantly less than the 5 million dollar cost of the railroad construction. It would remain on sale for
seven years. The state had no buyers.
The Western and Atlantic Railroad 's largest part of Georgia history happened during the Civil War from April 12th, 1861 through November 16th, 1864. It served many rolls from taking troops north to Chattanooga to bringing wounded soldiers south to field hospitals around the Atlanta area. For the first year of the war the line was relative undisturbed, but on April 12, 1862, Andrew 's Raiders boarded a train in Marietta, Georgia, with the intent of disrupting supplies and support to Brigadier General Danville Leadbetter in the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. This still reigns as one of the greatest railroad accounts in American wartime history. The event occurred when a group of 20 men tried to steal the General, a locomotive on the Western and Atlantic. Boarding the train in Marietta, James Andrews and his men boldly stole the locomotive in Kennesaw because that depot did not have a telegraph, and Andrews knew that by the time word reached reinforcements he would be long gone. Andrews made his way quickly to Kingston, stopping to cut telegraph lines or repair the engine, but the increased traffic from the battle of Shiloh and General Ormsby Mitchel 's seizure of Stevenson, Alabama forced a layover of more than a hour in the Kingston rail yards. Pursuing the General, William Fuller and others advanced first on foot, then on a pole car, and then took another locomotive, the Yonah at Etowah Station to advance on the raiders. By the time Fuller reached Kingston he was less than an hour behind Andrews and his men. Fuller took the William R. Smith, a Rome Railroad locomotive in order to chase the General. North of Kingston, the raiders raised a track, ending Fuller 's use of the William R. Smith, but two miles further north they came upon the Texas, which sat on a sidetrack while the General went by. Engineer Peter Bracken, a transplanted Yankee, picked up Fuller and Andrew Murphy four miles south of Adairsville, then returned to Adairsville to drop his freight cars. Bracken continued north, driving the Texas at full-speed in reverse. About 2 miles north of the Ringgold Depot the chase came to an end when a brass fitting failed just as the wood supply was used up. "Every man for himself," came the order from Andrews. It took two weeks for the raiders to be caught and returned to Atlanta for trial. Their fates varied, but Andrews was hung on a site near present-day Juniper Street.
In the spring of 1864 General William Tecumseh Sherman would systematically rout the confederacy in Atlanta by using the W&ARR. Confederate General Joe Johnston and the army of Tennessee was tasked with defending Sherman 's advance. He used the W&ARR as his main supply route and retreated along it 's lines towards Atlanta. As he retreated Sherman did not destroy the W&ARR as he did other things, instead he saw it 's vital importance to the war effort. He rebuilt the route and operated it under Unions United States Military Railroad. On September 2, 1864, the Western and Atlantic Railroad ceased to exist when the city of Atlanta surrendered. John Bell Hood destroyed the roundhouse on the evening of September 1, 1864 with an explosion so loud that Sherman heard it in Rough and Ready. When Sherman and his men left for "salt water," they only left the railroad operating from Chattanooga to Dalton. Track from Dalton to Allatoona was raised and removed to Dalton for later use. As Sherman left from Cartersville on the March to the Sea his men started tearing up the track south of Allatoona Pass all the way to the Zero-mile marker in downtown Atlanta.
After the Civil War the W&ARR was rebuilt and immediately started moving passengers and freight along it 's lines. Today many of the famous locomotives that once traveled those lines can still be seen. The Texas resides in the cyclorama in downtown Atlanta, while the General resides in the Railroad Museum at Kennesaw. The route is still in use by CSX Transportation today and is respectfully named the W&A subdivision. The rail and roadbed in many spots lay dormant next to the raised roadbed of CSX 's mainline track. This important route still moves millions of gross tonnage freight annually to destination throughout the nation providing almost everything to modern day America. So next time you pass through Marietta and see a locomotive think about this crown jewel of Georgia history and marvel of national transportation history.
Works Cited
Golden Ink . (2012). Western and Atlantic Railroad in the Civil War. Retrieved from About North Georgia: http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Western_and_Atlantic_Railroad_in_the_Civil_War
Golden Ink. (2012). Building the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Retrieved from About North Georgia: http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Building_the_Western_and_Atlantic_Railroad
Houk, R. (2008, April 1). Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association. Retrieved from Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association: http://www.sdrm.org/history/timeline/index.html
Storey, S. (n.d.). Western & Atlantic Railroad . Retrieved from Georgia 's Railroad History and Heritage: http://railga.com/watl.html
Surviving Steam Locomotives in Georgia. (2012). Retrieved from Steam Locomotive dot com: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/lists/searchdb.php?country=USA&state=GA
Wood, K. (2012, October 22). Locomotive Mechanical Instructor and Railroad Historian. (C. Huntley, Interviewer)
Railroads and their roll in Georgia history
"The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines from one city to another, almost as fast as birds can fly, 15 or 20 miles an hour.... A carriage will start from Washington in the morning, the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at Philadelphia, and sup in New York the same day.... Engines will drive boats 10 or 12 miles an hour, and there will be hundreds of steamers running on the Mississippi, as predicted years ago."
--Oliver Evans, 1800
It is hard to believe as early as 1800 people understood the importance of railroads as a vital means of transportation. From the railroads earliest …show more content…
roots in the 1630 's to the modern diesel engines that move millions of gross tons annually today, there is one thing that has not changed, the importance of the rail industry in America. To understand the role of railroads in Georgia you must first know the history of the railroad itself.
In 1630, a Englishman named Beaumont designed and built wagon roads for English coal miners using heavy planks on which horses pulled carts and wagons. In 1755 the first steam engine in America is installed to pump water from a mine. In 1804 Matthew Murray of Leeds, England invents a steam locomotive which runs on timber rails. This is probably the first railroad engine, and this was viewed by Richard Trevithick before he builds his locomotive later that year. As news made its way overseas the Americans were soon to jump aboard the Locomotive and Rail craze. In 1812 American Colonel John Stevens published a pamphlet containing documents tending to prove the superior advantages of railways and steam carriages over canal navigation. He also states, " I can see nothing to hinder a steam carriage moving on its ways with a velocity of 100 miles an hour." Colonel Stevens was definitely on to something, although railroads were not as power efficient as canal barges they could cross land masses that barges could not. And with steel wheels on steel rails there was very little friction where the wheel met the rail making steam locomotives very efficient. By 1825 the British had already built the first locomotive shop in New Castle and an 8-ton locomotive that could pull 90 tons of coal at 15 miles per hour. This was also the year Colonel Stevens built a steam wagon which he placed on a circular railway before his house in Hoboken, New Jersey. This single event sparked a flame that would spread like wildfire across the united states. In 1827 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) was chartered and in August 1830 ran the first passenger train carrying 36 passengers at 18 mph. 1830 was also the year that the railroads reached the southern states, South Carolina was the first state to have a regularly scheduled passenger service that year.
December 21st, 1836 was an important date in Georgia history, for this day saw the birth of one of the most storied railroads in the Nation, The Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&ARR).
The idea was to build a route that would link the cities of Chattanooga, Tennessee to the ports of Savannah, Georgia and through modern day Atlanta. The railroad saw many obstacles during its construction including economic depression, the loss of Chief Engineer 's who set out to design the state route, and other railroads trying to intervene for their own personnel wealth. There were also success stories from the building of the W&ARR like that of Mark Anthony Cooper. Cooper Returned from the Seminole Wars and in 1843 ran for Governor, although he lost the election he decided to purchase an iron furnace in Etowah. On December 22, 1843 days after the purchase, state legislation approved work to begin north of the Etowah River. Coopers Furnace, which still stands today, benefited tremendously from the railroad, both purchasing his iron and giving him a means by which to reach other customers. The town of Etowah, built around the furnace, flourished. One of the largest obstacles the W&ARR had prior to the civil war and the greatest engineering feat of the time was the Chetoogeta Mountain. Passengers would have to disembark the train and carry their luggage over the mountain to board another train to finish the route to Chattanooga. On May 9th, 1850 under chief engineer William L. Mitchell the tunnel through the Chetoogeta Mountain was complete, and for the first time travel westward was available. The completed railroad proved to be an economic miracle, creating commercial centers up and down the 138 miles of roadbed paid for by the state of Georgia. After completion of the Western and Atlantic Railroad the state of Georgia put it up for sale. The price, one million dollars, was significantly less than the 5 million dollar cost of the railroad construction. It would remain on sale for
seven years. The state had no buyers.
The Western and Atlantic Railroad 's largest part of Georgia history happened during the Civil War from April 12th, 1861 through November 16th, 1864. It served many rolls from taking troops north to Chattanooga to bringing wounded soldiers south to field hospitals around the Atlanta area. For the first year of the war the line was relative undisturbed, but on April 12, 1862, Andrew 's Raiders boarded a train in Marietta, Georgia, with the intent of disrupting supplies and support to Brigadier General Danville Leadbetter in the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. This still reigns as one of the greatest railroad accounts in American wartime history. The event occurred when a group of 20 men tried to steal the General, a locomotive on the Western and Atlantic. Boarding the train in Marietta, James Andrews and his men boldly stole the locomotive in Kennesaw because that depot did not have a telegraph, and Andrews knew that by the time word reached reinforcements he would be long gone. Andrews made his way quickly to Kingston, stopping to cut telegraph lines or repair the engine, but the increased traffic from the battle of Shiloh and General Ormsby Mitchel 's seizure of Stevenson, Alabama forced a layover of more than a hour in the Kingston rail yards. Pursuing the General, William Fuller and others advanced first on foot, then on a pole car, and then took another locomotive, the Yonah at Etowah Station to advance on the raiders. By the time Fuller reached Kingston he was less than an hour behind Andrews and his men. Fuller took the William R. Smith, a Rome Railroad locomotive in order to chase the General. North of Kingston, the raiders raised a track, ending Fuller 's use of the William R. Smith, but two miles further north they came upon the Texas, which sat on a sidetrack while the General went by. Engineer Peter Bracken, a transplanted Yankee, picked up Fuller and Andrew Murphy four miles south of Adairsville, then returned to Adairsville to drop his freight cars. Bracken continued north, driving the Texas at full-speed in reverse. About 2 miles north of the Ringgold Depot the chase came to an end when a brass fitting failed just as the wood supply was used up. "Every man for himself," came the order from Andrews. It took two weeks for the raiders to be caught and returned to Atlanta for trial. Their fates varied, but Andrews was hung on a site near present-day Juniper Street.
In the spring of 1864 General William Tecumseh Sherman would systematically rout the confederacy in Atlanta by using the W&ARR. Confederate General Joe Johnston and the army of Tennessee was tasked with defending Sherman 's advance. He used the W&ARR as his main supply route and retreated along it 's lines towards Atlanta. As he retreated Sherman did not destroy the W&ARR as he did other things, instead he saw it 's vital importance to the war effort. He rebuilt the route and operated it under Unions United States Military Railroad. On September 2, 1864, the Western and Atlantic Railroad ceased to exist when the city of Atlanta surrendered. John Bell Hood destroyed the roundhouse on the evening of September 1, 1864 with an explosion so loud that Sherman heard it in Rough and Ready. When Sherman and his men left for "salt water," they only left the railroad operating from Chattanooga to Dalton. Track from Dalton to Allatoona was raised and removed to Dalton for later use. As Sherman left from Cartersville on the March to the Sea his men started tearing up the track south of Allatoona Pass all the way to the Zero-mile marker in downtown Atlanta.
After the Civil War the W&ARR was rebuilt and immediately started moving passengers and freight along it 's lines. Today many of the famous locomotives that once traveled those lines can still be seen. The Texas resides in the cyclorama in downtown Atlanta, while the General resides in the Railroad Museum at Kennesaw. The route is still in use by CSX Transportation today and is respectfully named the W&A subdivision. The rail and roadbed in many spots lay dormant next to the raised roadbed of CSX 's mainline track. This important route still moves millions of gross tonnage freight annually to destination throughout the nation providing almost everything to modern day America. So next time you pass through Marietta and see a locomotive think about this crown jewel of Georgia history and marvel of national transportation history.
Works Cited
Golden Ink . (2012). Western and Atlantic Railroad in the Civil War. Retrieved from About North Georgia: http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Western_and_Atlantic_Railroad_in_the_Civil_War
Golden Ink. (2012). Building the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Retrieved from About North Georgia: http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Building_the_Western_and_Atlantic_Railroad
Houk, R. (2008, April 1). Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association. Retrieved from Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association: http://www.sdrm.org/history/timeline/index.html
Storey, S. (n.d.). Western & Atlantic Railroad . Retrieved from Georgia 's Railroad History and Heritage: http://railga.com/watl.html
Surviving Steam Locomotives in Georgia. (2012). Retrieved from Steam Locomotive dot com: http://www.steamlocomotive.com/lists/searchdb.php?country=USA&state=GA
Wood, K. (2012, October 22). Locomotive Mechanical Instructor and Railroad Historian. (C. Huntley, Interviewer)