What Role Did Locomotives Play In The Civil War

The railways became an important system that guided settlement and delivered economic opportunity for much of the United States. Railroads allowed access to places that people had no means of getting to and provided an opportunity to develop cities and towns

Its social and economic impacts dwell greatly in the 1800’s to the era of 2000’s as trains have always turned America into something greater in those times where travel and transport were at its hardest, but in 1862 congress passed a bill in which it would forge new history all together with the Pacific Railroad Bill and several grants that allowed financial support for Railroad companies primarily Central Pacific

The Transcontinental railroad was the most prolific tool for United States western expansion and acted as jet fuel to the fire of the United States economy. The railroad revolutionized transportation of goods and the freedom that Americans now had to travel from coast-to-coast.

We use the railroads for many things now days. In the civil war, railway systems were one way a force could gain the benefits of inside argumentation,, and as generals pursued this strategy the Civil war became “the first great railroad war” in Mississippi. The Mississippi railroads made it easier for things to transport in and out of Mississippi. The status of inside lines can be achieved by a violence having a central location relation to the enemy or by a force having superior lateral communication relative to the enemy. It is the importance of railroads and the interior lines that they promised that catapulted the otherwise modest town of Corinth, Mississippi into the center stage of the Civil state of War. At the meter of the Civil War, Corinth was still a young town. Corinth stands as a multi-faceted demonstration of how railroads influenced procedure and scheme in the Civil War. It had already brought together the two great armies that clashed at Shiloh. In bend the Confederates and Federals had defended and attacked it, struggling for its ascendency. The Mississippi railways made it easier, traveling wise. During the years 1880-1899 ,Civil War days in Corinth, the railroads were way more significant and important to Corinth’s people. Back in those type of days, there was hardly any transportation for people. So they took highly advantage of the railroads. However, from the years 1900-1950, Industrial Corinth, the railroads were still important but not as highly as the years 1880-1899 being more things were getting invented as in cars and trucks, mainly for transporting goods. Now in the years 1950-2015, Modern day Corinth, the railroad importance went down. In these days we have things like big 18 wheelers and over seas transportation. There was more transportation now and the 18 wheelers deliver more faster. Over the years, we’ve created things

During the early stages of the Civil War, railroads proved to have a phenomenal effect on achieving the Union victory over the Confederacy. The railroads not only helped to transport soldiers and goods throughout the Union sufficiently, but also increased the production rate and preservation of manufacturing. Upon seeing the power of railroads in war efforts, the Pacific Railroad Act was passed in 1862, which provided federal bonds and land grants for building a transcontinental railroad, along a northern route("Landmark Legislation:The Pacific Railroad Act"). The act pronounced that "the said corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to layout,

Most railroads had been destroyed in the Civil War. After the Civil War, they rebuilt the railroad. By 1905 they had railroads going all over the South.

The Antebellum period is known as the period before the Civil War. However, it is described as the periods between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The word e “antebellum,” means before the war, and “reform,” means the improvement of what is wrong. The Antebellum period made transportation more efficient for people who traveled. The Transportation Revolution provided several new, reliable, safe and cost-effective ways to travel to different parts of the nation, including new land in the west. The transportation Revolution changed America by new types of transportation, economic growth, expansion, and the culture in the south.

It was the same with the omnibus that was created in 1826, because it moved slowly and didn’t hold many people. The steam railroad was another form of transportation that was introduced in 1835 and it was a better form of transportation because it moved quicker and could hold many more passengers, but it was also expensive and didn’t always take the people to where they wanted to go because it didn’t stop very often, and only went one route.

Prior to the start of the Civil war in 1861, the South was still a heavily agricultural based society and remained so for years after the war ended. On the other hand, the North’s economy relied more on manufactured products rather than agricultural products. With the North’s openess to advancements in technology, came advancements in travel and shipping. The biggest advancement in travel at the time was the invention of the railroad system. The North’s percentage of railroad tracks, when compared to the total of railroad tracks located within the North and the South, was about 72 percent (Doc. C). Meaning the South had to rely on the North to transport most of the time so their crops could be transported

Mining companies used them to ship raw materials to factories over long distances quickly. Manufactures distributed their finished product by rail to points throughout the country. The rails became highly profitable businesses for their owners. (www.theusaonline.com)

Nineteenth century America was a time of rapid growth and expansion. The movement of settlers further and further west accompanied by technological advances led to the major growth of cities and industries across the American frontier. However, it was the major innovations of transportation that had the most significant impact on the expansion of Midwestern and western America. The construction of canals and roads led to the increase in the use of stagecoaches, steamboats, and ultimately railroads.

Another great invention of transportation during this time was the train. America’s first train was invented by George Stephenson in 1822, and by 1825 the train was the first locomotive. Obviously everything at this time was made by hand, and every part of this engine had to be hammered into shape just like a horseshoe. John Thorswall, a coalmine blacksmith, was George’s assistant. The invention of George was very important in America because it allowed transportation from place to place in a quicker time. This boosted the economy by helping distribute many goods all around the country. Even letters were being delivered faster, so communication was increasing.

Soon other lines followed throughout the country. Railroads affected almost every aspect of American life. The rapid spread of the railroads provided the basis for a tremendous westward movement of population. It also carried raw material to, and finish product from factories to consumers in a more efficient way (The USA online, n.d.). The railways became highly profitable business for their owners.

Railroads have been an important part of America’s history. These railroads had a major role in the settlement of the West. The most important railroad in American history is the transcontinental railroad. The transcontinental railroad impacted western settlement by bringing in immigrants, aiding travel to the frontier, and changing people and the economy.

Railroads were the linchpin in the new industrialized economy. The railroad industry enabled raw materials, finished products, food, and people to travel cross-country in a matter of days, as opposed to the months or years that it took just prior to the Civil War. By the end of the war, the United States boasted some 35,000 miles of track, mostly in the industrialized North. By the turn of the century, that number had jumped to almost 200,000 miles, linking the North, South, and West. With these railroads making travel easier, millions of rural Americans flocked to the cities, and by 1900, nearly 40 percent of the population lived in urban areas.