While the Civil War dealt a
devastating blow to many companies operated within the south, one such
exception was the tremendous growth accomplished during and after the Civil War
of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. In a book written in 1867 called the Travers Guide to the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad, the company documented its own history and war
experiences to show the resilience of the corporation. The book also detailed
towns and attractions along the line and their importance during the war. Initially
connecting the namesake cities, the railroad was severed on over twenty
different occasions by guerrillas and raiders including John Hunt Morgan. The
guide details each of the raids and subsequent rebuilds by company engineers,
many taking place at the Barren, Cumberland, and especially the Green River
Bridge. Crews could rebuild a bridge in weeks or even days, only for it to be destroyed
again by Morgan’s men. Bowling Green, roughly half way between Louisville and
Nashville stayed in Confederate control throughout much of 1862 and even
Louisville was threatened with occupancy before Buell went on the offensive
removing Bragg's troops from Kentucky. Still after the southern army left
Kentucky, more raids followed regularly until March of 1865, each time railroad
men repaired damaged rails and bridges to resume service. Raiders also
destroyed depots, supply houses, water towers, locomotives, rail cars, and
robbed passengers. The guide states that, “The soldier on the field of battle
exhibits no more courage than the engineer, who, in the dark night, dashes at
lightning speed over a track which he might find at any time obstructed. The
danger with him is constant. From the time he left Louisville until he reached Nashville,
he was, at any moment, liable to be thrown off the track, or pierced with bullets.”
Locomotives were taken over by guerrillas and run into oncoming trains. Not only
Morgan, but Magruder, Sue Munday, and Harper were all mentioned for their
efforts to stop rail traffic. The publication sought to honor their employees
service to the company and country saving, “Yet all stood nobly to their posts,
performing their duties faithfully, and with alacrity under the most trying
circumstances. They were neither unconscious nor unmindful of their danger, but
they also knew that they were seconding the efforts of the nation to restore
the Union….” The Louisville and Nashville Railroad contributed to the Union war
effort, but usually out of necessity. By 1865 the estimated cost of damages to
the railroad was over $688,000. Adjusted for inflation, that is over ten
million dollars today. Still with all of their loss of property and labor, the
L&N’s net earnings during the war rose from $461,000 in 1861 to $2,172,515
in 1865. This was during a time when the government prohibited shipping of any
merchandise other than Union army supplies south. To ensure profits, the
L&N was known to smuggle shipments by wagon around government check points
along the rails, meanwhile delaying Union army supplies to Tennessee and
Georgia. Union officials many times had issues with L&N president Guthrie,
but the major North-South connection was too valuable to risk losing to the
Confederacy so such acts were overlooked. An article of the book is devoted to
honoring James Guthrie. He was a Kentucky Senator, former US Secretary of the
Treasury, and greatly aided the L&N during the war. Though a Union supporter,
he was critical of Lincoln and had Southern sympathies. Another oddity is that
the L&N hired former Confederate General Basil Duke as lawyer and lobbyist for
the company after the war. Not only was he married to John Hunt Morgan’s
sister, he had taken command of Morgan’s men after was killed. In 1868 after
Guthrie retired, Milton Smith was elected president and continued to expand the
company by using the aggressive Reconstruction era technique of buying up smaller
unprofitable railroads with northern investor money. Under Smith’s leadership
the railroad went from a post Civil War 300 miles to a turn of the century 6000
miles. Both war and Reconstruction proved very profitable to the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad in the face of Confederate destruction and Federal restrictions.
Klein, Maury. History of the Louisville & Nashville
Railroad. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
Travelers Guide to the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad. Louisville, KY: Lucas & Co. Southern News &
Advertising Agents, 1887.
What you wrote was particularly interesting. I have seen parts of the railroad track you have written about in Louisville. I read quite a bit about the raids done in the South, especially the ones conducted by Grant, where they destroyed may railroads in War Upon the Land. The author does not go into much detail about how exactly the railroads were destroyed other than the typically tearing the tracks up. I knew that there were large amounts of train track destroyed in the deep South, but for some reason never figured that it occurred more North. In fact, I am not quite sure that happened in the North; it would be interesting to find out. Anyway, I never thought of the raiders actually crashing the train cars together for some reason. The book you chose sounds interesting for a travelers guide - good choice.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! My dad is the first male in his family to not work for the L and N railroad that we have positive record of. I remember as a child listening to railroading stories from my great grandfather, grandfather, and uncle. I never gave it much thought until taking this class but my great grandfather would have worked for the L and N shortly after the civil war. So certainly during the reconstruction era he would have experienced some of the troubles of not knowing what lay on tracks ahead lol. I can't imagine the constant fear the engineers must have experienced on a daily basis running these trains full steam ahead not knowing if there was track around the next bend or a possible runaway train sent for there demise.
ReplyDelete