Railroad Use During Sherman's Atlanta Campaign

Armin E. Mruck's article The Role of Railroads in the Atlanta Campaign begins by emphasising that railroads were not only used for transportation, but also as a strategy for both armies. He compares this to an expanding theme worldwide as several other wars across the globe began to use this new form of military weaponry. Mruck noted that the North obviously had a large advantage when it comes to standardized and efficient railroads during the Civil War. However, as he pointed out, the sorry state of the South’s rail lines might have actually been an advantage to the South. The invading Union army many times faced problems with occupation of an area because the railroad supply lines were inefficient and usually already destroyed by retreating Confederates. Mruck also mentioned Lee’s attention placed on disruption of the northern Baltimore and Ohio Railway, and the north-south connecting Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The bulk of the article explains how important railroads were in suppling Sherman’s advancing army past Atlanta. Rail lines had to be repaired and more locomotives and cars requested from the Louisville and Nashville because the Atlanta railroads shared the same gauge. Mruck used primary source accounts for the vast amount of supplies shipped by rail to Sherman’s army during 1864. Most notably of the figures were the nearly four hundred and fifty thousand pairs of shoes shipped. The article also went into detail of the protection that a railroad must have during the war to protect against Confederates that could possibly damage rails or bridges. Punishment for such crimes as damaging a bridge by locals was hanging. Troops were instructed by the Union Secretary of War to leave “them dangling close to the bridge.” The article mentioned several unsuccessful raids on Atlanta railroads after Sherman’s men had marched toward the sea and the forces of men that were specialized in repairing them. Mruck also talked about the vast amount of money that was made by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad during the war. It was the L&N's assistance and geographic location that aided the Atlanta Campaign more than any other. Mruck concluded by expressing the important link between war and technology and how railroads played their part in supplying one of the largest mobile armies in the history of the world up to that time. Mruck’s article proved the point that without railroads, the fall of Atlanta and the march to the sea would have not been as straightforward as Sherman’s army made it seem.

Mruck, Armin E. "The Role of Railroads in the Atlanta Campaign." Civil War History
      7, no. 3 (1961): 264-271. 10.1353/cwh.1961.0041