The Louisville & Nashville Railroad was completed just as the first salvos of the Civil War erupted. As one of the few railroads linking the North and South, the L&N was valuable to both the Union and the Confederacy. Consequently, its route became a fiercely contested corridor of fire and blood. This history recounts the numerous military events along the L&N in the years 1861 through 1865, and also examines the still-resonant theme of the relationship between a major corporation and the government during a time of national crisis.

The Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) was incorporated in 1850 to build a rail line from Louisville, Kentucky, south to Nashville, Tennessee. The railroad was completed in 1861 just in time for the Civil War. L&N, unlike most southern lines, thanks to providing transportation for the Federal Army during the Civil War, survived the war with money available for expansion. Thus L&N acquired a number of southern railroads that would provide the L&N with track extending south from Louisville to Pensacola, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and New Orleans, Louisiana. L&N's Kentucky track was served by fifteen yards: Madisonville, Owensboro (Doyle), Bowling Green, Skilman, Louisville (Strawberry), Latonia, DeCoursey, Paris, Lexington, Winchester (Patio), Corbin, Ravenna, Hazard (Crawford), Loyall, and Harlan. Within the following pages we will journey over the L&N in Kentucky via postcards, but our journey routes will not always follow direct L&N train routing.

Details the important role that the railroad played in the Civil War particularly in the North (1860s).

Referring to the war that was raging across parts of the American landscape, Abraham Lincoln told Congress in 1862, "We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope on earth." Lincoln recognized what was at stake in the American Civil War: not only freedom for 3.5 million slaves but also survival of self-government in the last place on earth where it could have the opportunity of developing freely. Noted historian Steven E. Woodworth tells the story of what many regard as the defining event in United States history. While covering all theaters of war, he emphasizes the importance of action in the region between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River in determining its outcome. Woodworth argues that the Civil War had a distinct purpose that was understood by most of its participants: it was primarily a conflict over the issue of slavery. The soldiers who filled the ranks of the armies on both sides knew what they were fighting for. The outcome of the war—after its beginnings at Fort Sumter to the Confederate surrender four years later—was the result of the actions and decisions made by those soldiers and millions of other Americans. Written in clear and compelling fashion, This Great Struggle is their story—and ours.

The Civil War tore a hole in the country, creating a wound that was almost impossible to heal. At a time when the two sides of the nation were still struggling to accept the war’s casualties, something else came along to unite the county again. It was the Transcontinental Railroad—a line of train tracks stretching from one side of the war–torn country to the next. Read about the battle to find the best route for the rails, and discover how laborers survived drilling through mountain peaks and the onslaught of winter blizzards. Meet the people who persevered to accomplish this railroad, including the determined Mormon workers, the Irish immigrants, and thousands of Chinese workers. Also find out about the scandals and the huge impact of the rails on the lives of countless Native Americans.

By the time of the Civil War, the railroads had advanced to allow the movement of large numbers of troops even though railways had not yet matured into a truly integrated transportation system. Gaps between lines, incompatible track gauges, and other vexing impediments remained in both the North and South. As John E. Clark explains in this compelling study, the skill with which Union and Confederate war leaders met those problems and utilized the rail system to its fullest potential was an essential ingredient for ultimate victory.

The American Civil War was the world's first full-blown 'railroad war'. The well-developed network in the North was of great importance in serving the Union armies' logistic needs over long distances, and the sparser resources of the South were proportionately even more important. Both sides invested great efforts in raiding and wrecking enemy railroads and defending and repairing their own, and battles often revolved around strategic rail junctions. Robert Hodges reveals the thrilling chases and pitched battles that made the railroad so dangerous and resulted in a surprisingly high casualty rate. He describes the equipment and tactics used by both sides and the vital supporting elements – maintenance works, telegraph lines, fuel and water supplies, as well as garrisoned blockhouses to protect key points. Full-colour illustrations bring the fast-paced action to life in this fascinating read; a must-have volume for rail and Civil War enthusiasts.

In its early years, the Wilmington & Raleigh Rail Road Company survived multiple threats to its existence. Under its new corporate name, the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Company would soon be put to the ultimate test, the Civil War. From mobilization to the last effort to supply Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the company would endure the wearing out of its equipment and rails; the capriciousness and bureaucracy of the Confederate government; sabotage attempts; the gruesome death of its president; a yellow fever epidemic; Union raids on its facilities and bridges; runaway inflation in Confederate economy; the fall of Wilmington; its bisection by advancing Union forces; and, finally, the unnecessary destruction of locomotives, cars, track, and bridges by retreating Confederate troops. The railroad, unlike the Confederacy, survived, and would eventually transform itself a powerful regional economic force, adapting to the challenges of the New South.

How railroads both united and divided us: “Integrates military and social history…a must-read for students, scholars and enthusiasts alike.”—Civil War Monitor Beginning with Frederick Douglass’s escape from slavery in 1838 on the railroad, and ending with the driving of the golden spike to link the transcontinental railroad in 1869, this book charts a critical period of American expansion and national formation, one largely dominated by the dynamic growth of railroads and telegraphs. William G. Thomas brings new evidence to bear on railroads, the Confederate South, slavery, and the Civil War era, based on groundbreaking research in digitized sources never available before. The Iron Way revises our ideas about the emergence of modern America and the role of the railroads in shaping the sectional conflict. Both the North and the South invested in railroads to serve their larger purposes, Thomas contends. Though railroads are often cited as a major factor in the Union’s victory, he shows that they were also essential to the formation of “the South” as a unified region. He discusses the many—and sometimes unexpected—effects of railroad expansion, and proposes that America’s great railroads became an important symbolic touchstone for the nation’s vision of itself. “In this provocative and deeply researched book, William G. Thomas follows the railroad into virtually every aspect of Civil War history, showing how it influenced everything from slavery’s antebellum expansion to emancipation and segregation—from guerrilla warfare to grand strategy. At every step, Thomas challenges old assumptions and finds new connections on this much-traveled historical landscape."—T.J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt