Confederate Railroad Construction Plans

Confederate Railroad Construction Plans

Confederate leaders saw the value of expanding the Southern railroad network in numerous places. Most of these construction projects had been discussed as commercial ventures before the war and some of their backers saw this as an opportunity to push construction of their projects with Confederate Government support and money. Many roads not listed were chartered during the war, but they did not sell enough stock to officially organize and did no construction work. (Roads continuing work on their original road's plan are not listed.)

Connection

Status

Greenville, N. C. to Danville, Va.

(the Piedmont Railroad)

This 50-mile connection had been desired before the war, but rejected by the North Carolina Legislature because it would take traffic off the North Carolina RR. Only the war requirement to provide a second route from the lower South to Richmond overcame the opposition. The road was wholly owned by the Richmond & Danville RR and built by them, with Confederate Government power providing the required labor and iron. The road was well laid out, but poorly built because of the scarcity of labor and materials. The road was completed in 1864 and was vital to keeping Richmond supplied after Grant broke the Petersburg RR.

Danville, Va. to Company Shops, N. C. (the Milton & Yanceyville RR)

This road was proposed in very early 1861 as a way to connect the two railroads while cutting into the North Carolina RR's freight revenue as little as possible. The road would have been about 60 miles long.

NP, RD 2-14-61

NP, RD 3-6-61

NP, RD 4-8A-61

Selma, Al. to Meridian, Miss.

(the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers Railroad)

This 104-mile road had been started before the war as a connection in the Montgomery to Vicksburg route. With the Memphis & Charleston RR very vulnerable to being broken at Memphis or on the Tennessee River, it was critical for the South to create a second rail route across the lower Confederacy. This line was part of the solution, but lacked two sections -- 5 miles on the Tombigbee River and the 45 miles from Selma to Montgomery, filled in by the steamboats on the Alabama River. Except for the Tombigbee bridge, the road was completed in December 1862.

Lawton, Ga. to Live Oak, Fl.

This 49-mile connection between the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad and the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad was opposed by Florida railroad men before the war. It was feared that goods would travel by rail to Savannah or Charleston, rather than to Jacksonville; it would also destroy the rationale for the Florida Railroad. Confederate leaders wanted the road to enable them to send troops to defend Florida (without having to station them there) and to enable them to draw food (particularly beef) from Florida. Construction was slow because of the lack of iron; enough was eventually obtained by removing it from the Florida Railroad, despite court injunctions. The road was completed in March of 1865.

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 612

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 777

FA, P&G 12-14-61

NP, MAR 2-15-62

NA, QM 4-3-62

OR Series 1, Vol. 53, Page 274

OR Series 1, Vol. 28, Part 2, Page 459

OR Series 1, Vol. 31, Part 3, Page 787

OR Series 1, Vol. 35, Part 2, Page 594

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 560

OR Series 1, Vol. 49, Part 1, Page 1029

Blue Mountain, Al. to Rome, Ga.

This was a 61-mile extension of the Alabama & Tennessee River Railroad to make a connection in the rear of the Army of Tennessee so that it could be supplied without relying solely on the Western & Atlantic RR. The route was easy and 1/2 grading completed, but little or no iron was laid. The Georgia portion of the road was chartered in Georgia as the Georgia & Alabama RR.

OR Series 4, Vol. 2, Page 139

OR Series 4, Vol. 2, Page 144

SOR, Series 95, Page 123

OR Series 1, Vol. 28, Part 2, Page 410

NA, ENG 10-16A-63

OR Series 1, Vol. 31, Part 3, Page 787

OR Series 1, Vol. 52, Part 2, Page 641

OR Series 1, Vol. 52, Part 2, Page 647

New Orleans, La. to Orange, Tx.

This New Orleans & Texas RR was a link in the long-planned rail line from Houston to New Orleans. For war purposes, it would have made it much easier to get Texas troops and beef to the main war theaters. Most interest was lost shortly after New Orleans was captured, but see the later documents. The road was to be 117 miles long and connect the Texas & New Orleans RR to the New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western Railroad at New Iberia, La. The 50 miles of the New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Northern from the head of the line to New Iberia had been graded and was ready for iron in early 1862. A. M. Gentry was President and E. L. Heriot was Chief Engineer. L. H. Place was Secretary in 1862. Board of Directors is in NP, NOTP 2-23A-62.

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1013

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1073

NP, NOTP 4-23-62

NP, NOTP 4-23A-62

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1108

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1113

Keysville, Va. to Clarksville, Va.

The Roanoke Valley Railroad was so poor that it recognized that to survive, it needed to connect to the Richmond & Danville Railroad and become part of a through route. When war came, it saw itself as a vital, incomplete route around the dangerous area around Petersburg and Norfolk. General Lee was convinced of the value of the short (30-mile), easy extension that was already under construction (3 miles of track had been laid and much grading completed) and promoted it. Unfortunately for the Roanoke Valley RR, their roadbed and track were in such poor condition that their road would need to be rebuilt along with the extension. This extra work, and the minimal improvement in the supply situation that the new route would provide, caused the project to be dropped. It was unrealistically resurrected in the very last days of the war.

OR Series 1, Vol. 2, Page 830

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1022

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1025

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1085

NP, RD 1-13-65

NP, RD 2-21-65

NP, RD 2-24-65

Raleigh, N. C. to Columbia, S. C.

(the Chatham Railroad)

This road was chartered three times between 1855 and 1862 to run from Raleigh to the coal fields at Locksville, in Haywood, N. C. Company literature made it clear that this was just the first step in a road connecting the two state capitals and in becoming part of a great road from New York to Mobile. Grading began in 1863 from both ends, but stopped the next year with only 5 miles graded. Raleigh and the mid-South needed the coal and iron ore the 29-mile road could have provided, but the South could not afford the price. Kemp Plummer Battle was the President, Ellwood Morris was Chief Engineer and William Worrell Vass was Treasurer throughout the war; Directors are listed in the 4/24/62, 4/22/63, 3/4/64 and 3/4A/65 newspaper articles. The unofficial name of the road was the Coalfields RR.

Cheraw, S. C. to Egypt, N. C.

(the Cheraw & Coalfields Railroad)

This 55-mile road was intended to supply coal to Charleston by connecting with the Cheraw & Darlington Railroad. It was chartered in 1857. Construction (grading, at least) began in 1862 and was still in progress in 1864. At least 10 miles were graded, but no iron was laid. Allan Macfarlan was President.

NP, WJ 12-22B-62

SCA, C&C 11-30-63

Tallahassee, Fl. to Chattahoochee (Apalachicola) River

This 22-mile road would have run from the end of the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad, at Quincy, Fl., to Appalaga, Fl., on the Chattahoochee River. The road's purpose was to connect Florida and southern Georgia to the rest of the lower South by using river steamboats to Columbus, Ga. The road was graded, the ties furnished, and trestling built in 1862.

OR Series 1, Vol. 53, Page 206

FA, P&G 12-15-62

NA, ENG 6-9A-63

NA, ENG 12-3-63

OR Series 1, Vol. 31, Part 3, Page 787

OR Series 1, Vol. 47, Part 2, Page 983

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 1053

Albany, Ga. to Thomasville, Ga.

This was a 55-mile route, proposed in early 1865, to connect southern Georgia and Florida to the rest of the lower South. It would have allowed the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad to save its rolling stock and put it to use for the Confederacy. It is not known whether surveys had been done, but no work was started.

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 1053

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 1095

Thomasville, Ga. to Bainbridge, Ga.

This plan would have constructed a 38-mile road from the end of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad to the Chattahoochee River. It was one more last-minute effort to connect southern Georgia and Florida to the rest of the lower South. How much study had been done on this route is unknown. No work was done.

OR Series 1, Vol. 53, Page 386

Columbia, S. C. to Augusta, Ga.

(the Columbia & Hamburg Railroad)

This road would have required 69 miles of iron and would have finished the other 10 miles on South Carolina Railroad track from Graniteville to Augusta (Hamburg was on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River and had been the first terminus of the original South Carolina RR). This road was probably the most important road not constructed by the Confederacy, since it gave an inland route between the Georgia Railroad and the Central (of Georgia) Railroad on the west and the Charlotte & South Carolina Railroad on the east. This would have relieved the stress on the roads near the coast and, most importantly, would have provided a line of transportation if the coastal roads were captured or destroyed in North or South Carolina. A considerable amount of grading was done in 1864 (25 miles were reported complete), but no track was laid until 1867. William Johnston was the President, James G. Gibbs the Chief Engineer and Henry Moore was Secretary & Treasurer.

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 968

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 1095

Montgomery, Al. to Union Springs, Al.

This 38-mile road would have been of great value by allowing shipments to remain on the same gauge cars from Mobile to North Carolina, circumventing the smaller gauge Montgomery & West Point Railroad. How far the planning had gone is not known; no work is likely to have been done.

NA, QM 10-21-64

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 1095

Blue Mountain, Al. to Jacksonville, Al.

This briefly considered road would have been about 20 miles long. Its purpose was to reduce the length of the wagon haulage from the railhead to the Army of Tennessee, at Gadsden, Al. The saving of 5 miles of wagon effort was out of all proportion to the effort required to haul the iron to the work site. No work was done and the Army soon moved out of Gadsden.

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 742

Jackson's River, Va. to Covington, Va.

(Virginia Central Railroad)

This 9-mile extension of the Virginia Central Railroad had been long planned, the route was graded, and the iron was on hand. That railroad, however, expected to have to use this rail to maintain its road, due to the heavy demands being made on it. The road wanted the Confederate Government to provide iron from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad or some other source for this extension. The extension was to help bring in crops and to help supply the army operating to defend western Virginia (later West Virginia). Though the extension was deemed important, the rail was not provided. The idea was resurrected in late 1863.

NA, QM 10-3A-61

NP, RD 2-10B-62

OR Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 944

OR Series 1, Vol. 29, Part 1, Page 946

NA, ENG 2-25B-64

Covington, Va. to White Sulphur Springs, Va. (West Va.)

This 21-mile section of the Covington & Ohio RR was under construction before the war. Its value to the Confederacy was in its ability to better support Confederate troops operating in Western Virginia. The road depended on the completion of the Virginia Central RR's section between Jackson's River and Covington, provision of iron rails by the Confederate Government, and Confederate troops to operate in Western Virginia. Since none of these conditions were met, construction was not continued.

Warrenton, Ga. to Macon, Ga.

(the Milledgeville Railroad)

This road of about 75 miles, designed to connect the Georgia RR and Macon by way of the capital, Milledgeville, was well under construction early in the war. Seven miles of track had been laid from Warrenton toward Sparta when, in April 1862, the Confederate Government seized all but the rail laid and three additional miles of track (enough to reach the Ogeechee River). Grading, bed and masonry had mostly been completed to Milledgeville in late 1862 and work was still in progress to finish all but building the bridges and laying the track, with the plan to have everything in readiness to quickly lay the rail as soon as peace came and the rail could be imported. The road had one construction train, which may have been rented from the Georgia RR, with which it connected at Warrenton.

Montgomery, Ala. to Selma, Ala.

This 77 mile road would have completed an all-rail route from Vicksburg to Charleston and was of vital importance. According to the 1862 annual report of the Montgomery & West Point RR, the entire road was placed under contract by January 1, 1862, with grading to be finished by the end of the year and arrangements were being made to secure the same type aid offered by the Government to the construction between Selma and Meridian. The route of the road was very difficult because the land on the shortest route was very low and swampy. It is very unlikely that any iron was laid on this road during the war.

NP, NOTP 1-12-62

NA, M&WP 1-23-62

OR Series 4, Vol. 3, Page 1095

Canton, Miss. to Aberdeen, Miss.

(the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad)

This was a 120-mile feeder line through a major cotton producing area. The route would cross the Mobile & Ohio RR at either Prairie or Egypt stations and continue northeast for another 9 miles. The first 26 miles from Canton to Kosciusko was completely graded and the remaining 14 miles to Kosciusko had been partly graded during 1861. By early 1862, the 9 miles from Aberdeen to the Mobile & Ohio RR was complete enough to begin laying iron as soon as the resident Engineer could get the Mobile & Ohio RR to forward the iron from Mobile. The switch and siding had been put in by the Mobile & Ohio RR. It is not know whether that iron was ever laid, but the rest of the line was not completed until after the war.

In Richmond, Va.

A Virginia law, enacted February 1, 1862, allowed the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR and the Richmond & Petersburg RR to construct their own connection within the city. This connection was later deemed to be useless because of the heavy grade.

AR, R&P 2-1-62

NA, ENG 6-24-64

The Richmond City Council also allowed the temporary connection of the Virginia Central and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RRs.

B5, RCC 5-26-62

B5, RCC 9-8-62

NP, RD 9-10-62

In Petersburg, Va.

A Virginia law, enacted February 1, 1862, allowed the Richmond & Petersburg RR and the Petersburg RR to construct their own connection within the city.

AR, R&P 2-1-62

Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR to the Orange & Alexandria RR and the Manassas Gap RR

This connection of about 45 miles was designed to provide another rail line from central to northern Virginia to support the army in that area. The connection was authorized by the Virginia General Assembly in mid-February of 1862. Before construction could begin, the army left the area to return to Richmond to confront the Union army advancing up the Peninsula.

NP, RD 2-17-62

AR, RF&P 2-19-62

Savannah, Ga. to Tybee Island, Ga.

This 17-mile branch was designed to provide a way to get goods from the island at the mouth of the Savannah River to Savannah without having to remove the obstructions the military had placed in the river. There is no indication any work was done on the road and it became meaningless once the Union captured Tybee Island and then Fort Pulaski.

AR, SA&G 12-11-61

Meridian, Miss. to Chattanooga, Tn.

(the Northeast & Southwest Alabama Railroad)

This 207-mile road had just begun construction when the war began -- only 27 1/2 miles had been laid. In early 1863, the road requested a loan in order to complete the road. It would have provided another route into Chattanooga to support the Army of Tennessee and would have tapped the very rich iron and coal belts of central Alabama. The great amount of work remaining and the lack of iron prevented the Government's giving the loan to complete the road, though the Engineer Bureau did recommend the completion of the southern 123 miles of the uncompleted portion.

NA, ENG 4-4-63

Saltville, Va.

The demand for salt from the Saltville, Va. works prompted such expansion of the works and its operations that the Virginia & Tennessee RR tracks at the works were frequently jammed with trains. Also, the increased operations required that wood be brought several miles by wagon to keep the kettles going. A 4-mile extension of the track was constructed to ease both problems.

NA, ENG 5-7-63

NA, ENG 5-9-63

Calera, Ala. to Oxmoor, Ala.

(the South & North Alabama Railroad)

The road was a wartime expedient to connect Red Mountain to Selma, Alabama. The route used the one already surveyed for the unbuilt Alabama Central Railroad. It started at iron furnaces near Shades Mountain and connected to the Alabama & Tennessee River Railroad at Calera. It was extended from Shades Mountain to Oxmoor in late 1863, a total of 25 miles.

NA, A&F 4-3-63

B8, ALA 4-16-64

NA, QM 10-1-64

Shelby Iron Works to the Alabama & Tennessee River Railroad

(Shelby Iron Company Railroad)

This 5-mile road was a wartime expedient to connect the Shelby Iron Company to the Alabama & Tennessee River RR. The local Confederate Ordinance official prevented the construction for over two years by threatening to have senior Company employees conscripted if they constructed the road. Construction began in 1863 and was completed in January, 1865.

B8, ALA 4-16-64

Georgetown, S. C.

Thus far I know of this road only from correspondence with Tredegar Iron Works in 1861. It appears that it was to run from Georgetown to the Northeastern RR, a distance of about 36 miles. In May of 1861, William Green was the Chief Engineer and had a request to buy a locomotive from Tredegar. He had also given Tredegar reason to believe he would need spikes and chairs shortly, so money must have already been raised. There is no indication that any construction was started.

LVA, TRED 5-17-61

LVA, TRED 5-31-61

Strother Iron Works, Ala.

A 1 1/2 mile road from the Alabama & Tennessee River RR, at Ashby, Ala., was graded to the Iron Works. No iron was laid during the war. Additional grading extended 2 1/2 miles toward the coal fields between the Cahaba and Little Cahaba Rivers.

NP, TAR 2-25-64

Port Royal, S. C.

This approximately 20-mile road was intended to connect the port of Port Royal to the Charleston & Savannah RR. It was chartered in 1861 and construction efforts were being made in late 1863 -- toward a port held by the Union since 1861. Over 30 miles were graded by the end of 1863. The officers for 1864 (and probably also 1863) were President, R. J. Davant; Chief Engineer, C. S. Gadsden; Secretary and Treasurer, A. C. McGillivray; Superintendent, B. L. Willingham.

Waldo to Ocala, Fla.

This 33-mile branch of the Florida RR was designed to enable the collection of Florida beef from central Florida. Its pre-war intention had been to be a link in a branch from Waldo to Tampa Bay. Grading had been done to Ocala before the war, but it is unlikely that any work was completed during the war because of lack of manpower and money.

NA, ENG 12-3-63

Western RR to North Carolina RR

The 1860 North Carolina Legislature offered construction assistance to the Western RR if it decided to extend to meet the North Carolina RR. The Western agreed to the terms and ordered surveys started. Whether any further work was done is not known. Depending on the route taken, this extension would have been from about 30 to about 45 miles long.

NP, WJ 3-26-61

NP, CW 10-31-64

Richmond Coal Fields to the Richmond & York River RR

This 19-mile road had been under discussion by the railroad for several years. The road from the pits to Hungary Station on the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR had been built by the owners of the pits and the intention for some time had been to continue the existing road over to the Richmond & York River RR. This appears to have been a formal step in creating that feeder road.

NP, RD 3-25-61

Augusta, Ga. to Branchville, S. C.

This 75-mile stretch of the South Carolina Railroad was proposed for double tracking in early 1864. I have found no indication that a bridge to Augusta was intended -- the track would have ended in Hamburg, S. C. This would have increased the capacity of the interior rail chain and would have been essential if Union forces broke the Charleston & Savannah RR.

NA, ENG 4-14A-64

NA, ENG 5-3-64

Shelby & Broad River RR

The road was chartered in both North and South Carolina by February, 1863, with plans to commence grading immediately to the Magnetic Iron Works, on the Broad River. The closest connection for the road would have been with the Wilmington, Charlotte & Rutherford RR, only 6 miles from Shelby, was not mentioned in the article. The mentioned connections were with the Spartanburg & Union RR (31 miles), the King's Mountain RR (35 miles) and the Charlotte & South Carolina RR (48 miles). The connection with the Spartanburg & Union RR could have eventually extended to Greenville and formed a link in the air line from Atlanta to Richmond. The President for 1863 and 1864 was Bentley D. Hasell. Directors are named in the May, 1863 article.