Railroads played a strategic Civil War role during the Tennessee campaigns of spring 1862.  With the fall of Forts Donelson and Henry to Federal gunboats, Confederate General A. S. Johnston realized that Nashville was indefensible and retreated toward Murfreesboro.  Plans to evacuate supplies from Nashville faltered when panicked citizens and bridge washouts overwhelmed southbound lines.  Johnston, aware that he could not defend both Middle Tennessee and the Mississippi, decided to protect the river and Memphis.  The most strategic point was the railroad junction at Corinth, Mississippi, where the Mobile & Ohio joined the Memphis & Charleston.  Using railroads extensively, Johnston concentrated troop from all over the Confederacy at Corinth.  Meanwhile, Federal General Grant gathered his forces at nearby Pittsburg Landing.  The two forces battled near Shiloh Church in April 1862.  After Johnston was killed, the Confederates retreated, leaving Union forces in control of the only Confederate line between Virginia and the Mississippi River--thus disabling Confederate rail transport west of Chattanooga and north of Vicksburg, and permitting Union access southward to Alabama and Mississippi as well as eastward to Stevenson (Alabama) just outside the critical rail junction of Chattanooga.

Grant was assigned to guard the railroad communications with the Mississippi, and Buell was assigned to take Chattanooga.  But Confederate General Bragg delayed federal movement toward Chattanooga with harassing raids by Forrest and Morgan against the Federally held Memphis & Charleston and Nashville & Chattanooga, allowing Confederate troops to move by rail from Tupelo to Chattanooga.  Grant created a defensive railroad triangle encompassing Memphis, Humboldt, and Corinth.

Meanwhile, Bragg launched a surprise thrust into Kentucky, and Buell followed to prevent Confederates from taking the rail supply line into Kentucky.  After an inconclusive battle at Perryville (Kentucky) in October 1862, Bragg retreated to Murfreesboro.  Lincoln replaced Buell with Rosecrans, who advanced from Nashville to attack Bragg.  As 1863 began, the rival armies fought at Stones River, forcing the Confederates to retreat south toward Chattanooga.  Huge amounts of supplies arrived in Murfreesboro after the battle ended via the Nashville & Chattanooga, and enormous Fortress Rosecrans was erected to protect this critical supply depot.

The Confederates decided to concentrate additional forces at the center where Bragg and Rosecrans were evenly matched.  In an amazing transportation feat, Confederate troops traveled by rail from Virginia (via an indirect 1000 mile route), while others marched from Mississippi.  In September 1863, Rosecrans moved toward Chattanooga, and Bragg withdrew to Georgia.  Rosecrans recklessly pursued Bragg until the Confederates delivered a severe blow at Chickamauga, forcing the Federals to retreat back to Chattanooga.  Bragg then advanced on Chattanooga and occupied Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, thus controlling the city's transportation routes.  With Federal forces nearing starvation, Secretary of War Stanton devised an ambitious plan to relieve the siege of Chattanooga through massive rail transport of troops from Virginia.  With these reinforcements, General Thomas (who replaced Rosecrans) secured Chattanooga, thus delivering all of Tennessee to Federal control.  This remarkable transportation feat proved that (under strong centralized control) railroads could project substantial military force across great distances in a short time.

After Confederate General Hood escaped Sherman's Atlanta campaign of 1864, he raided Federal rail lines to Chattanooga, and invaded Tennessee, hoping the Federals would follow him to supposedly advantageous terrain.  But Sherman sent Thomas and Schofield to Tennessee, where they defeated the Confederates at Franklin in November and Nashville in December.  At this point, the Confederates retreated from Tennessee for the last time, effectively leaving Tennessee's railroads completely under Federal control.

In retrospect, even though the Confederate railroads served their military forces well, when Federal forces secured control of the Southern railroad network, they solidified access to the superior manufacturing capabilities of the North, which ultimately contributed to Union victory.

If you want to learn more about the strategic roles of railroads during the Civil War, refer to George Edgar Turner's Victory Road the Rails: The Strategic Place of Railroads in the Civil War (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1953, reprinted 1992), Roger Pickenpaugh's Rescue by Rail: Troop Transfer and the Civil War in the West, 1863 (lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998), and other works listed in the Railroad Bibliography.
 

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Last update:  May 15, 2000