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Changes In Transportation During The Civil War

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Innovative ideas and technologies in transportation significantly impacted the America during, and after the Civil War. The Civil War was also drastically changed due to the amazing discoveries and innovations in transportation. Railroads were what was mainly used to supply America with munitions, troops, food, and etc. during the Civil War. America benefited from the invention of the railroad due to the ease of use for every American. The Transcontinental Railroad was developed after the Civil War but trains still played a major role in the outcome of the Civil War. Other transportation innovations during/after the included the steamboat, horses, wagons, and walking. Railroads were the future of fast travel and all of these other transportation …show more content…

One could argue that this innovation in transportation could have led to more deaths in the Civil War. One could only speculate what would have happened if these innovations in transportation would happen. Would the Confederacy win? How would things be today? When would we discover these if ever? All of these questions can only be speculations about what exactly could have influenced the future of America and the future of the Civil War. Bloody battles could have never happened and the war could have lasted much longer. This could have led to a split nation side by side and an eventual agreement to a ceasefire. Basically all of these questions are what could have happened if transportation had not advanced into what it is today. The daily life we live today could have been influenced easily by one of these ideas not coming into light. If railroads had never been invented the Union may have never won. This could have meant that slavery would still be present in America. So many alternate futures could have been created because transportation influences each and every aspect of our lives, from the public buses, to flights around the globe in the matter of hours was due to the advancements during/after the Civil War. Railroads led to the population of the western seaboard and multiple states out west. Almost everything we use today is influenced by transportation and could have never been if not for the domestication of horses, the invention of steamboats, and/or the creation of wagons. Phones we use today were shipped across the globe that were made in China, shoes we bought were made in Brazil, and chocolate we eat was shipped from Africa. This intercontinental connection began with railroads connecting seaboards and steamships crossing the ocean in record

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The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad played a significant role in the Civil War. It contributed to the victory of the North, and the end of slavery. This is important because it provided freedom to the African Americans. If the south would have won, it would have changed history dramatically. As Donald McCraig once said, "The Civil War has a tremendous moral and emotional force" (Wise Old Sayings 1).

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People always say that the best inventions ever are phones or computers, but there is one that people take for granted. This invention changed the way we look at shipping forever. The Transcontinental railroad changed the United States economically more than socially or politically because, it allowed western states export their goods easier, increased the amount of goods exported, and made it cheaper for states to export their products. The U.S was changed more economically, because it helped transport the western states goods to the east so it could be transported. Lovelock Nevada was a city that mined silver.

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Even though the railroad was made before the separation between the north and the south and it’s main job was to provide supplies for both sides, the invention of the railroad greatly contributed to the civil war. During the war the railroad was used to provide supplies for the war. If this invention didn’t exist then both sides would rely on the mississippi river and other channels of water and both sides would be a little more similar when it comes to culture. If this invention didn’t cause the war it greatly contributed to it, similar to many other forms of technology created during the

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