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Civil War: The Role Of Transportation In The United States

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Before we had cars and planes, we really only had one way of transporting goods on land, and that way was by train. Trains were all over the inhabited United States, but the North had more than anywhere else in the U.S. because they were full of industry and were constantly having to ship goods all around because of it. The North had two thirds of the railroads in the United States because of the need for transportation which was more important to the North than the South.At the start of the war 22,000 miles of track had been laid in the Northern states and 9,500 miles in the South.(Railroads of the Confederacy) But for both sides it was much needed no matter how many tracks they had. Right at the start of the war the use of the railroad was almost always military. For instance, a lot of the generals were even stationed at rail yards. The railroad was significant during the Civil War because it helped both sides transport supplies throughout the United States. The railroad was important long before the war started and is still important today. Before the railroad was built, the only way of travel was by wagon or on foot. Traveling by wagon took much longer than traveling by train and was a lot more dangerous for long distances such as the Oregon Trail. A trip from …show more content…

We could still use horses to get supplies around. The railroad was significant during the Civil War because it helped both sides transport supplies all around the United States. The railways were huge in the building of our country, too, and were one of the biggest reasons we were able to expand into the west. If the United States never had railways, they would not have almost anything they have

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