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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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The railroad allowed the shipment of fresh goods as well as heavy goods. It made inland trade possible, as well as travel time less. The news and mail traveled faster.

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Even though the railroad existed before the great division between the north and the south and it mainly contributed in providing goods for both sides, the invention of the railroad greatly contributed to the civil war. The first railroad created in the US was in 1827 and their major role was to transport goods from the North to the South and back. As slaves became more abundant in the South and less present in the North a war began on the idea of slavery. The railroad caused this Civil War by bringing goods to only one side and keeping their advantage. It went from having different point of views to all out battles that started with starvation and isolation, but led to death and separation.

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Once again, the Union had the advantage. When the war began, there were 22,000 miles of railroad track in the North and just 9,000 in the South. The telegraph made it so that Abraham Lincoln could communicate on the spot with his officers on the battlefield, an advantage that the south did not have. The Gatling gun had more of an impact after the civil war despite having been made during the war. The Gatling gun was the first firearm to solve the problems of loading, reliability, and the firing of sustained bursts.

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Transcontinental Railroad Tera Richardson, 4336787 History 102 B008 Sum 17 Professor Traci Sumner American Military University July 22, 2017 Abstract The transcontinental railroad was one of the biggest advocates for the industrial economy and westward expansion. The railroads could transfer goods and people across the country with ease, and quickly. While some bad came from this miraculous progression, such as the panic of 1873 and a yellow fever epidemic, the good outweighed the bad as it enabled the United States to fulfill its Manifest Destiny through westward expansion.

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It would be harder to get from place to place if there was never the Transcontinental Railroad, which surely would have influenced the ideas of other methods of transportation, like cars and planes. One of the most important points from Document F quotes: “Had it not been for these captains of industry, the free world might have lost the First World War and most certainly have lost the second.” They changed and protected the U.S. and the right of freedom with their work, and that’s

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The building and growth of railroads from 1865 to 1900 played a very crucial role in American society which cannot be underemphasized. Railroads brought about many important happenings that that helped in the development of America and its people, its growth commenced the transportation of goods from one place to another thus it help people carry out business transaction in a quick and reliable way as opposed to what they were accustomed to before the railroads growth which was harder to move goods from one state to another and this caused many inconveniences that resulted to the wastage of time, capital and resources. Furthermore the growth of railroads brought about new dwelling places as people wanted to settle down in places that are connected to the railroads and that made it simpler for people to commute from place to place without wasting much time and this also brought about urbanization as people became many and this contributed to the growth of the economy and develop the country at large because people where now more than ever ready to engage in dealing with each other because

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The early railroad was revolutionary to the transportation industry in America during the Industrial Revolution. It connected the country from the East to the West and changed the formation of the United States and other aspects of the country forever including its economy and population. It had a large impact on trade in the United States and boosted capital, especially in the West. With these railroads, people could travel much more quickly and more efficiently, as well as, transport goods and messages in a timely fashion to others miles away, when any other means would be unconventional or much slower, such as walking or by horseback. The railroad not only impacted the U.S. economy, but it also had a significant impact on social

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The War Between the States was one of America’s greatest wars—it was the fight for freedom, but it also impacted the economy. Because of this, America’s labor and transportation systems both took a significant turn during the Civil War, impacting America’s economy forever. In the end, the American Civil War greatly benefitted our transportation system, but devastated the South’s labor force. For a war to be fought strategically well, there first must be a form of simple, yet speedy, transportation. That is where the transcontinental railroad came in.

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Another major problem for the South throughout the war was the transportation of soldiers. The Confederacy controlled half the amount of railway that the North did. This meant that it was not as easy to get soldiers where they needed to be for battle. The disadvantages in the South would be a crucial factor in the Confederacy’s loss to the

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Railroads served to support the armies by defending soldiers from attacks of enemies. According to John Elwood Clark in the article Railroads in the Civil War states, “Soldiers before the Civil War thought of interior lines in terms of space, or distance, although geography sometimes conferred an additional advantage. The Civil War began to modify the concept, increasingly framing the advantage in terms of time, as railroads and steamboats improved travel speed and freight loads; today’s soldiers call it ‘‘superior lateral communications. ’’(Clark 28) Railroads improved war efforts significantly by conveniencing soldiers

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These key assets are can be described as funding instruments, either credit, cash, stocks or bonds. Prior to the Civil War; the bulk of wealth in the United States was concentrated into the physical assets of slavery. The advent of railroads required the massive infusion of resources; physical resources, a labor pool, and most importantly capital. Many of the railroads in the United States prior to the Civil War were underfunded and quickly went bankrupt. While there were state subsidies for railroads before the Civil War, it often led to financial disaster in many states.

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