Railroads and Transportation
If you’re going to conduct a war, transport is very important. By the time of the Civil War, rail transportation had been going strong in the North for nearly 50 years. The earliest railways were built in the North, and the industry continued to flourish there. In the South, meanwhile, they relied heavily on rivers for long-distance transport. Obviously, railroads can be placed nearly anywhere, while rivers are fixed. In 1860, the South only had around 30% of the nation’s railroads.
This was obviously an advantage for the North. Another was that because most of the fighting took place in the South, what railroads there were, were often subject to damage and sabotage. Of course, the North wasn’t immune to this as well, but you can imagine that the sheer number of battles that took place in the South, there was much more chance for Southern railroads to become targets.
Transport is a huge thing when it comes to war. It influences everything from the economy of the state to their ability to move supplies and troops around. As you might expect, with a larger number of railroads in the North, the North found it easier to move their troops around.
However, that isn’t really the advantage the North had. The true disadvantage was the lack of a proper railroading system in the South. With less coverage for rail lines at the beginning of the war, the South was forced to move troops and supplies by slower more tedious means.
Locomotives and railways were significant factors in the Civil War. Often times locomotives would be sent to reconnoiter enemy strongholds. With a top speed at the time, it was less risky for a locomotive to take on this task as it could outrun any cavalry. This made them even bigger targets as both sides sought to remove such advantages from their enemies.