Railroad Control and Union Victory in the Civil War

Introduction: Resources and the Outcome of Civil War

One of the most important issues in armed conflict is resources. To a large degree, resources can make the difference between the winner and the loser in any regional or international conflict. Resources are so crucial that most strategists cite their availability, rather than the righteousness of the cause, as one of the fundamental factors in deciding whether to enter into armed conflict at all. In the case of civil wars, the issue frequently becomes more complicated, as the control of resources — as they exist and can be manipulated — determines the outcome to a significant degree. This is especially true of transportation resources: if the time required to move troops and equipment to important locations is unbalanced, the advantage nearly always belongs to the side able to move most quickly.

In 1997, Colonel Morelock, Field Artillery Director of the Combat Studies Institute, wrote:

"According to an old saying, 'amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics.' Any serious student of the military profession will know that logistics constantly shape military affairs and sometimes even dictate strategy and tactics. This excellent monograph by Dr. Christopher Gable shows that the appearance of the steam-powered railroad had enormous implications for military logistics, and thus for strategy, in the American Civil War. Not surprisingly, the side that proved superior in 'railroad generalship' — the utilization of the railroads for military purposes — was also the side that won the war."

The American Civil War is no exception to this principle. Many argue that Lincoln's ability to harness the power of the transportation infrastructure of the United States — and especially of the South — was essential to eventual Union victory. Most essential to this argument is the frequently cited Union ability to harness the existing rail system in service of the war effort. Herman Haupt, known as Lincoln's railroad man, was the determining voice behind this particular advantage, despite the fact that he has gone largely unrecognized as a war hero by anyone except the most dedicated Civil War historians.

Herman Haupt — hardly a household name even among informed people — is one of the genuine giants in the history of American engineering and railroading. Perhaps his chief claim to fame was his eighteen-month stint as chief of construction and transportation on the U.S. Military Railroads (USMRR), 1862–1863. In this post he managed what became the largest railroad in the world at that time, consisting of a patchwork of captured Southern railroads in conquered Confederate territory. Haupt transformed these lines into an efficient network of logistics and transportation that was an important factor in Union military success.

In one of the crucial histories of Haupt's life and works, Lincoln is recorded as saying of one of Haupt's most successful engineering feats — a bridge over Potomac Creek — that it was "the most remarkable structure that human eyes ever rested upon. That man Haupt has built a bridge across Potomac Creek, about 400 feet long and nearly 100 feet high, over which loaded trains are running every hour, and upon my word — there is nothing in it but bean poles and corn stalks."

Works Cited

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