Railroads in the Old South: Pursuing Progress in a Slave Society by Aaron W. Marrs (review)

Was the antebellum Old South backward and, consequently, slow to adopt railroads? This is an interesting and important question. The antebellum Old South experienced high income per capita but was slow to modernize. Slow railroad development, it has been suggested, was both a symptom and a cause of the Old South’s backwardness. This is the question that historian Aaron W. Marrs addresses in Railroads in the Old South.

The book contributes to the literature by adopting a cultural study of rail technology, by examining previously sparse primary sources coming directly from individual’s diaries, from entrepreneurs’ letters and various railroad company internal and stockholder reports, and by concluding that the Old South was more complex, flexible, and advanced than we thought. The author claims to side with Ulrich Phillips, Leo Marx, Eugene Genovese, and Gavin Wright, but for his own reasons.

Marrs sets up his approach for a cultural study of rail technology by analyzing how different social groups interacted with rail technology. The first chapter, “Dreams,” examines how promoters and entrepreneurs dreamed with rails. Southerners were as curious about railroads as northerners. And, some southerner entrepreneurs vigorously promoted railroads but faced limitations mostly from political rivalries. The next chapter, “Knowledge,” describes the origin and advancement of knowledge embedded in the civil engineers who built southern railroads. Civil engineers who located and built southern railroads were part of a national network sharing knowledge and techniques, and moved north and south. Engineering knowledge was identical in the North and the South. The interaction between slaves and the rails is examined in the third chapter, “Sweat.” Slaves perspired in an unexpected collaboration with whites and free blacks to build the railroads, demonstrating the flexibility of the Old South in adapting to new social situations and technological developments. The interaction between managers, workers, and business activities is examined in two chapters, “Structure” and “Motion.” Southern railroad companies discovered the difficulties of coordinating work along the rail line and, Marrs shows, implemented divisional structures and rulebooks even earlier than northern railroads. Coordination of work resulted in punctual and regular service for cotton exports and for other commodities moving into the hinterland. Coordination even integrated some innovative activities, as equipment production created inventions such as the barrel car. Railroads not only coordinated the work performed by railroad employees but, in an indirect manner, also coordinated wider economic activity. Railroad depots set the locations for slave markets. Finally, the interaction between rail users and railroads is studied in “Passages” and “Communities.” Exploring contemporary literature and personal diaries, Marrs recovers descriptions of travelers’ sensations and also examines changes in perceptions of time and of reality. Negotiations with important groups like Sabbatarians or the federal government’s post office are also described.

Marrs, thus, concludes that railroads in the Old South were not as incipient as we thought. He shows convincingly that both in the South and the North one can frequently find qualitative evidence (i) of entrepreneurs and other citizens promoting railroad development, (ii) of rivalry between different regions or social groups delaying the arrival of railroads, (iii) of a nationwide common pool of ideas and engineers that built railroads, (iv) of a complex organization of work to provide rail service, and (v) of life changes for many with rail transport. These are all important and novel findings evidencing the Old South’s (at least moderate) capacity to use new technology and modernize.

But, if one is to follow this line of argument, one would be led to believe that both the North and the South developed a similar intensity in railroad building and use during the antebellum period. However, we know this is not the case. The differences in track miles built, railroad earnings, and traffic between the North and the South during the antebellum period were great. Marrs acknowledges this at the beginning of the book’s introduction—but leaves...