North Carolina Railroads during the Civil War

NORTH CAROLINA RAILROADS DURING THE CIVIL WAR Charles L. Price The railroads of Nobth Carolina were among the most important in the Confederacy. Not only did they provide access to important resources , but because of their geographic location they transported a large percentage of the supplies used by the Confederate army in Virginia . In spite of their important role in the Civil War, the railroads of North Carolina were not designed for military purposes and often were not at all well suited for military use. The railroad network was constructed for the economic development of the state and attempted to channel the products of the state eastward through the ports of Beaufort and Wilmington. The war interrupted the normal east-west flow of this traffic and forced it into north-south channels for which the railroads were not designed. By the outbreak of the Civil War the main railroad lines of North Carolina were already developed. Although only 283 miles of railroads spanned the state in 1850, a liberal policy of state aid enabled nine railroads to amass a total of 922 miles of track by I860.1 Civil war not only curtailed this expansion, but also threw the railroad companies into a temporary depression. No railroad leader in the state even dreamed that a war between the North and the South would bring prosperity to the railroads. On the contrary, it was a common belief among railroad men that if war broke out "the troubles of the country would prostrate and destroy" all of their business.2 It is easy to understand this pessimistic view. The vast majority of the traffic of North Carolina moved seaward , with most of the freight going by water either to Europe or to the northern sections of the country. A war between the North and the South would largely destroy this traffic. As predicted, the outbreak of war immediately resulted in a business depression, and the railroads were hit hard. The Western North Carolina A doctoral graduate of the University of North Carolina, Charles L. Price is currently in the Department of Social Studies, East Carolina College. 1 Charles C. Weaver, Internal Improvements in North Carolina Previous to 1860 (Baltimore, 1903), p. 93. * Annual Reports of the President . . . of the Wilmington ir Weldon H.H. Co. . . . (Wilmington, 1861 ), p. 5. 298 Railroad reported a 50 per cent reduction in receipts between April and June, 1861. The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad reported a reduction in freight receipts from $12,500 in April to $4,900 in May. Other railroads of the state reported losses of varying degree in freight traffic. Passenger traffic held up well because of the transportation of soldiers to camp, and some of the roads even reported increases in passenger receipts. The North Carolina, for example, reported an increase from $12,000 in April to $18,000 in May.3 Yet the depression created by the coming of the war was not of long duration. By the summer of 1861 a vast increase in the traffic occurred as lines stepped up the transporting of troops and supplies for the state and the Confederate governments. In his annual report for 1862, the president of the Western North Carolina Railroad stated that the transportation department presented a more favorable aspect than the best friends of the road expected a year before. Although the road was deprived almost entirely of freight except for government freight carried at half price, he added that the receipts had increased regularly during the year.4 Thomas Webb, president of the North Carolina Railroad, reported in the summer of 1862 that freight traffic during the previous year had been heavier than ever before in the history of the North Carolina. "The local business of the Road," he wrote, "has kept our warehouses crowded with every species of freight seeking a market; and as fast as a car load was taken out there were three, or four, or more waiting to be put in."5 Increased traffic naturally brought increased earnings. No records are available to show the net profits of the various roads, but the gross profits were enormous and naturally resulted in large dividends. During the war the...