Product Description

'I believe students of the Civil War would find this to be an excellent pictorial companion...' - Gary W. Gallagher. With more than 220 black and white photographs from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and from private collections across the country this is the essential pictorial guide for all those interested in the role of the Iron Horse in the American Civil War. Like all wars, the Civil War was not all gunfire and panic. It was supply and transport, trains and trouble on the line, men in Blue and Gray fighting against almost unbelievable odds with lumbering, wood burning engines. Here are the actual scenes of the Iron Horse at war. It's a result of the conjunction of the nineteenth-century's two new revolutionary technologies: railroads and photography. When you combine these remarkable photos with George B. Abdill's reknowned story-telling ability you have a unique book.Originally published in 1961, it has been out of print for years.Because of the advances in photograph-scanning technology Indiana University Press is proud to be able to issue this new edition in which the quality of the photographic reproduction is even higher than it was in the original. Here we get to see both the northern and southern rolling stock, stations, bridges, car floats, and rail-borne artillery - as well as the wrecks, raids, and wild rides. Abdill lets us eavesdrop on the eye-witness accounts of guerrilla warfare, adventures behind enemy lines destroying rails, and vivid stories about the trains and trainmen.Meet Generals Herman Haupt, and Daniel C. McCallum; Conductors Carter Anderson and William Fuller, as well as the inventor E. C. Smeed whose ingenious clamps were used to quickly and easily rip out and twist rails - effectively destroying them. And where else would you meet 'The Dictator', a 17,000 pound, 13 inch bore sea-coast mortar used by the Federal troops to bombard Petersburg, Virgina. It was mounted on an eight-wheeled platform car and moved frequently by the 'Petersburg Express' to keep Confederate gunners from finding their range.Each 200 pound exploding shell was launched with a 14-20 pound charge of powder which heaved the shell approximately 2 miles. The blast caused the mortar to shift 2 feet on the platform and forced the platform back 12 feet on the track. It effectively silenced a number of the Batteries on Chesterfield Heights without causing many Confederate casulties. They quickly learned to run for cover as the burning fuses traced the flight of the ponderous balls.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1234902 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.80 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

About the Author
George B. Abdill, before his death, was a railroader's writer--A working hoghead on the Southern Pacific's Portland Division and historian of the great days of steam. His special gift was as a collector of truly remarkable photographs illustrating the pioneering days of the railroads. And he had a special place in his heart for military railroaders since he, himself, served with the 744th Railway Operation Battalion during World War II, running his engine in France, Belgium, and Germany. He had a first-hand knowledge of railroading under fire.