Civil War and Reconstruction in AlabamaFleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
History
Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama
Fleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
Alabama -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865; Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877) -- Alabama
The Mobile and Ohio lost in Confederate currency $5,228,562.23.
Thirty-seven miles of rails were worn out, 21 miles were burned and
twisted, 184 miles of road cleared of bridges, trestles, and stations, the
cross-ties burned, and the shops near Mobile destroyed. There were 18 of
59 locomotives in working order, 11 of 26 passenger cars, 3 of 11 baggage
cars, 231 of 721 freight cars. The Selma and Meridian lost its shops and
depots in Selma and Meridian, and its bridges over the Cahaba and Valley
creeks. It sustained a heavy loss in Confederate bonds and currency. The
Alabama and Tennessee Rivers Railroad lost a million dollars in
Confederate funds, its shops, tools, and machinery at Selma, 6 bridges,
its trestles, some track and many depots, its locomotives and cars. The
Wills Valley Road suffered but little from destruction or from loss in
Confederate securities. The Mobile and Great Northern escaped with a loss
of only $401,190.37 in Confederate money, and $164,800 by destruction,
besides the wear and tear on its track and rolling stock in the four years
without repairs. The Alabama and Florida Road lost in Confederate currency
$755,343,21. It had at the end of the war only 4 locomotives and 40 cars
of all descriptions. The people were so poor that in the summer of 1865
this road, on a trip from Mobile to Montgomery and return, a distance of
360 miles, collected in fares only $13. The Montgomery and West Point, 161
miles in length, and one of the best roads in the state, probably suffered
the heaviest loss from raids. It lost in currency $1,618,243, besides all
of its rolling stock that was in running order; much of the track was
torn up and rails twisted, all bridges and tanks and depots were
destroyed. Both Rousseau and Wilson tore up the track and destroyed the
shops and rolling stock at Montgomery and along the road to West Point and
also the rolling stock that had been sent to Columbus, Georgia. After the
surrender an old locomotive that had been thrown aside at Opelika and 14
condemned cars were patched up, and for a while this old engine and a
couple of flat cars were run up and down the road as a passenger train.
The worn strap rails used in repairing gave much trouble. The fare was 10
cents a mile in coin or 20 cents in greenbacks.[682] Every road in the
South lost rolling stock on the border. The few cars and locomotives left
to any road were often scattered over several states, and some of them
were never returned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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