Targeted Tracks: The Cumberland Valley Railroad in the Civil War 1861-1865

About this book

The Civil War was the first conflict in which railroads played a major role. Although much has been written about their role in general little has been written about specific lines. The Cumberland Valley Railroad for example played an important strategic role by connecting Hagerstown Maryland to Harrisburg Pennsylvania. Its location enhanced its importance during some of the Civil Wars most critical campaigns. Despite the lines significance to the Union war effort its remarkable story remains little known. The publication of Targeted Tracks: The Cumberland Valley Railroad in the Civil War 1861-1865 by Scott L. Mingus Sr. and Cooper H. Wingert rectifies that oversight. Because of its proximity to major cities in the Eastern Theater the Cumberland Valley Railroad was an enticing target for Confederate leaders. As invading armies jostled for position the CVRRs valuable rolling stock was never far from their minds. Northern military and railway officials who knew the line was a prized target coordinatedand just as often butted headsin a series of efforts to ensure the railroads prized resources remained out of enemy hands. When they failed to protect the line as they sometimes did Southern horsemen wrought havoc on the Northern war effort by tearing up its tracks seizing or torching Union supplies and laying waste to warehouses engine houses and passenger depots. In October 1859 Abolitionist John Brown used the CVRR in his fateful Harpers Ferry raid. The line was under direct threat by invading Confederates during the Antietam Campaign and the following summer suffered serious damage during the Gettysburg Campaign. In 1864 Rebel raiders burned much of its headquarters town Chambersburg including the homes of many CVRR employees. The railroad was as vital to residents of the bustling and fertile Cumberland Valley as it was to the Union war effort. Targeted Tracks is grounded on the railways voluminous reports the letters and diaries of local residents and Union and Confederate soldiers official reports and newspaper accounts. The primary sources combined with the expertise of the authors bring this largely untold story to life.