Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded. Disunion follows
the Civil War as it unfolded. Troop and supply movement over
hundreds of miles was now a question of hours or days, not
weeks. Most of the major battles during Civil War were fought
around key railway centers, including Chattanooga, Atlanta and
Nashville. The location of many other battles was determined by
their proximity to a railway line. And the railroads themselves
became significant targets, as lines were torn up and destroyed
by both sides to restrict their enemy’s mobility, only to be
rebuilt at great pace and with enormous skill once local
territorial dominance had been achieved. The two sides started
with very different railway networks. By 1861, just three
decades since the opening of the country’s first railway, the
Baltimore & Ohio, America had 30,000 miles of rail. Roughly two-
thirds of it were in the North, leaving just 9,000 miles in what
became the Confederacy. Moreover, the Northern lines were far
better developed, with more adv