The Civil War was the first conflict in which railroads played a major
role. Although much has been written about the role of railroads 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 War's most
critical campaigns. Despite the line's significance to the Union war
effort, its remarkable story remains little known. Now available in
paperback, 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 Confederate target. As
invading armies jostled for position, the CVRR's valuable rolling stock
was never far from the minds of Rebel leaders. Northern military and
railway officials knew the line was a prized target and coordinated--and
just as often butted heads--in a series of efforts to ensure the
railroad's 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 (and played a major logistical role) during the
Gettysburg Campaign. In 1864, Rebel raiders burned much of its
headquarters town at 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 railway's voluminous reports,
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
and engaging story to life.
