On
February 27, 1827 the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was chartered to
enable the city of Baltimore to
compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal serving New York City, and a
proposed canal which would have connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. At
first, the B & O was located entirely in the state of Maryland with an
original line from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook. By 1861, the B&O stretched from Baltimore to
Wheeling, Virginia and to the Ohio River in the west, and owned more than 75
locomotives, 2,000 freight cars and more than 100 passenger cars.
The
B & O was a focus of both Northern and Southern forces from the very
beginnings of the Civil War. On October 16, 1859, John Brown led his men
across the B & O bridge at Harpers Ferry to begin his attack on the Armory
there. Early on the morning of February 23, 1861, a train carrying Abraham
Lincoln, Allen Pinkerton and others arrived in Baltimore from Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania and switched to the Baltimore and Ohio tracks at Camden Station.
Lincoln's train, pulled by horses from the President Street Station to Camden
Station, made it safely through the city. Pinkerton operatives felt the
President's life was threatened.
The
B & O would help determine the course of the Civil War by allowing the
North to shuttle men to and from the Western and Eastern theaters and by
bringing foodstuffs grown in the Midwest to Federal armies in the East. The
Confederates repeatedly tried to disrupt its operations through a series of
daring raids and one infamous theft of railroad stock in 1861 known as Jackson’s
Great Train Raid.
The
final large-scale attack against the B&O occurred during Jubal Early’s
Raid on Washington in 1864. Early's first stop was once again Harper's
Ferry and his men struck the railroad in several places to the west before turn
east and striking the B&O east of Frederick at the battle of Monocacy.
Then, on October 14, 1864, about halfway between Harper's Ferry and
Martinsburg, John Mosby and his raiders lifted a rail and began what is
known as the Greenback Raid.
After a program overview on Wednesday evening at the Best
Western Hotel & Conference Center in Baltimore, our first stop on Thursday
morning will be the Carrollton Viaduct, the world's oldest railroad
bridge still in use. It was named after Charles Carroll, the last living
signer of the Declaration of Independence and a director of the B & O who
laid the cornerstone on July 4, 1828. As he laid the first stone he said,
"I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to
my signing the Declaration of Independence."
Then, we
will visit the magnificent B & O Railroad Museum at Mount Clare for
a guided tour. This National Historic
Landmark holds the oldest and most comprehensive American railroad collection
in the World, in a unique complex of historic structures, on a 40-acre site
recognized as the birthplace of American
railroading.
After
lunch, we’ll visit the Thomas Viaduct, the largest bridge in the nation
in its day and which today is still the world's largest bridge of its kind as
well as the world's oldest multiple arched stone railroad bridge. It was named
for Philip E. Thomas, the first president of the B & O Railroad. During
the Civil War, the B & O was the only railroad into Washington and thus the
Thomas Viaduct was essential for supply trains to reach the Union capital. To
prevent sabotage, the bridge was heavily guarded by Union troops stationed
along its length.
Then, we’ll drive to nearby Savage Mill and inspect
the Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge, the sole surviving example of a revolutionary design in
the history of American bridge engineering. The 160-foot double-span truss
bridge is one of the oldest standing iron railroad bridges in the country and
was the first successful all-metal bridge design to be adopted and consistently
used on a railroad. This type bridge was named for its inventor, Wendel
Bollman, a self-educated Baltimore engineer. The first Bollman Truss was built across the Little
Patuxent at Savage on the Washington Branch in 1850, replacing a wooden bridge.
It had the modest span of 76 feet. In 1851, bridges at Bladensburg and at
Harper's Ferry followed. The Harper's Ferry bridge had a span of 124 feet.
Bollman trusses replaced many wooden bridges thereafter, until all the bridges
at Harper's Ferry were of type.
On
Friday morning, we’ll check out of our hotel in Baltimore and begin a tour of
one of the most intriguing episodes of the American Civil War. In the spring of
1861, shortly after the outbreak of the War, the Confederacy desperately needed
to increase its small supply of railroad rolling stock. In response to this,
Colonel Thomas J. Jackson contrived and executed a brilliant scheme to
“appropriate” a large number of locomotives, railroad cars and other pieces of equipment
from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, then under his control on the northern
edge of Virginia. The result was an episode in the War Between the States, the
logistics of which amazed officials on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Jackson’s
plan was to amass and then trap rolling stock between Point of Rocks,
Maryland and Martinsburg. To accomplish this, he informed B & O
president John Garrett that the trains passing through Harpers Ferry at night were disturbing Jackson’s troops, and henceforth would only be allowed
to move between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. The net effect of this curfew was to
bottle up trains in yards on both sides of Harpers Ferry. Then Jackson sent
troops to sever the rail lines at Point of Rocks and Martinsburg. On May 24,
1861, his men began to seize some 60 locomotives and nearly 400 railroad cars
that had accumulated. They painstakingly dragged some of them to Winchester,
and then to Strasburg. From there, some of the stock was moved by rail and some
dragged by land, to Staunton, a distance of 125 miles from Martinsburg.
At Staunton, the equipment was loaded onto the tracks of the Virginia
Central Railroad and distributed throughout the South.
On
our tour, we will examine how the enterprise was executed, the
personalities involved, and the obstacles that had to be overcome to
implement the scheme. Our first stop on Friday will be Point of Rocks,
Maryland where the line was cut on the eastern end. Then, we’ll go down into
the nearby old village of Harpers Ferry that figured so prominently in
the great train robbery and in other compelling chapters of the Civil War.
Here, we’ll discuss the curious war-time relationship between Jackson and John
Garrett and we will walk across the Potomac. River Railroad Bridge to Sandy
Hook, giving us the best possible view of the ruins of bridges across the Potomac
including the piers from the Bollman Truss bridges that used to span the river.
After
lunch in Charles Town, we will drive west to Martinsburg, where
Jackson’s troops confiscated or destroyed many engines and cars and much
railroad track. We will visit the Martinsburg B & O Roundhouse, and
the oldest continuously operating railroad station in the U. S., dating from
1847. From there, we’ll drive south on the historic Valley Pike, past Bunker
Hill and Stephenson Depot to Winchester where we’ll partake of a
buffet dinner at the Golden Corral and then spend the night at the Winchester
Travelodge. On Saturday morning, we will check out and visit the old train
station in Winchester and discuss how Jackson’s men, with the
help of local wagoners, rigged special carriages and dollies to transport the
purloined rail stock. In an incredible feat of engineering, they pulled Engine
#199, weighing 85 tons, by 40-horse teams, rigged artillery style, through
downtown Winchester all the way to the railhead in Staunton.
We’ll
then head south past Kernstown, Stephens City and Middletown to the Strasburg Museum, which became a depot for the Southern
Railway in 1913. We’ll discuss how some of the captured equipment was placed on
the rails of the Manassas Gap Railroad here and sent south to Staunton.
Throughout this portion of our tour, we will see Jackson at his finest, and
will become familiar with the men who masterminded this daring exploit. In
their wildest dreams, the James brothers couldn’t hold a candle to the
eccentric former VMI professor when it came to “appropriations” of the iron
horse.
After lunch, we will drive back to the Baltimore area and conclude
our program with a visit to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum at
Ellicott City, the site of the original terminus of the first 13 miles of
commercial track ever constructed in America.
We’ll
return to our base hotel at the Best Western Conference Center in Baltimore at
about 5:00 PM - you can then depart for home, or stay another night at the
hotel, as you select.
During
this program, we will see and inspect famous B & O locomotives and
bridges, visit historic railroad stations and museums, and learn
about fascinating episodes involving the B & O during the Civil War.
And we’ll discuss
the men who figured prominently in the B & O saga, including:
· 
John Garrett,
whose wily leadership, and ability to separate his company's best interests
from his personal preferences and side with the Union, allowed the B & O to
remain a viable company through most of the war, despite the hardships visited
upon the rail line.
· Captain Thomas A. Sharp - for his part in masterminding The Great Train Raid, B
& O President Garrett offered the job vacancy of Master of Transportation
of the B & O to Sharp in October, 1872, acclaiming. “…any man who can
steal several million dollars’ worth of railroad equipment, move it more than
100 miles on a dirt road, and place it on another fellow’s railroad ought to be
pretty well up in the transportation business.”
· John D. Imboden – in April, 1863, along with William E. “Grumble”
Jones, Imboden led the famous Jones-Imboden Raid of 3,400 Confederate troopers
into northwestern Virginia against the B & O, destroying rail track and
bridges
· and, of course, Charles
Carroll, John Brown and Thomas J. Jackson.
This program will
provide you with a unique study and tour of America’s most venerable
railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio! We hope you’ll join us.
About Our Tour Leaders
Arthur
Candenquist recently retired as Amtrak’s Manager, Emergency Preparedness. He began
working for the railroad in 1974 as a signal tower operator, then as train
dispatcher and safety engineer before being appointed to his most recently held
post. He has been a serious scholar of railroads in the Civil War and the War
Between the States since 1956, and has published articles on a variety of Civil
War topics. He will portray Thomas A. Sharp (see Art’s photo as Sharp above) in
the Strasburg, Virginia re-enactment of Jackson’s Great Train Robbery, May
28-29.
Roy
A. “Chip” Cather is an amateur
railroad enthusiast who has been studying the B &O Railroad for many years.
REGISTRATION FEES (lodging not included): $495
If You Must Cancel we will refund 100% of your
fees paid.
LODGING INFORMATION:
For the nights of Wednesday, July 13 and Thursday, July 14:
· Best Western Hotel & Conference Center, 5625 O’Donnell Street, Baltimore, MD 21224 where we have reserved a block of rooms for at the special nightly rate of
$109.99 + tax – Single or Double. To reserve a room under our block, BEFORE JUNE 22, call 800-633-9511 and identify yourself as a registrant for the CWEA tour. Hotel guests
will receive a complimentary hot breakfast buffet each morning of their stay.
· Airport Shuttle Service – for those flying into Baltimore/Washington
International Airport (BWI) - call in advance and arrange a shuttle from KD
Elite – 888-808-1212. A one-way trip from BWI to the Best Western Hotel
& Conference Center on O’Donnell Street should run $22.00 for the first
person and $5.00 for each additional person
For the night of
Friday, July 15:
· Winchester Travelodge, Winchester, VA where we have reserved a block of
rooms at the special rate of $69.00 + tax– Single or Double. Call
540-665-0685 and identify yourself as a registrant for the CWEA tour. A
continental breakfast on the morning of July 16 is included.
If needed - For the night
of Saturday, July 16:
· Best Western Hotel & Conference Center, 5625 O’Donnell Street, Baltimore, MD 21224
where we have reserved a block of rooms for at the special rate of $109.99 +
tax – Single or Double. To reserve a room under our block, BEFORE JUNE 22, call 800-633-9511 and
identify yourself as a registrant for the CWEA tour. A complimentary hot
breakfast buffet on the morning of July 17 is included.
What is Included in
Your Registration:
· the services of expert historians
chosen for their knowledge and experience
· transportation to sites
· 3 lunches
· Friday dinner
· all admissions to included sites
· refreshments and snacks during the
tours
