'To strain every energy.' Civil War railroads: A comparison of Union and Confederate war management

In September 1863, broken-down southern railroads carried 13,000 Confederate infantrymen under General James Longstreet from Virginia to northwest Georgia. Half arrived in time to contribute to the victory at Chickamauga. The Union then sent the 23,000-man 11th and 12th Corps, their artillery, horses and wagons, and equipment by train from Virginia to reinforce its army besieged in Chattanooga.;Excellent organization and management contributed greatly to Union victory. It skillfully used railroads to overcome the huge southern land mass. It paid the railroads well, passed legislation to assure their cooperation, and freed them from military interference. Railroads supplied Union armies over long and inhospitable distances; they "shrank" the Confederacy to a manageable--and vulnerable--size.;The Confederacy could have won the war simply by fighting until it exhausted the Union's will to persist. As the weaker combatant, it had to prudently manage its resources. Its leaders, however, understand neither management nor modern war. They proved unable to adjust to the unfamiliar or improvise to meet the unexpected that Clausewitz called the "friction" of war. Failure to plan or set priorities wasted limited resources amid conflicting political, military, and industrial interests.;The Confederacy squandered its natural advantages. It paid southern railroads half-fares, and in depreciating Confederate bonds. It never asserted central control over them, rather allowed them to deteriorate, then collapse as its soldiers went hungry while food rotted elsewhere. Its armies became immobilized, then defeated.;Modern war demands a total commitment of a nation's resources. It must expertly manage its war effort by establishing priorities, marshalling its assets, and applying them efficiently to achieve victory. The two rail movements reflect the management skill with which each side used its railroads to prosecute the first modern war.;In August 1864, Abraham Lincoln believed that he would not win re-election and the Union would lose the war. Eight days later, Sherman captured Atlanta and broke the Confederacy in two. Had the Confederacy managed its war effort with marginally greater competence, it might have won its independence.