Sunday, January 12, 2014

The B&O Railroad in the Civil War

I am a frustrated reader and researcher. It's no secret that my personal favorite railroad is the Baltimore & Ohio. I grew up within 5 miles of the Old Main Line and a little further from the Metropolitan Branch in Maryland. I was and have now returned to being Archivist of the B&O Railroad Historical Society. I also grew up in the 1990s and caught the Civil War bug thanks to my great uncle and Ken Burns' documentary series. So why is it so hard for someone to write a good history of the B&O Railroad in the Civil War? I'm not sure, it kind of surprises me given the quality work that's been done on portions of the story. The military side has gotten some extensive research thanks to the presence of some A-List generals. But the social and political and economic side just hasn't gotten matched up. This needs to be fixed.