Alabama and Florida Railroad (1853–1869)

Last updated

The Alabama and Florida Railroad was a line of rail track connecting Pensacola, Florida with Montgomery, Alabama during the late 1850s and early 1860s. The portion of the line in Alabama was first owned by the Alabama and Florida Rail Road Company (of Alabama), while the portion of the line in Florida was owned by the Alabama and Florida Railroad (of Florida).

Contents

First attempt (1834–1838)

Citizens of Pensacola, led by William Chase, a captain in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, developed a plan to construct a railroad from Pensacola to the interior of Alabama in the early 1830s. The Florida, Alabama and Georgia Rail Road was chartered by the Florida Territory in February 1834 to build a railroad from Pensacola to the border with Alabama. In December 1834, Alabama chartered the Alabama, Florida and Georgia Rail Road to connect the Florida railroad with Columbus, Georgia. The next year, Florida rescinded the charter for the Florida, Alabama and Georgia Rail Road, and accepted the Alabama chartered Alabama, Florida and Georgia Rail Road as the operator of the proposed line from Pensacola to Columbus, with William Chase as president of the company. Funds were raised with the sale of stock and of bonds issued by the Bank of Pensacola and guaranteed by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, and a roadbed was graded and trestles built from Pensacola to the Escambia River. Strap rail and freight and passenger cars were ordered. The Bank of Pensacola closed during the Panic of 1837. The railroad company managed to obtain some further loans, and sold off much of the equipment it purchased earlier to raise funds. To shorten the length of the railroad, and reduce construction costs, the plan was changed to connect to Montgomery rather than Columbus, but work on the railroad ended in 1838. The Bank of Pensacola failed to pay the interest on the bonds due in 1840, and the Territorial Council repudiated its backing of the bonds. [1]

Two companies

The project for a rail link between Pensacola and Montgomery was revived in the early 1850s. Alabama chartered the Alabama and Florida Rail Road Company (of Alabama) to build a railroad between a town that became known as Pollard, Alabama (just north of the Alabama-Florida state line) and the city of Montgomery, with Charles T. Pollard as president of the said company. In 1853, Florida chartered its own Alabama and Florida Railroad (of Florida), with William Chase as president, to build a railroad from Pensacola to Pollard. Construction on the Florida portion of the line began in Pensacola in 1856 and reached Pollard in 1861. The Alabama portion of the railroad reached Montgomery in May 1861, and through passenger service (a ten-hour trip) was instituted between Montgomery and Pensacola. [2] [3]

The Alabama & Florida Railroad used five-foot gauge tracks. [4] Construction of the rail lines had been financed, in part, by sales of land granted to the rail companies by the Federal government under the Land Grant Act of 1850. The A & F RR (of Alabama) received almost 440,000 acres (180,000 ha) from the Federal government, and the A & F RR (of Florida) received almost 160,000 acres (65,000 ha). [5]

After the Civil War

The Alabama and Florida Railroad suffered severe damage during the Civil War. Most of the rail on the Florida portion of the line was removed, and the engines and rolling stock belonging to the A & F RR (of Florida) were seized by the Confederate government and turned over to the A & F RR (of Alabama) and the Mobile and Great Northern Railroad. [lower-alpha 1] The Florida legislature chartered the Pensacola and Louisville Railroad Company in July 1868 [8] to replace the Alabama and Florida Railroad (of Florida). The new company completely rebuilt the line from Pensacola to Pollard. The Pensacola Railroad Company purchased the Pensacola & Louisville RR in 1878, and it in turn was taken over by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1880. [9] [10]

The Alabama and Florida Railroad (of Alabama) and the Mobile and Great Northern Railroad were merged in 1868 to form the Montgomery and Mobile Railroad. The Montgomery and Mobile Railroad was in turn acquired by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1880. [11]

See also

Notes

  1. The Mobile and Great Northern Railroad was a line, chartered in 1856 and completed in 1861, running only 67 miles (108 km) from Pollard, Alabama to Tensaw Station (now Hurricane) on the Tensaw River. [6] [7]

Citations

  1. Turner 2008, pp. 43–49.
  2. Turner 2008, pp. 85–87.
  3. Kaetz, James P. (September 14, 2016). "Pollard". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  4. Earnest, John Guilford; Northen, Charles Swift (2003). All Right Let Them Come: The Civil War Diary of an East Tennessee Confederate. Univ. of Tennessee Press. p. 40. ISBN   978-1-57233-233-1.
  5. Commissioner of the United States General Land Office (1890). Annual Report. pp. 192–193.
  6. Kincaid A. Herr (11 July 2014). The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 1850-1963. University Press of Kentucky. p. 58. ISBN   978-0-8131-4750-5.
  7. Bright, David L. "Mobile & Great Northern". Confederate Railroads. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  8. "An Act to incorporate the Pensacola and Louisville Railroad Co".
  9. Pettengill, George W.; Simmons, B. F. (1952). "The Story of the Florida Railroads 1834 - 1903". The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin (86): 115. ISSN   0033-8842. JSTOR   43517668.
  10. Hildreth, Charles H. (1959). "Railroads out of Pensacola, 1833-1883". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 37 (3/4): 410–411. ISSN   0015-4113. JSTOR   30166296.
  11. "AU Archives -- Guide to the Alabama and Florida Railroad Company, RG 116". www.lib.auburn.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-06.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway</span> Defunct railway company in the southeastern United States (1851-1957)

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twentieth century, the NC&StL grew into one of the most important railway systems in the southern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisville and Nashville Railroad</span> Defunct American Class I railway

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway</span> Railroad in Southern United States

The Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway is a Class II railroad owned by Genesee & Wyoming. It operates 339 miles (546 km) of track from the Pensacola, Florida export terminals, west of downtown, north to Columbus, Mississippi, with trackage rights along BNSF Railway to Amory, Mississippi. A branch uses trackage rights along Norfolk Southern from Kimbrough, Alabama west and south to Mobile, Alabama, with separate trackage at the end of the line in Mobile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Railroad and Banking Company</span> Historic American railroad and banking company

The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company also seen as "GARR", was a historic railroad and banking company that operated in the U.S. state of Georgia. In 1967 it reported 833 million revenue-ton-miles of freight and 3 million passenger-miles; at the end of the year it operated 331 miles (533 km) of road and 510 miles (820 km) of track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta and West Point Railroad</span>

The Atlanta and West Point Rail Road was a railroad in the U.S. state of Georgia, forming the east portion of the Atlanta-Selma West Point Route. The company was chartered in 1847 as the Atlanta and LaGrange Rail Road and renamed in 1857; construction of the 5 ft gauge line was begun in 1849-50 and completed in May 1854. A large minority interest owned by the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company eventually passed under the control of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL), which later acquired a majority of the stock.

The Montgomery and West Point Railroad (M&WP) was an early 19th-century railroad in Alabama and Georgia. It played an important role during the American Civil War as a supply and transportation route for the Confederate Army, and, as such, was the target of a large raid by Union cavalry in the summer of 1864, called Wilson's Raid. The railroad played an important role in this business, and it became a symbol to industrialization in the United States. The railroads make it possible to supply large military forces that were needed in order to take over and conquer the Southern part of the United States. During the early 19th-century, turnpikes, canals, and railroads all brought people to the west and more products to the east. There was an effort in Americans during this time to build a railroad that would link Georgia to trade with the Tennessee and Ohio areas, and the M&WP was a starting point in helping to accomplish this goal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad</span> Historic railroad system

The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad was the final name of a system of railroads throughout Florida, becoming part of the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1900. The system, including some of the first railroads in Florida, stretched from Jacksonville west through Tallahassee and south to Tampa. Much of the FC&P network is still in service under the ownership of CSX Transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant System</span> Historic railroad system

The Plant System, named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway, running across southern Georgia. The Plant Investment Company was formed in 1882 to lease and buy other railroads and expand the system. Other major lines incorporated into the system include the Savannah and Charleston Railroad and the Brunswick and Western Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic and Gulf Railroad (1856–1879)</span>

The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad was chartered in February 1856 by act of the Georgia General Assembly. It was also known as the Main Trunk Railroad. It traversed south Georgia from Screven to Bainbridge, Georgia. Construction began in early January 1859. Its construction was halted by the American Civil War. Construction began again after the end of the war and the line was completed to Bainbridge, Georgia by late December 1867. The route never reached all the way to the Gulf of Mexico as it had originally had intended. The company went bankrupt in 1877 and was bought in 1879 by Henry B. Plant and became incorporated into his Plant System. Its main line is currently operated by CSX Transportation. Throughout its history, the Atlantic and Gulf was closely associated with the Savannah and Albany Railroad Company and its successor the Savannah, Albany, and Gulf Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate railroads in the American Civil War</span>

The American Civil War was the first in which large armies depended heavily on railroads to bring supplies. For the Confederate States Army, the system was fragile and was designed for short hauls of cotton to the nearest river or ocean port. The South had very little manufacturing or industrial capacity, and so during the war new parts were hard to obtain, and the system deteriorated from overuse, lack of maintenance, and systematic destruction by Union raiders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile and Ohio Railroad</span> Defunct railroad in the Southern U.S.

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile, Alabama and the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois. On September 13, 1940 it was merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad to form the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile and Girard Railroad</span>

The Mobile & Girard Railroad was an Alabama railroad which was constructed in the mid-19th century; a portion of the line continues in operation under different ownership. The 26-mile (42 km) line was constructed with a track gauge of 5 ft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad</span> Former railway company in Florida

The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad (P&A) was a company incorporated by an act of the Florida Legislature on March 4, 1881, to run from Pensacola to the Apalachicola River near Chattahoochee, a distance of about 160 miles (260 km). No railroad had ever been built across the sparsely populated panhandle of Florida, which left Pensacola isolated from the rest of the state. William D. Chipley and Frederick R. De Funiak, both of whom are commemorated in the names of towns later built along the P&A line, were among the founding officers of the railroad company.

The Florida Central and Western Railroad was a rail line built in the late 1800s that ran from Jacksonville west across North Central Florida and the part Florida Panhandle through Lake City and Tallahassee before coming to an end at Chattahoochee. The line was later part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad network from 1903 to 1967, and was primarily their Tallahassee Subdivision. The full line is still in service today and is now part of the Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Henry Chase</span> Florida planter and militia leader (1798–1870)

William Henry Chase was a Florida militia colonel during the events in early 1861 that led to the American Civil War. On January 15, 1861, on behalf of the State and Governor of Florida, Colonel Chase demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida and of its U.S. Army garrison. Chase had designed and constructed the fort while he was a captain in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, commander of the fort, refused the surrender demand. An informal truce between the administration of President James Buchanan and Florida officials, including their still sitting U.S. Senators, avoided military action at Pensacola until after the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861.

Hurricane is an unincorporated community in Baldwin County, Alabama on the Tensaw River about 12 miles (19 km) north of Spanish Fort, Alabama.

The Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad is a Class III railroad owned and operated by RailUSA in the Florida Panhandle. The line consists of 430 miles of track running from Baldwin, Florida west through Tallahassee to Pensacola. The line also has a short branch from Tallahassee north to Attapulgus, Georgia. The line connects to CSX lines in Baldwin, Pensacola, and Attapulgus.

The Alabama legislature chartered the Alabama and Florida Rail Road Company in February 1850. The Congress of the United States in legislative session authorized the grant of public lands to the company in May 1856. The Alabama legislature consolidated the Mobile and Great Northern Railroad Company and the Alabama and Florida Railroad Company into the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad Company in 1868.

References