The Shelby Iron Company Railroad was an Alabama railroad company that started during the American Civil War. The Shelby Iron Company Railroad was built to connect the Shelby Iron Company in Shelby, Alabama, to the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad at Columbiana, Alabama, a distance of about five miles (8 km). It was a 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge railroad line which was converted to 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) in 1886 [1]
The Shelby Iron Company was a major supplier of Confederate iron during the Civil War, with almost all the iron produced being delivered to the Confederate Naval Works in Selma. [2] Iron plating for the CSS Tennessee, CSS Huntsville, and CSS Tuscaloosa was all manufactured by the Shelby Iron Company.
By 1863, officials with the iron company were attempting to increase output, but were hampered by the lack of a railroad line. Confederate Ordinance officials prevented the construction for more than two years by threatening to have senior company employees conscripted if they built the line. Despite the threat, construction began in 1863 and was completed in January 1865. [3]
The railroad's only locomotive, called The Decatur, was purchased in 1864 from the Alabama and Mississippi Rivers Railroad, and the company used railroad cars borrowed from other carriers. [4]
The Iron Works was destroyed during Wilson's Raid on March 31, 1865. Around 1867, the Shelby Iron Company reconstructed its rail spur from Shelby to Columbiana and the furnace was rebuilt by February 1869. The Shelby Iron Company Railroad was operated by the ironworks until it was purchased by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1890 and made part of the Alabama Mineral Railroad. Both operators provided sporadic passenger service until 1927. [5]
Columbiana is a city and the county seat of Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 4,197.
CSS Texas was the third and last Columbia-class casemate ironclad built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. Not begun until 1864 and intended to become part of the James River Squadron, she saw no action before being captured by Union forces while still fitting out. CSS Texas was reputed to have been one of the very best constructed Confederate ironclads, second only to CSS Mississippi.
CSS Tennessee was a casemate ironclad ram built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. She served as the flagship of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, commander of the Mobile Squadron, after her commissioning. She was captured in 1864 by the Union Navy during the Battle of Mobile Bay and then participated in the Union's subsequent Siege of Fort Morgan. Tennessee was decommissioned after the war and sold in 1867 for scrap.
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.
The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, was the biggest ironworks in the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and a significant factor in the decision to make Richmond its capital.
The Brooke rifle was a type of rifled, muzzle-loading naval and coast defense gun designed by John Mercer Brooke, an officer in the Confederate States Navy. They were produced by plants in Richmond, Virginia, and Selma, Alabama, between 1861 and 1865 during the American Civil War. They served afloat on Confederate ships and ashore in coast defense batteries operated by the Confederate States Army.
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. During the war, new parts were hard to obtain, and the system deteriorated from overuse, lack of maintenance, and systematic destruction by Union raiders.
Wilson's Raid was a cavalry operation through Alabama and Georgia in March–April 1865, late in the American Civil War. Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson led his Union Army Cavalry Corps to destroy Southern manufacturing facilities and was opposed unsuccessfully by a much smaller force under Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The Tannehill Ironworks is the central feature of Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park near the unincorporated town of McCalla in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Tannehill Furnace, it was a major supplier of iron for Confederate ordnance. Remains of the old furnaces are located 12 miles (19 km) south of Bessemer off Interstate 59/Interstate 20 near the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains. The 2,063-acre (835 ha) park includes: the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill; the May Plantation Cotton Gin House; and the Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama.
The Memphis and Charleston Railroad, completed in 1857, was the first railroad in the United States to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. Chartered in 1846, the 311 miles (501 km) 5 ft gauge railroad ran from Memphis, Tennessee to Stevenson, Alabama through the towns of Corinth, Mississippi and Huntsville, Alabama. The portion between Memphis and LaGrange, Tennessee was originally to be part of the LaGrange and Memphis Railroad, chartered in 1838. From Stevenson, the road was connected to Chattanooga, Tennessee via the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. In Alabama, the railroad followed the route of the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad between Tuscumbia and Decatur, the first railroad to be built west of the Appalachian Mountains.
CSS Neuse was a steam-powered ironclad ram of the Confederate States Navy that served in the latter part the American Civil War and was eventually scuttled to avoid capture by rapidly advancing Union Army forces. In the early 1960s, she produced approximately 15,000 artifacts from her raised lower hull, the largest number ever found on a recovered Confederate vessel. The remains of her lower hull and a selection of her artifacts are on exhibit in Kinston, North Carolina at the CSS Neuse Interpretive Center State Historic Site, which belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The ironclad is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Brierfield Furnace, also known as the Bibb Naval Furnace and Brierfield Ironworks, is a historic district in Brierfield, Alabama. The district covers 486 acres (197 ha) and includes one building and nine sites. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 1974. The district is encompassed by Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park.
CSS Huntsville was a Confederate ironclad floating battery built at Selma, Alabama from 1862 to 1863 during the American Civil War.
CSSTuscaloosa was a screw ironclad steamer ram in the Confederate States Navy that was laid down by the Confederate Naval Works at Selma in 1862.
Shelby is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 1,044 as of the 2010 census. The area is near Lay Lake and Waxahatchee Creek. Shelby Iron Park is located at the heart of the area. Two sites in Shelby, The Brick House and the Old Shelby Hotel, are listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
The Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad Company in North Carolina was incorporated under act of Tennessee on February 26, 1852, and under act of North Carolina on February 15, 1855, as Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad Company. The name of the company was changed to Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad Company in North Carolina on February 23, 1861.
The Shelby Iron Company was an iron manufacturing company that operated an ironworks in Shelby, Alabama. The iron company produced iron for the Confederate States of America and was destroyed towards the end of the American Civil War. The company continued to produce iron until the early part of the 20th century.
Henry Fairchild DeBardeleben was an American coal magnate and town founder from Alabama.
The Memphis and Little Rock Railroad was chartered in the U.S. state of Arkansas in 1853. The line ran from Hopefield on the east to Huntersville on the west. The eastern third was completed in 1858 and the western third was built by 1862. During the American Civil War, the Union Army seized control of the line and used the western section to supply its occupation force in Little Rock. The center section was finally completed in 1871. The railroad was subjected to frequent damage from floods and suffered from financial problems. It was sold in 1873, 1877, 1887, 1898, and 1900 before eventually becoming part of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
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