Abstract
The celebrations began long before workmen pounded in the last spike to complete the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad through southwestern Virginia in October 1856. Two years earlier, when the line reached Central Depot—so named because it lay halfway between the two terminal points at Lynchburg and Bristol—crowds drawn by the offer of free barbecue flocked to the festivities marking the event. A special round trip excursion traveled over the advancing rails from Lynchburg, where one local business attempted to profit from the opening of the railroad at Central with this advertisement: “Ho! For the New River! The Great Excursion on the 1st of June/Persons going to the New River on the 1st of June can be supplied with a tasty outfit by calling at the Franklin Cloth and Clothing House” [277]. The Depot’s new rail facilities included freight buildings, a machine shop, and an engine round house. Most impressive was the long bridge across the New River still under construction less than two miles away (Figs. 13.1 and 13.2).
“The gut of the Confederacy”
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Whisonant, R.C. (2015). Confederate Railroads. In: Arming the Confederacy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14508-2_13
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