Civil War Operations on the York River Railroad

 A note on the scale of the operations on the York River Railroad during the Peninsula Campaign.

                                                        “War Department

Washington City, D. C., May 17, 1862

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan,

Headquarters, Army of the Potomac

There have been forwarded from Baltimore to West Point five locomotives, eighty cars, 3 miles in length of railroad iron, 30,000 feet, board measure, of timber, one dozen frogs, one dozen switch irons, 1,200 chairs, with full supply of rail spikes, the last of which, it is expected, will reach the Peninsula on Monday.

P.H. Watson

Assistant Secretary of War

 

-Official Record, Series 1, Volume 11, (Part 3), p. 178

“March 14, 1862, General McClellan instructed me to have five locomotives and eighty cars loaded upon vessels in the harbor of Baltimore and held subject to his orders with a view to using them in his contemplated Peninsula campaign. They were purchased from Northern railroad companies, loaded as directed, and remained on the vessels until early May, when they were sent to White House, Va., and placed upon the Richmond and York River Railroad. Another engine was added in June to this number, and all employed in transporting supplies between White House and the front, which, toward the close of June, was twenty miles from White House and four miles from Richmond. Upon the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac to Harrison's Landing, June 28, all the rolling stock was destroyed or damaged as far as practicable to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy.”

       D. C. McCallum, Military Director & Superintendent of Railroads

 

-Official Record, Series 3, Volume 5, pp. 974-975.

citations found in  Rodney Lackey's article, "Civil War Logistics and Organization"