Artifact of the Month
The Civil War is the first American War during which the railroad was used for strategic purposes. Both Union and Confederate forces would use the railroad to accomplish their goals. This letter, dated March 9th, sent by J. Fresenius, an Asst. Superintendent of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, to Brigadier General Daniel Ruggles, a division commander in Bragg’s Corps, concerns the movement of Confederate forces from the Gulf Coast to Corinth, Mississippi, during the Confederate buildup just prior to the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh.