Tredegar Iron Works
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch January 27, 1862:
An important Enterprize of the Railroad companies.
We are gratified to learn that a well concerted movement is on foot for a general meeting of railroad officers in Richmond on the 5th of February next, to devise measures for the manufacture of railroad iron and such other articles of indispensable necessity as have hitherto been procured from countries outside of the limits of the Confederate States. To keep up a perfect railroad communication throughout the South, requires an occasional renewal of material; and if the approaching meeting can suggest a plan by which the South can place herself on an independent basis in this respect, it will have done as much towards solving the great problem of national freedom, as any class of individuals have done since the breaking up of the old Union. We therefore hope that a large number of practical minds will be brought together in Richmond on the day designated, and that a combined and well considered project will then be sent forth to the people.
The editors were right to be concerned about the Confederacy’s rail network. According to James M. McPherson the South’s transport network started breaking down soon after the war started because of a lack of replacement capacity. Almost all rails had come from the North or Britain [1].
Check out Confederate Railroads for a wealth of information on the subject. Apparently Richmond’s Tredegar Iron Works did produce some rails but there were many other demands on its capacity (including some plating for ironclads).
- [1]Battle Cry of Freedom Ballantine Books, New York, 1989 pp.318-319↩
