the southside railroad the two rails were five feet apart. the rolling stock had to fit that. the army railroad that tracy talked about, the military railroad, the engines and cars were four foot -- were four foot 8.5 -- four foot eight and a h theyalf. and a half. they had the line open from buyr rkville for 60 miles. all the major union hospitals were over at city pointt. burkville became a major hospital center. eventually they can be placed on train cars and sent back to petersburg. one other thing of interest about this campaign overall, if you think about the fighting in virginia through the four years of war most of this runs from washington to fredericksburg richmond to petersburg. most of which are cities that are on the fault line of the rivers. most of the fighting is going north and south. other than a cavalry raid or to, southside virginia saw very little action through the war until that last week. consequently, since the armies had not been here until that time folks were pretty much running blind. lead to not have good maps. he relied on his army. general lee wo

the southside railroad, the two rails were five feet apart. the rolling stock had to fit that. the union army railroad that tracy talked about, the military railroad, the engines and cars were four foot 8.5 gauge. the union army spread itself out from petersburg and did nothing but pull railroad spikes out. they had the line open from burkeville for 60 miles. that was quite a feat. the important thing about that, all the major union hospitals were over at city point. now that the rail line was open to burkeville, it became a major hospital center. all the wounded from sailor's creek, eventually they ended up at burkeville or they can be placed on hospital train cars and sent back to petersburg. one other thing of interest about this campaign overall, if you think about the fighting in virginia through the four years of war, most of this runs from washington to fredericksburg richmond to petersburg. all of which are cities that are on the fall line of the rivers -- rappahannock, appomattox james, etc. most of the fighting is going north and south. other than a cavalry raid or two

one, the southside railroad, which leaves petersburg and goes west, runs through here in farmville, goes out toward western virginia and the all-important saltworks that the confederates have there. arguably the most important railroad coming into petersburg supplying the confederates is the one that goes south, the petersburg-weldon railroad whose southern terminus is wilmington, north carolina. why wilmington, north carolina you would say? well, wilmington is the last seaport open to confederate blockade runners. the union navy, having blockaded every other major seaport, has not been successful in taking wilmington. with that, wilmington is now the window to the world for the confederate government. and all manner of goods and materials brought from around the world can be brought into wilmington, placed on a rail car, and then taken up to petersburg. union army, of course hampered that somewhat in the summer of 1864 when they cut the weldon railroad in the two battles that take place there, the assault on the weldon railroad on august 18 19, and 21. and further with a battle on augus