Orange and Alexandria Railroad

WORK OF THE ENGINEERS AND THE CAVALRY

The great Civil War first introduced the railroad as a strategic factor in military operations. In the upper picture we see the Federal engineers at Vibbard Draw on Long Bridge at Washington busily at work rehabilitating a locomotive for use along the railroad connections of the capital with its army. Extemporized wooden structures of that time seem paltry in comparison with the great steel cranes and derricks which our modern wrecking trains have made familiar. The railroads in control of the North were much better equipped and guarded than those of the South, yet the bold Confederate Cavalry, under such leaders as Stuart, were ever ready for raids to cut communications. How thoroughly they did their work whenever they got the chance, the lower picture tells.

AFTER A RAID ON THE ORANGE AND ALEXANDRIA RAILROAD