What is the historical and ongoing significance of the Railroad Crossing in Corinth, MS?
Daniel Benitez
American History (BES)
Component 3 History Around Us (Coursework)
Word Count:
Syllabus: 0409
Student Number:4012
Center Number: U0008
The historical and ongoing significance of the railroad crossing in Corinth MS is what they used it for. The rail roads were used in many ways based on the situations in Corinth, the Civil War, military situations, and many others. During the Civil War, the railroad in Corinth was a crucial element because it ran north, south, east, and west.
“Corinth was always been a good location for commerce due to its strategic location along the railway.” The crossroads in Corinth Mississippi had a great significance back in the years because the railroads were a source for everybody in Corinth and everyone else around them. The crossroads were used in many ways. They were used to transport food, materials, and a lot of other things. The main purpose of the railroads during that time was to transport guns, people, ammo, military things, food, and everything they needed. In that time, they were having problems and they were in war, so they needed the used the railroads to transport all of what they needed. Thanks to that, they were one step ahead of the enemy.
The development of the railroads was one of the most important in the industrial revolution. Over the past 50 years, America saw that constructing railroads was a good thing because trains would help to transfer things from place to place quickly and could cross the country easily, so they started to build bridges and other structures on which trains would run. The importance of the railroads took place in northeast Mississippi, and a lot of inhabitants got involve when the civil war began, a lot of people die, soldiers and civil innocent people die during the civil war it damaged many houses, churches, and a lot of hotels converted into hospitals and many of habitants cared for the wounded.
The history of the civil war began years and years ago, and when the people notice that the railroads would cross there, the city’s fade was determined. In the 1850s when confederates saw that they were finishing the railroads it quickly became a target when the war began, because they knew that having railroads that could cross during the war would be an advantage for them because they could bring soldiers more guns, ammo and everything they needed to win the war so they had to do something to stop the railroads from going to side to side. The confederates added more men and materials to defend it.
The national railroad system it spread out the economy in different ways, at first it help the iron mining and industries to grow and a lot of railroads companies began use tracks of steel and they figure out that metal made stronger by adding carbon and other elements to refined iron, and the railroads not just help iron mines but also help other industries to thrive, the lumber industry that supplied wood for the railways ties, and the coal industry which provided fuel for the locomotives, and they saw that it was an amazing growth, and the railroads companies was nice to let thousands of people to work in the companies to laid tracks and built stations for those who manufactory railway cars and equipment.
By the end of the 1860s the confederates were not willing to allow the enemies to keep Corinth and their railroads, and in 1862 after a relative summer of inactivity the southern attacked the city hoping to get the soldiers and their generals out of the town and take possession of the lost railroads, both commanders from both side knew that the railroads center in Richmond and Virginia and Corinth were the greatest strategic points of war and “if they would get defeated there they would lose the Mississippi valley and probably their case” the commanders knew what it was coming that they had to fight and not lose so they would not lose any of that. , but in a bloody battle fighting with the people in north and people in the west, but the union soldiers fight back and retook their positions and they attack back and they took the confederates out but that took time and thousands of union soldiers and confederates that die during the battle, when the fight ended there were no more confederates attempts to recapture in the town. Now they union was safe and the military that used the Corinth railroads was safe and they work hard to protect it and now became a major supply center for the area.
They union army did such a great impact at that time because after fighting with the confederate’s soldiers and beating them and winning the railroads they either freed the local slaves or the slaves they scape to the union lines and when they got there many of them were freed and a lot of them joined the union army and served in various locations and guard duty.
By January in 1864, the situation and the strategies had changed a lot and thanks to the Corinth was no longer needed by the union, so the army they abandoned the town. The army abandoned they town and the contraband camp was moved to Memphis Tennessee and the rest of the units returned to their cities. The stories of Corinth during the civil war it’s a story of fighting a lot of occupation and carnage but beside all of that the Corinth civil war was a story of courage an example of not fearing the enemy an example of courage and freedom because all the people who die fighting and all the slaves and everybody who fought.
Now days thanks to the people who fought in the fight for the railroads now we can have more railroads in different locations of united states and we used them as good sources of transportation because a lot of companies need to transport something to a different place and we can use the railroads to transport it and not just companies that need to transport things of the company but people who go in trains too because they cannot afford an airplane ticket so they buy a train ticket.
As a conclusion the historical significance of the railroads crossing Corinth Mississippi and what were they used for, they were used to transport people and sources for war back in 1850s because they were fighting to keep the railroads and they needed the railroads to transport guns people that wanted to fight and food and ammo and a lot of other supply’s that they needed to fight with because Corinth could not lose the war or they could lose the fight and even their case, so they had to win the fight for the railroads, thanks to all that people that fought in the war all that people that got kill and the ones who are still alive they show courage and heroism for what they did and for united states flag because nobody is just going to go to war and not know if they are going to come back alive but they show heroism they are all heroes for what they did we should all be thankful for what they did because now we can use the railroads for whatever we want to transport whatever we need and we are not the only one with railroads there are railroads all around the world that people use for their own goods
