Talk:Jackson's operations against the B&O Railroad (1861)/List of historians section

List of historians believing the locomotive raid true

The quantity and amount of sources supporting the historicity of the raid is quite large. This section summarizes the variety of sources backing the historicity of the raid. No one source has attempted to synthesize all the accounts in one publication.

Overview of sources

In addition to the historians Hungerford, Weber, Johnson, Tate, Davis and Dowdy, there are other historians who clearly relate many additional facets and details of the May/June 1861 activities against the B&O Railroad such as: Robert Black, Gary Browne, Jedediah Hotchkiss, Edward Burns, Arthur Candenquist, Clement Evans, and John Stover who all also give historical credence to this whole affair , and this is fairly well corroborated by many primary sources such as diaries, news articles illustrations in Harper's Weekly at the time of the bridges being destroyed, box cars and a locomotive dumped in the river, and a railyard full of locomotives being dismantled at Martinsburg.

The records of the B&O Railroad in their annual report of 1861 from John W. Garrett, President of the B&O Railroad, go into details about the raid that John Imboden was not aware of, and very closely match the dates of railroad closure and quantities of items taken. The detailed annual report was issued during the war, some 36 years before Imboden relayed his rather small and general story.

Perhaps the most enlightening source contradicting Robertson's "totally fiction" assement is the personal story of Mr. J. E. Duke, the enlisted quartermaster assistant to Captain Thomas Sharp. Duke's story was published in 1898, the same year Henderson's biography of Jackson was published. Duke's story picks up where the "railroad corps", as he calls it, began the arduous job of trying to dismantle all the captured bounty and get it moved onto southern railways for Confederate service.

Finally, four other eyewitness accounts are listed for this article, William Prescott Smith (B&O Chief of Transportation), Julia Chase (pro-Unionist diarist in Winchester), Charles Keefer (assistant wagoneer for the raid) and Joseph Crawn (resident on the Valley Pike at Mount Crawford, Virginia).

Details beyond Imboden's account

For instance, a 1933 interview of Joseph Crawn, per Candenquist, is an example documenting the sighting by Valley citizens of the rolling stock being moved to Staunton, Virginia which Imboden did not mention. Elsewhere John Garrett, in Stover, gave detailed accounts in the B&O report of the summaries of destruction that Imboden did not know. As yet another example, Browne notes the specific types of locomotives taken as being a Hayes Camel, a Mason, and Dutch Wagon engines, yet more details Imboden did not give. Browne is also an example of aftermath details, like Garrett hiring Captain Sharp when his Chief of Transportation, William Prescott Smith, died in 1872. Even Weber, who is accused by Robertson of merely passing on the first-hand accounts of Imboden adds that 42 locomotives and 386 railcars were the specific quantities of rolling stock destroyed. Yet in Imbodens account he maintains that "I do not remember the number of trains captured, but the loss crippled the Baltimore and Ohio road seriously for some time ..." John Garrett, one of the primary sources that the operation/affair begain in May of 1861, provides that time frame when he notes that by the 28th of May "general possession" had now been taken of up to "one hundred miles of the Main Stem" and that the line was not reopened until March 29, 1862. Yet Imboden did not mention the timeframe, and is not the source for that information, further demonstrating that various historians are getting their information from sources other than Imboden. This May timeframe for the start of activities has been the position in documentation on the B&O Railroad ever since, and corroborates Colonel Henderson's view that the affair was in play by at least May 24, 1861. Finally Shriver's article of the story of J.E. Duke, assistant to Captain Sharp, doesn't even bother or attempt to explain how, why or when all the locomotives came to be in Martinsburg, but rather focuses on the amazing feats involved in moving what he claims were a total of 19, rather than 14 locomotives by total count, and leaving one behing sitting on the Winchester-Martinsburg turnpike for the entire duration of the war. One key thing though that Mr. Duke does state is that the real brains behind the entire operation, and the real credit deserved is with Captain Sharp. He says "It is generally conceded that the idea of taking the Baltimore and Ohio stock originated with ... Thomas R. Sharp."

Current sources maintaining historicity

CSX Corporation, Inc., the current owner of the railroad also confirms the May 1861 raid in their own history published online at their http://www.csx.com website.

Additionally controversy was added when, two years after Robertson published his book in 1997, artist Mort Kunstler began a three-painting series on the supposedly non-existent raid with his paintings Iron Horses, Men of Steel painted in 1999 depicting the forty-horse carriage and dolly teams conscripted for the "arduous movement" which began through Winchester in June of 1861 and Jackson Commandeers the Railroad which depicts the disassembling of locomotives occuring in Martinsburg, also in June of 1861.

Government backing of historicity

The U.S. Governments National Park Service, too, has determined that a raid took place noting

"With the onset of the Civil War, the B&O (and consequently Martinsburg) became a strategic target, as the railroad traversed the east-west boundary between the North and South. The original Martinsburg railroad shops, roundhouse and depot were destroyed by Confederate troops under the control of Stonewall Jackson in mid-1861. During the famous raid, Jackson's troops commandeered over a dozen B&O locomotives, outfitted them with 'road wheels' and, using horses, towed them over the dirt roads into Virginia for use on the South's railroads."

— National Historic Landmark registration form

Thomas Sharp, unknown by Imboden

The key figure in the raid, Capt Thomas Sharp,, was later so greatly admired by John Garrett of the B&O Railroad (see quotation in the previous section), who spoke with personal knowledge of the raid, that Capt Sharp was hired as the chief engineer for the railroad, and served in that capacity for many years after the war. Robertson's opinion that Jackson's actions were acts of war on commerce before the war started fail to understand and account for the fact that Virginia seceded by popular vote on May 23, 1861, which was the key trigger for the initial operation and complete severing of the B&O Railroad.

Summarization and synthesize of 34 corroborating sources to date

An overview of all the sources easily confirms that the rather vague account given by Imboden is by no means the only source of information, who was not even able to provide information on how many rolling stock were taken, when the raid occurred, what the destination of the bounty was, or who the main agent, Captain Thomas Sharp, was. This table provides a brief summary of the pieces of the whole affair which ran from late May of 1861 and did not complete until as late as August of 1863, when the last of the eyewitness accounts reports the last and final movements of rolling stock that had been hidden in barns and other locations throughout the Shenandoah Valley for more than two years. Thirty four known historians and sources, with some writings dating to within 37 years of the events (Henderson), corroborate each other and confirm the records of the B&O Railroad, CSX Corporation, Inc. and wartime correspondance of Harper's Weekly and various other newspapers at the time. The compilation of the centennial history of the B&O Railroad by Edward Hungerford is particularly damaging to Robertson's theory that Imboden is the primary source of inventing the raid, as the B&O Railroad maintained meticulous details and accounts of every engine locomotive by number, accounted for exact numbers of rails taken by the Confederates, and filed extensive, detailed and enumerated claims to the U.S. Government starting in March of 1862 for claims against actions and theft of any assets by both the U.S. and Confederate forces.

34 Historians and Sources Considering the Great Train Raid of 1861 as True

Source	Title/Info	Nearness to event	Summary
1-William Baine Papers of William Prescott	B&O in the Civil War, from the papers of William Prescott Smith	1860's (0 yrs)	Witness to events shutting down B&O in May of 1861; Cited by U.S. Government NPS
2-Julia Chase	Wartime Diary of Miss Julia Chase, Winchester, VA 1861-1864	1860's (0 yrs)	Eyewitness twice to locomotive engines moving through Winchester, and destruction of Martinsburg bridge; Multiple book references; was either imagining things because raid was "totally fiction", or was in her right mind and saw locomotives pass down the street twice
3- John Imboden	Battles & Leaders of the Civil War	1887 (26 yrs)	Eyewitness to events, gives no dates and no details on what railroad items were taken, but rather focuses on mostly on the initial events of the Martinsburg entrapment; Cited by a few historians; relatively minor contributor to body of knowledge about the raid, but enigmatically the primary focus of Robertson's criticism
4-Ernest Shriver	Stealing Railroad Engines, section from Tales from McClure's: War - Being True Stories of Camp and Battlefield	1898 (37 yrs)	Gives the eyewitness account of Mr. J. E. Duke, enlisted quartermaster assistant to Captain T. R. Sharp, and member of the Great Train Raid "Railroad Corps" of Stonewall Jackson; Complete independent corroboration of raid, completely undermines Robertson's view that raid was "totally fiction"
5-G.F.R. Henderson	Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War	1898 (37 yrs)	Dates start of affair before May 24, 1861; Adds commentary, and adds wrap up activities on June 20, 1861
6- Jedediah Hotchkiss Ed. 7- Clement Evans	Confederate Military History, Vol. III	1899 (38 yrs)	Adds summary of final removals in June 1861; Fills out remaining events in Martinsburg
8-Edward Hungerford	The Story of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 1827-1927	1928 (67 yrs)	Lists the 14 locomotives taken by engine #, records 2 June destruction of bridge on Opequon Creek, validates B&O history of May actions, many details from B&O view; Most information above & beyond Imboden's account
9-Robert Black	The Railroads of the Confederacy	1952 (91 yrs)	Adds removal to Strasburg; First mention of Capt Thomas Sharp
10-George Turner	Victory Rode the Rails: The Strategic Place of the Railroads in the Civil War	1953 (92 yrs)	To be supplied
11-Angus Johnston	Virginia Railroads in the Civil War	1959 (98 yrs)	Notes initial seizure of B&O on April 18, Lee's intentions to not interfere travel on April 30, notes communications with Garrett, timetable installed, and gives "eve of Virginia's ratification of her secession ordinance", the evening of May 22, as the date of stopping all traffic at Point of Rocks and beyond Martinsburg"
12-Edward Burns	Confederates Gather Steam	1961 (100 yrs)	To be supplied; To be supplied
13-George Abdill	Civil War Railroad: A Pictorial Story of the War Between the States, 1861-1865	1961 (100 yrs)	To be supplied
14-John Barringer	Railroads in the Civil War NRHS Bulletin	1966 (105 yrs)	To be supplied
15-Clifford Dowdey	The Land They Fought for	1973 (112 yrs)	To be supplied
16-Garland Quarles	Occupied Winchester 1861-1865	1976 (115 yrs)	Locomotives moved through Winchester, says much is "written of the movement of railroad engines" in the Shenandoah Valley, W&PRR was torn up to hopefully install between Winchester and Strasburg
17-John Stover	History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	1987 (126 yrs)	Summarizes B&O point of view, May date for start of actions; Count of locomotive, cars, and imposed timetable
18-Arthur Candenquist	The Great Train Robbery	1991 (130 yrs)	To be supplied
19- Allen Tate	Stonewall Jackson: The Good Soldier	1991 (130 yrs)	To be supplied
20-Jeffrey Lash	Destroyer of the Iron Horse: General Joseph E. Johnston and Confederate Rail Transport	1992 (131 yrs)	To be supplied
21-Festus Summers	Baltimore and Ohio in the Civil War	1993 (132 yrs)	Confirms B&O history, John Garrett's account; Most information independent of Imboden's account
22-Thomas Weber	The Northern Railroads in the Civil War, 1861-1865	1999 (138 yrs)	Reports similar shutdown of B&O, references Harpers bridge outage 14 June, adds 42 locomotives were destroyed, 386 cars gone; Count of locomotives, cars, permanent shutdown to Wheeling
23-Mort Kunstler	Iron Horses, Men of Steel Jackson Commandeers the Railroad	1999 (138 yrs)	Adds Strasburg's news reports of raid, May date; Popularizes locomotives moving in Winchester, and later disassembly in Martinsburg
24-Gary Browne	Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History	2000 (139 yrs)	Confirms Captain Sharp is key organizer, favorite of Garrett; Confirms B&O Railroad views
25-Arthur Delagrange	Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	2000 (139 yrs)	Confirms B&O Railroad views; Confirms, again, Point of Rocks and "trapping" of trains, confirms noon-time bottlenecking
26-Kirk Reynolds Dave Oroszi	Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	2000 (139 yrs)	Confirm B&O Railroad views; Confirm June data for Harpers bridge and permanent severance of line
27-Burke Davis	They Called Him Stonewall	2000 (139 yrs)	To be supplied
28-Michael Mahon	Winchester Divided: The Civil War Diaries of Julia Chase & Laura Lee	2002 (141 yrs)	Notes eyewitness diary entries on locomotives being taken from Martinsburg, Virginia and dragged by horses through Winchester, Virginia in September 1861
29-United States National Park Service	National Historic Landmark Registration	2003 (142 yrs)	approximate count of locomotives, mid-1861 dates, use of carts and roads; No conflicts with other sources
30-John Clark	Railroads in the Civil War: The Impact of Management on Victory and Defeat	2004 (143 yrs)	count of locomotives, damage, dates raid at start of war; No conflicts with other sources
31-Arthur Candenquist	The Great Train Robbery - or - Confederates Gather Steam	2008 (147 yrs)	Adds details from diary of Captain Sharp, diaries of Shenandoah Valley eyewitnesses; Confirms May date of activity start, 2 June for Opequon bridge outage, 56 locomotives, 80 cars up the pike by 25 July 1861 per Captain Sharp
32-CSX Corporation	B&O History Timeline	Current	Have maintained B&O history and confirmation; Keeps the B&O historical date of May 1861 for start of affair
33-Virginia Civil War Trails	http://www.civilwartrails.org	Current	Confirm 13 of 14 locomotive were returned per B&O record keeping, and Point of Rocks actions started the operation in May of 1861, count of 56 locomotives, 300+ railcars; Confirms some locomotives put on Manassas Gap Railroad
34-Strasburg Museum	The Strasburg Museum	Current	Donates the name of affair used in this article; Confirms the early locomotives first put on Manasssas Gap Railroad