Vital Rails: The Charleston & Savannah Railroad and the Civil War in Coastal South Carolina

Completed in 1860 and spanning more than one hundred miles across rice fields, salt marshes, and seven rivers and creeks, the Charleston & Savannah Railroad was designed to revolutionize the economy of South Carolina's lowcountry by linking key port cities. With the onset of the Civil War, the railroad became an integral part of the Confederacy's military, economic, and communications efforts along the coast and a frequent - though unsuccessful - military objective of Union assaults. In Vital Rails H. David Stone, Jr., provides the first detailed recounting of the C&S line's complex history and of the railroad's valuable role in the Civil War along the coast.