The Tapeworm Railroad and Railroad Cut at Gettysburg

we're sitting along the railroad just west of the town of gettysburg this is actually part of the 1830s thaddeus stevens tapeworm railroad when the idea was formulated by the pennsylvania state legislature this was known as the pennsylvania railroad and the theory was that this would connect the industry along the susquehanna river east of us out through the area of gettysburg and then south to the cno canal and then what would later be the b o railroad they started construction in the 1830s but by 1839 the project was cancelled it ate up a lot of pennsylvania taxpayers money so it was named the tapeworm railroad they investigated the railroad there was a lot of graft involved in it and the project was canceled and so at the time of the civil war this was an unfinished railroad and the accounts that described this section of the railroad at the time of the battle call it the a high artificial road because the embankment from the edge of the town out to seminary ridge where there was a cut through the ridge had been placed and during the heavy fighting on july 1 the union army retreated through this area back to gettysburg as a matter of fact when the southern army captured seminary ridge and abner parents brigade swung around they fired at the troops on the chambersburg pike who then came over to the un the high artificial road or the embankment for protection and eventually dole's brigade broke through the union 11th army corps and there were confederate soldiers firing into this area from both sides and northern troops retreating through this area a large amount of northern soldiers were captured in the seminary ridge railroad cut on the afternoon of the first day and many others were captured as they retreated down this embankment towards the town and i think it's important to remember that not only was there heavy fighting in the area which is which is now the gettysburg national military park but there are areas that are privately owned that were also the scene of heavy fighting during the battle

Channel: Adams County Historical Society at Gettysburg

Views: 1,086

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Battle of Gettysburg, Civil War, Railroad

Id: n-QdHwqSs2k

Length: 2min 21sec (141 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021