Waging War by Rail
Fortress Rosecans
Locomotive and train arrived from Nashville today... The shrill whistle evoked hearted cheers from all quarters of our camps. It conveyed to us... that we are linked again with home and friends by an iron roadway over which may come plentiful rations, letters, newspapers, tobacco, whiskey, and numerous so-called luxuries which Soldiers love so well and miss so much when the wagons are overtaxed in carrying only the necessities of life.
Lyman R. Wilney, sergeant major
14th Illinois Volunteer Infantry
Wagons pulled over the unpaved roads of the 1860s could not hope to compete with either the speed or volume available by railroad.
Redoubt Brannan was built within rifle-shot of both the Nashville Pike and - more importantly - the railroad that joined Nashville to Chattanooga and points south. For the United States Army to be able to operate hundreds of miles inside hostile territory, these arteries of transportation had to be safe-guarded at all costs. The warehouses of Fortress Rosecrans kept the Union army supplied as it drove south through the Confederate heartland to Atlanta.
Marker can be reached from West College Street, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
