Winchester and Potomac Railroad - Founding and Early History - Civil War - 1862

1862

In the opening months and winter of 1862 most of the Baltimore & Ohio rolling stock and rail ties that had been captured and stored in Winchester, with the help of W&P railroaders, were evacuated and used in various other Confederate railroads, such as the Centreville Military Railroad. The W&P at that point, however, had very little transportation value for either Confederate or Union forces for the rest of the war, and was not used by the Confederacy anymore after the spring of 1862, when it was seized by Union forces under Major General Nathaniel P. Banks.

Both the western portion of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the W&P Railroad were effectively under the control of Banks in the spring, and were going to be used as part of a plan developed by Major General George B. McClellan to support Union operations in that area. McClellan's plan was to connect the Manassas Gap Railroad and the W&P with a line between Winchester and Strasburg, creating a "complete circle of rails" from the Union capital at Washington, D.C. to the Shenandoah Valley by either the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad or the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.

Sometime in 1862, likely when McClellan occupied and controlled the W&P, its locomotives Ancient and President were captured, and later sold after the war. The Ancient was sold to J. Neilson in 1865, and the President was sold to the West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad.

Late in May, as Stonewall Jackson was busy routing the Fifth Corps under Banks, the B&O was shipping troops forward to Banks. "A troop train, in fact, arrived at Winchester (on the W&P) just as Banks began his retreat. Three companies got off and the remainder of the regiment rode back to Harpers Ferry." As Banks retreated from Winchester, the Confederates occupied the northern Shenandoah Valley, burned the W&P's principal bridges, and tore up all the track. After Jackson evacuated the area in early June, the Union Army began repairing the W&P, but heavy rains washed the bridges out, and the W&P was not restored to service until June 20, 1862.

In August 1862, as Major General John Pope was busy retreating and being defeated by General Lee in the Northern Virginia Campaign, Confederate intelligence learned that the W&P and the Baltimore & Ohio were being used to bring reinforcements to Pope. Reverend J. W. Jones of Charles Town, West Virginia, reported that the Northern government was using the railroad for that purpose, and this was confirmed three days later when Major General J.E.B. Stuart captured papers and letters belonging to Pope in a raid on his headquarters.

Also in August, Confederate lieutenants George Baylor and Milton Rousss of Company B, 12th Virginia Cavalry, led a small raid attacking the W&P between Summit Point and Cameron's Depot, capturing eight Union soldiers, $4,000 in cash and food supplies.

Following the Battle of Antietam in the 1862 Maryland Campaign, the Confederate States Army once again controlled the northern Shenandoah Valley for a brief time. The Confederates wanted to remove all the new rails laid down on the W&P, but due to a lack of wagons, were unable to take it. Therefore, General Robert E. Lee ordered Major General Lafayette McLaws' division to once again destroy the W&P in order to foil any attempt by McClellan to follow the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan, meanwhile, on October 10, was making arrangements with the Baltimore & Ohio to reconstruct the W&P with heavier duty T-rails, locomotives and trains for planned future Union Army operations. The Baltimore & Ohio evaluated McClellan's plan, and replied that they did not have either the ties or rails to do the job, and that it would take at least six weeks to do the job, recommending that the Manassas Gap Railroad be repaired instead. McClellan then abandoned his plan to upgrade the W&P on October 12, and after a reconnaissance by Brigadier General A. A. Humphreys on October 19, the Union Army discovered that the W&P had been destroyed by the Confederates, making the upgrade plan even more unfeasible. In late October, General Robert E. Lee reported removal of the iron from the railroad for use elsewhere in the Confederacy.