Civil War
By the time the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was completed, the clouds of conflict which would become the American Civil War were already forming. In 1861, the railroad had 85.5 miles of track, 13 stations, 6 wood-burning steam locomotives, and 98 freight and passenger cars. Mahone was envisioning joining his 2 neighboring railroads to the west to create a through-line across the entire southern tier of Virginia to Bristol, Tennessee. However, the War interrupted that work.
After Virginia voted to secede on April 17, 1861, local officials began to establish control of federal property at Norfolk. However, the valuable shipyard was guarded by troops. While still a civilian, Mahone helped bluff the federal troops to abandon the Gosport Shipyard in Portsmouth by running a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise and whistle-blowing, then much more quietly sending it back west, and then returning the same train again (again with much noise, etc.) creating the illusion in Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River just out of sight of large numbers of arriving Confederate troops. Combined with carefully placed misinformation to those manning the shipyard, the ruse worked, and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the Union authorities quickly set fire to the yard and ships and abandoned the area, retreating to Fort Monroe across Hampton Roads.
Initially serving under General Walter Gwynn who commanded Norfolk's defenses, William Mahone soon became a prominent officer in the Confederate Army. Early in the War, the N&P was valuable to the Confederacy and transported ordnance to the Norfolk area where it was used in during the Confederate occupation. Once Norfolk fell in the spring of 1862, most of his railroad was in enemy hands and Mahone became a full-time military leader, leading troops in many campaigns in and around Virginia. Meanwhile, Otelia worked as a nurse in Richmond. Brigadier General Mahone became the hero of the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864, and was with Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the surrender at Appomattox Court House in April 1865.
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