- Memphis and Charleston Railroad
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Memphis and Charleston Railroad Locale Southern United States Dates of operation 1857–1894 Successor Southern Railway Track gauge 5 ft 60# T-rail Length 311 miles Headquarters Memphis, Tennessee 
Locomotive 201
Memphis Yard in 1885The Memphis and Charleston Railroad, completed in 1857, was the first railroad in the United States to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. Chartered in 1846 the railroad ran from Memphis, Tennessee to Stevenson, Alabama through the towns of Corinth, Mississippi and Huntsville, Alabama. From Stevenson, the road was connected to Chattanooga, Tennessee via the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. In Alabama, the railroad followed the route of the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad between, Tuscumbia and Decatur, the first railroad to be built west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The American Civil War
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, this railroad became of strategic importance as the only east-west railroad running through the Confederacy. On the morning of April 11, 1862, Union troops led by General Mitchell captured Huntsville, cutting off this railroads use for the Confederacy.
The railroad and its route through Corinth, Mississippi was a significant factor in the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.
While the railroad briefly survived the American Civil War, the effect of the war on the railroad was devastating and led to its merger into other railroads of the same fate and eventually to become part of the Southern Railway system.
The Memphis and Charleston Route Today
The Memphis and Charleston Railroad eventually merged into the Southern Railway. The route is still in use today as part of the Norfolk Southern Railway line running between Memphis and Chattanooga, Tennessee. US 72 roughly follows the original route of the Memphis and Charleston between Memphis, Tennessee and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. From Muscle Shoals to Huntsville, Alabama Alt. US 72 follows the original Memphis and Charleston. US 72 follows the route again from Huntsville to Stevenson, Alabama.
A disconnected piece of the M&C is still in use today by the Caney Fork Western RR (CFWR), which runs 61 miles from its junction with the CSX RR at Tullahoma, Tennessee to Sparta, Tenn. Much of the line is visible along SR 55 between Tullahoma and McMinnville. Northeast of McMinnville, US 70S in places, then McMinnville Highway from McMinnville to Sparta. A panoramic view of the deck truss bridge over the Caney Fork River may be seen from the McMinnville Hwy. (there SR 136) bridge. The track ends at the White Co. Justice Center in Sparta.
The bridge was raised for clearance over the lake when the dam was being built. New caps were poured on the original stone piers. One pier on the bank has an plaque set into the stonework describing the building of the M&C RR.
See also
- Battle of Shiloh
- Huntsville Depot
- Confederate Railroads/Memphis and Charleston
- Memphis and Charleston Railroad / The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Categories:- Defunct Alabama railroads
- Defunct Tennessee railroads
- Defunct Mississippi railroads
- Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee
- Economic history of the American Civil War
- Florence – Muscle Shoals metropolitan area
- Predecessors of the Southern Railway (U.S.)
- Railway companies established in 1846
- Railway companies disestablished in 1896
- United States rail transportation stubs
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