Description
An engraving published in the October 14, 1865, edition of Harpers Weekly depicts a Richmond street scene in which a Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad train departs for Washington. The accompanying article notes that the train crossed many of the battlefields of the recently concluded Civil War, and the railroad line had to repair much of its damaged infrastructure. No fewer than eleven bridges have been entirely rebuilt during the past two or three months, the article notes, and miles of track had been re-laid and many depots replaced. The author also comments that in these days of railway murders, the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac can boast that in its twenty-seven years of operation not a single person has been killed or maimed upon it. Samuel Roth, the railroads superintendent who served as a secret agent of the United States during the war—a strong Unionist, in the authors words—is credited in part for the lines murder-free record. Citation: Richmond, Virginia, in Old Prints, 1737-1887. Typ .V5 J57 1932. Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
