Norman Gasbarro | May 17, 2014
In researching the participants involved in the Great Shohola Train Wreck, the one individual who supposedly allowed the coal train to enter the main line at Lackawaxen and the other individual who supposedly was a member of the Union guard on the prisoner train, have been very difficult to locate in records not associated with […]
Norman Gasbarro | May 16, 2014
While it may have had nothing to do at all with the Great Shohola Train Wreck, three days after the accident, the President of the Erie Railroad died. The following was reported in Between the Ocean and the Lakes, on page 138: Nathaniel Marsh died 18 July 1864. His death came suddenly, although he had […]
Norman Gasbarro | May 14, 2014
Today’s post is another installment of a series on the Great Shohola Train Wreck. On 15 July 1864, at about 2 P.M., a train carrying 833 Confederate prisoners of war and a contingent of Union guards, collided head-on with a 50-car coal train on a single-track main line of the New York and Erie Railroad. […]
Norman Gasbarro | May 13, 2014
The question of the importance of the location that Elmira, Chemung County, New York, had to the Union war effort can best be answered by examining a regional map from the time period. The above map is adapted from an 1868 railroad map and shows the major points of interest to a study of the […]
Norman Gasbarro | May 4, 2014
Today’s post is a continuation of the series in commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the Great Shohola Train Wreck, which occurred on 15 July 1864. At the time it occurred, it was the worst recorded train accident in history. The official report of the transport of prisoners to Elmira Prison Camp from Point Lookout, […]
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