Mobile & Ohio Railroad - Selmer, TN - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

County of marker: McNairy County
Location of marker: Court St. & Front St @ railroad tracks, Selmer
Marker erected by: Tennessee Civil War Trails
Date marker erected: 2012

Marker Text:

MOBILE & OHIO RAILROAD
Strategically Important Transportation Route   This is the Mobile and Ohio Railroad which was chartered in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky in 1848 to provide a vital commercial link between the Gulf of Mexico and Cairo, Illinois, on the Ohio River. The last miles of track were laid in April 1861 just as hostilities erupted at Fort Sumter. The strategic significance of the railroad quickly became apparent. By the spring of 1862, thousands of Confederate troops from as far away as Pensacola and Mobile steamed into southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi on the railroad in anticipation of an imminent Union offensive. Corinth, Mississippi, was among the most important railroad junction in the western Confederacy. Bethel Station, north of here, was also a strategically significant point that provided access to the Tennessee River and the interior of western Tennessee.

  "The Federals took possession of that portion of the Mobile & Ohio railroad near Bethel Station. They had nothing
  to oppose them. They burnt two bridges and tore up a portion of the track. All the Mobile & Ohio railroad north of
  Corinth has been abandoned" - Houston Telegraph, June 2, 1862.

  When Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant massed his army at Pittsburg Landing in April 1862, he intended to disrupt the railroad at Corinth or here at Bethel Station, but the Confederates struck first near Shiloh Church. After failing to defeat the Federals, the Confederate army retreated to Corinth. By the autumn of 1862, Union forces had captured the town. Federal Gen. Grenville M. Dodge rebuilt the shattered rail line and, though constantly harassed by Confederate cavalry, held it until the end of the war.

  Local disputes about the location of the railroad right-of-way near the McNairy County town of Purdy resulted in a more-western route for the line. The county seat was moved to Selmer, on the railroad, in 1890.

Group that erected the marker: Tennessee Civil War Trails URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 100 W. Court St., Selmer, TN 38375

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