THE COMPLETION of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869, came only a few years after the end of the Civil War, in August of 1866, some 16 months after Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox on April 9, 1865! And even then, after U.S. President Andrew Johnson officially declared the hostilities between North and South ended that August, it was, in truth, only a political and military acknowledgment. The deep wounds inflicted between North and South would take decades to heal, and not surprisingly the Transcontinental Railroad would contribute to that divide.
By 1866, America’s postwar Western Expansion was well underway, and with the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad three years later, travel to the Great American West became that much more accessible. That magnificent stretch of rails connecting New…
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Guns of the Old West (Digital) - 1 Issue, Winter 2024