Transportation During the Civil War

What were the major types of travel by land?

• horse

• Horse were liked for transportation because of their endurance, speed, strength, and tame-ability?

http://www.allabouthorses.co.nz/

• wagon

• For the people who didn’t want to ride horseback, or had a bigger load than a few bags, there were also wagons available. Wagons were available to be pulled by many horses or oxen, and could hold people and cargo.

A wagon most likely had a compartment up front for the driver and passengers as well as a very large bed, much like a truck, in the back.

http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article033.html

• carriage/stagecoach

• A stage coach and a carriage were built around the same idea, you could ride in it, while comfortable, and not have to drive it. Stage coaches were also popular for transporting money because they traveled in a set route anyway. A carriage, unlike a wagon, was mainly used to transport people, which left very little room for much more than a few boxes and a gun for defense.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/stagecoach.aspx

What about by water?

• Riverboat

• Riverboats were the cruise ships of the 19 century. They served as boats to transport people, cruises (even though we’re in Kansas) and to take minimal goods up and down the Missouri River.

• Steamship

• Steamships main focus was to take goods up the Missouri and Arkansas river. They carried very few people apart from the captain of the boat, but served their purpose very well.

http://www.nps.gov/fous/learn/education/classrooms/1800s-river-transportation.htm

How did people communicate over distance?

• telegraph

• A sort of mail that is sent by morse code by sound, and then typed out on a letter.

SCOUTS, and telegraph lessons

• Pony Express

• An 1800s form of mail delivery that involved a series of riders taking mail from one “post” to the next while only exchanging mail to another rider who would then go on to the next.

http://www.historynet.com/pony-express