Martinsburg
Roundhouse
Civil War: "Line of Fires"
The presence of The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in Martinsburg, West Virginia dates back to the 1840's when the first engine and machine shops were erected for the expanding company. When West Virginia seceded from Virginia in 1861, the regions social and government institutions were thrown in turmoil.
The Civil War decimated the region, Martinsburg specifically, because of the railroad yards. On May 22, 1861, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's troops stopped all trains going East from Martinsburg and Point of Rocks. Once he determined that all of the trains that could be caught had been caught, he blew up the bridges to the West and blew down the rocks onto the tracks to the East, and the pirating of the B&O Railroad was on. In total, 42 locomotives and 386 cars were stolen and destroyed. 36 1/2 miles of track, 17 bridges, 102 miles of telegraph wire, the Colonnade" Bridge. A second raid resulted in the ultimate destruction of the B&O roundhouse and machine shop buildings, which were rebuilt immediately after the War Between the States had ended. .
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Martinsburg changed hand more than 50 times through-out the war, leaving this once-thriving community a desolate wasteland, unable to feed its inhabitants, much less export anything. Following the war in 1866, the B&O began reconstruction of the roundhouse and the associated shops that stand on the site today. They were completed in a span of six years, from 1866 to 1872. The facilities were used until the mid 1980's when all local operations were transferred to other locations and the complex remained vacant ever since. The facility played a significant role in the railroad and the City of Martinsburg. It was a major regional transportation node and one of the major employers of the region.
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The history of the facility and the history of the city of Martinsburg and Berkeley County were intertwined in a number of ways. The railroads prosperity brought wealth to the region. Conversely, the decline of the railroad had a profound effect on the local economy in a cyclical manner. The loss of jobs resulted in further economical hardships.
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The buildings are rare and outstanding examples of their types, designed by the engineers of the B&O. It is believed that all original design concepts were developed in-house by B&O and it also appears that there was a significant influence in the design from the visionary worl of Willer-le-Duc, the pioneer French architect and theorist, as well as the work of Henri LaBrouste, who was responsible for the design of the Biblioteque National in Paris, construction between 1854 and 1872, the same periods as the B&O structures.
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The B&O architects and engineers developed simple modular designs for cast iron components that could easily be executed in remote locations with readily available materials and components, such as bricks, wood trusses, and typical metal roofs. The designs were simple, precise, elegant and typical of the great structures of the industrial revolution which form followed function in clear ways. The architecture of those structures provided strong, visual clues as to how they were to be used. In their simplicity, they were, indeed, brilliant designs. The Martinsburg Roundhouse is the only iron framed roundhouse still standing in the world today.
The Iron Horse: A Civil War Prize
By Tricia Lynn Strader
On June 19, 1861, Colonel Thomas J. Jackson was given an order by Brigadier General Joseph Johnston to destroy the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks and roundhouse at Martinsburg. Union troops were advancing from Williamsport, Maryland, and Johnston did not want them to have the benefit of a working rail line or machine shops.
"Our troops are very anxious for engagement," Jackson wrote his wife. He and his troops had not seen much in this early stage of the Civil War. He did not want to disrupt rail service so vital to the civilian population and Confederate forces. He thought the equipment could be saved and transported on the Winchester and Potomac line to safer ground. But, orders were orders. To keep the Union troops from advancing easily, Johnston's troops destroyed the "Colonnade Bridge" from east Burke St. at the B&O crossing on May 23, 1861, and details lit torches to approximately 56 locomotives and tenders, and 305 coal cars. They were set afire, thrown into the Opequon River, or dismantled. Tracks were torn up from Point of Rocks to Cherry Run.
Colonel Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
Jackson continued in his letter, "by order of General Johnston I have destroyed a large number of locomotives and cars on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad." Eventually, Jackson devised a plan to accomplish both military destruction and military confiscation.
Thirteen least damaged locomotives were dismantled and the pieces sent by horse-drawn teams to Strasburg, Va. The machine shops and roundhouse were stripped of all tools, and the turntable was removed from the roundhouse. This was in anticipation of General Patterson recrossing the Potomac,which he did on July 2nd where he engaged Jackson in the Battle of Falling Waters. Hence, the beginning of Martinsburg's Civil War railroad history. The railroad remained inoperative until April 1862. Eventually, all machinist tools and engines except one were returned to Martinsburg.
On July 25, 1864, Martinsburg was ground zero for a fight between two well-known war generals as part of a bigger picture., the famous raid on​ Chambersburg made by Confederates. General William Averell, the Union general who met General John McCausland on the field of battle in Martinsburg's streets.​
Apparently in retaliation of the raid on Chambersburg, Pa., which was in itself a retaliation by Confederates for Union troops burning the Shenandoah Valley, Union General William Averell staged a surprise attack on the Confederate cavalry posted at the roundhouse. The Union cavalry came in from the west, and the fight was all through the rail yard. The Confederates started to retreat through town. There was pure confusion and lots of wild action. The fight lasted for a few hours back and forth through town, when Averell's trooper's drove the Confederate cavalry under McClausland, Vaughn, and "Mudwall" Jackson out through Boydville, Jubal Early and his whole army were on the Valley Pike and headed toward Martinsburg. General George Crook, Commander of the 8th Corps, was with his infantry and artillery on the high ground north of town. He ordered Averell to break off the attack when he saw the Confederate cavalry take up a position with artillery on the hill outside Boydville, knowing Early was on the way. With no support Crook pulled the Union 8th Corps across the Potomac. Averell's cavalry division provided a rear guard.
Early had control of the Valley at that point and had McClausland head off on the Chambersburg Raid that ended in his loss of his cavalry at Moorefield. Averell would later defeat McClausland.
Casualties from both sides numbered 1,000, including wounded and dead.
