Train at Big Black River Station

Photograph by William Pywell Captures Scenes

at the Big Black River Station in 1864

By
James & Rebecca Drake

The Big Black River Station photographed by William Pywell in February 1864 captures not only a few of the business sheds (left) but also a train (circled in red) rounding the bend in front of Mrs. Spears house (right) as it moves westward toward Vicksburg.

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William Redish Pywell, a young Baltimore photographer, moved to Washington to work under the master photographer Matthew Brady. In 1863 at the age of 19, Pywell was assigned to Vicksburg to capture scenes associated with the Civil War. A photograph taken at the Big Black River Station in February 1864 captures not only a few of the business sheds (left) and the home of Mrs. Spears (far right) but a train (highlighted and detail shown below) rounding the bend as it heads westward toward Vicksburg.

The railroad bridge over the Big Black River was burned by the Confederates on May 17, 1863, as they retreated from the Battles of Champion Hill and the Big Black. From that time on, the Southern Railroad, a line which previously extended from Vicksburg to Jackson, remained disabled except for a 12-mile stretch running from Vicksburg to the west bank of the river. After the fall of Vicksburg, this section of line was taken over by the Union Army and used to transport supplies to and from the Union encampment at the Big Black.

In August of 1863, Ellen Sherman and her young children traveled to Vicksburg for a long awaited vacation with General Sherman, whose camp was on the Big Black River. Accompanied by Grant's chief-of-staff, Colonel John A. Rawlins, Ellen took the train out to Union headquarters (Steele's Division). In a letter to her mother, Ellen described her impressions of Vicksburg as well as the train ride out to the Big Black: "Vicksburg is the most forlorn, desolate-looking place I have ever even dreamed of. Cars run twelve miles out from Vicksburg to the Black River bridge." After arriving at the bridge, Ellen and the children were met by Sherman and transported by carriage to Sherman's camp that was located a few miles north of the Big Black River Station.

Detail of Train at the Big Black River Station

(As seen rounding the bend in Pywell's photograph)

A detail of the train as seen in Pywell's 1864 photograph of the Big Black River. When enhanced, the photograph reveals a locomotive pulling box cars and flat cars westward toward Vicksburg. A lone figure in the foreground takes in the sights: soldiers standing in the open cars and passengers who are trying to make their way from the river back to Vicksburg. A telegraph pole is also visible in the photograph as well as a second track and switch. The train, a Southern train taken over by the Union Army, ran on a 5' 0" gage and chair rails. The rails of the Southern RR were not upgraded to the standard 4' 8.5" gage until 1885. The original photograph has been digitally enhanced to remove a "ghost-like" image caused by a person who was moving from right to left in front of the engine

Spectators gather in front of Mrs.Spears' house to watch the train. The Spears' house is noted on the map shown below.

Photograph enhancement by James L. Drake

Union Map with a Modern Day Map Overlay

The Union map of Big Black River Railroad Bridge and Vicinity, (Atlas of the Official Records of the Civil War, accompanying reports of Lieut. F. Tunica, U.S. Vol. Engineers), overlaid on the USGS 7.5' Quadrangle map. The Union map is in remarkable agreement with the modern day map especially for the location of the railroad. Map differences can be seen in the meanderings of the Big Black and Clear Creek. Note that, after the railroad bridge was burned by the Confederates, the pontoon bridge was constructed by the Union.

Map overlay by James L. Drake

Civil War Locomotives and Cars

Library of Congress

Atlas of the Official Records of the Civil War

The U.S. Military Rail (USMRR) and cars seen at Union Mills (left) and commissary car noted in the Atlas of the Official Records of the Civil War are similar to the locomotive photographed by Pywell at the Big Black River in 1864. After the war, the USMRR cars could not be used on the Southern RR or any other rail system in the south because of the lack of standard rail gauges.

William Redish Pywell, Photographer

William Redish Pywell driving his photography wagon (1867) as he and Alexander Gardner, professional photographer, made their way toward the Kansas Expedition. Pywell's dark room was located behind the driver's seat (large black cloth) and this was where Pywell and Gardner processed their photography using collodion plates - a process that used a highly inflammable & colorless solution of nitrated cellulose in a mixture of alcohol and ether. The mixture dried quickly forming a protective coating for the photography plates.

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