Cooper Wingert and Scott Mingus on “Targeted Tracks: The Cumberland Valley Railroad in the Civil War”
The Civil War was the first conflict in which railroads played a major role. Although much has been written about their role in general, little has been written about specific lines. The Cumberland Valley Railroad, for example, played an important strategic role by connecting Hagerstown, Maryland to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Its location enhanced its importance during some of the Civil War’s most critical campaigns. Despite the line’s significance to the Union war effort, its remarkable story remains little known.
Scott Mingus, Sr.
Cooper Wingert
Cooper Wingert is the author of 12 books on the American Civil War and slavery, including Slavery and the Underground Railroad in South Central Pennsylvania, Abolitionists of South Central Pennsylvania, The Confederate Approach on Harrisburg: The Gettysburg Campaign’s Northernmost Reaches, and Harrisburg and the Civil War: Defending the Keystone of the Union. He is the recipient of the 2012 Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. Literary Award for Confederate History, and has appeared on C-SPAN Book TV and Pennsylvania Cable Network. He is a student at Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pa.
Scott L. Mingus, Sr. is an author, tour guide, multiple award-winning miniature wargamer, patented scientist, and history buff based near York, Pennsylvania.