Herman Haupt: Lincoln’s Railroad Man

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories#010

In the mid-19th century, Philadelphia-born Herman Haupt was probably the top railroad engineer in the country - and he knew it.  During the Civil War, his mastery of the rails provided the Union Army with thousands of tons of supplies, saved hundreds of lives, and may have preserved the Union’s victory at Gettysburg.  Except to railroad buffs, he is little remembered today.