Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 5.04 Railroads
Presentation #1 Title
“’Murdered upon a railroad:’ Train wreck ballads and critiques of capitalism in the Appalachian South”
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
From doomed engines like the Old 97 and Engine 143, to heroic engineers like Casey Jones, Ben Dewberry, the experience of the train wreck resonates in Appalachian culture through the train wreck ballad, a typically grisly retelling of a horrific accident on the rails. After Reconstruction, the pell-mell pace of railroad construction in the South gave the region the nation’s highest rate of railroad derailments by the 1890s. Sensational newspaper reporting, a more interconnected news infrastructure, and opportunistic balladeers meant train wrecks haunted the mind of the South to an extent not seen in other parts of the country. Southerners avidly consumed news of wrecks, either in ballad or paper form, and gathered en masse at the site of these disasters to gawk at wreckage, find blame, and mourn victims. This paper will examine southern train wreck ballads and the broader context of railroad development in the region and it will compare the narratives found in these ballads to the critiques seen in the aftermath of historic wrecks. What critiques made it from the piles of smoldering wreckage to the ballads? And conversely, which arguments were effectively written out of the collective memory? The ballads lionized engineers but other more threatening causes – like rotten trestles, or attacks by malicious train wreckers – often were left out. Finally, the paper will address some of the modern-day echoes of this old genre, and discuss how railroad disasters remain a popular inspiration for song.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Scott Huffard is an Assistant Professor of History at Lees-McRae College, and he received his PhD from the University of Florida in 2013. He has published articles in the Journal of Southern History and Southern Cultures and he is currently working on a manuscript on railroads, capitalism and the mythology of the New South.
“’Murdered upon a railroad:’ Train wreck ballads and critiques of capitalism in the Appalachian South”
From doomed engines like the Old 97 and Engine 143, to heroic engineers like Casey Jones, Ben Dewberry, the experience of the train wreck resonates in Appalachian culture through the train wreck ballad, a typically grisly retelling of a horrific accident on the rails. After Reconstruction, the pell-mell pace of railroad construction in the South gave the region the nation’s highest rate of railroad derailments by the 1890s. Sensational newspaper reporting, a more interconnected news infrastructure, and opportunistic balladeers meant train wrecks haunted the mind of the South to an extent not seen in other parts of the country. Southerners avidly consumed news of wrecks, either in ballad or paper form, and gathered en masse at the site of these disasters to gawk at wreckage, find blame, and mourn victims. This paper will examine southern train wreck ballads and the broader context of railroad development in the region and it will compare the narratives found in these ballads to the critiques seen in the aftermath of historic wrecks. What critiques made it from the piles of smoldering wreckage to the ballads? And conversely, which arguments were effectively written out of the collective memory? The ballads lionized engineers but other more threatening causes – like rotten trestles, or attacks by malicious train wreckers – often were left out. Finally, the paper will address some of the modern-day echoes of this old genre, and discuss how railroad disasters remain a popular inspiration for song.
