The Defenses of the Kentucky Central Railroad, Lexington and Frankfort Railroad, and Kentucky River during the Civil War (1861-1865). During the Civil War, railroads for the first time played a vital strategic, logistical, and communications role in military operations. Both the Federal and Confederate forces used the railroad network to transport troops and supplies. In addition, the railroad telegraphs provided instant communications from the battlefield to the home front. The Kentucky Central Railroad connected Covington with Paris, Lexington, and Nicholasville. Supplies and materials were shipped across the Ohio River from Cincinnati to Covington by ferry to the railhead in Covington. The Kentucky Central served the rich agricultural region of Central Kentucky which supplied a large number of hogs and cattle for the Federal Army. The Louisville, Frankfort & Lexington Railroad connected Louisville with Lexington by way of Frankfort.

Over 4,100 total pages ... Just a sample of the contents: 256 page Army TRAIN RAILROAD RAILCAR Manual FULL TITLE: MAINTENANCE OF RAILWAY CARS. Published by the Department of the Army on 28 August 1972 (current). 174 page U.S. Technical RAILROAD Design FULL TITLE: Technical Instructions: Railroad Design and Rehabilitation. Published 1 March 2000. 207 page U.S. Navy RAILROAD Handbook FULL TITLE: NAVY RAILWAY OPERATING HANDBOOK, 207 pages. Published by the Department of the Navy, June 1999. U.S. Army RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE Operations Manual FULL TITLE: RAILWAY OPERATING AND SAFETY RULES. Published by the Department of the Army on 17 July 1989. 139 page Army RAILROAD Rolling Stock Manual Six Lessons; 139 pages on CD-ROM. FULL TITLE: RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK. Published by the Department of the Army on 1 June 1997. 274 page B-B-160 LOCOMOTIVE Operator Manual FULL TITLE: OPERATOR AND UNIT MAINTENANCE MANUAL - LOCOMOTIVE, DIESEL-ELECTRIC, 56-1/2-INCH GAGE, 80-TON, 670 HP, 0-4-4-0 WHEEL, MODEL B-B-160/160-4GE747-A1. Published by the Department of the Army on 22 May 1991. 268 page Army BALDWIN LIMA Locomotive Manual FULL TITLE: OPERATOR AND UNIT MAINTENANCE MANUAL LOCOMOTIVE, DIESEL-ELECTRIC, 56-1/2-INCH GAGE, 60 TON, 500 HP, 0-4-4-0 WHEEL, MODEL RS-4-TC-1A. Published by the Department of the Army on 8 January 1987. 419 page Army GE B-B-160 Locomotive Manual FULL TITLE: INTERMEDIATE DIRECT SUPPORT AND INTERMEDIATE GENERAL SUPPORT MAINTENANCE MANUAL LOCOMOTIVE, DIESEL-ELECTRIC, 56-1/2-INCH GAGE, 80-TON, 670 HP, 0-4-4-0 WHEEL, MODEL B-B-160/160-4GE747-A1. Published by the Department of the Army on 21 July 1987. 396 page B-B-160 LOCOMOTIVE Parts Manual FULL TITLE: UNIT, INTERMEDIATE DIRECT SUPPORT AND GENERAL SUPPORT REPAIR PARTS AND SPECIAL TOOLS LIST LOCOMOTIVE, DIESEL-ELECTRIC, 56-1/2-INCH GAGE, 80-TON, 670 HP, 0-4-4-0 WHEEL, MODEL B-B-160/160-4GE747-A1 NSN 2210-01-158-2980. Published by the Department of the Army on 31 March 1993. 90 page 1955 Davenport LOCOMOTIVE Maintenance Manual FULL TITLE: LOCOMOTIVE DIESEL ELECTRIC 56½ GAGE, 44 TON 0-4-4-0, 400 HP DAVENPORT BESLER Published by the Department of the Army on 8 November 1955.

On April 22, 1861, within weeks of the surrender at Fort Sumter, fresh recruits marched to the Cynthiana, Kentucky, depot—one of the state's first volunteer companies to join the Confederate army. The soldiers boarded a waiting train as many sympathetic city and county officials cheered. A Confederate flag was raised at the Harrison County courthouse but it was taken down within six months, as the influence of pro-Southern officials diminished. However, this "pestilential little nest of treason" became a battlefield during some of the most dramatic military engagements in the state. In this fascinating book, William A. Penn provides an impressively detailed account of the military action that took place in this Kentucky region during the Civil War. Because of its political leanings and strategic position along the Kentucky Central Railroad, Harrison County became the target of multiple raids by Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. Conflict in the area culminated in the Second Battle of Cynthiana, in which Morgan's men clashed with Union troops led by Major General Stephen G. Burbridge (the "Butcher of Kentucky"), resulting in the destruction of much of the town by fire. Penn draws on dozens of period newspapers as well as personal journals, memoirs, and correspondence from citizens, slaves, soldiers, and witnesses to provide a vivid account of the war's impact on the region. Featuring new maps that clearly illustrate the combat strategies in the various engagements, Kentucky Rebel Town provides an illuminating look at divided loyalties and dissent in Union Kentucky.

This book is based on five-hundred letters, six diaries and the regimental surgeons day book. All new primary resources for the researcher. It is illustrated with 142 plates of photos of the men, maps, and sketches as well as some modern photography. This regiment spent 10 months guarding the Kentucky Central Railroad building blockhouses and was engaged in suppression of Confederate recruitment, spying and communications. They moved into East Tennessee and six months of 1/4 to 1/2 rations and their first battle at Mossy Creek. They then started into the Atlanta campaign loosing heavily at Resaca, Kennesaw and Utoy Creek. They took part in the campaign in Tennessee against Hood, fighting at Columbia, Spring Hill and holding a hitherto unrecorded critical flanking position at Franklin. They fought at Nashville and the pursuit of Hood. They then were transported to Cape Fear North Carolina. Assaulted Ft. Anderson and linked up with Sherman for the final movements resulting in the surrender of Johnson's Forces.

The Other Side of Blue Grass is a racy thriller, a page-turner that incorporates the popular ingredients that attract contemporary readers. It is an adult novel with a plot line of many contemporary themes; the right to possess and bear arms, protection of individual rights, legal ethics, and an inter-racial romance. The protagonists and villains are believable. A main ingredient in the novel is a well-structured courtroom drama, worthy of John Grisham that connects and brings substance to the underlying theme of crime and punishment. A component of the mystery is provided by a mysterious illness that kills a group of lawyers attending an ABA meeting in a small Kentucky town. This episode, an integral part of the climax, is resolved in a Patricia Cornwell style and with the Internet. The story is given credibility through well-developed, realistic dialogue and movement of the story line through realistic scenes--the landscape and countryside of Kentucky. The novel succeeds in building a connection between the characters and the reader by developing individual characters personalities and motivations. Each character is alive at their first appearance. Readers will not be able to put down this novel due to their intense need to know what happens next. The story has an excellent climax and close that is believable and complete. This book will attract a broad readership from young to older adults.