On the eve of the Civil War, there were four railroads in Florida:
Florida, Atlantic & Gulf Central: Construction of the FA&GC was completed in March 1860. Its line departed Jacksonville and extended westward where it connected with the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad in Lake City.
Pensacola & Georgia Railroad: Operational by December 1860, the P&G's western terminus was not actually its namesake city, but rather the town of Quincy -- about 175 miles to the east. A branch line of the Pensacola & Georgia, the Tallahassee Railroad extended southward from Tallahassee to St. Marks on the Gulf of Mexico, thereby giving the state capital seacoast access.
Alabama & Florida Railroad: Finished in May 1861 and connecting Pensacola to Montgomery, Alabama, this line represented Florida's only rail link with the rest of the South.
Florida Railroad: When, in 1861, the last spike was driven home, the Florida Railroad became the longest track in the state and boasted the largest number of passenger and freight cars, as well as locomotives. It connected Cedar Keys on the Gulf Coast to Fernandina on the Atlantic.
Since the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad did not connect with the Alabama & Florida, and by extension the rest of Dixie, Middle and Eastern Florida were precariously isolated as hostilities between North and South erupted.
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