Rail Yard in Alexandria During the Civil War

Steam rises from a locomotive as it leaves the Orange and Alexandria Railroad roundhouse in Alexandria. A railroad worker, in the foreground at right, appears to be securing a railroad tie; the young man to his left is holding a box-like object, perhaps a camera; and a Black man, at left, watches the scene. The pole in front of the train has objects attached to it that have been alternately identified as railroad signal lights and glass insulators for telegraph lines.

This photograph was taken by Andrew J. Russell between 1861 and 1865, when federal troops controlled Alexandria, a strategic railroad hub located just south of Washington, D.C.