Junction, then a third train east to Chattanooga, Tennessee and a fourth train south to the main hub at Atlanta, Georgia. He took another train to the Alabama border and a last one to Montgomery in the center of the state. As the war proceeded, the Federals seized ports along the Mississippi River, burned trestles and railroad bridges and tore up track. The frail Confederate railroad system faltered and virtually collapsed for want of repairs and replacement parts. In the early part of the Civil War, Alabama was not the scene of military operations. The state contributed about 120,000 soldiers to Confederate service. Most soldiers were recruited locally and served with others they knew, which built esprit and strengthened ties to home. Medical conditions were severe for all soldiers. About 15% of deaths were from disease, more than the 10% from battle. Alabama had few well-equipped hospitals, but it had many on the home front who volunteered to nurse the sick and wounded. Soldiers were poorly equipped, especially after 1863. Often they pillaged the dead for boots, belts, canteens, blankets, hats, shirts and pants. Uncounted thousands of slaves were impressed to work for Confederate troops; they took care of horses and equipment, cooked and did laundry, hauled supplies, and helped in field hospitals. Other slaves built defensive installations, especially those around Mobile. They graded roads, repaired railroads, drove supply wagons, and labored in iron mines, iron foundries and even in the munitions factories. The service of slaves was involuntary: their unpaid labor was impressed from their unpaid masters. About 10,000 slaves within the state escaped and joined the Union army. Around 2,700 white men from Alabama who were adherent Southern Unionists served in the Union Army, many of whom served in the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment. Thirty-nine Alabamians attained flag rank, most notably Lieutenant General James Longstreet and Admiral Raphael Semmes. Josiah Gorgas, who came to Alabama from Pennsylvania, was the chief of ordnance for the Confederacy. He located new munitions plants in Selma, which employed 10,000 workers until the Union soldiers burned the factories down in 1865. Selma Arsenal made most of the Confederacy's ammunition. The Selma Naval Ordnance Works made artillery, turning out a cannon every five days. The Confederate Naval Yard built ships and was noted for launching the CSS Tennessee in 1863 to defend Mobile Bay. Selma's Confederate Nitre Works procured niter for the Nitre and