Railroads gave us faster and more convenient transportation as they simultaneously signaled the death knell of many species of migratory animals as well as served up noise and air pollution.
Cannon to the south, and they might be tolling the knell of Atlanta's fall. But to Scarlett, sick for her mother's safety, fighting to the south only meant fighting near Tara.
This was the death knell to the idea that the leaders of the Confederacy and their white supporters might be permitted to share in the establishment of the new order.