Vanderbilt started off at the bottom with one ferry boat and ended up with a fleet of ships. 40 years after him starting the business he is the largest shipping company in the world. Vanderbilt sells all of his ships, to invest in the railroad company. By the end of the war Vanderbilt is worth 68 million and is the richest man in the country. Vanderbilt was grooming his favorite son, George to take over his company. George was his favorite son because he saw him a lot like himself. George ended up dying in the war. So Vanderbilt had to start grooming his other son, William. The other rail companies did not want to negotiate with Vanderbilt. They saw him as weak because of his age. The other railroads started going bankrupt because they couldn’t
