| Annual Report of the Central (of Georgia) RR |
| as of December 1, 1865 |
| Superintendent's Report |
| |
| Superintendent's Report |
| Superintendent's Office C. R. R. |
| Savannah, Ga., 1st December, 1865 |
| |
| To John W. Anderson |
| Acting President |
|
|
| Sir, |
| I herewith submit such a
partial report
of the business of the year just closed, as the circumstances in which
we have been placed will permit. |
| The proximity of Gen.
Sherman's Forces to Savannah, at the close of the fiscal year, ending
November 30, 1864, prevented any report being made. The destruction of
most of our books since that time, and other causes will prevent this
report from being so full and particular as I should have made it, had
those causes not prevented. |
| Below you will find Statement
of Earnings, dating back to the time we began to receive and pay out
United States Currency. |
| ***** |
| Reference to Tables 1, 2, 3
and 4, will show the number of passengers carried, and the Earnings
and Expenditures in detail, for each portion of the Road and Branches
in operation. |
| I have omitted the usual
Tables of things carried, Engines and Cars, Wood used, &c., as in
our present condition, it would be impossible to make them correctly. |
| We lost no Locomotive
entirely, but had the Thomas Purse burned on the Atlantic & Gulf
railroad. We got her in to day, and find her entirely denuded of every
piece of brass; her entire set of copper flues taken out, and in fact
every thing that could be taken off, stolen. One Locomotive burned
near Griswoldville; one burned near Marlow, and one burned near
Waynesboro'. |
| The Wm. M. Wadley was taken
by the Confederate authorities to South Carolina, and there abandoned.
She is in possession of the South Carolina Railroad, and will be
recovered as soon as that Road is opened to Augusta. |
| A number of our old Engines
were broken by order of Gen. Hardee, at Savannah, and cannot be used
until provided with new cylinders and other parts. We have three
Engines at Thomasville, which will return here as soon as the {Atlantic
&} Gulf
Railroad is completed. |
| Our Engines generally,
require a large amount of repairs, which we are at, and can do I
believe in our own Shops, as fast as they are required on the Road. |
|
Our Cars have been scattered by Confederate military
authority, over five or six states; many burned or otherwise
destroyed, and those left us, so broken, as to render them unfit for
use until they are thoroughly repaired, which is now being done in our
Shops. As soon as the Roads in this and adjacent States are repaired,
persons should be sent to hunt up and return to this place, such of
our Cars as may be found.
|
| The portions of the Road now
in operation are as follows: |
| Macon to Eatonton, 58 miles,
trains running six time a week. I have passed over and examined it
within ten days, and found it in fair order, and being improved by
daily additions of new ties and stringers. Wooden Station Houses have
been built at Eatonton and Gordon, and 100 feet of the brick one,
rebuilt at Milledgeville. |
|
The Road from Augusta to Waynesboro', 32 miles, is run
daily. By a recent examination I found it needing many ties and
stringers, which will be obtained as soon as the new track reaches the
Mills, located near Millen.
|
| The Road from Savannah to
Station 6, 61 miles, is run over daily by Passenger, Freight and
Construction Trains. The portion not destroyed is in fair order, but
needing many stringers and ties, which are being put in as fast as
they can be obtained. There being no Mills to saw stringers, we are
obliged, for the present, to use hewed ones. |
| The total number of miles of
Road now in use, is 151. |
| In rebuilding the track from
Macon to Eatonton, last December, a portion of the track of the Fort
Gaines Branch of the South Western Railroad, was taken up by the
Confederate military authorities, (say about six miles,) and the
rails, chairs, spikes, and a portion of the ties used on this Road,
for the value of which, of course, this Company is responsible. |
| The amount due us by Georgia
Railroad for rails, chairs, spikes and ties taken from Augusta Branch,
will largely more than pay the claim of South Western Railroad. |
| Our Buildings and Shops here
and at Macon, were little injured, whilst our of our possession; but
the wooden fences were all destroyed, and our large stock of 3 or
400,000 feet of seasoned car lumber, and other things, were removed
from our shops here. At Augusta our Buildings and Shops were not
disturbed, but unfortunately our large Freight House there was struck
by lightening and entirely destroyed, with a quantity of the Company's
Oil, Bacon, &c., June 3d, 1864. Contracts have been made,
materials procured, and it is now being rebuilt. |
| Our Savannah Shop Machinery,
and such of our Rolling Stock as could be sent from here, went via
Charleston and Augusta to Madison, where we laid down a turn-out, and
kept it under charge of Mr. Burns and his men for months, until all
danger of destruction ceased, when I had it removed to Augusta, whence
I will move it here as soon as the Road is completed, and put it up. |
| From some unexplained cause,
supposed to have been from a spark passing through a ventilator in the
ceiling from the furnace, the roof of the Stationary Engine of the
business of the Road passing between Macon and Augusta, I was directed
by our late lamented President, R. R. Cuyler, Esq., to make my head
quarters at Macon, where I remained, only occasionally visiting
Savannah as business required. {The printer
appears to have joined two incomplete paragraphs together.} |
| July 30, 1864, General
Stoneman made an attack on Macon; burned the bridges across Walnut
Creek and Oconee, destroying considerable trestle work and track, and
all the brick station houses, water tanks, and pumps, between Macon
and Oconee, and the fine brick passenger and freight house at
Eatonton. The moment Stoneman's forces left the Road, the work of
repair began, and in less than four weeks it was completed, with a
trestle bridge over Walnut Creek, and a Howe Truss at Oconee, and the
trains running regularly. November 20, 1864, Gen. Sherman's great army
passed within striking distance of Macon, making a slight attack
there, and taking possession of our Road at Walnut Creek, where the
destruction of track, bridges, and buildings began, and was continued
down to the Little Ogeechee River, within 46 miles of Savannah.
Between the 46 and 14 mile posts, the track was but little injured.
From the 14 mile post to Savannah, about 10 miles was totally
destroyed, and the rails so twisted as to be unfit for use. |
| Between Gordon and Eatonton:
the fine brick passenger and freight house at Milledgeville,
wooden station and engine houses at Eatonton, lattice bridges over
Fishing Creek and little River, several trestles and about six miles
of track, were burned. |
| Between Augusta and Millen:
station houses at Lumpkin, Waynesboro' and McBean, several trestle
bridges, and about ten miles of track, with one Locomotive and several
cars, were burned. House here, caught fire and was burned off, and the
plastering destroyed, August 19, 1865. The Engine fortunately was
uninjured. The building has been repaired; boiler and engine put in
thorough order, and again at work. {It again
appears the printer merged two partial paragraphs into one.} |
|
Early in July, 1864, in consequence of the great
bulk {The rest of this sentence was move
to the previous paragraph to complete the first sentence.}
|
|
The total destruction of track and bridges will reach
about 139 miles. The only station houses left standing are at Nos. 2,
2 1/2, 10, and 14.
|
| November 21, 1864, I began
repairing the track from Macon, and pressed it forward with all the
men and means at my command, and completed it to Gordon, December 22d;
to Midway, January 12th; to Milledgeville, April 10th, and Eatonton,
June 15th, 1865. |
| As soon as Sherman's forces
moved past Millen, Mr. Selkirk started the repairs on Augusta Branch,
and had reached Lumpkin when the Confederate authorities took
possession of the Road, and by force, tore up and removed to the
Georgia Railroad, between eleven and twelve miles of rails, chairs and
spikes, and a considerable portion of the cross-ties; thus reducing
the track in operation on that line to 32 miles. |
|
*****
|
| In closing this Report, I
bear willing testimony to the fidelity with which the employees,
almost to a man, in all the trials and troubles of the past two years,
performed their (at times most onerous and dangerous) duties. When the
day of the Road's prosperity again arrives, I trust they may all find
employment in its service. |
| Without being invidious, or
disparaging others, I feel under such obligations to Mr. James W.
White, Master of Transportation, for the zeal he has manifested for
the Company's interest, and for the fidelity with which he has
sustained me in all my troubles, to name him specially. |
| I cannot close this Report
without referring to the sad loss this Company and State have
sustained, in the death of our President, R. R. Cuyler, Esq. He was
emphatically my friend. I served under his Presidency as
Superintendent about ten years, and in all that time, never received
from him one unkind word. |
| Respectfully submitted |
| Geo. W. Adams |
|