| Annual Report of the Memphis &
Charleston RR |
| as of July 1, 1866, |
| Superintendent's Report |
| |
| General Superintendent's Report |
| |
| Transportation Department, Memphis &
Charleston R. R. |
|
Memphis, Tennessee, July 1, 1866
|
| |
| Colonel Sam. Tate |
|
President Memphis & Charleston Railroad
|
|
|
|
Sir,
|
|
I have the honor of submitting the following report for
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866. Owing to the condition of the
country there has been no official printed report submitted to the
stockholders of the road since July, 1861, and I deem it proper to
refer briefly to the management of their property, in part intrusted
to the care and keeping of the officers of the road who went south
with the stock when it was withdrawn from the road the 29th of May,
1862.
|
|
On the 11th of April, 1862, the United States military
forces, under the command of General Mitchell, occupied Huntsville,
Alabama, and took possession of the road from Stevenson to Tuscumbia,
with eighteen locomotives, one hundred freight cars, a number of
passenger and baggage cars, and the Huntsville shop, tools, and
material.
|
|
On the 29th of May, 1862, confederate forces at Corinth,
and on the line of the Memphis & Charleston railroad, retired
south, and, by order of the Confederate States of America military
authorities, all the machinery and rolling stock then in possession of
the company was carried south, via the Mobile & Ohio and
Mississippi Central railroads.
|
|
Before the last trains leaving Corinth could reach
Cypress creek, thirteen miles west of Corinth, the bridge across that
stream was burned, preventing the further progress of trains, which,
by military order, were abandoned and partially destroyed. The road
lost four locomotives, one passenger car, one pay and thirty-one
freight cars at Cypress creek.
|
|
A subsequent order located the machinery and rolling
stock at Marion Station, on the Mobile & Ohio railroad, five miles
north of Meridian, Mississippi, at which place we erected a temporary
shop and commenced the repairs of engines and cars, and continued
until June, 1863, during which time military requisitions were made
and the stock taken and distributed on the Southern and Selma and
Meridian railroads. In July and August following, all the stock,
machinery, tools, &c., remaining at Marion Station -- nineteen
locomotives and about eighty-three cars, freight, passenger, and
baggage -- were, by order of General Pemberton, removed to Montgomery,
Alabama, via Mobile, incurring water transportation of twenty miles.
After the arrival of the stock at Montgomery, the quartermaster
general of the Confederate States army transportation distributed all
the stock except about six passenger cars on various roads south,
where it remained until the close of the war, as well as that
distributed at Marion Station. The passenger stock, tools, and
materials remaining at Montgomery, Alabama, were all destroyed by
General Wilson's United States forces. A large amount of the stock on
the different roads in North and South Carolina, and Georgia, was
burned and destroyed by the United States forces under General
Sherman. The total amount cannot now be ascertained, as the roads that
had it in possession have not reported, but will be required to do so
on settlement.
|
|
After the evacuation of north Alabama by the United
States forces in August, 1862, by authority of an order issued by
General Bragg, Confederate States army, the company reoccupied that
portion of the road from Stevenson to Decatur, eighty-four miles,
rebuilt Paint Rock river and Limestone Creek bridges, and operated
that portion of the road until July 3, 1863, at which date, by order
of General Bragg, Confederate States army, the machinery and rolling
stock, with a portion of the Huntsville shop, tools and materials, was
carried south, and shared the same fate as the stock at Marion Station
and Montgomery.
|
|
The roads receiving the stock were required to give a
receipt and obligation to pay rents monthly, keep the stock in good
order, and if any portion was lost or destroyed, to replace it or pay
a fair cash valuation for the same. Those receipts and obligations are
now in the possession of the company. During the period from May,
1862, to May, 1865, all collections for rents were, by your order,
invested for the best interests of the company. Many of the roads that
held the stock failed to pay monthly rents, and at the close of the
war owed this company large balances for rent, loss, and damage to the
stock in their possession, a portion of which, about $400,000, after
reducing to federal currency, is considered good, and at some future
time will be available.
|
|
*****
|
|
Respectfully submitted:
|
|
W. J. Ross
|
|
General Superintendent
|
|