AR, M&C 7/1/1866 S

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in part intrusted to the care and keeping of the officers of the road who went south with the stock when it was withdrawn from the road the 29th of May, 1862.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

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