| Office of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad |
| Mobile Ala., August 25th 1864 |
| |
| Lt Col F W Sims |
| Chf R. R. Bureau |
| Richmond |
| |
| Colonel, |
| {The first page of
this letter is missing and the first page transcribed is very faint and
hard to read} |
| to the transportation of corn & other
supplies ????? of Mississippi to this city for the ????? station, ???
the earnings & expenses of this ???, from the 31st of January to the 1st
of July of the present year, ??? I think will impress(?) you that the
??? allowed by the Government are not sufficient. Our expenses,
decreasing stock trains exceed the receipts $26,705 83/100, and we have
lost 28 cars destroyed by order of Genl S. D. Lee, ????? worth
$497,000. |
| The records of the different
Departments of the Government will furnish conclusive evidence that this
Company has always c?? the Government and not its influence to keep the
charges reasonable limits. They have not declared five Dividends of six
per cent since the war began, and there is no probability of declaring
any more. They have repaired 147 miles of Road which had been destroyed
??? ??? the enemy & our own forces, much of 96 miles more has been held
in the hands of the enemy and, from the best information I can get, is
very much damaged. |
| We have, therefore, suffered
more from friends & foe than any other Road in the Confederate States,
and I think made less complaint. Our business is now reduced to the
transportation of corn & other supplies from the Prairies of Mississippi
to this city for the Army here, an for Genls Hood and Lee, consequently
we are running cars entirely empty one way. I submit therefore, that if
the rates last adopted are a fair compensation for the through lines,
where cars are fully loaded both ways, that they are entirely too
small to sustain our Road. Three fourths of our rolling stock has been
employed during the present year in Government transportation, and we
now refuse to allow individuals to ship Freight in Box Cars
(reserving them for Government use) and require them to use Platforms
(when the Trains can take them) at the entire risk of the shipper. |
| This has produced our
financial difficulties and is the reason of our inability to accede to
the Quarter Master General's request to take three fourths of this
amount due in Call Certificates. |
| If we had consulted the
interest of the Company we would have stopped running this Road
after the Sherman Raid, but it was important to the Government that it
should be repaired, and I ??? the assertion that the history of this war
furnishes no parallel of 147 miles of Road badly torn up & damaged
having been repaired within sixty days. If the enemy tore it up again,
we shall use the same energy to rebuild it, and as long as we have a car
or an engine, we shall use them for the best interest of the country. |
| I hope you will consider the
matter of compensation and allow us remunerative prices. |
| Fort Morgan, the last of our
Forts at the mouth of the Bay is in the enemy's possession, and we are
daily expecting the landing of a force to invest the City. Our Military
Authorities seem confident of their ability to hold the city, but the
line of Batteries & water defences is so extended that I have not the
same confidence that I have in Charleston. |
| Our people are stripped for
the fight & will endeavor to wipe out the disgrace of Forts Powell &
Gaines. |
| Very Respectfully Yours |
| L J Fleming |
| Chf Eng & Genl Supt |