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Richmond, Sept. 29, 1862
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| Col. A. C. Myers |
| Quarter Master General |
| Richmond |
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| Col., |
| Since Maj. W. S. Ashe's
resignation I have been by your order, performing his duties, but you
have conferred upon me neither his rank nor his powers. I have
honorably managed to perform my duties, unassisted, in a manner apparently
satisfactory to you and to other superior officers; for it is not to
be supposed that you would knowingly keep an inefficient officer in so
important an office. |
| I have many serious
difficulties to contend with & I embodied them in my letter to you
of 11th August, & which letter you said should be laid before the
President I suggested to you in that letter the necessity of placing
the management of all transportation in the hands of one person,
capable and active. I called to your mind the principal obstacles in
my way & asked for power to abate them. |
| My duties have never been
defined, & I know them only from my having performed them during
Maj. Ashe's administration. |
| Though I am known by most of
the Rail Roads as the representative of the Government in Rail Road
matters, yet they have not been officially notified of the fact. |
| When Major Ashe resigned he
recommended me as a fit person to succeed him, but I did not apply for
the position, because you informed me that it was not the President's
intention to appoint a successor, and because I felt sure, from your
manner, that you would look after my interests if one were to be
appointed. |
| I have served the Government,
as I believe, faithfully, since May 1861, and so far as I know no
complaint has been made against me. I have not only this confidence,
but also the good will of the Rail Road men. I know their capacity
& their wants and I in a measure know how to supply them, but I
have not the power. |
| After moving the army to and
from the Peninsula, the Commanding General complemented as the Quarter
Master, for the manner in which I had done it. I had also the pleasure
of receiving your approbation. |
| This morning, my friend Mr.
Bridges presented my application & testimonials for the office of
Superintendent of transportation to the President. After glancing over
them, the President inquired who & where I was; and after having
been told that since Maj. Ashe's resignation, I had performed his
duties, he remarked that that was no recommendation to me, for since
Maj. Ashe resigned, the transportation department had been badly
managed, though it perhaps was not Capt. Morfit's fault." |
| In justice to yourself who
appointed me and have kept me in office so long, and in justice to me
as an officer and a man, I beg that you who have it in your power,
will correct this error, if error it be, of the President. Send him
this and my letter of 11th August. The heads of the several
Departments I have reason to believe, do sustain me. |
| I do not ask you to recommend
me for any position, but only to see that justice is done me. |
| Feeling confident that you
will not misconstrue any motives in addressing you this letter, I have
the honor to be &c. |
| Mason Morfit, Capt. & A. Q. M. |
| Endorsed by Lt. Col. L. Smith,
Asst. Q. M. Genl. as follows: |
| Capt. Mason Morfit, A. Q. M.,
in charge of providing R. R. transportation, pr |
| The Engines and rolling stock
generally are wearing out, suspension of work shops in some cases
& deficiency of materials in others preventing their being in good
running preservation, the damage and destruction by the enemy, bad
management on particular roads, the controlling interests of states,
jealousy and conflicting interests of connecting roads, high prices of
goods urging speculators to great energy in forwarding goods on
private account, retention of cars as store houses, other points and
the fact that the superintendent of transport is without the authority
than that which is yielded to him from his position and by courtesy,
are obstacles to the more efficient transaction of his business, and
some of these ??? now, but not before the pe?? make it appear
that the business has not been conducted as efficiently as formerly.
Submitted to the Q. M. Genl. |
| Sept.
30 Larkin Smith, Asst Q. M. Genl. |
| Endorsed by Col. A. C. Myers,
Q. M. Genl, as follows: |
| The letter of Captain Morfit
is respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. No reports have
been made to me of the inefficiency of Capt. Morfit; and I hope this
letter will be satisfactory. |
| A. C. Myers, Q. M. Genl. |
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| Transportation Dept. C. S. A. |
| Richmond Augt. 11th, 1862 |
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| Col. A. C. Myers |
| Q. M. Genl. C. S. A. |
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| Col., |
| Having been requested by you
to give my views upon the propriety of the Government taking
possession of the Rail Roads, and also to show how the present delay
& irregularities in transporting troops and stores can be
remedied, I submit the following remarks: |
| 1. Should the Government take military
possession of the Rail Roads all the officers and employees of the
said roads would at once resign -- 1st because they would not wish to
be amenable to military rules and punishment. 2nd they would be liable
to be ordered and interfered with, by officers of the Army, of high
and low ranks, entirely ignorant of Rail Roads and their management;
3rd Many of them have long been anxious to enter the army as soldiers
and would embrace that opportunity of doing so. |
| 2. The greater expense of managing the
Roads -- 1st the officers having resigned the Government would be
totally ignorant of the most economical & expeditious sources of
labor and materials to keep the roads in running order; all these are
supplied and done entirely by contract made with the Supts of each
Road at the beginning of each year; but the Government could not get
it done in that way, for the people seeing our entire dependence upon
them would be actuated only by a spirit of gain, and would take
advantage of the ignorance and incompetence, of our officers, in such
matters and would charge enormous prices, 2nd The work would be done
in a less secure and less durable manner. |
| 3. The great difficulty of keeping the
accounts for private freight and passing separate and distinct from
that of the Government. While working to the interest of the
Government we must not forget that individuals as well as troops are
to be supplied, and even if the roads are taken possession of by the
Govt., private freight and passengers will have to be transported. |
| 4. The Govt would be obliged to place the
roads under the control of officers without experience, and
consequently we would have confusion, disaster and delay where we
expected perfection. Rail Roading is a professions by itself and to
master it requires not only hard study, but also practical experience. |
| I have always found the
officers of Rail Roads ready and willing to afford every facility in
their power, and I believe that most of the present drawbacks to Govt.
Transportation, can be removed. |
| 1st By appointing an energetic, able, and
methodical person as chief of Transportation, with power to make
agreements, settle difficulties, order trains, fix rates, and in fine,
to have entire control over, and sufficient power to regulate all
matters, pertaining to transportation. |
| 2d All orders from the different Depts for
transportation to be made on, and come through this Chief, for one of
the greatest, if not the greatest, cause of delay arises from
the number of persons ordering. Cases have come under my own knowledge
where two officers have given directly opposite orders about the same
thing. Is it a wonder then that Rail Roads do not know how to act |
| 3d All officers of whatever grade must be
ordered not to interfere with the management of roads or running of
trains and to be governed by the rules and regulations of the Chief of
Transportation. Complaints against Rail Roads should be made to and
settled by the said Chief. |
| 4. When cars are taken beyond the roads to
which they belong, the Govt. Officers should seed that they are not
used for store houses, that the roads using them be charged for their
use, and that they, are promptly returned, for from these causes arise
three fourths of the difficulties in transporting stores. |
| 5. Heads of Depts must give timely notice
of their wants; must load and unload the cars promptly. |
| 6. Heads of Depts. must make a distinction
between urgent and not urgent wants. |
| 7. Goods belonging to a contractor though
for Gov. use should not be allowed Gov. facilities, for by allowing
them the Govt. is cheated of a large amount. |
| 8. No one but a r. Master should be allowed
to issue transportation tickets. The present plan of giving traveling
agents the power of issuing tickets is productive of many evils. |
| 9. Arrange to have through freight trains
and to send all stores and ammunition by them. |
| 10. That the R. R. between Uniontown, Ala.,
and Meridian, Miss. and Greensboro, N. C., and Danville, Va., be
completed immediately |
| 11. To at once call a convention of the
Prests. and Supts. of all the R. Roads in the Southern Confederacy to
meet and confer with government officers appointed, upon matters
pertaining to transportation, and agree upon some system by which they
and the Govt. will be regulated, and that both parties adhere strictly
to the plan when adopted. |
| I am satisfied that all that
is needed to make the transportation facilities greater and more
reliable are harmony and concord between the Roads and the Govt. |
| I will take advantage of this
opportunity to state that nearly all the Roads are now in a very bad
condition (the rolling stock as well as the beds of the Roads). The
constant demands of the Govt. for transportation rendering it
impossible to keep them in order, several of the roads have suffered
greatly in the destruction of bridges and stock by the enemy, and by
our own troops, and are now unfit for use, though some Co.s are
endeavoring to make repairs, which from the scarcity of hands will
take a long time to finish. I fear that the constant and uninterrupted
demands upon the Roads will soon wear out the stock and leave us
without the means of transportation and to guard against any such
contingency, I would recommend that the4 Govt. should have built, not
less than two hundred (200) cars; the present number of engines will
be sufficient for all purposes. |
| Mason Morfit |
| Capt. & A. Q. M. |