| Enterprise Miss |
| March 19th 1864 |
| |
| Col. F. W. Sims |
| Chief Rail Road Bureau |
| Richmond Va. |
| |
| Sir, |
| The Mobile & Ohio Rail
Road will be connected by next Thursday. When it is connected we will
have repaired Forty Eight miles of Road destroyed in gaps.
Twenty one miles of Road torn up & Sixteen miles totally destroyed
in the Forty Eight miles. All the bridges & trestles were burned
& all the water tanks but one. We have rebuilt all trestles &
bridges. Two of the bridges were How Truss & one of which was
fifty feet above the water. The connection above Wente's ??? will put
the road in running order from Mobile to Tibbee Bridge, Two hundred
and Twenty eight miles. Tibbee bridge was a How truss bridge and was
burned by our own people. There is now a gang of Carpenters at work on
this bridge and will complete it in ten days. The trestles north as
far as Okolona will be repaired in a few days & the Road its
entire length which was used before Sherman's Raid will be in running
order say in two weeks. I have been ordered by Gen Polk to go with Col
S Tate to Canton & Jackson & repair the roads in western Miss
& to get the Rolling stock east of Pearl river if not east of the
Bigbee River. Mr Fleming Superintendent of this road {the
Mobile & Ohio RR} has been on the
work all the while & has driven things on night & day. He is
the best R. R. worker in this or any other country. He & I think
no road destroyed by the enemy has ever been repaired with such
rapidity as this. When it is known that this road had no surplus iron.
The spikes ordered from Richmond and greatly needed as the Road has
not been sufficiently spiked. This road was destroyed in forty eight
miles south of West Point {Mississippi}
& thirty two miles north of West Point. |
| I think we made the best
evacuation of this country made since the war began. We saved at least
Twelve Millions of property at Meridian and on the roads not including
Rolling stock & fixtures of R Roads. Mr Fleming & myself
remained at this place nearly two days after the enemy occupied
Meridian & we saved nearly two thousand bales of Govt Cotton,
after most of the officers & soldiers had left. We also saved all
the machinery of every kind of this R Road Shop here. We saved
Thirteen cars of the Ga State Road {Western
& Atlantic RR} late Sunday evening the day the enemy
occupied Meridian within five miles of that place. These cars have
been ferried over the bay at Mobile and are now probably on their own
road. Please excuse me for occupying your valuable time with this
letter, but I thought it would give you some idea of what we were
doing. |
| Yours Respectfully |
| George Whitfield |
| Maj & Q. M. |
| |
| P. S. I would have written to you sooner,
but had not the time to do so. The Selma Southern R Roads are being
repaired rapidly & will be completed in a short time. |
| On the 31st of Jany last I
forwarded my resignation to Richmond. I have heard nothing from it.
Will you be so kind as to notify me by Telegraph to Jackson Miss what
action has been taken with it. Of course the telegram will be at my
expense. |
| I telegraphed you yesterday
to pay for the Spikes & Invoice them to me. This will be the best
course I think. I will arrange the matter of pay with the R. Road. |
| Very Respectfully |
| George Whitfield |
| Maj & Q. M. |