| Office Atlantic & Gulf R. R Co. |
| Savannah, March 14th 1863 |
| |
| To His Excellency |
| Gov Joseph E. Brown |
| |
| Sir, |
| I am compelled in the
performance of what I consider a duty to call your attention to the
consequences of the seizure by the Navy Department of the Confederate
Government of all the iron rails belonging to the Company, and to
inquire whether it is in you Excellency's power to i??ene any authority,
to prevent any further removal of this property in which the State of
Georgia has actual ownership. |
| The seizure of this iron
occasioned in the latter part of July or in August last when I was not
in the administration of the affairs of the company, and upon the
resumption of my duties in December last I found that the iron was being
rapidly transported to the Rolling Mills at Atlanta to be converted into
plates for gunboats. As soon as I had had time sufficient to examine
unto the condition of the road and of the rolling stock upon it I became
convinced that the company could ??? materially which is valuable beyond
all price, which cannot be replaced during the war and which may soon be
essential to the very existence of the road & appealing at once to Col.
Wadley Ast Aagt General for Rail Roads for an immediate
interference with the Confederate Government to present any further
removal of the iron he unhesitatingly promised to comply with my
request. I determined in the meantime to refuse to transport the iron
over this road. Our Superintendent has been recently served with a
complaint from the Navy Agent at Atlanta as to the non shipment of this
iron, and I am in constant expectation that the company will soon be
brought into conflict with the Confederate Navy Department upon a plain
question of right. |
| I am not disposed either
personally or officially to deny any assistance which may be justly
accommodated by the Confederate Government, for its cause is sacred; but
it is a proper subject of reflection whether any sound reasons of policy
have dictated this absolute diversion of material absolutely essential
to the maintenance of our avenues of transportation and through them to
the very sustenance of our armies and of the people. It is unnecessary
to call your Excellency's attention to the wear and tear of our
railroads and of their rolling stock during the existing war, a wear and
tear, which it is apprehended, will before a year's end, terminate in
suspension of some of the principal lines of the country. How are these
Rail Roads to be renewed? Can the Government which has been busily using
their material for repairs and c?? ??? our iron in the various shapes
and quantities demanded by railroads? It is impossible. How then is the
transportation of the Government and of the people to be maintained? How
will the Government respond to the demands of the army and of the people
demanding to know why the highways for travel and supplies have become
already ??? and then finally suspended? Truth will answer by the ???
ignorance and overbearing folly of Government agents, and the short
sighted impertinence of the Government itself. |
| The seizure of the iron of
this company has been a source of no little embarrassment. It has
entirely checked the completion of the road to a point where it would
have reached important resources for supplies, and enabled the
authorities to satisfy the just expectations of the people of Decatur
County who had most liberally subscribed to the enterprise and were
preeminently entitled to the early benefits of their investment. But
such embarrassments are perhaps of no moment as compared with other
difficulties of instant importance. |
| It is time I do not apprehend
that the Atlantic & Gulf R. R. is likely to suffer from the wear and
tear of its track for two years to come; but it must have iron now
for additional turnouts, to replace switch rails and other contingent
purposes, pertaining to the track proper. The company must have iron for
making axles, bolts, shafts, rods and numerous other articles essential
to its rolling stock, which it either cannot purchase at all or only at
the most enormous prices, and when its rails have been seized at a
compensation les than one fourth the present rates of iron. But more,
the Atlantic & Gulf R. R. has for its only outlet the Savannah Albany &
Gulf R. R. with which its interests are most intimately connected. A
portion of the latter road has been in operation for eight years, and
its rails exhibit decided indications of wear. It is ??ent on the rail
of the former road for repairs and if that rail continues to be consumed
in the furnaces of Atlanta the day is not for distant when to the
railroads will approach the unfortunate condition of the railroads in
the south. |
| I need not remind your
Excellency that upon these two Roads depend to a very large extent the
principle supplies of lower Georgia and Carolina and that they are the
only outlet by which the productions of Southern Georgia and Florida can
reach the army and the people. We cannot foresee the end of the war we
are dependent upon such supplies for railroad maintenance as we deemed
to accumulate before the war began. Is it wise to direct all
these supplies to other objects, and thus cast our important avenue of
transportation upon the fortunes of a future glowing with the
embarrassment of a protracted contest? |
| Has the Confederate Government
the right to seize this property in which the State of Georgia is an
owner, and by the deprivation of which her interests and the interests
of her are seriously jeopardized? |
| Respectfully asking that your
Excellency will take this subject into early consideration |
| I remain |
| Yr obt servant |
| John D Screven |
| President |