NP, NR 6/26/1861

From the National Republican (Washington, D. C.)
 
June 26, 1861
 
Destruction by the Rebels of the Property of the B. & O. R. R. Company -- Loss to the Company $2,000,000.
From the Baltimore Sun, June 25
   The Southern army, under General Johnston, lately occupying Harper's Ferry, is reported as being posted, 20,000 strong, in the vicinity of Martinsburg and Winchester. Martinsburg itself has been occupied for several days past by Brigadier General Jackson, with a force of about five thousand men, a goodly proportion of whom are cavalry. On Friday and Saturday last, a general destruction of the locomotives and cars belonging to the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at and near Martinsburg, was made.
   Our reports state that over forty locomotives, of the largest and best description, with several old and less important ones, were almost entirely demolished, by heavy fires of wood and coal being built under them. Some three hundred cars in all, including several passenger cars, and about one hundred wooden box and platform cars, (which might have been adapted for the carriage of troops,) were burned up completely, while the round iron coal cars, some two hundred in number, were emptied of their contents, and a portion of them run down the neighboring embankments, or into the bed of the streams whose bridges were previously destroyed.
   Our informants state that the immediate reason of this wholesale destruction was a handbill, (since discovered to be a forgery, having been entirely without their authority or knowledge, yet purporting to be issued by the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company, and said to have been posted at Harper's Ferry and other places in Virginia,) to the effect that the company wanted two thousand men at once, at two dollars a day, in order to restore the bridges and put the road in order for the use of the Federal Government. this movement is believed to have been a ruse, by interests hostile to the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company, to deceive the Southern authorities, so as to lead to the destruction of its property.
   General Johnston, commander-in-chief, believing that such repair and use would seriously operate against his cause, is said to have given the order to General Jackson for this additional damage to the road, thus putting it on the ground of a military necessity. There are many rumors in circulation with regard to this affair, but we believe the foregoing to be its truest phase. Our information satisfies us that it is the intention of the Southern authorities to spare no effort to prevent the road from being worked for the use of the Government in any part of that State where they can maintain sufficient force to defeat it. It is stated that the passage of the Potomac river, by General Cadwallader and his command, subsequently followed by his retreat across the same, were among the causes which induced this action by the Confederate army. It is further stated that the vacillation of the movements of the Federal forces, for so long a period after the evacuation of Harper's Ferry by the Confederates, led to their return to its vicinity, and also to the reoccupation of Martinsburg.
   [It cannot require less than two millions of dollars to restore the property, rolling stock, bridges, &c., of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company, which have been destroyed by the rebel troops. The destruction is particularly ungenerous, as it is known that a majority of the capital stock of the company is in secession hands. Well may the stockholders exclaim, "Save us from our friends!" -- Ed. Republican]

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