NP, RR 11/8D/1862

From the Raleigh Register
 
November 8, 1862
 
The Roanoke Region
   The news from this important region of the State is well calculated to produce great anxiety in the public mind. From the commencement of this war we have been very apprehensive for the safety of the Railroads running from Petersburg to Wilmington {the Petersburg RR and the Wilmington & Weldon RR}, and it has been a matter of surprise to us that they have been so long unassailed by the enemy. Now we have no longer room to doubt that the movement we have apprehended is about to be made, and that Weldon is the point to be attacked. This movement was shadowed forth in an article in a late number of the New York Tribune, which very significantly stated that there were other ways to move on Richmond than from the North. We do not know what other troops besides Gen. Pettigrew's Brigade we have in readiness to meet the enemy at or in the vicinity of Weldon. It is devoutly to be hoped we have enough to meet him and drive him back, for it is worse than idle to disguise the fact that if the enemy gets Weldon and destroys the Railroad and the Bridge at that point, the South will receive the heaviest blow which has fallen upon it since the commencement of the war, for the next movement of the enemy would be upon Gaston, 12 miles distant, and the railroad bridge at that point would share the fate of the one at Weldon, and the track of the Greenville and Roanoke Railroad {?} be destroyed.
   Since the above was written, we have received the Petersburg Express of Thursday, which states that Gen. Longstreet's Division is expected at that City in a day or two. When it reaches Petersburg it will probably be sent on to aid in the defence of Weldon.

Home