NP, RS 6/30B/1863

From the Richmond Sentinel
 
June 30, 1863
 
From the United States
   *****
Damage to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
   All the bridges on the railroad between the Opequon and Cumberland have been destroyed, track torn up in many places, and water tanks burned and demolished. At the North Branch bridge, over the Potomac, they fired 17 shots from a 12-pounbder before they could break the top cord, the bridge being an iron one, and a very fine structure. Only one span of this bridge was destroyed. The bridge over the South Branch was destroyed entirely.
   The bridges over Back Creek, Sleepy Creek, Sir John's Run and Green Spring Run were all burned, and water-tanks at Green Spring Run and Sir John's Run were both burned.
   The devastation has been extensive and complete.
{This damage was being done by the Army of Northern Virginia as it moved toward Gettysburg. With Lee's concern to fill the army's wagons with as much commissary and quartermaster goods as possible while in the North, because the Southern railroads could not keep him well-enough supplied in Northern Virginia, it seems strange that he appears to have made no effort to haul any of the railroad iron south during this campaign.}

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