Raleigh, March 25, 1865
| (Received 3 o'clock) |
| |
| General J. C. Breckinridge |
| Secretary of War |
| |
| I do not wish to make
unreasonable opposition to change of gauge east of Salisbury {on
the North Carolina RR}, but have asked various officers for
reasons for so doing and received none. It will greatly damage the
State, and before consenting should like to be shown that it is
indispensable to Confederacy. |
| Z. B. Vance |
| |
|
First indorsement |
| March 27, 1865 |
| |
| Quartermaster-General |
| |
| This dispatch is in answer to letter from
me urging consent to change. Present me the reasons strongly to send
him. |
| J. B. C. |
| Secretary of War |
| |
|
Second indorsement |
| Quartermaster-General's Office |
| March 30, 1865 |
| |
| Respectfully returned to Secretary of War. |
| The object of continuing the
change of gauge to Danville is to receive the assistance of the
wide-gauge rolling-stock, now south of Salisbury, for the Danville,
South Side, and Virginia & Tennessee railroads, on which General
Lee's army is so dependent, and to secure the use of the trains of
the latter roads in case of disaster for the roads farther south,
which are all of the same gauge with them. The 1osses of wide-gauge
stock have been so serious in the last few months that all now
remaining should be capable of transfer promptly to whatever section
of the country the movements of our army may require. |
| A. R. Lawton |
| Quartermaster-General |
|