OR, Series 1, Vol. 5, Page 976

Headquarters Valley District
Winchester, Va., December 2, 1861
 
Maj. Thomas G. Rhett,
 
Major,
  The enemy are using the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as far east as the Little Cacapon, and from official information received last night they commenced working on the Little Cacapon railroad bridge at 3 p.m. on Friday last, and will soon complete the work, as they had all the building material on hand. They are energetically pressing the railroad repairs eastward. With but comparative little exception both tracks have been by our Government taken up from the Furnace Hill, near Harper's Ferry, to Martinsburg, and about 7½ miles of one of the tracks has also been removed west of Martinsburg. One track is as yet preserved for the purpose of hauling away the other to the vicinity of Martinsburg. Captain Sharpe, assistant quartermaster, has repaired a locomotive for the purpose of removing the track more rapidly, and today I expect it to commence running, and Captain Sharpe expects to be able with it to remove 1 mile per day of the single track. I have made a detail of 50 men from the militia for the purpose of expediting the work as rapidly as possible.
***
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
T. J. Jackson
Major-General, P. A. C. S., Commanding Valley District

Home