Railroad Bureau, C. S. A.
| Richmond, October 23, 1863 |
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| Brig. Gen. A. R. Lawton |
| Quartermaster-General, Richmond |
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| General, |
| The arrangements for moving cars and
locomotive engines across the bay at Mobile and over the
narrow-gauge track from Montgomery to West Point have proved a
decided success, saving time, labor, and expense, an economy which
will not end with this particular work, as the connection between
the two roads at Montgomery already accommodates all Government
transportation, thus enabling your department to dispense with the
large number of drays and animals formerly occupied in performing
it. By these efforts some of the most needy railroads in the
Confederacy will be enabled to considerably increase their
transportation for the Government, and there is no apparent reason
why the movement of troops and stores should not be made with
probably greater regularity and dispatch this winter than
heretofore.
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| It is well, however, to remark that this
improvement will prove only temporary, because the roads have no
means in many cases, and all of them but limited facilities, for
keeping their machinery in the proper repair. Engines and cars
cannot be made for the same reason that they cannot be repaired;
consequently all aid in the shape of additional cars and engines is
but deferring an evil day. The time will soon come when the
Government itself will be incompetent to render even this
assistance. It can only do so now because of the contraction of our
territory.
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| It would seem that the railroad companies had
been negligent in attending to what is so clearly their own interest
as keeping their rolling-stock in repair, but you can readily
comprehend how unavoidable was their condition. When the war began
railroad managers thought their business ruined. Their incomes had
been realized from commerce, and when trade was so suddenly cut off,
and before our contest had assumed its present gigantic proportions,
a period of inactivity in transportation took place which justly
alarmed these managers who occupied positions of trust. In order to
contract every expenditure, to meet the crisis which seemed
impending, they encouraged the enlistment of their employees -- a
class having usually but few local associations, and nearly always
ready to embark in any scheme that promises change or excitement.
Hence their workshops were soon reduced to a minimum force of
workmen. The conscript act completed what the prudence of the
railroad managers had begun. The twelve-months volunteers were held
to service, and to-day there is not a car, engine, or machine-shop
in the country able to do one-half the work offered it for the want
of men and material.
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| As the war developed the wants of Government
the business of transportation increased, but the Confederacy,
instead of the merchant, claimed the energy and skill of railroad
men. Eager to serve our new Government, with a patriotism which I
fear has never been properly appreciated, the railroad companies
voluntarily and unanimously reduced their rates to figures which
barely covered working expenses, and to-day they are carrying for
Government everything except troops at prices which are not fairly
remunerative. But the idea of making money out of the Government
does not seem to be entertained by those connected with the
management of railroads, and no corporations in the Confederacy have
made such constant efforts to serve the Government as railroad
corporations. The managers of them embraced the best business talent
and exhibit as much patriotism as any class in the country.
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| To complete what Government officers first
thought to be the best plan for transportation, but which every
railroad man knew to be a most destructive one, the former ordered
engines and cars from road to road, irrespective of ownership, and
making no provisions for their return. Thus this valuable property
was used and abused from one end of the Confederacy to the other,
cars were run from point to point without attention and only found
rest in total destruction, utterly lost to their owners, who are
left without redress. |
| A wiser policy now prevails; officers are in a
measure restrained from interference, and the owners are keeping
their rolling-stock under their own control; otherwise it is hard to
imagine what troubles might surround our transportation. At the
beginning of the war most of the roads had fair supplies of
rolling-stock and material, and such of the former as could be kept
at home was, with the aid of the latter and the few workmen that
could be found, maintained intolerable condition, but the rapid
depreciation consequent upon constant work soon exhausted these
supplies, and now the richest and most provident companies are
feeling severely the want of the most ordinary articles. In many
cases business has pressed so hard that machinery could not stop for
repairs, and in others the machinists and material could not be had
to make them, even when engines were laid up. It is estimated, and
in my opinion rather under than over the mark, that fifty
locomotives now in the Confederacy are useless for the want of
tires, and they can be made either at Atlanta or Richmond in less
than six months; but the Government absorbs the work of these shops
and the material also; consequently the railroads are impotent.
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| Is it any wonder that transportation is
deficient? Is it not rather a wonder that we have any transportation
by rail at all?
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| To remedy in part the deficiencies described,
the task of moving cars and engines from west of the Alabama River
was undertaken. With all the assistance that could be obtained it
was a tedious operation. Sickness at Mobile and Montgomery retarded
the work, and that which I reasonably hoped would be completed by
August 1 was not finished until about the 20th of September. This
work will help the most needy roads, but, as I before remarked, the
aid is only temporary; there is no permanent relief without
machinists from the Army, iron from the mines, and permission for
foundries and rolling-mills to work for railroads. Fresh cars and
engines, without repairs, will follow those already laid aside,
until every resource is exhausted, when the Government will be
compelled to do that which it has refused heretofore.
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| When machinery is properly cared for the
depreciation is scarcely perceptible, and had the railroads been
able to get what the Confederacy produces they would be in nearly as
good condition now as they were two years ago. Every important
article of consumption by railroads can be produced in the
Confederate States, but so long as the Government controls and
denies the roads, you may say, practically everything, there will be
no permanent relief for them.
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| The time has arrived when it must be decided
whether this system is to continue; if it is, the Government must be
prepared for very limited and uncertain means of transportation. It
is utterly impossible to continue in the present destructive course.
Complaints of the deficiency in transportation are daily made, and
your department is censured for want of energy, and too frequently
worse motives are ascribed. Something is due to a department upon
which the whole burden of transportation rests, and if it is not
yielded, then other officers must shoulder the responsibility. What
the roads ask, and what they must have, is iron ore, permission for
foundries and rolling-mills to work for them, and a liberal system
of detailing machinists from the Army. Nothing else will do.
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| The Government surely must have learned by
this time that railroad officers are not usually nor peculiarly
deficient in management, energy, or disposition. If the appointment
of Col. W. M. Wadley failed to produce anticipated results, it was
because the origin of trouble would not be seen, though often
pointed out. No energy, skill, or talent can make transportation
what it ought to be without the aid suggested. It is to be hoped
that these facts will be appreciated before it is too late.
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| I remain, general, very respectfully, your obedient
servant |
| F. W. Sims |
| Major and Quartermaster |
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| [Indorsements] |
| Office of the Quartermaster-General |
| October 24, 1863 |
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| The within report of Major Sims, in response
to a call made on him, is respectfully referred to the Secretary of
War.
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| I cannot too earnestly call attention to the
present and prospective condition of the railroads of the country,
our sole dependence for bringing armies and their supplies together.
The peculiar condition of our country at present, the unprecedented
relation between the positions of our armies and the growth of their
supplies -- the largest army in the Confederacy drawing its rations
and forage from points 700 miles distant -- give to railways an
importance to which they were never before entitled. When the
Government controls and absorbs nearly all the labor and materials
of the country, to Government only can the railways look for
permission to use, at their own expense, the materials, labor, and
machinery necessary to keep them in working order. And time is
all-important, or the injury will soon be irreparable. As I desire
soon to have a conference with the managers of the railways on which
we principally depend, I wish some authority to promise the
necessary assistance, or the permission to work for themselves,
which will insure us against a total loss of our means of
transportation. All my efforts to improve their condition will be
fruitless of practical results unless I am armed with this power.
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| A. R. Lawton |
| Quartermaster-General |
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| For conference with General Lawton,
Quartermaster-General |
| J. A. S |
| Noted; file. Discussed with Quartermaster-General in
person. |
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