| Thursday, February 26, 1863 |
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| The committee met at 10 o'clock |
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| *****
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| 13th Question. How far was
this time exceeded?
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| Mr. Shirley. I think something
over three months, which was the result of causes never apprehended
when I entered upon their construction. I had to move the vessel to
Yazoo City, where she was nearly completed, when the naval officers
moved her to Greenwood, [Miss.], on the Yazoo River. That was done
in obedience to a dispatch from Governor Pettus, of Mississippi, to
Commander McBlair, stating the enemy's vessels were coming up the
river. This course was very disastrous, as it resulted in the loss
of a barge laden with 400 bars of drilled railroad iron
{roughly 1/2 mile of track, both sides}, each bar having six
holes drilled through it. It took several weeks afterwards to repair
that injury, inasmuch as the steam machinery constructed at Memphis
for that purpose was taken down and had again to be constructed; and
then before it was used it was again taken down, and finally we had
to take it almost by force. I had men drilling on the balance of the
iron when Memphis was taken. We never got it all, and the vessel was
rather badly finished because of this accident.
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