Did Sharp Build the Centreville Railroad?
   The articles that mention the Centreville Railroad universally list Capt. Sharp as having "built" the road. Did he?
   The Centreville Railroad was a 5-mile road built to sustain the Confederate Army of Potomac in its 1861-62 winter quarters at Centreville, Va. The road was the first Military Railroad built by the Confederacy and served for about 2 weeks from completion to General Johnston's evacuation of the Centreville position enroute to Yorktown.
   The chronology of the road, as thus far found in the records, is:
 
Nov. 11, 1861 The Richmond Dispatch reported that there was a plan to build a railroad from Gainesville, on the Manassas Gap RR, to Centreville. This would have been an easier route, but much longer than the one actually built (about 18 miles vs. 5 miles). 
Nov. 30 The Richmond Examiner reported that laborers were being hired through the Quartermasters' office to build a railroad from Manassas to Centreville. It was estimated that the job would require two months to complete.
Dec. 11 The Raleigh Standard reprints a report from the Petersburg Express that the Quartermaster Department is hiring negroes in Petersburg and sending them to work on the road. General Johnston was adamant in requesting even more negroes than had already been sent to him.
Dec. 11 The Richmond Dispatch reported that contracts had been entered into for building the railroad from Manassas to Centreville. The road had been surveyed and was now being leveled. The distance was reported to be 6 miles -- 4 from Manassas Junction to Bull Run and 2 from there to Centreville.
Dec. 17-20 Sharp visited Richmond. He hired an accountant/bookkeeper who stayed with him for almost 3 years.
Dec. 22 Sharp was given an order, by Genl. T. J. Jackson, to turn over 4 miles of Baltimore & Ohio Railroad track at Strasburg, subject to Genl. Johnston's orders. This was done, requiring the entire month of January.
Dec. 31 Sharp was appointed Acting Chief Quartermaster of the Valley District, due to the illness of the appointed officer. He was, thus, a member of Genl. Jackson's staff for this duty.
Jan. 25, 1862 The Quartermaster General ordered Sharp to resume his operations against the B&O RR as soon as possible.
Jan. 31 Sharp arrived in Richmond with his family. He had made the run from Winchester to Richmond several times during his operations against the B&O RR. 
Feb. 1 As usual, Sharp reported to the Quartermaster General, and this time was issued orders to "supervise the construction of the Rail Road between Manassas and Centreville," according to the written orders given him by Genl. Johnston, or "complete the railroad from Manassas Junction to Centreville," from Sharp's diary.
Feb. 3 Sharp arrived at Manassas and was given his orders, just mentioned.
Feb. 5 After an inspection of the area, on this day, Sharp says he "took charge of the work."
Feb. 6 Sharp left Manassas for Richmond, then Winchester
Feb. 11 Sharp was back in Manassas
Feb. 14 - 16 Sharp was in Richmond
Feb. 17 - 26 Sharp remained in Manassas and on the railroad
Feb. 24 Sharp bought about 125 yards (both tracks) of old flat rail from the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR. The invoice says that the rail was used on the Centreville RR, perhaps as a siding at Centreville.
Feb. 27 - March 1 Sharp made a flying trip to Winchester to pack up his personal effects and ship them to Richmond
March 1 Sharp returned to Manassas and was given orders by Genl. Johnston to run the Centreville Railroad
March 9 Sharp left Manassas on the last train, with Genl. Johnston, as the Confederate army evacuated the Centreville area.
 
   The above chronology makes it clear that someone else was behind the building of the Centreville RR. It was obvious to everyone that the muddy road from Manassas to Centreville would have to be replaced with rail. Someone selected the route, surveyed it, started leveling it and started hiring laborers for it -- all while Sharp was in Winchester, busy as Department Quartermaster and salvager of the Baltimore & Ohio RR.
   I believe that Sharp returned to Richmond to place his wife and 6-week old child in safer quarters and to make his usual report to the Quartermaster General. The QMG took the opportunity of his being present to order him to get that Centreville Railroad finished (and get Genl. Johnston's complaints stopped). Sharp understood the importance of the work and reported to Manassas two days later, took two days to take over the work, and then immediately left for Winchester (to get the clothing necessary for living in the field, to give instructions to keep the B&O RR work going while he was away and to turn over his Departmental Quartermaster accounts to the returned Quartermaster). 
   Clearly, the road was under construction before Sharp became involved. During his inspection, Sharp also saw that the work could proceed without him being present for several days (i.e. there was a competent person supervising the work and the plan was sound enough to continue with). Even after returning to Manassas, he still took a 2-day trip to Richmond (perhaps to arrange for the purchase of the flat rail from the RF&P RR) and was able to take another 2-day trip to Winchester for the rest of his belongings.
   Sharp was given the responsibility of seeing that the road was completed. He was the man-in-charge on-site during the last three weeks of construction, but could not have done much more than try to carry out the previous plan as well as possible.
   Did Capt. Sharp "build" the Centreville Railroad? He did not design it, did not do the early work, but did oversee the conclusion of the work. Somewhere, there is an unrecognized engineer, perhaps from General Johnston's army, who performed those early tasks, and probably continued to work under Sharp, when he took over.

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