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Quoted from George Kundahl, Confederate Engineer, pp.
208-211, which is based on John Wampler's Journals.
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***** by news that the railroad bridge outside
McMinnville had been burned by the Yankees, or their sympathizers, on
the night of April 7. A spur jutted off the Nashville &
Chattanooga Railroad at Tullahoma {the
McMinnville & Manchester RR} connecting
it with McMinnville, thirty-five miles to the northeast. Morgan's
cavalry was stationed there, guarding the Confederate right flank and
protecting Bragg's access to the agricultural area east of
Murfreesboro. The line was an important supply route, and so the Army
of Tennessee dispatched a senior engineer to rebuild the bridge.
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| Wampler immediately began to make
preparations. He telegraphed for a gravel train to be sent from
Chattanooga and organized an engineer detail to be ready to depart the
next morning. He was disappointed when the train started late and
then, after loading heavy timbers near Manchester, broke down sixteen
miles south of the McMinnville bridge. The engineers finally reached
the work site at 10:00 P.M. on April 9. |
| Preparations resumed early the next
morning. The train returned to Manchester for a detail of fifty men
led by 1st Lt. Pleasant J. Cummings, Company D, 33rd Tennessee
Infantry. He had been assigned to conscript duty in the area, making
him available for any contingency. While Wampler acquired rations,
Cummings' men began framing and pitching tents and clearing debris, to
include the wreck of a locomotive. Meanwhile, the work train shuttled
back and forth to Manchester, transporting lumber, picks and spades,
rope, and even a barrel of whiskey. |
| Wampler surely found the burnt bridge
spanning Hickory Creek to be an imposing structure. Connecting banks
225 feet apart, the superstructure was designed to provide a rail
surface 50 feet above the water at normal depth. The crew first began
to reconstruct the sills, the horizontal foundation resting on the
footings. When Wampler attempted to erect the first trestle, tying the
piers together, a timber slipped, injuring a workman and prompting a
telegram for more rope and tackle. The party also requisitioned a
second handcar. The bents, or crosswise sections supporting lateral as
well as vertical loads, went in slowly. Progress was delayed by heavy
rain. When precipitation continued for four consecutive days, the
creek rose too high to continue construction. Workmen killed a hog,
causing Wampler to intervene in the ensuing controversy to reassure
its owner that he would be fairly compensated. Federal prisoners
passing by created another distraction. Eventually, the idle crew
returned to work, building a footbridge across the creek. The return
of clear weather coincided with resumption of progress on the railroad
structure itself. By expertly employing the locomotive to raise
trestles into place, Wampler succeeded in erecting all four by April
19. |
| ***** |
| When work resumed on Monday morning, the
crew was ready to complete the bridge surface. The rails lay on
crossties resting, in turn, on the board lengths called stringers,
running the length of the bridge. Installing these timbers required
only a single day. On the morning of April 21, the engineer work party
completed laying track across the bridge. At 11:00 A.M., Wampler drove
an engine and tender over and back, signifying completion of the
project. |
| ***** |
| A Federal raiding party led by Col. Eli
Long started out at 2:00 A.M. on April 21 to interdict the McMinnville
railroad. ***** Arriving at his destination about 10:00 A.M., Long
first struck the rail line southwest of Morrison Station, midway
between McMinnville and Manchester. Moving farther in the direction of
Manchester with the intention of destroying a lengthy trestle, Long's
party paused to ambush a train heard approaching from the south. Its
crew apparently learned of the Yankee interruption, however, and
backtracked to Manchester. Disappointed, Long turned and proceeded
back up the track to Morrison Station, destroying bridging as he went. |
| Wampler first received a report of a
Yankee raid to the south, while waiting for the northbound train to
cross the Hickory Creek bridge. When it failed to appear, he concluded
that the account was true. Two couriers arrived, announcing, first,
that the enemy was approaching McMinnville in force and, then, that
they were only three miles away. Wampler's train headed toward town,
but reversed direction and chugged back to the bridge, when he
discovered Federal cavalry already there. The engineer mustered his
men, ordered them aboard the three cars, and then crossed over the
footbridge to recover his baggage and pistol. The train started off
prematurely, causing Wampler to scramble after it to climb aboard.
When enemy horsemen approached, firing a volley at the fleeing
southerners, Cummings and his cohorts jumped off and ran into the
woods, but Wampler stayed aboard with his engineering detail. The
engine gradually picked up speed, leaving its pursuers behind. More
danger lay ten miles ahead at Morrison Station, where two hundred of
Long's cavalrymen awaited. Wampler spotted the stockade filled with
bluecoats. The raiders had torn up the track, thrown logs across the
rails, and burned the bridging and trestle. As the train slowed, the
Federals rushed forward. At this point, Wampler and his men abandoned
the cars and headed into the brush. He briefly tried to organize the
twenty southerners into a defensive line, but they panicked and ran,
with their leader close behind. The engineer party quickly scattered. |
| ***** |
| Colonel Long's troopers burned Wampler's
locomotive and cars, along with the depot at Morrison Station. |
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