| Head Qrs. Milt Dist of Florida |
| Near Jacksonville, April 30, 1864 |
| |
| Hon. D. L. Yulee, Prest &c |
| Gainesville, Fla. |
| |
| Your communication of the 28th
inst. on the subject of Rail Road connections in Florida and Georgia is
received. |
| Although a citizen of Fla., I
have not permitted myself to view the question you discuss in any other
than a Military light. While many, if not all the views you present, may
be correct and just, yet it must be admitted that many very intelligent
and highly patriotic citizens of Florida are at issue with you on each
of the points presented. The Government, in concluding to make the
connection, has had to encounter these conflicts of opinion, and to
decide against one of the two parties. My own views as to the best of
the two proposed connections, in a Military point of view, have been
presented to the Chief of the Engineer Bureau at Richmond. I learn,
however, that the decision of the Government is adverse to those views
and I shall yield a cheerful obedience to that judgment as long as it
stands as the deliberate purpose of the only authority competent to
decide Military questions in the last resort. |
| As time is very material, too,
I shall not only refrain from interposing any obstacle to the execution
of this judgment, but will endeavor in every way proper, to carry out
the wishes of the Government in the premises, whenever those wishes are
signified to me, in an official way. |
| I am, very respty |
| Your Obt. Servt. |
| Patton Anderson |
| Maj. Genl. |
|