| Engineer Bureau |
| Sept. 5, 1863 |
| |
| J. W. Lapsley Esq. |
| Selma, Alabama |
| |
| Sir, |
| Your letter of the 6th ult. addressed to
the Hon. Secretary of War, representing the importance of the Rail
Road connection between Blue Mountain & Rome
and urging that iron
be supplied by the Government for its speedy completion, has been
received & forwarded to this Bureau for reply. |
| The Bureau assents
to the force of your observations on the Military & national
importance of the Alabama & Tennessee River R. R. The reasons,
which you urge for the immediate completion of the last unfinished
link in the great line of internal communication between Virginia
& Mississippi, are such as would, at all times, have commanded
attention & in?? cooperation & especially at this time, when
speedy & secure intercourse between the various sections of the
Confederacy is more than ever a matter of importance. The estimate of
the appropriation necessary to complete it, originated in this Bureau
& was submitted to the Hon. Sec. of War, approved by his
Excellency the President, recommended by him to Congress &
formally adopted by that Body. As it is feared that the Government
will be unable, for the present at least, to furnish the iron required
for the completion of the road in question, the Company should have
recourse to other sources of supply. The money for the purchase of
iron, as well as to meet the current expenses of the road, will
continue, as heretofore, to be furnished by Capt. L. P. Grant Corps of
Engers. P. A. C. S. on the requisition of the company charged with the
construction, from the funds appropriated by Congress so long as any
of it remains. |
| Your letter has
raised in one point, a misapprehension of the action's motives of the
Government, which it is very important to correct. |
| The iron to be
obtained by removing the track from the Cahaba, Marion &
Greensboro {RR} Branch, from the Newbern Branch
{North Western RR of Alabama} & from the Gainesville Branch {the
Mississippi, Gainesville & Tuscaloosa RR}, was not intended to be applied to the laying down of the track
of the North & South Alabama R. R. {South
& North Alabama RR} but, if ultimately removed, it
will be used to repair the main truck lines of the Confederacy. For
the present however the removal of the iron from these Branch Roads
has been suspended by special orders from the War Department. A
letter, setting forth more fully the facts of the case & the views
of the Bureau, was addressed by me on yesterday to the Hon. Sec. of
War, in returning to him a communication from Judge Thomas A. Walker
which had been referred to this Bureau. |
| Very resply |
| Your obdt. Servant |
| A. L. Rives |
| Lt. Col. & actg chf Bur. |
|