| Quartermaster General's Department |
| Richmond, Dec. 1st 1863 |
| |
| C. O. Sanford ESQR |
| Pres: R&P RR {President,
Richmond & Petersburg RR} |
| Petersburg |
| |
| Sir, |
| I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 25th ultimo. No application has ever
been made to this office by any Railway Company to remove Major Morfit
from Petersburg: and if such application was made, a more sufficient
cause must be assigned than his refusal to permit freight, consigned
to Kent, Paine & Co. to pass over the Government track. If Major
Morfit thought it to be his duty to stop these cars, and that the
power had been committed to him, he certainly should not be censured
by this Bureau. and even should it be necessary to change the policy
which his judgment dictates, a simple direction from this Office would
remedy this evil. If Major Morfit is removed from Petersburg, it will
be because his services are not considered necessary there, or are
more needed at some other point: and I regret that he thinks it
necessary to anticipate the intentions of this Department, and bring
any outside pressure to bear against the views which he supposes
it entertains. Major Morfit is fully appreciated, but the War
Department must decide where his services can most benefit the
Country. |
| But I beg to call your attention to an
apparent discrepancy between your own impressions and those of Major
Morfit. He is under the impression that the Government Track is under his
charge and that the cars were stopped by him, You seem to claim
this control, and notify one of your "responsibility" for
stopping private freight. If this is a "Government"
"Track," I presume that it is under the control of some
Officer of the Government, and not of any private Railway Co. This
matter should be distinctly understood, and I would be glad to have
any information on which your action has been based, and which is not
in possession of this Bureau. |
| A. R. Lawton, Q. M. Genl. |
|