| Feby 3d 1865 |
| |
| Col. John Screven |
|
|
| Dear Sir, |
| My attention has already been directed
towards the connection of Albany and Thomasville by rail. Knowing that
it was the only reasonable hope of gaining reliable access to the lower
counties of Florida Georgia and the whole of the State of Florida
with its valuable store of provisions and I have already expressed an
opinion very decidedly in favor, and this before I knew any steps were
being taken to carry it out. |
| The connection of Augusta with Columbia is
the only line now incomplete that is of more importance than the line
you propose to build. These two roads should be built at all hazards and
neither will interfere with the other however vigorously they are
pushed. |
| The feasibility of your line consists in
your ability to supply the rails, which without the connection will be
eventually lost to future usefulness. |
| The Florida connection with the
Chattahoochee river will prove of no practical value to the
government. The stream is too uncertain of navigation and the boats
insufficient to perform any considerable transportation and even
admitting that the boats were first class and the river at all times
was navigable the route is too circuitous to make it desired over the
direct line by rail to Thomasville. |
| Much has been said of the difference in
time it will take to complete the two lines, and this argument would
be forcible if the advantages, after completion were the same by
either route, but this is not the case. If the Florida line was
complete today it could not furnish the bulk nor the speed of
transportation wished for, and would only excite additional anxiety
for the connection of Albany with Thomasville, without which I feel
confident that the resources of Southwestern Georgia and all of
Florida are lost to the government. |
| On the Alabama river, where the stream is
nearly always navigable, and the boats in very fair condition we have
no satisfaction in transporting by water. It is expensive, uncertain
and along with these expenses I am unwilling to recommend any
connection embracing this kind of transportation. |
| I see no reason for two opinions in regard
to this question and unhesitatingly urge the construction of the line
you proposed with all the means that can be made available, having
a due regard for military necessities of a pressing nature. |
| I am Colonel |
| Very respy |
| F. W. Sims |
| Lt Col & QM |