| From the Chronicle & Sentinel (Augusta,
Ga.) |
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| January 4, 1865 |
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| Our Railroads |
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Decidedly the most important thing in our view, at the
present time, is the reconstruction of some railroad which shall
bring the different sections of the State in communication with each
other. Georgia is suffering a more serious inconvenience by the
interruption of her railroads, than any of her Confederate sisters.
We speak not now of those portions of the State which are in the
hands of the enemy; but the very heart -- the capital -- is as
remote from some of the principal cities in point of time, as though
it were five hundred or a thousand miles distant. Georgia is fairly
bisected. To reach Milledgeville from this point, is a work in no
small degree laborious and expensive. Such an interruption in times
of peace would produce much embarrassment; but in time of war when
so much depends on our facilities for the rapid transmission of
troops and provisions, the inconvenience is little less than a
national calamity. |
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Under these circumstances, the opening of communication
with Macon is a matter of great moment. The most direct route to
this city from this point, is that which lies through Sparta and
Milledgeville. This route, it is well known, has been bridged and
graded, and would today have been in successful operation had not
the iron imported by the company been impressed by the Government.
It has subsequently, we believe, fallen into the hands of the enemy.
Far better would it have been to have used it for finishing the
road, than to have expressed it to capture. Had we been able to
command this road, the fate of Atlanta ????? been different; and
Sherman might have encountered something more than the "feeble
resistance" of which he speaks in his recent desolating invasion. As
it is, the rains and winds of four years, during which time there
has been no repair, have so considerable damaged the grading that
much work is necessary before it will be ready for the reception of
the iron. When to this is added, the difficulty of procuring the
requisite amount of material, this route hardly seems practicable at
the present time. |
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Between Eatonton and Madison there is a chasm of between
twenty-two miles. But as this route has not been graded we suppose
it is not in the question of competition. The road to Millen and
thence to Macon has been seriously damaged by the enemy, ad is so
exposed even now to his incursions that it cannot be regarded as
desirable. |
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The Georgia road, though bringing us to the large towns
of Central and Western Georgia by a more circuitous route, must on
the whole, we think, be considered the most feasible. Though longer
than the other routes mentioned, it has the advantage of being
comparatively safe. It may, too, be repaired with more expedition
and less cost. In a few days the cars will be running to Social
Circle, only about sixty miles east of Atlanta. Once finished to the
latter city, we should be in direct communication with Macon,
Columbus and South Western Georgia. Provisions and other assistance
could then be transported not merely from an affluent to a destitute
portion of the same State, but there would then be regular
communication with Richmond and the South Western States of the
Confederacy. There is, we fear, no small probability that the enemy
may attempt to interrupt our communications with Richmond via the
South Carolina railroad. Sherman is too wily a General not to see
that by the occupation of Branchville, he divorces all the
Confederacy east of that point from intercourse with their capital,
besides isolating in a great measure the city of Charleston. When
this occurs, Eastern Georgia will be in a pitiable condition indeed
-- cut off from quick and direct sympathy with Western Georgia and
Alabama. We shall be entirely at the mercy of such plundering
parties as the enemy may be disposed to turn loose upon us, or what
is quite as bad, the State will suffer from the irresponsible
soldiery of our own army who have placed themselves beyond the
control of their commanding officers. |
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In view of these facts, it seems to us that the most
important work of the hour in the way of internal improvement is the
repair of the Georgia railroad. The company, it is understood, are
at the work. But their resources are not, in the present condition
of the country, equal to the despatch which the crisis demands. If
the Government is alive to the interest's of the people, it will
lend all the co-operation in its power to increase the efficiency of
the Company in their important work. |
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