| From the Lynchburg Virginian |
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| September 2, 1864 |
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| "Grant says the loss of
the Weldon Railroad {the Petersburg RR} is
a blow the enemy cant stand." Such is the tenor of the latest
news from the North. |
| In this opinion the
redoubtable hero may be as wide of the mark as Stanton's telegrams,
pretending to give an account of the affair at Reams' Station are of
the truth. The most shameless perversion of facts is found in the
Secretary's bulletin to Dix, which, for utter mendacity is scarcely equaled
by anything else that has proceeded from the same source since he
inaugurated the singular policy of making the Department of War at
Washington the headquarters of the Northern Press Association, and
himself the chief reporter. But, to recur to Grant's predictions
respecting the result to us, of the loss of the road in question. It
is an inconvenience simply; nothing more. While it is by no means
certain that the enemy will be permitted to obstruct it long, it is
fortunate for us that, by a wise forecast, arrangements had been
previously made that enable us to dispense wholly with what would once
have been a work of almost vital necessity. It may be safe to assume
that we can afford to dispense with the road quite as well as the
Yankees can to retain it, at the cost they have incurred, and are
likely to incur further. Twenty thousand Yankees have been thus far
caught, killed, or maimed by this "man-trap." |
| We submit whether nine miles
of the road can be worth so much to the enemy? We are able to use the
greater part of the road, and have, for some time past, owing to the
insecurity of that portion now held by the enemy -- been employing
teams to run in connection with the trains: the former making a detour
that places them at a safe distance from the enemy. |
| Still, this occupancy of the
Weldon road is suggestive. The Government early anticipating
obstructions of this character somewhere along the line of that road,
and, in view of its exposed position, constructed a road from
Greensboro' in North Carolina, to Danville in Virginia. The great
advantage that has resulted from the successful execution of the
project, in giving an interior line, shorter and safer than the old
one, would justify the Government in continuing the line from Danville
to this place. Such a connection would give us the advantage of
communication with Richmond by the Canal from this city -- a work that
has never yet been injured by the enemy, whilst both the South Side
and {Richmond &} Danville roads have
suffered greatly. |
| The Canal is more out of the
reach of the enemy; and besides, it is not so easy to destroy a work
of this character. We deem the subject so manifestly worthy of
consideration, in view of the importance of having as many lines of
inter-communication as possible, and these as remote as may be from
the localities most accessible to the enemy, that we barely refer to
it to-day, trusting that it may be taken up and discussed by others. |
| The scheme is entirely
practicable, and with proper energy the sixty miles more or less, that
intervene between this point and Danville might soon be laid down with
rail. |
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