| From Gettysburg Compiler
(Gettysburg, Pa.) |
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| June 17, 1861 |
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| The Latest |
| Important from Harper's Ferry |
| Burning of the Great Railroad Bridge --
Evacuation of Harper's Ferry -- The Workshops Destroyed, &c. |
| Frederick, June 11 -- Midnight |
| ***** |
| At five o'clock this morning
the great bridge of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad over the Potomac
was fired, and soon after a tremendous report was heard, caused by the
explosion of mines under the centre span. In one hour the entire
structure was in runs and fell into the river. |
| This was a noble work -- one
thousand feet long, built by Engineer Latrobe but ten years since, in
the most scientific manner. I has six spans, and was built at a heavy
outlay. The damage to property has not ended here, but the Railroad
Company and the United States have suffered further losses of valuable
work. The tresselling on which the road was supported from the bridge
to the end of the Government property, about half a mile in extent, is
nearly all destroyed, as well as an upper bridge of 120 feet in
length, over the Government Canal. |
| The telegraph station
buildings and other railroad works are also demolished. A long range
of buildings, formerly occupied as the Government army {armory?},
is burnt to the ground, with exception of two buildings at East end,
near the Shenandoah river. These will probably yet be burnt. The fire
has been raging all day, and when we left was bursting out in the rear
quarters. The rifle works on the Shenandoah were fired this afternoon,
and none of the Government property remained except the dwellings for
officers on the hills, and two of the twenty armory buildings. |
| The arsenals were burnt in
April by the Government troops, when Lt. Jones abandoned the place.
The loss to the Government must be in buildings alone from $400,000 to
$500,000, whilst the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company has
suffered scarcely less, and it is believed that some of the equipments
have been embraced in this wholesale ruin. It is currently given out
by the people of the neighborhood that the Railroad company has
incurred the serious hostility of the Confederate troops by the
supposed want of concert it has shown with them and by the marked
loyalty of its employees towards the Government. |
| The turnpike bridge at the
mouth of the Shenandoah is also to be burned. According to reports,
every night some further destruction may be expected, as no United
States troops are in sight or reported as being sufficiently near the
place to prevent it. |
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