| From the National Republican
(Washington, D. C.) |
| |
| June 26, 1861 |
| |
| Destruction by the Rebels of the Property
of the B. & O. R. R. Company -- Loss to the Company $2,000,000. |
| From the Baltimore Sun, June 25 |
| The Southern army, under
General Johnston, lately occupying Harper's Ferry, is reported as
being posted, 20,000 strong, in the vicinity of Martinsburg and
Winchester. Martinsburg itself has been occupied for several days past
by Brigadier General Jackson, with a force of about five thousand men,
a goodly proportion of whom are cavalry. On Friday and Saturday last,
a general destruction of the locomotives and cars belonging to the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad at and near Martinsburg, was made. |
| Our reports state that over
forty locomotives, of the largest and best description, with several
old and less important ones, were almost entirely demolished, by heavy
fires of wood and coal being built under them. Some three hundred cars
in all, including several passenger cars, and about one hundred wooden
box and platform cars, (which might have been adapted for the carriage
of troops,) were burned up completely, while the round iron coal cars,
some two hundred in number, were emptied of their contents, and a
portion of them run down the neighboring embankments, or into the bed
of the streams whose bridges were previously destroyed. |
| Our informants state that the
immediate reason of this wholesale destruction was a handbill, (since
discovered to be a forgery, having been entirely without their
authority or knowledge, yet purporting to be issued by the Baltimore
& Ohio railroad company, and said to have been posted at Harper's
Ferry and other places in Virginia,) to the effect that the company
wanted two thousand men at once, at two dollars a day, in order to
restore the bridges and put the road in order for the use of the
Federal Government. this movement is believed to have been a ruse,
by interests hostile to the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company, to
deceive the Southern authorities, so as to lead to the destruction of
its property. |
| General Johnston,
commander-in-chief, believing that such repair and use would seriously
operate against his cause, is said to have given the order to General
Jackson for this additional damage to the road, thus putting it on the
ground of a military necessity. There are many rumors in circulation
with regard to this affair, but we believe the foregoing to be its
truest phase. Our information satisfies us that it is the intention of
the Southern authorities to spare no effort to prevent the road from
being worked for the use of the Government in any part of that State
where they can maintain sufficient force to defeat it. It is stated
that the passage of the Potomac river, by General Cadwallader and his
command, subsequently followed by his retreat across the same, were
among the causes which induced this action by the Confederate army. It
is further stated that the vacillation of the movements of the Federal
forces, for so long a period after the evacuation of Harper's Ferry by
the Confederates, led to their return to its vicinity, and also to the
reoccupation of Martinsburg. |
| [It cannot require less than
two millions of dollars to restore the property, rolling stock,
bridges, &c., of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company, which
have been destroyed by the rebel troops. The destruction is
particularly ungenerous, as it is known that a majority of the capital
stock of the company is in secession hands. Well may the stockholders
exclaim, "Save us from our friends!" -- Ed. Republican] |
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