| From the Richmond Daily Dispatch |
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| December 9, 1861 |
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| Proposed railway connection |
| A resolution has been introduced in the
House of Delegates, inquiring into the expediency of establishing a
connecting railway between the Richmond,
Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad and the Manassas Gap Railroad.
Viewed as a matter of defence to the Northern frontier, the subject at
once favorably presents itself to the mind, and a brief examination
will demonstrate its utility. At present we have but a single line of
railway connecting the capital with the
main body of our army, which, we need hardly say, is inadequate for
the immense amount of transportation now imposed upon it. Indeed, the
President of the {Virginia} Central
Railroad, in his late report, shows that the trains are in constant
demand, both day and night, for Government uses, while the completion
of an important section of that road was delayed for want of means to
transport the iron. A connecting railway from
Manassas Junction to a point near Brooke's Station, on the
Fredericksburg road, would vastly increase the facilities of
transporting troops and stores from Richmond, and provide the means of
moving any portion of the army from one point to another in the event
of a sudden and unexpected emergency. We are not among those who look
for ward to a speedy termination of the war, and hence we advise the
adoption of permanent measures of resistance. The railway
connection proposed would be useful in war, and no less desirable in
peace. A combined movement of Congress and the State Legislature would
doubtless result in the adoption of some plan for its successful
prosecution. |
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