| From the Savannah Morning News |
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| February 13, 1862 |
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| What If the Enemy Reach Weldon? |
| Fears have been expressed that
the Burnside expedition, by an advance up the Roanoke river to Weldon,
may be able to cut off the railroad communication between Richmond and
the cotton States through North Carolina. This is a mistake. The
railroad from Raleigh to Richmond crosses the Roanoke at Gaston, eight
miles above Weldon, and though we are not sure that the enemy's gunboats
may not be able to reach Weldon at a high stage of the river, we are
satisfied that they cannot get to Gaston. It is between these points, we
think, that a canal has been cut, or attempted, to render the
river navigable above Weldon, and of course it will be an easy matter
for the North Carolinians to destroy, obstruct or dispute the passage of
the canal, if there is one available to gunboats. There is also a
railroad communication between Weldon and Gaston, but this can be as
easily destroyed, and the enemy thus delayed until a sufficient force is
gathered to dispute his inland passage. His cavalry may make a flying
visit from Weldon to Gaston and destroy the railroad and other property
there, but they cannot hold the position without their artillery. |
| A railroad from Goldsboro' to
Raleigh connects the Wilmington & Weldon with the Raleigh & Gaston
Railroad; so that a slight deflection only would be necessary to avoid
Weldon by this route if the Federal gunboats should reach it. There is
also a railroad communication nearly completed between Columbia, S. C.,
and Richmond, by way of Charlotte, Salisbury and Greensboro', N. C., and
Danville, Halifax C. H., and Charlotte, Va. The only gap is between
Greensboro' and Danville, about forty miles. This is the gap that the
Secretary of War urged the Confederate Congress to fill up, as the road
was one of military necessity, and the wisdom of the recommendation is
now the more apparent. |
| Our dispatches report the
Federal gunboats pushing towards Edenton, N. C. This town is at the
mouth of the Chowan river, and near the head of Albemarle Sound. From it
the gunboats would be in position to advance up either the Roanoke river
or the Chowan. |
| Columbus [Ga.] Enquirer |
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