| Headquarters Department No. 2 |
| Tupelo |
| June 26, 1862 |
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| General S. Cooper
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| Adjutant and Inspector General
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| General,
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| I have to acknowledge the receipt of a
telegraph dispatch from the Secretary of War, dated the 21st
instant, touching the completion of the railroad connection between
Meridian, Miss., and Selma, Ala. That connection is one of such
vital military necessity, and so immediately affecting military
operations in the department intrusted to me, that I feel it my duty
to communicate frankly my views for the information and
consideration of the department.
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| The papers accompanying, marked A, B,
and C, will show conclusively how little the company {the
Alabama & Mississippi Rivers RR}, unfortunately invested
with the privilege of completing this all-important work, have done
toward the execution of their contract. Since the passage of the act
there has been ample time, under a vigorous management, for the
construction of the railroad as far as represented practicable at
present by the eminent engineer sent by me to carry out what I
regarded as the spirit of the act, the intention of Congress, and
what I knew to be required for the public defense.
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| At a time when the Memphis &
Charleston Railroad is in possession of the enemy a rail connection
of this character is pregnant with too many advantages in military
operations to be left to the mortgaged means of a small and
unreliable railroad corporation. To trust the work to such feeble,
inefficient hands may result in incalculable mischief. And in view
of impending military conditions, I earnestly protest against the
inevitable delay that must and the irreparable injury that may ensue
if they are relied on.
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| I would appeal to the spirit of the act
of Congress recognizing the military necessity for the immediate
completion of this unfinished link in our interior line of
railroads. Congress assuredly aimed to have that completion made as
soon as possible; but, misinformed and misled, doubtless gave the
work to a railroad company as the means best calculated to that end,
for certainly the legislature of the country could never be brought
to such prostitution as that of intentionally giving a job to a
corporation.
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| I would therefore carry out the spirit
of the act in question. I would have no more precious days, weeks,
or months wasted with this incapable company -- would wait not a
moment longer for the execution of mortgage contracts; for meantime
it may be too late for all practical purposes. Mobile may fall after
the manner of water-approached places. Our lines of communication
with the east would then be cut off, and the true expectations of
Congress be frustrated.
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| I cannot present in too strong language
the mischief that must result from further reliance on this company.
By their past failure they ought to be judged, and the work should
at once be carried on by the Government, under military control from
these headquarters, by engineers knowing the resources of the
country and by none other.
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| Respectfully, your obedient servant,
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| [Braxton Bragg]
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