Office of Mississippi Central Rail Road Company
| Statham's,
July 18, 1863 |
| |
| Brig.
Gen. J. R. Chalmers |
| Grenada |
| |
| Dear Sir, |
| It may become a military necessity, in
the defense of the district of country committed to your charge, to
render useless to the enemy the several lines of railway, in whole
or in part, within your department. The entire destruction of the
equipments and machinery on the roads referred to will involve an
individual loss of more than $5,000,000, and prove detrimental to
Government interest find prosperity to an amount that cannot be
computed by dollars. The loss here estimated is exclusive of any
injury that may be done to the several roadways. The equipments and
machinery on the several roads once destroyed cannot be replaced at
any cost until after the restoration of peace. In the meantime,
should the Confederate army hereafter reoccupy the country that [it]
may now find it necessary to abandon, and find all the railroad
equipments utterly destroyed, the injury to the Confederate
Government would be irreparable, and the loss to private interest
would exceed computation. I therefore suggest if it would not be
better to take the risk of a temporary use of these equipments by
the enemy over roads they would not dare to operate than to render
certain the great injury to the Confederate Government and the
inhabitants of this section of country that will certainly follow
the destruction of all means of internal communication. I think and
believe that the several railroads and their equipments can be
rendered useless to the enemy for many months without their entire
destruction by fire--perhaps for as long a period as would be
necessary for them to reconstruct and re-equip the roads with the
means at their command--and at the same time remain of very great
value to our people and Government if our armies should reoccupy
this section of country at any time during the approaching fall or
winter. |
| I suggest for your favorable
consideration the following plan of disabling the roads and their
equipments, which, in my opinion, would be quite as effectual for
all practical purposes as destruction by fire. Take, for instance,
the Central road, with which I am better acquainted than any other.
There are upon this road more than 300 bridges of various dimensions
with intervening embankments. Between Canton and Goodman, a distance
of twenty-eight miles, there are 101 wooden bridges. Place the
equipments at different places on the line of road remote from
depots and between the bridges to be burned; then disable engines
and cars by taking from them portions of most difficult
construction, and these put at a distance remote from the engines,
and in such places as may be thought most secure. In addition to
this, remove as much of the iron rail as can be speedily done, and
remove it as far as possible from the place from which it is taken.
This done, the engines could not be speedily repaired without being
moved to machine shops, and they could not be moved until the road
was repaired, which would necessarily involve much time. This done,
and should it hereafter so happen that the Confederate armies should
reoccupy the country, there would remain something upon which to
rebuild and re-equip the road. If it is destroyed by fire, all hope
of its reconstruction will expire with the flames that destroy them.
There are upon the Central road first-class engines, worth at the
present time in the Confederate States $900,000. These destroyed,
money could not replace them until after the restoration of peace.
In the meantime, both public and private interest will suffer for
want of the articles thus destroyed, and the people will mourn for
the needless sacrifice of their private interest. For these and
other reasons that could be advanced I hope no order may be given
for the entire destruction of the equipments of this company, and
ask in its behalf that it may not be done so long as there exists
other as effective means of preventing its use by the enemies of our
country. While I do not question the impressions of commanding
officers that the destruction of railroads and their equipments
prevents the rapid advance of the armies of our enemies by
destroying their means of obtaining supplies, yet I think it would
be difficult to point to an instance when such destruction has
retarded their progress only for a short period of time, while such
destruction has involved the loss of many millions of dollars to our
people without beneficial results. What I ask for and in behalf of
the [road] with which I am officially connected, I ask for and in
behalf of all the railroads in your department. Again I ask that no
order be given for the destruction of our equipments by fire until
at least all other means of rendering it useless to the enemy shall
have been exhausted. |
| Yours, respectfully, |
| W. Goodman |
| President |
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