| {The following is a
draft copy of a report of the operations of S. B. Jones,
Superintendent, up to late 1863. It is not signed or dated, but is in
his hand and was found with his papers.} |
| On May 31st 1862 I received a
letter from Jas. P. Wood Pres't saying that he would be absent from
the city for a few days & that in the mean time I might receive an
order from the C. S. Military Authority to remove all of our rolling
stock &c. He wished to impress upon me the necessity of obeying
promptly & faithfully any order coming from the Military Authority
and also on June 1st he wrote me a letter from Brownsville & sent
it by a man on hand car through to Memphis (it being Sunday no train)
to be sure and call my attention to the necessity of obeying promptly
any order issued by the Military Authority whether he was present or
not. On June 2nd I received an order (or copy of an order) wrote by
Mr. Tomeny the treasurer of the co signed by Col Roper Comd'g post
ordering the removal of all material machinery & Rolling Stock
(except what was necessary to run one daily pass train) belonging to
our company to the Miss & Tenn R. R. depot for the purpose of
sending it south. later in the day I received the same from Mr Wood
with instructions from him to carry out to the letter -- which I
immediately proceeded to do. All of the machinery in the shop was
taken down & boxed up and loaded on cars to be sent over to
M&T RR Depot The two trains at work on the road beyond Galloways
Station one taking down the Telegraph wire drawn by Engine J. P. Wood
the other repairing some breaks in the road drawn by Engine A.
Woodruff. I sent orders by Engine Cossitt of the Main train with that
day for them to come to Memphis on next day. on tuesday ??? the mail
train did not arrive & there being no telegraph line up we could
not learn the cause of delay. Nearly night the conductor of the Mail
train came down on hand car & brought the information that the
Engineers had each gone off in the night with his respective Engine to
a point between the forks of the Okin river 107 miles from Memphis
& burned the bridges after they passed over it to keep the Engines
from being brought back to Memphis. |
| These being 3 of our best
Engines left in that way I determined to go after them & in the
mean time the Col. commanding this post had ordered me to send a train
to the upper end of the road with a detachment of men on special
service which I afterwards learned was to burn all bridges on our
road. I succeeded in arranging the people in that neighborhood to
assist in rebuilding the bridge so as to get the engines home again
which I did by 3 oclock on Wednesday a m. I have since learned that a
Col Pierce Chf Eng of RRds on Genl Grants staff had agreed through
another party to give each of the Engineers $7000 for their Engines if
delivered in to the hands of U. S. Govt for service hence the cause of
their being run off to prevent them going south. All of the principal
wooden bridges were burned by this squad of men detailed for that
purpose we were busy all day in carrying things from our road to the
Miss & Tenn R. R. on Friday June 8th 1862 in the morning all of
the Confederate forces in the city had evacuated & the Engine cars
machy &c at Miss & Tenn RR was sent south. |
| having received orders from Mr
Wood to go south & look after & take care of all that went
south I went with it |
|
I removed first to Batesville then was forced to move to
line of Mobile & Ohio R. R. near Meridian Miss where I put down
temporary side tracks & kept my stock until Augt 1862. then I
removed to a place in the woods 44 miles north of Mobile where I let
it remain until it was to be seized by the C. S. Military Authority I
then leased it out to good and responsible R. R. Co's, where it now is
ready to be delivered
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|
I left some cars at Meridian that were burned by Genl
Sherman 22 in number the cars were not in use or had been used at all by
the Confederate States or any R. R. Co. Genl Pemberton caused the
Southern R. R. Co to use several of our Engines, for which I have the
contract of the Southern R. R. to deliver. The Engine Titus is now at
Vicksburg the Engine D. B. Malloy is at Nashville. I would ??? order
this ?????
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The Engines Woodruff Shephard & Loving & two Pass
cars & 15 freight cars are upon Ala & Tenn R. R. & I have
ordered the Jas. P. Smith our foreman in the Machine shop to get them
across the Big ??? river to Corinth also all of the shop machinery at
Selma. The cargo wheel lathe, Drill & Planer are on the Southern RR
to be destroyed ????? on order of Prest Engine Cossitt is a Danville Va.
Engine Wood & Taylor 5 Pass Cars ??? freight cars are at Charlotte
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I have the contracts with me & also the orders &
all papers
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