| Annual Report of the Mississippi Central RR |
| as of September 1, 1865 |
| President's Report |
| |
| Superintendent's Report |
| Office Mississippi Central R. R. Co. |
| Grenada, May 8th, 1865 |
| |
|
A. M. West, Esq.
|
| President |
|
|
| Sir, |
| In compliance with your
request I herewith submit a statement of damage to this road and its
equipments, by the Federal forces, in the last two raids. |
| The first one in November
last, under command of Col. Osband, struck the road at Vaughan's, and
after burning the water tank, stationary engine, and hand car at that
point, divided into two parties; one going South as far as Big Black
River, burning bridges and tearing up track. The other party North, as
far as Goodman, destroying on their way the Station House at Pickens,
with its contents, and hand car at that place; three flat cars and one
box car, (the latter containing two iron safes and a quantity of
Stationery and Tickets belonging to the General Ticket Office,) at
Bates Siding, damaging seriously two Locomotives at the same place. At
Goodman they burned the Water Tank, Stationary Engine, Hand Car, and
Station House and contents, consisting of one Iron Safe, one Desk, and
a lot of Shafting from the Holly Springs Machine Shop. They also
burned bridging and tore up a considerable track between Vaughan's and
Goodman. |
| The results of this raid may
be summed up as follows, viz: |
| 2 |
Water Stations destroyed and 2 Stationary
Engines seriously injured |
| 3 |
Hand Cars and a quantity of Tools destroyed |
| 2 |
Station Houses, 4 Iron Safes, 2 Stoves, 1 Desk,
2 Platform Scales, and a large lot of Shafting, 1 Box and 3
Flat Cars destroyed. |
| 2 |
Locomotives |
| 21 |
Bridges, Culverts, and Cattle Guards destroyed |
| 142 |
feet (lineal) of Big Black Bridge burned |
| 1 1/2 |
miles of Track torn up |
| 600 |
Cross Ties burned |
| 2100 |
feet Iron burned and bent so as to render it
useless, causing stoppage of through trains for about three
weeks |
|
| The second raid under command
of General Grierson struck the road at Winona, on the 31st of December
last, and after burning the Station House and one Box Car at that
point, divided into two parties; one going North to Grenada, burning
on their way, Station House, tow Stock and three Flat Cars at Duck
Hill; Station House, one passenger, three flat and two box Cars at
Elliotts, tearing up track and burning bridges. At Grenada they burned
Machine Shop, one passenger, ten box, and three flat Cars, Shop Tools
and Machinery, supplies for repairs, Lard, Oil, Waste, &c., and
seriously injured one Locomotive, and damaged three others slightly.
The other party went South as far as West's, burning on their way
Station House, Wood Shed, Water Tank, and Stationary Engine, at Vaiden,
burning bridges and tearing up track. |
| In the Station Houses
at Duck Hill, Winona, Vaiden, and West's, were stored a large quantity
of supplies, Shop Machinery, and Iron of various sorts, all of which
was more or less injured and destroyed. |
| The damage resulting from
this raid may be summed up as follows, voz: |
| 5 |
Station Houses and contents burned |
| 2 |
Water Stations, one Wood Shed, and one
Stationary Engine destroyed |
| 2 |
Hand Cars, a lot of Shovels, &c., destroyed |
| 3 |
Passenger, 9 flat, 11 box, and 2 stock Cars
burned |
| 3 |
Locomotives slightly and one seriously damaged.
Stationary Engine and Machine Shop badly injured, and a
portion destroyed. Large amount of material for repairs, Shop
supplies, Lard, Waste, &c., burned, and 1,032 feet of
track torn up |
| 25 |
Bridges, Culverts, and Cattle Guards burned |
| 100 |
Bars Iron burned and bent so as to render them
useless. Stoppage of through trains for nearly the whole of
January |
|
| It is impossible to estimate
the amount in money of the damage resulting from these two raids, as
many of the articles damaged and destroyed could not, under the then
existing circumstances, be replaces. The actual cost of repairing the
road to an extent sufficient to enable the trains to pass over it was
as follows, viz: |
| After November raid: |
|
|
| 43,670 feet of Timber for Bridges, &c |
$2,183.50 |
|
| 600 Cross ties |
600.00 |
|
| Labor on Track and Bridges |
7,486.00 |
|
| 2 Water Stations |
2,230.00 |
|
|
Total |
|
$12,499.50 |
| After the December raid: |
|
|
| 60,756 feet of Timber for Bridges, &c |
$3,037.80 |
|
| Labor on Bridges and Track |
6,075.60 |
|
| 500 Cross ties |
500.00 |
|
| 2 Water Stations |
2,783.50 |
|
|
Total |
|
$12,396.90 |
|
Grand Total |
|
$24,896.40 |
|
| I deem it proper to state
that the only information received here in regard to the approach of
the last raiding party, was from a private message sent by the
President of the South Western Telegraph Company to the operators at
Grenada and Water Valley, about eight hours before the enemy struck
the road at Winona. No information of any kind in relation to the
enemy's movements was furnished by the military authorities at any
time after the raiding party left the line of the Mobile & Ohio R.
R. |
| Two through trains only were
passed over the road after the repairs were completed from the last
raid, when the Pile Bridge South of Way's Bluff was washed away, by
the rise of water from Doak's Creek. The heavy rains which fell from
this time to the 1st of April kept the hands constantly employed
repairing bridges and track, so trains could pass safely over the
road. |
| About the first of March
trains were stopped North of Grenada by washing away of two bridges
between Grenada and Coffeeville, and one hundred and fifty feet of
embankment and one bridge at Water Valley, sixty feet of Yocona
Bridge, and eight hundred feet of embankment in the same bottom. Many
of the embankments between there and Oxford were, and still are, in
very bad condition, having washed and wasted away for want of hands to
keep them up. Through trains however were only stopped about two
weeks. We have been very much in want of spades and shovels; if these
could be procured and our present force kept up, the road could soon
be put in a safe condition for running trains. |
| Very respectfully, |
| W. Whitmore |
| Superintendent |
|