B13, M&M 4/22/1863

   Quoted from George Kundahl, Confederate Engineer, pp. 208-211, which is based on John Wampler's Journals.
 
   ***** by news that the railroad bridge outside McMinnville had been burned by the Yankees, or their sympathizers, on the night of April 7. A spur jutted off the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad at Tullahoma {the McMinnville & Manchester RR} connecting it with McMinnville, thirty-five miles to the northeast. Morgan's cavalry was stationed there, guarding the Confederate right flank and protecting Bragg's access to the agricultural area east of Murfreesboro. The line was an important supply route, and so the Army of Tennessee dispatched a senior engineer to rebuild the bridge.
   Wampler immediately began to make preparations. He telegraphed for a gravel train to be sent from Chattanooga and organized an engineer detail to be ready to depart the next morning. He was disappointed when the train started late and then, after loading heavy timbers near Manchester, broke down sixteen miles south of the McMinnville bridge. The engineers finally reached the work site at 10:00 P.M. on April 9.
   Preparations resumed early the next morning. The train returned to Manchester for a detail of fifty men led by 1st Lt. Pleasant J. Cummings, Company D, 33rd Tennessee Infantry. He had been assigned to conscript duty in the area, making him available for any contingency. While Wampler acquired rations, Cummings' men began framing and pitching tents and clearing debris, to include the wreck of a locomotive. Meanwhile, the work train shuttled back and forth to Manchester, transporting lumber, picks and spades, rope, and even a barrel of whiskey.
   Wampler surely found the burnt bridge spanning Hickory Creek to be an imposing structure. Connecting banks 225 feet apart, the superstructure was designed to provide a rail surface 50 feet above the water at normal depth. The crew first began to reconstruct the sills, the horizontal foundation resting on the footings. When Wampler attempted to erect the first trestle, tying the piers together, a timber slipped, injuring a workman and prompting a telegram for more rope and tackle. The party also requisitioned a second handcar. The bents, or crosswise sections supporting lateral as well as vertical loads, went in slowly. Progress was delayed by heavy rain. When precipitation continued for four consecutive days, the creek rose too high to continue construction. Workmen killed a hog, causing Wampler to intervene in the ensuing controversy to reassure its owner that he would be fairly compensated. Federal prisoners passing by created another distraction. Eventually, the idle crew returned to work, building a footbridge across the creek. The return of clear weather coincided with resumption of progress on the railroad structure itself. By expertly employing the locomotive to raise trestles into place, Wampler succeeded in erecting all four by April 19.
   *****
   When work resumed on Monday morning, the crew was ready to complete the bridge surface. The rails lay on crossties resting, in turn, on the board lengths called stringers, running the length of the bridge. Installing these timbers required only a single day. On the morning of April 21, the engineer work party completed laying track across the bridge. At 11:00 A.M., Wampler drove an engine and tender over and back, signifying completion of the project.
   *****
   A Federal raiding party led by Col. Eli Long started out at 2:00 A.M. on April 21 to interdict the McMinnville railroad. ***** Arriving at his destination about 10:00 A.M., Long first struck the rail line southwest of Morrison Station, midway between McMinnville and Manchester. Moving farther in the direction of Manchester with the intention of destroying a lengthy trestle, Long's party paused to ambush a train heard approaching from the south. Its crew apparently learned of the Yankee interruption, however, and backtracked to Manchester. Disappointed, Long turned and proceeded back up the track to Morrison Station, destroying bridging as he went.
   Wampler first received a report of a Yankee raid to the south, while waiting for the northbound train to cross the Hickory Creek bridge. When it failed to appear, he concluded that the account was true. Two couriers arrived, announcing, first, that the enemy was approaching McMinnville in force and, then, that they were only three miles away. Wampler's train headed toward town, but reversed direction and chugged back to the bridge, when he discovered Federal cavalry already there. The engineer mustered his men, ordered them aboard the three cars, and then crossed over the footbridge to recover his baggage and pistol. The train started off prematurely, causing Wampler to scramble after it to climb aboard. When enemy horsemen approached, firing a volley at the fleeing southerners, Cummings and his cohorts jumped off and ran into the woods, but Wampler stayed aboard with his engineering detail. The engine gradually picked up speed, leaving its pursuers behind. More danger lay ten miles ahead at Morrison Station, where two hundred of Long's cavalrymen awaited. Wampler spotted the stockade filled with bluecoats. The raiders had torn up the track, thrown logs across the rails, and burned the bridging and trestle. As the train slowed, the Federals rushed forward. At this point, Wampler and his men abandoned the cars and headed into the brush. He briefly tried to organize the twenty southerners into a defensive line, but they panicked and ran, with their leader close behind. The engineer party quickly scattered.
   *****
   Colonel Long's troopers burned Wampler's locomotive and cars, along with the depot at Morrison Station. 

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