| Office Chief of Rail Road |
| Transportation |
| Meridian Miss Sept. 9/64 |
| |
| Major B. F. Jones |
| Transportation Qr. Mr. |
| |
| Sir, |
| I have the honor to state that I was
appointed Captain AQM on the 28th of March 1862 & ordered to
report to Genl. Bragg & was under his orders at Pensacola Flor
from early in April until he left for Corinth. I remained at Pensacola
with Genl Sam Jones until I received orders to go to Corinth.
Pensacola being ordered evacuated I moved a vast amount of
Government property & was at this work when I received said order. |
| I remained under the orders of Genl. Bragg
at Corinth until within a few days before the evacuation of that place
having been ordered to duty with Genl. Rugerles. I remained with him
from about 2nd May 1862 until Sept. 1862. On Aug 31, 1862 I was
appointed Major & QrMr. In Sept I was ordered by Genl Pemberton to
report to Maj L. Mims his Chf QrMr. I remained with Maj. Mims as asst
Chf QrMr until the fall of Vicksburg when I was ordered by Gen
Johnston to report to Major A M Barbour his Chief Quartermaster &
was on special Duty until the 7th of October 1863. I was then placed
on Duty as Superintendent of RR Transportation a copy of which order
is herewith enclosed. Genl Polk continued me in the same duty a copy
of his order is also enclosed. |
| On the 26th of May last I was ordered by
the Hon. Secty of War to report to Lent Col F W Sims for assignment to
duty of superintending & controlling Govt Transportation on Rail
Roads west of the Alabama River. |
| (II) My Duties are to control with all
Rail Roads west of the Alabama River on behalf of the Government
subject to the approval of Leut Col Sims. To see that the Rail Roads
do their Duty to the Government & transport Govt supplies as
rapidly as possible also to see that Govt Officers do not unnecessarily
interfere with Rail Roads & their management; to see as far as
possible that transportation is properly issued & that
transportation officers properly perform their Duties as such &
take charge of all Rail Road property not owned in the Confederacy
& to extend to Rail Roads every facility to enable them to perform
the work required of them by the Government as speedily as possible
& detect & have punished all persons who are stealing or
defrauding the Govt in matters of transportation so far as it is
possible. |
| I have succeeded in bringing to justice
some men engaged in defrauding the Government from Oct to Feb last. |
| I succeeded in saving at the evacuation of
Meridian (Feb 14 last) millions of Dollars worth of Govt stores
together with all rolling stock of R. R. except for four or five old
cars which were so much out of order as not to be in a condition to be
taken away & were brought here as being valuable only for the old
iron in them. |
| No Government stores were lost here except
some mill material which we did not have the labor to load. This being
Hd Qrs of the Dept a vast amount of stores were accumulated at this
point and a short time before the enemy occupied the place. |
| I left on the last train having material
until a short time before the enemy occupied the place. |
| Removing to Enterprise 14 miles south of
Meridian I moved all the stores there except some corn in the shuck
which could not be loaded in the cars for want of time & labor. I
also saved 2000 bales of Cotton & remained at that place 48 hours
after the enemy occupied Meridian. The last train from Enterprise left
only about 1/2 hour before the enemy occupied that place. |
| I moved all the stores as I went down the
road thus saving a vast amount of Government & Rail Road property.
Genl Polk then ordered me to repair the Mobile Road {Mobile
& Ohio RR} which had been
destroyed by the enemy 48 miles & several Howe truss bridges
burned. In connection with Mr. Fleming, the energetic superintendent
of the Road we had the cars running & the road well repaired in 25
1/2 days. This I consider extraordinary when it is taken into
consideration how effectively the road was destroyed, the iron being
piled upon the cross ties & the ties burned which bent the iron
& in many instances the iron was wrapped around trees. The iron
had to be straightened & the crossties be got out again. |
| When the Mobile road was finished Genl
Polk ordered us to repair the Miss Central, New Orleans & Southern
Roads {Mississippi Central; New Orleans, Jackson
& Great Northern; and Southern of Mississippi RRs} which were put into running order in a very short time making
railroad connection from Meridian to Oxford & Senatobia Miss. |
| On the 14th of April my leg was broken accidentally
while engaged in duties on Southern {(of
Mississippi)} Rail Road & I was not able to
do any active duty from that time until the latter part of July. I was
then ordered to repair the Montgomery & West Point R. R. which in
connection with Maj Hottel was finished in a very short time after we
arrived on the work. We were only responsible for the work from the
4th of August. This road was totally destroyed for 24 miles. After
finishing the work I returned to Meridian ??? most central location
for my duties. |
| (III) I have no employees or clerks of any
kind. |
| (IV) I have no contracts for supplies in
effect. |
| (V) I purchase no supplies. |
| (VI) I never have had nor do I have ??????
for Duty, both Day & night. |
| (VII) I have no Govt horses & have no
arrangements ????? foraged by the Govt. |
| (VIII) I am bonded. |
| I remain Major |
| Yours very resply |
| George Whitfield |
| Maj & QrMr |