| Mount Hope, Ala., April 21, 1864 |
| |
| Lieut. Col. Thomas M. Jack |
| Assistant
Adjutant General |
| |
| Colonel, |
| ***** |
| I have the honor to request
that with my command and the assistance of the citizens, which will
be cheerfully given, I be permitted to build the Memphis &
Charleston Railroad from Corinth to Cherokee, Ala. {38
miles}, which I think, in a military point of view, to be
highly essential to the army in Mississippi, and it would be an act
of humanity to the citizens in the Tennessee Valley, who are almost
on the point of starvation, and many of them have not nor can they
procure subsistence for their families to supply them until wheat
harvest; among them, general, some of your own relatives and
friends. |
| The following is a letter to
me inclosing the report of Captain Goodwin, sent by Colonel Estes to
examine the road from Corinth to Cherokee: |
|
MOUNT
HOPE, ALA.,
April 20,
1864.
Colonel JACKSON:
Colonel Estes ordered
me to send a copy of my report in regard to the Memphis &
Charleston Railroad to you, and request that you would write to
General Polk on the subject, urging the necessity of having the road
repaired immediately.
The opinion of the
citizens on the road is that it could be repaired in thirty days
with a small force. The Mobile & Ohio Railway will be repaired
to Corinth in a month, so some of the hands report. Colonel Estes
thinks it very essential in a military point of view, as well as for
the benefit of the citizens, that the road should be repaired.
Respectfully,
F. L. B. GOODWIN |
| Very respectfully, colonel, |
| James Jackson |
| Colonel, Commanding 27th Alabama Regiment
Volunteers |
|