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Augusta Feb 3d 65
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| His Excellency |
| Joseph E Brown |
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| Sir, |
| It is necessary for me to communicate with
you so frequently that it is really proving there should be no
telegraph or mail facilities. I finally got off a train to Wilmington
& hope it will arrive in time to save all the state property
there. With energy I know it could all have been out of the way ere
this unless the trouble has been drays & lighters. If our trains
are cut off, as is very likely, they will be as safe, or more so in S
& N Carolina than here or on Geo Road. All QM & corn stores
have been taken up, & now in cars except 4400 sacks salt for which
no transportation had been asked until yesterday, every sack of it
could now have been in Madison as I had idle cars flats & coal
here for days at a time. If any of it is lost, let the blame fall
where it is due. The Govt has had, & now has one of our Engines
& 8 or 9 flats hauling Iron up above Rutledge, the first one they
had was soon crippled & is now being repaired, and Capt Grant has
called upon me for another Engine & cars to haul Iron from
Waynesborough Road {Augusta & Savannah RR} to
the work on Geo R. I could spare an engine & 8 cars (coal &
flats) to haul from this to the work above, but will not let one go
after the Iron as it would have to run backwards down on every trip,
& is ruinous to an engine. Genl Beauregard may press the engine, but
I shall give him some trouble if he does. Central {(of
Georgia)} & Waynesborough Road have engines & cars
idle, let Genl B take them. Although the enemy is said to be near
Branchville, everything is quiet here. No one seems anxious to get
cotton off. Scarcely any sent up the Road, & now, very little
down, so I can find but little to do, with my small means of doing.
The bad condition of Geo Road, its own business (an anxiety to all)
makes my movement up to our sidings slow & tedious, 3 or 4 trains
pr week, & it will be probably 8 or 9 days before all can be got
off. In the mean time a panic may occur, & hurry the movements of
every body. I have just seen an order of the Com Genl Maj Whitaker forbidding
the issuancy of rations to any W&A RR men except those engaged in
hauling state cotton. I shall therefore have to fulough or discharge
3/4 of the men or increase their pay to near double what it now is.
Meal 40 dols Bacon 9 pr lb. Beef 2 or 2.50. flour 200 pr Bbl. They
cannot live on less than 8 pr day, mine cost me 12.50. What shall I
do, desrness or furlough all but what are indispensable to remove our
trains. |
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Yrs truly
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| Geo D Phillips {Superintendent,
Western & Atlantic RR} |
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