Confederate Railroad Bureau Chiefs' Travels

The first two holders of the position that would become known as Chief of the Railroad Bureau, Major Ashe and Colonel Wadley, spent a large part of their service time traveling on the railroads, attending to emergent problems. The third Chief, Captain/Major/ Lieutenant-Colonel Sims, spent most of his time in Richmond, attending to business by letter and telegram, though he made numerous trips to Montgomery, Savannah and points north.    Below are the identified trips that each of the three made during their tenure as Chief of the Bureau. Many additional references will be found on the biography of each man (William S. Ashe, William M. Wadley, Frederick W. Sims). Exact dates, especially return dates, are frequently not known and the dates below should not be firmly relied on without checking the biography of the appropriate man. One must also remember that letters and telegrams were sent to where the sender thought the recipient was located -- and they were frequently wrong when the recipient was traveling. The date gaps indicate a lack of documentation for the missing dates, and do not imply that the officer was in either the city of the last date of travel or the first day in the next city. Travel reimbursement vouchers do not exist for most trips, especially in late 1864 and early 1865.

Major William S. Ashe Dates Location Purpose of the Trip Reference 1861 July 18 Wilmington Began his duties from this place NA, QM 7-18-61 July 25 Manassas Junction Ordered to determine how long it would take to improve travel at the Junction NA, QM 7-25-61 August 18 Richmond Communicated from Richmond GA, W&A 8-18-61 August 24 Wilmington   NA, QMR 8-26-61 August 30 Richmond   NA, QMR 8-30-61 September 24? Atlanta, Mobile?, Memphis To obtain locomotives and cars for the East Tennessee & Va. RR NA, QM 9-25A-61 October 4 Chattanooga Attended RR Convention he had called NA, RRB 10-4-61 October 16 Richmond   NA, QMR 10-16-61 November 13 Weldon   NA, SWR 11-13-61 November 27 Richmond   NA, G 12-17-61 December 23 Wilmington   NA, QM 12-23-61   1862 January 8 Richmond   NA, QMR 1-8-62 February 11 may have gone to Wilmington for a short time, then returned to Richmond   NA, SWR 2-11-62 February 28 Richmond   NA, RRB 2-28G-62 March 3 Wilmington   NA, QMR 3-3-62 April 1 Goldsboro Attended RR Convention at Goldsboro, N. C. regarding moving troops in eastern N. C. NCA, RR 4-1-62 April 4 Wilmington   NA, QM 4-4-62 April 15 Richmond   NA, RRB 4-15-62 April 19 Wilmington   NA, W&W 4-19-62 June 8 "lately" visited Richmond   NA, RRB 6-8-62 June 12 Wilmington   NA, RRB 6-12A-62 June 26 Wilmington Capt. Morfit assigned to do his duties NA, QM 6-26-62     Colonel William M. Wadley Dates Location Purpose of the Trip Reference 1862 December 1 Richmond Accepted his new position NA, SWR 11-13A-62 December 15 Augusta Attended RR convention he had called NA, RRB 12-15-62   1863 Dates Location Purpose of the Trip Reference January 2 Raleigh   NA, RRB 1-2A-63 January 5 Richmond   NA, QMR 1-5A-63 January 9-10 Raleigh Visiting Locomotive Shops Sharp's Diary January 12 Raleigh   Sharp's Diary January 15 Charleston   NA, C&S 5-19-63 January 17 Raleigh   NA, QMR 1-17A-63 February 21 left Raleigh   Sharp's Diary February 22 Charlotte   NA, RRB 2-22-63 February 25 reported en route from Raleigh to Augusta and Mississippi Responding to Gen. Pemberton's request for his help NA, SWT 2-27A-63 March 2 Augusta   NA, QM 3-2-63 March 9 Montgomery   NA, QMR 3-9A-63 March 13 Jackson   NA, SWR 3-13-63 March 18 Vicksburg   NA, DMEL 3-18-63 March 22 Jackson   NA, SWR 3-22-63 April 4 returned to Augusta   UG, RRB 4-8-63 April 6 - June 2 Richmond Running a RR Convention April 22 - 23 NA, SWR 4-6-63     Captain/Major/Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. Sims Dates Location Purpose of the Trip Reference 1862 December 6 Camp near Savannah Ordered to Richmond to Wadley   December 10 Macon Married 2nd wife     1863 February 3 Raleigh Began inventorying Locomotive Shop Sharp's Diary February 8 Raleigh Began receiving Locomotive Shop's material NA, RRB 2-8-63 February 20 Richmond   NA, RRB 2-20-63 February 24 - 28 Raleigh   NA, RRB 2-24-63 March 21 - April 7 Raleigh   NA, RRB 3-21-63 April 8 Augusta   UG, RRB 4-8-63 April 30 - May 13 Raleigh   NA, LS 4-30-63 May 23 Richmond   NA, RRB 5-23-63 May 26 - 29 Raleigh   NA, RRB 5-26-63 June 1- July 15 Richmond   NA, QMR 6-1A-63 July 16 Lynchburg Checking availability of RRs to move troops to Georgia NA, QMR 7-16-63 July 19 Knoxville " NA, ENGR 7-19-63 July 21 Montgomery   LVA, RRB 7-21-63 July 31 Augusta May have escorted his new wife to Richmond NA, RRB 7-31D-63 August 1 - 14 Richmond   NA, QMR 8-1C-63 August 16 Atlanta   LVA, RRB 8-11-63 August 17 Petersburg   NA, QMR 8-17B-63 August 22 Macon   NA, RRB 8-22-63 August 26 - September 17 Richmond Planning and supervising Longstreet's move to Chickamauga LVA, RRB 8-26-63 September 18 Richmond Sets up Montgomery meeting to distribute rolling stock H, RRB 9-18-63 September 19 Wilmington Enroute to Montgomery to distribute rolling stock H, RRB 9-17A-63 September 24 Montgomery " H, RRB 9-17A-63 October 9 - November 2 Richmond   H, RRB 10-9-63 November 7 Montgomery   NA, QMR 11-7-63 November 10 - 22 Richmond   VHS, RF&P 11-10-63 November 21 - 22 Richmond   NA, QMR 11-21-63 November 25 - December 2 Macon Attending RR convention NA, RRB 11-25A-63 December 2 Savannah   NA, QM 12-2-63 December 4-7? Wilmington   Estimated from need to resolve the cotton detention in Charleston NA, QM 12-2-63 and Asst. QMG stating Sims was not in Richmond yet NA, QM 12-5-63 December 8 - 16 Richmond   NA, QM 12-8-63 December 17 Raleigh Meeting regarding building Chatham RR, etc. Diary of Thomas R. Sharp 1863 December 18 Wilmington ?   NA, QMR 12-18F-63 December 21 Savannah ?   RRBAT 12-21 1863 December 22 Charleston   RRBAT 12-22-1863 December 23 Savannah   NA, QM 12-23C-63 December 28 Savannah ?   NA, QM 12-28-63 December 29 - 31 Richmond   RRBAT 12-29-1863 1864 January 1 - 27 Richmond   RRBAT 1-1C-1864 January 28 Raleigh   NA, C&SC 1-28-64 January 29 - 30 Richmond/Petersburg   NA, RRB 1-29A-64 January 30 Raleigh   NA, SS 1-30-64 January 30 - February 1 Richmond   NA, RRB 1-8-64 February 2 Company Shops/Richmond   NA, QMR 2-2C-64 February 3 - 11 Richmond   NA, RRB 2-4B-64 February 12 day trip to Petersburg met Pres. R&G RR & Maj J. D. Whitford   February 13 - March 5 Richmond began processing many requests for details   March 5 - 6 Probably took trip to Raleigh to see Governor Vance   NA, RRB 3-5-64 March 7 - April 9 Richmond started project to build 225 cars   April 10 - 23 Augusta (& Charleston?)   NA, RRB 6-16-64 April 23 - June 13 Richmond     June 13 - 16 Danville   NA, RRB 6-16-64 June 16 - August 12 Richmond July 1, first child with 2nd wife born in Richmond   August 13 - September 13 ?     September 13? - 15? Danville   NA, QMR 9-14B-64 September 16 - October 14 Richmond     October 14 - ? on trip to Macon   NA, QM 10-14-64 October 23 left Columbus for Montgomery   NA, CS 10-22-64 October 27 - 29 Montgomery RR was not forwarding supplies to army properly NA, QM 10-27C-64 November 12 - January 4, 1865 Richmond   NA, QMR 11-12B-64 1865 January 4 - 9? trip to Danville, Greensboro, with possible trip to Charlotte to view fire effects Charlotte fire; storm on R&D and P RR tracks NA, QM 1-3B-65 January 9? - 11? Richmond   NA, QMR 12-9A-64 January 11 - ? Company Shops   NA, QM 1-12-65 January 20 - ? Richmond   NA, RRB 1-10-65 February 26 - ? Charlotte   D, NC 2-26-65 March 7 - April 2 Richmond   NA, RRB 3-7-65 April 3 - April 26 Charlotte