A.

OFFICE CHIEF ENGINEER AND GENERAL

SUPERINTENDENT MILITARY RAILROADS OF VIRGINIA,

Alexandria, Va., July 1, 1864

Colonel D. C. McCALLUM, U. S. Army,

Director and General Manager,

Railroads of the United States, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: I have the honor to submit a report in narrative form of my operations in the U. S. Military Railroad service from June 30, 1863, to June 30, 1864:

At the date first named I was superintendent and engineer of the Norfolk and Petersburg and Seaboard and Roanoke Railroads. The first-named road starting from Norfolk and the other from Portsmouth, Va., crossed each other at Suffolk, a town distant twenty-three miles from Norfolk and seventeen from Portsmouth.

I had previously taken up the iron on the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad from Suffolk to Blackwater, and Suffolk was therefore the southern terminus of the two roads in my charge. I connected these two roads with the ordinary Y and was thus enabled to run the round trip from Norfolk via Suffolk to Portsmouth and vice versa.

The Norfolk road, however, except for an occasional flag of truce or wood train, fell into disuse. It was nevertheless kept in good order; a task rendered easy by the splendid character of the original work upon it.

The Seaboard and Roanoke was kept in running order and served all the purposes required in that department, supplying all the troops in that quarter and keeping up all necessary communication with the front. This sums up my labors until the 20th day of December, 1863, when I was ordered to Tennessee; and upon arrival there took charge of the Construction Corps as assistant engineer to W. W. Wright, chief engineer Government railroads, Military Division of the Mississippi.

On the 5th day of March, 1864, I was ordered back from Tennessee, and on the 13th day of March 1864, was honored with the appointment of chief engineer and general superintendent of military railroads of Virginia.

Having fixed my headquarters at Alexandria, Va., I found my department covering the following roads in actual operation:

Name of line. From- To- Miles.

Washington and Washington Alexandria 7

Alexandria

Orange and Alexandria Alexandria Culpeper 60 1/2

Alexandria, Loudoun do Vienna 15

and Hampshire

Norfolk and Norfolk Suffolk 23

Petersburg

Seaboard and Roanoke Portsmouth Suffolk 17

Other roads have been put in order and used more or less; but to preserve the narrative form indicated, I will first take the foregoing roads in order, and after briefly detailing operations on them, will come in like order to such roads as were subsequently operated.

Washington and Alexandria, Orange and Alexandria, Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Lines. - M. J. McCrickett, assistant superintendent in charge.

These I found in excellent condition, so far as regularity in the running of trains over them was concerned and the adequacy of