The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1865-11-08

into western North Carolina This great
eastcrly and westerly road was the artery of
the Contederacy. When Sherman seized
! Atlanta. he grasped the end Of it; when he
swooped down on Columbus, he cut il in mid
length This is about all Sherman did
thoroughly cut the great cross-linc. Stone
man struck the arm reaching northward from
Kingston in several places, and destroyed
two or three important bridges. There was
method in the work of these two officers.
On the other hand, Hardce and Bragg acted
like wild men. Thus, they burned all the
bridges east OF kingsvilc on the cross-line.
and all those on the coast line between Will
nington. and Charlcston--why asks Yankee
and rebel in unison. II certainly was not
done to prevent pursuit by Sherman. for he
was not pursuing. In a word, our forces
destroyed Railroads, and the rebels burned
bridges. 1t was much easier for Sherman
to build temporary bridge than TO lay
railroad. so the rebels did not adopt the sur
ist way Of preventing his pursuit. II is far
easier for the railroad companies to lay
track than to build bridges, and so Sherman's
method not only broke up the rebel use Of
the roads. but left them in such condition
that their respective companies could more
easily put them in working order. Hence,
the cursing one hears from Southerners-
and there is great deal of it's not Of
Sherman who destroyed track and accom-
plished military purpose. but of Hardee
and Bragg, who senselessly burned bridges
and accomplished nothing
The destruction of our army is nearly
oyercome---not obliterated, but SO far over
come that travel is resumed on the several
roads At this writing, | believe there is
1 less than forty miles ont Of use and on this
forty miles. work is progressing with COM
mendable rnpidity. OF the bridges burned
! by Stoneman. only that on the Catawba be-
tween Winnshoro and Charlotte remains I'M
impaired. On the other hand. the dcstruc-
ton Of the rebel army will not be overcome
| for dozen years. Thus, Wade Hampton
burned the magnificent bridge at Columbia.
Its loss delayed Sherman about twenty live
minutes South Carolina cannot rebuild it
unaided in This generation. Bragg burned
! the bridges at Wilmington; their loss work.
ed US no serious injury, but they cannot be
4 rebuilt under year. liardee burned the
/ great bridges over the Santec and Great Pc
i dee their loas wasn't of the least conse-
\ quenoe TO us, but every passenger and every
| pound of freight on this great coast line Of
road, now crosses these rivers N Hat boats,
! and viii continue to cross so for at least six
! Of all the roads in the two states, the
! North Carolina Centralis the only one in the
two states which runs two passenger trains
/ per day, and this it does only over a short
/ section of the route. On two roads there is
!, o daily passenger train, and daily freight
/ train with passenger car attached. On all
! other lines there is single train per day
each way Of coursc--consisting Of one or
txTn W. IN ieh
| freight cars. The rate Of fare ranges from
1 five to nine cents per mile. with an average
4 OF about six and quarter cents. The act
ual running rate, including stopnnges, is
from ten to seventeen miles per hour, with
], an average progress, including stoppages, Of
about nine to ten miles per hour. OF
course at such rate Of speed, there is next
to no danger of accidents, and travelling is
reasonably safe, even if il is exceedingly
uncomfortable
This slow rate OF speed i necessitatea by
two causes. bad condition Of the road, and
bad condition Of the ears and engines. The
road-bed is generally in passably good order
and could be put in first class condition at a
| comparatively small expense. The rails
/ however, are literally worn out, and before
+ any great amount of work can bedone on
any road, every mile must he relaid with
new iron. The wonder is, considering how
much these two main lines were used by the
rebel government, that it is now possible to
use the roads at ALL The chief difficulty,
however, after all, is in connection with tho
rolling stock OF this there is very little
left, and what there il, is in the most
wretched condition generally, imaginable.
Except on the North Carolina road, their
passenger cars are inferior to those ON Sec
ond-class emigrant trains at the North--in
need alike of the painter, the glazier, the
upholsterer and the scrubber. Even all
these could not be able 10 restore more than
three out Of the ten. Three more of the ten
might, perhaps, be put. in seryiceabie order
by thorough overhauling at the shops The
remaining four. are utterly worn out, and
would long ago have been condemned but for
the absolute necessity Of the situation.
have ridden in dozen go far gone that |
actually feared they would fall TO pieces if
a speed Of sixteen miles an hour was attain
ed The box freight cars are, generally
speaking, in somewhat better condition than
the passenger cars. The engines on all the
roads, without exception, are, so to speak,
on their Last legs, and most Of them must
soon be replaced by new ones. | rode with
the engineer for ten miles on the Manchester
road while he ran at the rate Of mile in
! three minutes and half. am sure shall
not repeat the experiment and doubt il he
will with that engine. His average rate is
ten to ten and half miles per hour.
The labor on the road is mostly done by
negroes. The conductors, engineers and
station masters are, so far as l observed,
white men, as are about one-third The fire.
men and brakemen. But two-thirds Of the
. fremen and brakemen, and nearly all the
numerous hands employed at the various
stations along the road, are negroes and
no complaint is made but that they do the
work well enough when they are promptly
paid. It is a fact however, that they refuse
to make long engagements. The station
men very rarely remain more than two or
three weeks in place--Then their craving
for novelty possesses them, and they are off
for new point, very likely to engage in
the same business.
! have found almost everywhere that the
roads had all the business they could do
The passenger travel is small--seventy five
persons per day on most of the roads, is
above the average. The lines centering in
Wilmington and Charleston are burdened
with cotton--indeed they cannot carry all
that is seeking transportation In one place
and another, | presume | have spoken
with forty men Or more who were urging
shipment. At Orangeburg were men
owning from fifty to ono hundred bales,
who had been dancing attendance upon
the railroads for month. At Florence,
nearly the same state of things existed. So
it did too. at Kingsville. There is also
much freight coming from the north Of
course, as the rates Of passenger travel in
dictate, freights are exceedingly high--at