The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-12-13
THE OLD B. & O.
And the Part II Played in the Civil
War.

along the line OF the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad occurred some time in Nav,
1861, when Colonel Porterfeld, Con
federate officer, came to Grafton with
about 5000 troops. He detailed a squad
of soldiers to go west to Buffalo Bridges,
about 40 miles from Wheeling, on
the Baltimore and Ohio road, and burn
the bridges, in order to prevent Federal
troops from coming to Grafton.
At this time l was superintendent of
construction of the road, so l applied to
Colonel Porterfeld for permission to go
and gather up the debris of the burned
BRIDGES. received orders to gather up
the debris, but not to rebuild. Upon
reaching the burnt bridges, however,
met Colonel Kelly, of the First West
Virginia, and Colonel Irwin, of the Six
teenth Ohio, and received their orders
to rebuild at once, which did.
As Soon as the bridges We're complet-
ed both regiments marched to Grafton
and remained there one day, while Col
Onel Porterfeld fell back to Philippi.
about GO miles from Grafton, IN Ty-
CARTS Valley. Kelly and Irwin, rein
forced by Mcclellan and Landers, fol-
lowed him up and surprised him and his
soldiers early in the morning while they
were eating breakfast They all got
away, however, except one man named
Sims, who shot Colonel Kelly in the
shoulder and who was taken prisoner,
but was afterWard Pardoned by Kelly.
Colonel Kelly was confined to his
hotel for several months as the result Of
this injury, and upon his recovery was
int.'e- general. The Confederate
General Johnson was occupying Har-
per Ferry at the time Of this raid and
Colonel Porterfeld was ordered there.
but the order was countermanded and
the CoIec.l took to the country. AS
soon as Kelly was made major-genoraI
Capt George w. Harrison was appoint
ed quartermaster for that division and
followed Kelly up in all Of his move
ments.
Shortly after this came the first
bactig Of Duil Run. Colonel Mcdonnell.
Confederate officer, marched near Key
ser and destroyed the twenty-frst
bridge, just after General Wallace had
passed over it with his regiment Of
Zouayes, going to Cumberland. Later
on all bridges east of Cumberland were
destroyed
On July 9 Colonel Wallace had an en-
counter with the Confederates at Mon
ocacy Junction. Then came General
Jones, Confederate, with his cavalry
raid through West Virginia. He burned
the bridge at Oakland and went on to
Fairmont, where he destroyed an i'm
portant bridge 6l5 feet long of iron
structure. From there he went to the
Parkersburg branch, where he de-
stroyed nearly all the bridges. At
Bridgeport ne captured Thomas Arm
strong and 10 carpenters and took them
to Richmond, where most of them re-
manned as prisoners throughout the
war. Jones' cavalry also burned tie
woodwork out of tunnel No. Is, causing
it to fall in and requiring 40 days work
to get it open. The railroad had all
these bridges rebuilt as rapidly as pos
sible and then set about replacing
bridges east of Cumberland. When we
reached point called Back Creek. 10
miles from Martinsburg, we found that
the track from there to Kearneysville,
distance of q miles, had been torn up
and carried away by the Confederates.
1t was during the rebuilding of this
section Of the road that received a tel
egram from John w. Garrett telling me
to rush the work and spare no ex-
pense, as the road was worth $40, 900 an
hour to the company" When this piece
of work was completed the track was
open from Baltimore to Wheeling and
was used by Federal troops. Some
months after this the Confederates took
charge of Martinsburg, tore up the
same track, burned the ties and bent
the rails so they could not be used.
About six months later the Baltimore
and Ohio undertook to replace this piece
of road, and had got within two miles
Of Martinsburg, when Banks was de-
feated by Jackson, and the Federal
troops retreated across the line into
Maryland, causing the work to be aban-
doned for about one month, after which
it was completed.
That was the last rebuilding Of anv
Importance on this part of the road, as
the war swept on into other sections of
the country. To give an idea of the
amount of work accomplished during
this period 10 bridges and one tunnel
were rebuilt on the Parkersburg branch
and Is bridges on the main line. some
Of which were rebuilt two or three
times. My chief assistants in this work
Of bridge repair were George w. Crom-
well, Bryan Healy, William Alice, John
Hartman and George Crofton.
In the early part of the rebuilding of
the road | received a telegram from
John w. Garrett ordering me to report