Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 37.djvu/330

322 and prolific writers of Virginia in her palmiest days, you are yet sufficiently alert and watchful to advise the good old county of Halifax to preserve sacredly these fortifications, which will be a priceless heirloom for her sons and their posterity for all time, and an inspiration to guard and defend with their lives, if necessary, as did those brave men in June, 1864, the soil of Halifax from invasion; and Charlotte, Mecklenburg, Pittsylvania, Lunenburg, Nottoway and Amelia can well afford to lend a helping hand for this worthy purpose, as they each and all furnished men who did their part nobly in that battle; the momentous results from which were the saving of the most important bridge from Danville to Richmond, and from absolute destruction all the rolling stock of the Danville Railroad, which had been run just beyond my command, and also the saving not only of the road itself from Staunton River to Danville, but probably Danville, with its vast army stores, from being given to the flames. They had already destroyed the road and all the depots and telegraph officers from Burkeville to Staunton Bridge, and all rolling stock caught between these points, and their object was a complete destruction of the entire road to Danville and all cars and depots on the entire route.

Over this road much the greater portion of our supplies came for our armies around Richmond and Petersburg, and had I yielded to the superior force of the enemy or acquiesced in the Fabian policy adopted by some of our distinguished generals, fallen back and endeavored to gather a larger force and confront the enemy at Danville, as was discretionary with me, and which was advised, and possibly might have been creditably executed, but which I never entertained for a moment, it would then have been quite questionable if all the wagon trains in our service in Virginia at that time could have hauled the vast supplies needed at Richmond and Petersburg rapidly enough to have kept our armies from starving, or evacuating those cities nine months earlier than we did; as it was, we were weeks repairing the destruction on the road from Burkeville to Staunton River, and during that time every available wagon was called in use, and our quartermaster and commissary departments taxed to their utmost ingenuity until this connection was made over the damaged road.