Well one can spare the time in what the Confederate army didn't do in Georgia, and realize that Sherman not only had a superior army, he had superior logistics and a construction corps, the latter entirely forgotten by most after the war.
MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
CHIEF ENGINEER’S OFFICE U. S. MILITARY RAILROADS,
Chattanooga, November 1, 1864.
l3vt. Brig. Gen. D. C. MCCALLUM,
Director and General Manager Military Railroads
of the United States, Washington, D. C.:
The nucleus of the
Construction Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi, which
now numbers some 6,000 men, was one division of the old construction
corps of Virginia, sent here in December last, consisting of a subdi-
vision of track men. This force was at once put to work on the Nash-
ville and Chattanooga Railroad, and repaired the track from Bridge-
port to Chattanooga and assisted to complete the Running Water and
other bridges. Large accessions of men having arrived in January,
three new divisions were organized. One division was sent to the
Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad to assist in relaying the track on
that road, which was in such bad condition that it was unsafe to run
trains over it. Nearly the whole of the remaining force was put upon
the Chattanooga and Knoxville line, and the work of rebuilding and
repairing pushed vigorously until a connection was made north of the
Tennessee River with the uninjured portion of the road.
On this line we have two large bridges, one over the Hiawassee River
at Charleston, and the other over the Tennessee River at London. At
both places trestle bridges were built in the first instance, but afterward
replaced with permanent ones on the Howe truss plan. The trestle
bridge at London was the largest bridge of the kind that has been
built on any U. S. military railroad, being 1,700 feet long and 811 feet
high. The railroad connection being complete between Chattanooga
and Knoxville, and ample preparations made for putting and keeping
the main railroad artery, the ~ ashville and Chattanooga Railroad, in
thorough repair, the work on the Chattanooga and Atlanta road was
commenced. This had been almost completely destroyed as far south
as Ringgold, but we repaired it to a point about one mile south of
that place by the 1st of May, about the date of the commencement of
the Georgia campaign.
...The Chattahoochee bridge is the largest and most
important on the line, being 780 feet long and 90 feet high. It was
built by the First and Third Divisions of bridge-builders in four
days and a half.
...By a judicious disposition of the Con-
struction Corps and an ample supply of men and materials, we were
always ready and prepared to do at any time whatever was required.
In one instance, that of the Resaca bridge over the Oostenaula River,
the work of reconstruction commenced while the old bridge was still
burning, and was somewhat delayed because the iron rods were so hot
that the men could not handle them to remove the wreck.
W. W. WRIGHT,
Chief Engr. Government Railroads, Div. of the Mississippi.
MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
CHIEF ENGINEER’S OFFICE U. S. MILITARY RAILROADS,
Chattanooga, November 1, 1864.
l3vt. Brig. Gen. D. C. MCCALLUM,
Director and General Manager Military Railroads
of the United States, Washington, D. C.: