Description:

Civil War - Civil War Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown gets bad railroad investment news.

Small archive relating to Confederate railroads in Georgia, comprised of letter and ticket stub.

1pp ALS on "Treasurer's Office, South-Western Rail Road Company" letterhead inscribed in elegant calligraphy on pale blue lined paper. Business correspondence addressed to railroad investor and Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown as "Gov. Jos. E. Brown, Milledgeville" and signed by company treasurer "Jhn. J. Bonfeuillet" (?) at center right. Docket information is inscribed verso. In very good to near fine condition, with expected horizontal paper folds and isolated browning to paper edges. Minor corner fold in upper right corner. Page measures 7.875" x 9.875".

On February 18, 1862, the treasurer delivered some bad news to a high-profile investor then acting as state governor. "Dear Sir, The business of our Road for the six months ending 31 ultimo, did not warrant the Declaration of a Dividend, our nett [sic] earnings being only $26,000 - This is the first dividend the company have ever passed + I trust the last - "

The railroad company's poor returns between September 1861 and February 1862 was probably due to economic downturn caused by the Civil War. The treasurer's comment about this exceptional lack of dividends was probably wishful thinking as conditions in the Confederacy would only deteriorate as the war progressed. Sherman's winter 1864 March to the Sea cut through Governor Joseph E. Brown's capital at Milledgeville and affected Macon, but did not pass near the Southwestern Railroad line.

The Southwestern Railroad Company was conceived to connect central Georgia - around its hub at Macon -- with the southwestern region of the state. A predominant work force of slave laborers built the railroad between 1848 and 1860. Several secondary railroad companies were incorporated into the Southwestern Railroad Company by 1860. During the Civil War era, the railroad shuttled between Macon, Powersville, Fort Valley, Winchester, Oglethorpe, Americus, Smithville, Albany, Cuthbert, Fort Gaines, and its terminus on the Alabama border, Eufaula.

Joseph E. Brown (1821-1894) served as Georgia's Governor between 1857 and 1865. Although Brown had strongly advocated for secession in 1861, he resisted Confederate policy pertaining to inscription and impressment. By 1864, Brown called for the South's surrender since most of Georgia lay in ruins after Sherman's March to the Sea.

Railroad ticket no. 37307 is partly printed with "Quartermaster's Department, C.S.A., Atlanta, GA." letterhead and partly handwritten in pencil. The ticket granted passage to two passengers from Atlanta to Marietta, a city located about twenty miles to the northwest. Ticket canceled verso, and a little weathered but still legible. The Confederacy had quartermaster depots in major Southern cities. Besides Atlanta, Georgia had a depot in Columbus about 100 miles to the southwest.

Two remarkable documents relating to Confederate infrastructure in central Georgia!

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