AUGUSTA & SUMMERVILLE RR 1867 Arsenal SECRETARY Stanton post-Civil War Georgia

Description

Title: Augusta and Summerville Railroad. Letter from the Secretary of War in answer to a resolution of the House of 20th instant, transmitting a correspondence between the commandant of the Augusta arsenal and president of the Augusta and Sumerville Railroad.
Author: Edwin M. Stanton, US Secretary of War (1862-68).
Series: 39th Congress, 2d Session, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 102.
Publisher: US Congress.
Publication Date: 1867
Format: Never bound, complete gathering of unopened and uncut octavo signatures as issued by the printer. The pages within each signature are still attached to the adjacent page at the top or fore edge. This complete gathering of signatures was temporarily sewn together by the printer.
Length: 12 pages
Size: 10 5/8" by 6 1/16"
Description: This rare publication collected information on correspondences between the Commandant at the US Army Augusta Arsenal and the fledgling Augusta & Summerville Railroad in the first years after the Civil War. The Augusta Arsenal was first established in 1816 along the bank of the Savannah River. In 1819 the arsenal relocated onto higher ground at the village of Summerville (now a Savannah neighborhood). During the Civil War the arsenal was surrendered to the Confederacy which used the facility to produce large amounts of war material between 1863-1865. After the war the arsenal continued operating until 1955. According to RailGa.com, the Augusta & Summerville Railroad was "chartered in 1866, [and this] this little railroad opened in 1868 as a horse-drawn line and maintained that status for at least two decades. Poors 1888 Manual listed it as having 7 miles of horse line and 1.5 miles of freight line. Its equipment at the time consisted primarily of 75 horses and 15 cars. For the year it carried 819,035 passengers at a average fare of 4.67 cents. The passenger streetcar operation was sold in 1890 and the A&S became a 3.2-mile switching line connecting other railroads in the city. In 1897, after its charter expired, the railroad was sold to the Southern Railway, the Central of Georgia, and the Charleston & Western Carolina. The Georgia Railroad acquired a one-fourth interest in the A&S in 1900. The railroad still exists as a switching line owned jointly by CSX and Norfolk Southern." Included in this document is a series of letters between various military officials and the railway. Also included is the state railway charter from the State of Georgia and the railways contracts with the Augusta City Council.
Condition: Very good. Minor age toning. The page edges, which were never trimmed for binding, are slightly ragged as they came from the printer.