Robert L. Owen to Jefferson Davis, November 10, 1861

LYNCHBURG, November 10, 1861.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, President Confederate States:

I have received dispatches from Bristol and other points asking me to apply to you for assistance, which with the fact that the bridge over Holston River was burned on Friday night and the track torn up, induces me to apply to you for a small force, to be detailed to guard the bridges in this State until we can make some arrangement to do so ourselves. There are two regiments—Trigg's and Moore's—now at Abingdon and Wytheville, if the men could be spared for a few days. I go with carpenters and lumber to Tennessee this evening to assist in rebuilding bridge. I make my application to you direct, confident it will receive attention.

RO. L. OWEN,        

President Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 233-4

Judah P. Benjamin to Robert L. Owen, November 10, 1861

RICHMOND, November 10, 1861.

R. L. OWEN, President Railroad, Lynchburg:

Your dispatch received. Colonel Leadbetter, of Engineer Corps, will leave in the morning with a battalion and battery of field pieces. He is charged with the duty of restoring and guarding the communications. Other forces will be sent to him via Chattanooga. Your earnest cooperation with him is relied on by the President.

J. P. BENJAMIN,    

Acting Secretary of War.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 234

Robert L. Owen to Judah P. Benjamin, November 11, 1861

BRISTOL, November 11, 1861.

Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN,  Secretary of War:

I have just returned from the burned bridge. We have at the next bridge, 10 miles beyond, about 250 men, under Captain McClellan. They have two cannon, which they found on the cars, and which were given to them by General Charles Clark, who stopped until this morning with them. The camp of the enemy is at N. G. Taylor's, 5 miles distant, with about 400 men. Another camp, at Elizabethtown, 2 miles farther, is said to contain 500 men. The two may be confounded. There is no doubt but that re-enforcements are every moment reaching them from Watauga County, North Carolina, and Johnson, Carter, and Washington Counties, Tennessee. These counties can furnish about 2,000 Lincolnites, and each fresh occasion emboldens them. They threaten to burn Watauga Bridge to-night. Should they be successful, it will bring forward hundreds now quiet. It is all-important they should be disposed of before they unite their different forces, now ranging from 50 to 500. A fight occurred last night between 22 of our scouts and the main camp of the enemy. We captured 2, killed 9, and lost none. I have given orders for all trains to give way to the troop trains now coming forward. They will reach here to-morrow morning. Can I do anything for you?

RO. L. OWEN,        

President Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 235-6