Reminiscences of General Herman Haupt

By Herman Haupt

U.S. General Herman Haupt's reminiscences of his time serving the United States as Chief of the Bureau of the United States military railroads during the American Civil War and much more.

“Few men have participated in so much that has contributed to the growth and grandeur of our country, yet how little the world knows of his career, how reluctant the trumpeters have been to herald his achievements!

A designer and builder of roads and bridges; a constructor of railroads and tunnels; a professor and author; an inventor and master mechanic; a military strategist and civil counsellor; a railway manager and canal engineer; a manufacturer and organizer of great enterprises; a military and civil engineer, still up-to-date and a leader of progress, he links the old with the new, the slow and sleepy past with the swift and dashing present in a way that is entirely exceptional.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Braunfell Books
• Release date: Mar 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781805231486

Book preview

CHAPTER I. — CALLED BY SECRETARY STANTON.

ON April 22, 1862, while engaged in an exciting contest in Boston over the Hoosac Tunnel bill, I received a telegram from the Secretary of War requesting my immediate presence in Washington, and, about the same time, one from Hon. John Covode, of Pennsylvania, in these words: Come here immediately; Secretary Stanton wants you.

I showed these telegrams to Hon. Jonathan E. Field and other prominent members of the Massachusetts Senate and House, who advised me to go, pledging themselves to protect my interests, which pledge was fully redeemed.

A Joint Special Committee of ten had made a report unanimously endorsing my management of the Hoosac Tunnel construction, and had reported a bill to reinstate me in possession of work, of which I had been deprived by Governor John A. Andrew, with an appropriation to compensate for the damages caused by the enforced suspension.

Governor Andrew had announced his determination to veto this bill, or any other that would retain the work in my hands, but was willing to assume the partially-completed tunnel as a State work. After several conferences with members of the Legislature and officers of the Company, I had agreed to surrender possession to the State on certain very important conditions, and had the promise that these conditions should be inserted in a bill to be presented; but the bill had not been drafted and the action of the Executive was uncertain. The situation was critical, as fortune and reputation were at stake.

However, I immediately reported in Washington to the Secretary of War. At this interview I made inquiry as to the service to be performed and the time probably required. Mr. Stanton stated that General McClellan was on the Peninsula operating against Richmond; that General McDowell was ordered to cooperate by a forced march across the country, but could not move until the Fredericksburg Railroad was put in order for transportation of troops and supplies; that the bridges had been burned, the track destroyed and the rails carried off; that so soon as the line could be reconstructed, McDowell could move, Richmond would fall and the war would be ended. My services might be required for three or four weeks, and added: "If the war is not finished in three months, I will