The first regiments of Union troops passing through Baltimore had been attacked, and the railway line cut between Baltimore and Annapolis Junction, destroying communication with Washington.  It was therefore necessary for me, with my corps of assistants, to take train at Philadelphia for Annapolis, a point from which a branch line extended to the Junction, joining the main line to Washington.  Our first duty was to repair this branch and make it passable for heavy trains, a work of some days.  General Butler and several regiments of troops arrived a few days after us, and we were able to transport his whole brigade to Washington.

I took my place upon the first engine which started for the Capital, and proceeded very cautiously.  Some distance from Washington I noticed that the telegraph wires had been pinned to the ground by wooden stakes.  I stopped the engine and ran forward to release them, but I did not notice that the wires had been pulled to one side before staking.  When released, in their spring upwards, they struck me in the face, knocked me over, and cut a gash in my cheek which bled profusely.  In this condition I entered the city of Washington with the first troops, so that with the exception of one or two soldiers, wounded a few days previously in passing through the streets of Baltimore, I can justly claim that I “shed my blood for my country” among the first of its defenders.  I gloried in being useful to the land that had done so much for me, and worked, I can truly say, night and day, to open communication to the South.

I soon removed my headquarters to Alexandria,[20] Virginia, and was stationed there when the unfortunate battle of Bull Run was fought.  We could not believe the reports that came to us, but it soon became evident that we must rush every engine and car to the front to bring back our defeated forces.  The closest point then was Burke Station.  I went out there and loaded up train after train of the poor wounded volunteers.  The rebels were reported to be close upon us and we were finally compelled to close Burke Station, the operator and myself leaving on the last train for Alexandria where the effect of panic was evident upon every side.  Some of our railway men were missing, but the number at the mess on the following morning showed that, compared with other branches of the service, we had cause for congratulation.  A few conductors and engineers had obtained boats and crossed the Potomac, but the great body of the men remained, although the roar of the guns of the pursuing enemy was supposed to be heard in every sound during the night.  Of our telegraphers not one was missing the next morning.

[Footnote 20:  “When Carnegie reached Washington his first task was to establish a ferry to Alexandria and to extend the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad track from the old depot in Washington, along Maryland Avenue to and across the Potomac, so that locomotives and cars might be crossed for use in Virginia.  Long Bridge, over the Potomac, had to be rebuilt, and I recall the fact that under the direction of Carnegie and R.F.  Morley the railroad between Washington and Alexandria was completed in the remarkably short period of seven days.  All hands, from Carnegie down, worked day and night to accomplish the task.”  (Bates, Lincoln in the Telegraph Office, p. 22.  New York, 1907.)]