It is related of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, that on one occasion, when
making one of his swift trips over the American lines under his control,
his train was stopped by the wreck of a goods train. There was a dozen
heavily loaded covered trucks piled up on the road, and it would take a
long time to get help from the nearest accessible point, and probably
hours more to get the track cleared by mere force of labour. He surveyed
the difficulty, made a rough calculation of the cost of a total
destruction of the freight, and promptly made up his mind to burn the
road clear. By the time the relief train came the flames had done their
work and nothing remained but to patch up a few injuries done to the
track so as to enable him to pursue his way.