Work of Robert R. Rridgers
lie faced a stupendous task, following the
conclusion of the Civil War, in rebuilding
what is now the great Atlantic Coast Line
System.
By R. C. LAWRENCE
A LITTLE delving into local
history sometimes reveals
things quite unexpected. In
1830. P. K. Dickinson emmigrated
from the North to the then small
town of Wilmington, where he be¬
came interested in lumber and
other business enterprises. On a
business trip to his former New
England home, he saw the novelty
of a railroad in operation, and was
so impressed with its possibilities
that he determined one should be
built connecting the seaport of
Wilmington with the outside
world. Here was the beginning of
the great Atlantic Coast Line sys¬
tem of today.
Upon his return, he talked with
several leading businessmen and a
meeting was held at the home of
Edward B. Dudley, who later be¬
came Governor of his State, the
first Governor to be elected by the
people. At this meeting Dickinson
and some twenty others subscribed
to a larger amount of stock in the
proposed railroad than there was
taxable property in the town of
Wilmington! In 1833 a charter was
secured for the construction of a
railroad between Raleigh and Wil¬
mington, but when the time came
to subscribe to the necessary
amount of stock. Raleigh failed to
come across.
Change in Route
The c h arte r was therefore
amended, the route was changed,
and it became the Wilmington and
Weldon, connecting the places
bearing those two names. The
work of construction begun in 1836
was completed by 1840, by which
time one hundred and sixty-one
miles of rail had been laid — the
then longest railroad in the world!
This was the parent line of the
present Coast Line system. General
'James Owen of Bladen was its
(president in 1840. He was a brother
of Governor John Owen, in whose
honor a marker has been erected
under the auspices of the State
Historical Commission. He was
succeeded by Alexander MacRae;
be by W. S. Ashe; he by Stephen
□. Wallace. Then in 1865 Robert
Я.
Bridgers became president and
ГНЕ
STATE. July 19. 1047
so continued until his death in
1888. and he became the great de¬
veloper and expander of the prop¬
erty and its affiliated lines.
Colonel Bridgers was born in
Edgecombe County in 1819. He
was graduated from the University
in 1841. where he took the highest
honors in his class. Admitted to
the bar he began the practice of
his profession at Jarboro. He was
elected to the House of Commons
where he was the youngest mem¬
ber of that body. He was thereafter
tendered, but declined, appoint¬
ments both as Attorney General
and as Superior Court Judge. He
again served in the Commons from
1856 until the outbreak of the Civil
War.
Conspicuous Service
During that war, the Bridgers
family rendered the State con¬
spicuous service both on the field
of battle, in its legislative councils,
and in its service of supply. Rob¬
ert R. Bridgers served in the Con¬
federate Congress throughout its
entire existence, and was frequent¬
ly called into consultation by the
Confederate Cabinet, especially
where matters of finance were un¬
der consideration. His brother,
John L. Bridgers, was Captain of
the "Edgecombe Guards" which
was the first military organization
to volunteer for the service of the
South. His command became Com¬
pany "A" of the First North Caro¬
lina Regiment, and this company
was present at Big Bethel, the first
battle of the war. Henry L. Wyatt,
first soldier of the South to give
his life for his country, and whose
statue is on capitol grounds at Ra¬
leigh, was a member of this com¬
pany.
At a later period during the war,
the two Bridgers brothers were as¬
sociated in the operation of the
High Shoals iron furnaces and roll¬
ing mills, which were second in
importance only to the Tredegar
Iron Works at Richmond. The oper-
ation of these furnaces and rolling
mills was absolutely essential, as
the South was destitute of manu¬
factures in practically all depart¬
ments, and iron was a sorely need¬
ed commodity, not only to furnish
arms for the supply of the armies
in the field, but to serve the sources
of supply which alone kept those
armies in the field.
The war over and the South pros¬
trate, Colonel Bridgers returned
to Tarboro and began his efforts to
retrieve his broken fortunes. He
still owned "Strabane Plantation."
an estate of some 2.500 acres, and
one of the great cotton producing
plantations of that section. Prior
to the war he had been elected as
a director in the Wilmington and
Weldon, in recognition not only of
his interest in that company, but
in appreciation of his labors in be¬
half of the construction of the "Tar-
boro Branch" of the road.
Elected President
In 1865 he became president of
the Wilmington and Weldon, and
undertook the simply stupendous
task of rehabilitating a prostrate
property. The war had taken heavy
toll of the commercial life of the
South, and the end of the struggle
found the Wilmington and Weldon
with only a right of way. rusted
rails, rotten cross ties, and dilapi¬
dated rolling stock, without operat¬
ing capital or credit.
Colonel Bridgers plunged into
the task of reviving an apparently
dead property. He went to England
seeking to refund the outstanding
bonded debt of his line, and while
he failed in his immediate object,
he succeeded in the more far-reach¬
ing effort to interest the capitalists
William T. Walters and Benjamin
Newcomer in the property. It
was the financial assistance fur¬
nished by these two men which
made it possible, at a later date,
to develop the Atlantic Coast Line
System, of which Harry Walters,
a son of William T. Walters became
chairman of the Board of Directors,
and with which his name is so in¬
timately associated.
Colonel Bridgers also served as
president of the Wilmington, Co¬
lumbia and Augusta, and as Gen-
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