William Wadley

Father of Sarah Wadley and briefly the chief of the Confederate Railroad Bureau in late 1861 and early 1862. According to morgan2005, Wadley “evinced an unusually thorough understanding of the problems confronting southern railroads” but “the need to get materials to the front immediately always trumped the desideratum of implementing a long-term plan” (p. 55). Military officials’ opposition to Wadley’s control of the rails utlimately led to his dismissal in April 1863, after which “the government granted the Quartermaster Department control over all railroad equipment save a single train per line” (p. 55).