1,776 miles of iron track, that is what I delivered. Track upon which thousands of wheels will now revolve, carrying on their axles the wealth of half the world…..yet, the American people, driven by their cowardly Representatives in Washington, are in need of a Villain. So here I sit, elected by you, to play my part. The part of the scapegoat, the patsy, sent into the Wilderness so that men sitting in this room can lay their sins upon my back and claim they themselves are clean. Men enjoying immunity while enriching themselves on the backs of those who sacrificed everything, to make manifest America’s destiny. Blood has been spilled, lives have been lost, men have been ruined. I saw it, and I survived. I will not return from the wild having made America’s dream a reality only to have 6 bureaucrats in starched collars judge the manner in which I realized that dream. Put me on trial, lock me in prison, erase me from the record, for history is written in pencil and the truth is carved in steel across this nation…..without me, and men like me, your glorious railroad could never have been built.”