by Alexander Robert Lawton, A. H. Cole, William B. B. Cross, Fredrick William Sims, Jeremy Francis Gilmer and Samuel Preston Moore

“ Money or some equivalent must be had to keep the machinery of the department going. Arrearages especially should be provided for. For instance, over $5,000,000 is now due to the factory interest alone for goods long since delivered and expended, and that, too, after a liberal use of call certificates, non-taxable bonds, and even the raw material, cotton. All the factories are under contract to deliver at fair prices two-thirds of their production. They all work under a uniform system, one built up with care and labor, and with a result perfectly satisfactory. ”

“ To obtain horses in Virginia, gold or Federal money is essential. They can be purchased for gold at rates below those prevailing before the war. This is not the case with other articles of military supply in the Confederate States obtained from abroad by the Government. I am induced to believe that two thousand horses can be had in a short space of time along the lines of Virginia and North Carolina from the enemy's lines, if money can be supplied, and at prices, perhaps, not greater than we expect to pay in Mexico. ”

“ As there is not in the entire Confederacy a single establishment that makes them, machinery has been ordered from abroad. The supply of cotton clothing has heretofore been abundant, and is now ample. There will be no difficulty hereafter on this head, at least so long as the railroad connections can be relied on to make the raw material of one section available in another. It is now very hard to keep the factories in Virginia even partially supplied with cotton. ”

“ As to the men, they are exempt and enjoy almost entire immunity from the ordinary means of punishment. The only attempt yet made to render the railroads amenable to some authority, has resulted in a law so full of loop-holes that it is inoperative.
These are the main reasons why our railroad transportation is already deficient, and daily depreciating. Efforts are being made to purchase material, but success is quite uncertain. At present the want is not so serious as the want of mechanics, though it may become so if the materials are not obtained. ”

“ The assignments of the few military engineers, who joined the Southern army at the commencement of the war, to duty with troops, has been a serious drawback to the engineer service, which has therefore been performed in a great measure by civil engineers, who have been appointed from time to time in the corps. ”

“ A better and more permanent organization of negro labor is demanded for military and civil engineer service, to the extent of about (29,000) twenty-nine thousand men (7,000 being for the Trans-Mississippi Department) , not including those needed as teamsters and cooks for the workshops and other local service.
It has been made the duty of the bureau, by General Order No. 86, 1864, to organize all the slave labor called under act approved 17th February, 1864, for service with our armies, and officers have been appointed to attend to the same. ”

“ These employees of the laboratories, purveying depots and distilleries, are in a great measure expert chemists, druggists and distillers and men of professional skill, whose services are absolutely indispensable for the manufacture of medicines, hospital furniture and alcoholic stimulants. It is therefore hoped that the Honorable Secretary will see the necessity of these men being permanently attached to the Medical Department, as the practice of constantly changing these employees is productive of delay and embarrassment to the Department. ”

“ They are as necessary as iron. Heretofore a small supply has been had through Wilmington, but with that port closed, we are cut off entirely, except by trading with the enemy, and paying in cotton. With plenty of mechanics and material, the machinery now in use could be improved, and there would be a corresponding improvement in transportation; but it should be borne in mind, that as machinery grows older it takes more work to keep it in efficient condition, and therefore the same men and material now do not accomplish so much as at the commencement of the war. ”

“ Feeling but little or no interest in our country or cause, they are generally of a roving and reckless character, forming attachments to places but rarely, and impatient of restraint. Many of them enlisted and have been killed, so that the number in the country has been constantly decreasing. This deficiency cannot be supplied as in ordinary times by the instruction of apprentices, because the conscript law takes them for the army just at the period when they are learning to be useful, nor can they be induced to come from abroad at the present pay, and with the fear of the army before them. ”

“ Entrenching tools have been obtained by importation to a considerable extent, and funds have been sent abroad to purchase others, but the closing of most of our regular ports of entry, it is feared, will prevent their being received.
3d. For the prompt repair of railroad bridges and trestlework, and for duplicating these last, an organized body of mechanics should be available. This has been partly provided for, but it is proposed to increase the force, if practicable, to at least one hundred for the roads leading directly to the army of Northern Virginia. ”

“ In Virginia, especially, this has been done. Material necessary for the manufacture of clothing for the army has been directed from its legitimate use. Thus cotton is expended here when the factories have stopped work for the want of same. Cotton yarns are made way with, when wanted for army socks, and also shirtings and osnaburgs needed for clothing and forage sacks. The Subsistence Bureau has now some 150 bales of osnaburgs stored here to be used in barter, and this Department is without a single yard of material to make into shirts or drawers. ”

“ When it is considered that the issues now reported are field issues proper, and exclusive of issues to men in hospitals, of issues to men on furlough, of issues to detailed men at posts, of issues to paroled and exchanged men, of issues to retired men, and of all last issues whatever, it will be found, I think, that with the exception of overcoats, which have not been made up, owing to the great consumption of woolen material for jackets and pants, and the item of flannel undershirts, but partially supplied, the armies have been fully supplied. ”

“ I do not hesitate to say that in some instances there has been extravagance, and moreover, that much of the individual want that strikes the eye is due to the improvidence of the soldiers, who too often dispose, by sale and barter, of what they have received. ”

“ The whole, unfortunately, is about to crumble in for want of funds; the factories being without the means to meet current expenditures, even at times to pay taxes. Their only relief is, to put their production upon the market, and the department is in no position to complain of the loss of material. ”

“ This table of supply, adopted from the old service, was made with reference to abundant resources, and doubtless shows what will answer the necessities of a soldier with fair economy and management. This Department has never aimed to limit its issues to this standard, especially in regard to jackets and pants, but has endeavored to provide a suit of clothing every six months for each man. ”

“ The surgeon in charge of Jackson hospital has the offer of a contract for wood to be supplied the hospital; the Quartermaster refused to make the contract, stating that he had made ample provision. At Winder hospital the surgeon in charge during the past summer or fall offered, if he was provided with a small number of teams (two) , to supply his own fuel; the Quartermaster refused, asserting that he could supply the hospital with the wood required. ”

“ An officer to control and manage the business is wanted, one possessing the qualifications which I had the honor to state I deemed requisite. No one has been yet assigned to the duty. Nothing can be done until such officer arrives in Texas. ”

“ Many of the men are lost sight of, and never return. It is recommended that the law be repealed. Furloughs should only be authorized by orders to be granted as circumstances may demand.
Foreseeing the many and great difficulties to be encountered in procuring medical supplies from foreign countries through the blockade, attention was given at an early day to the establishment of medical laboratories, and the manufacture of medicines at Lincolnton, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Macon and Atlanta, Georgia, and Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama. ”

“ But up to this time the number of slaves impressed by conscript officers and delivered for organization is small, and I fear unless the impressments are made more rapidly than heretofore, that this labor, so essential, will not be available in time. The organization will be made as rapidly as the negroes are received. ”

“ The number to be procured in the Confederate States east of the Mississippi by impressment depends on the decision which may be made, as to the quantity of animals the farmers will be allowed to keep, as essential to their operations. ”

“ It may not be out of place to mention that notwithstanding the scarcity and value of this kind of transportation, it receives but little protection or security from our armies, which seems strange when not only their comfort but their safety depends on its efficiency. ”