Alexander R. Lawton to R. P. Waller, March 12, 1864

Maj. R. P. WALLER, Quartermaster, Nassau, New Providence: Sir: The bearer, Mr. Thomas Sharp, goes abroad for a short time to purchase a lot of machinery, material, and tools for the manufacture of shoes. His instructions will inform you more fully of the precise character of his mission and the things to be purchased. He will require £3,500 to meet his expenditures, and I write to authorize you to advance the sum to him; but fearing at the same time that you may not be able to do so promptly, I have to direct, with the sanction of the Secretary of War, that you draw, if necessary, for the amount on Mr. Colin J. McRae, financial agent of the Confederate States at Paris, and deliver proceeds to Mr. Sharp. In a couple of months the department will be able to command quite a considerable quantity of leather, and it is all-important that it should secure some facilities in the way of machinery to make the same rapidly into shoes. The receipt of these appliances will also render the department in a great measure independent of detailed labor. Your experience will tell you that this will in time prove a far better investment of a portion of the means at the command of this department than even shoes or blankets, so do not let Mr. Sharp be disappointed in the receipt of the funds.

A. R. LAWTON,