and Commissary of Subsistence to Confederate Authorities. 91, February 8, 1864

GENERAL ORDERS, } ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL’S OFFICE,
February 8, 1864.
No..17. Richmond, February 8, 1864.

nes Paragraph VI, General Orders, No. 8, current series, is amended thus:

Commutation of rations, at $1 per diem, will be allowed paroled unexchanged prisoners on furlough. This order to take effect from the Ist of January, 1864. The officer paying the accounts will indorse on the furlough the date and length of time for which payment has been made.

ieee Paragraph II, General Orders, No. 97, series 1862, is amended thus:

Officers and agents of the Quartermaster’s Department are hereby ordered not to interfere with leather or hides purchased or contracted for by officers or agents of the Ordnance Department.

5S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

fichmond, February 8, 1864. Col. L. B. NORTHROP, Commissary-General:

COLONEL: I have to report the receipt of late services from Maj. W. H. Smith, commissary of subsistence, on inspection duty in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in which encouraging accounts are given of the ability of the latter State to meet our wants fully with breadstuffs, and partially with meat, if the system inaugurated for supplying General Johnston’s army be vigorously carried out, viz, drawing supplies from Northern Georgia and Alabama, and relieving Major Allen’s district in Southwest Georgia, and if the required reforms in the management of railroad transportation are at once adopted. Major Smith cites numerous and flagrant abuses to which this important arm of the public defense has been and is constantly subjected, showing that the Government is deprived of many facilities by the cupidity of railroad companies and the corruption of agents and employés, who regard their personal interests as paramount to all other considerations. The official report of the Charlotte and South Carolina road exhibits the following statement of receipts: From the Confederate States, $336,603; private freight, $270,544; Southern Express Company, $186,281; the latter paying one-half as much as the Government, illustrating beyond dispute that the amount of transportation controlled by this company is greatly beyond what they are legitimately entitled to, and the additional fact is given that some twenty or thirty cars are owned by it at Augusta, which necessarily occasion interruption to more important trains. We are now dependent on the south for bread, yet under the most favorable circumstances, with existing arrangements, it is impossible to provide for the daily wants of General Lee’s army and the troops in this State, to say nothing of the imperative necessity for creating a reserve in anticipation of the many emergencies likely to arise not only from movements of the enemy, but from accidents on a line of communication between 600 and 700 miles in length. To-day we have not on hand rations for two days, and with no prospect of accumulations in this State from purchases, &c., it is impossible to foresee how forward movements can be made by the Army of Northern Virginia in the spring if we continue to be pressed for the current demands, and no increase is made from the only source to which we can confidently look. With no efforts to improve our facilities of transportation, and whilst the present defective system continues, we must remain in a condition of uncertainty that sooner or later will culminate in disaster. We are apprised that thirty-five cars loaded with corn have remained at Gaston, N. C., one week, besides large quantities of other supplies at that place and Raleigh, owing to the derangement of the trains by military move- ments and by the failure of the Raleigh and Gaston road to run through to Petersburg, as suggested some time since to the chief of Railroad Bureau. That number of cars, thirty-five, in the time specified, would have moved nearly 14,000 bushels of corn, but because the convenience of the road is to a great extent consulted asin opposition to the urgent wants of the Government, we cannot anticipate that our condition will be in the slightest degree improved until summary, vigorous, and determined measures are enforced.

Major Sims informs me that the president of the Gaston road will commence running through trains from to-day until the block is removed. The demand on Major Allen’s district from Major Cummings still continues heavy, interfering seriously with his ability to meet the wants of our army in Virginia. Under date of the Ist instant he writes as follows:

I shipped last week to Atlanta for General Johnston’s command 16,200 bushels meal, 1,300 bushels peas, 89,000 pounds bacon, sides, 260 barrels molasses, and a quantity of pickled beef. Iam shipping daily to him eight or ten car-loads. Let me be relieved from this command, &c., and I will supply Virginia abundantly.

The necessary instructions have been forwarded to Major Walker, chief commissary of Alabama, to render all the assistance possible to General Johnston’s army, but the demands for transportation of coal and iron to Atlanta for the Navy Department seriously embarrasses operations; and as it seems impracticable to provide for the wants of both departments with such limited facilities, the wants of the most urgent and important should receive precedence, if not compel one to yield wholly to the other.

The suggestions of Major Smith relative to the employment of a part of the machinery and resources of the Navy Department for repairing and building rolling-stock, &c., are worthy of the earnest consideration of the proper authorities, for many locomotives, cars, &e., are now valueless because of the limited appliances at the command of railroad companies, and if even a portion be so employed, he is confident very great additions can be made to roads now greatly deficient in material, &c. As our existence asa nation is dependent upon the efficiency and preservation of the Army, I may be pardoned for expressing the opinion that every other branch of the public defense should be subservient to that upon which we can alone rely. For several months past I have repeatedly called your attention to the difficulties under which we labored in the collection of subsistence, owing to the defective management and limited resources of transportation, confidently anticipating that such action would be taken by the proper authorities as would be calculated to assist us in collecting requisite supplies for the troops in this State, but no relief has been afforded except through the special agents of this department, and then only of a temporary character, for as soon as they disappeared from the important shipping points the same difficulties would arise, and subsistence stores for days and weeks would be permitted to remain at stations and depots until railroad agents and others were favorable to their removal. Unless the most stringent regulations are adopted for the management of transportation, and the interests of the Government receive full and constant protection from the abuses practiced by those in charge, it would be idle to expect any improvement in our condition.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Major and Commissary of Subsistence.

[First indorsement.]
RicHmMonpD, February 8, 1864.
Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War.
From the beginning of the war I have steadily aimed at keeping up
railroads to their utmost capacity; have made frequent attempts to
have this most vital subject placed on a footing of improvement. In