Braxton Bragg to Cuar. Xxix.} Correspondence, Etc.confederate. 629, June 28, 1862

Near Tupelo, Miss., June 28, 1862.

MAJor: I have the honor to transmit to you (herewith inclosed) the consolidated statement * of ordnance and ordnance stores at Confederate States Arsenal at Columbus and at ordnance depots at Tupelo, Verona, and Okolona, Miss.

The arsenal at Columbus being in its infancy the work necessary for public service is not at present prosecuted with the result adequate to emergency. At armory shop is employed 32 gunsmiths, 16 stockers, and 8 machinists for boring barrels and making and repairing tools; with this force, 50 arms a day can be repaired fit for service. At saddlery, 40 saddlers and harness-makers are employed; they are occupied in repairing artillery harness and in making new. At laboratory, 70 hands are employed; with this foree can be manufactured about 20,000 cartridges for small-arms and 500 rounds of ammunition, fixed, in one day. The machinery for making percussion-caps was at the time of my inspection in bad order, undergoing repairs, and in a short time the making of caps will be satisfactory, if only a supply of nitric acid can be procured. I was informed that the operatives employed are quit. ting work for reason of enormous prices charged for their boarding. I represented the case to General Adams, but. he gave me no encouragement to remedy the evil, only to replace them by details from the army. If the views of the commanding general are favorable I should respectfully request that as many as can be found in the army—such as blacksmiths, turners, saddlers, and carpenters—be detailed from the army and ordered for duty at arsenal.

RIoHMOND, VA., June 29, 1862. General Brace, Tupelo, Miss. :

Your department is extended so as to embrace that part of Louisiana east of the Mississippi, the entire States of Mississippi and Alabama, and the portion of Georgia and Florida west of the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers.t You can take charge of the Selma and Meridian connection, but the only funds appropriated to the work are the $400,000 authorized by Congress to be loaned to the Alabama and Mississippi Railroad Company. They can disburse it under your directions. After two days’ fighting McClellan is in a critical position. Large re-enforcements are expected from the West. Strike the moment an opportunity

offers. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT No.2, Tupelo, Miss., June 29, 1862. General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va. ; GENERAL: Several embarrassing questions meet me at the outset in assuming the command which has so unexpectedly devolved upon me.

*Not found. t See Special Ordors, No. 146, Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, June 25, 1862, p. 624, and General Orders, No. 50, July 18, 1862, p. 649.

First is the vital matter of subsistence. Were supplies ample in our rear their transportation a8 wanted would bea most difficult affair with but the facilities of a single-track railway, but added to that is the fact that we have only about sixty days’ ratious of salt meat available, with no prospect of any addition. The supply of fresh meat is very limited and precarious, having to be drawn from a country with little or no surplus. The resources of Texas having been cut off before we received what was promised from there, nothing remains but to look to the grazing-grounds of Southern Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. An agent dispatched thither to procure beef cattle it is ascertained has been superseded by one sent by the Commissary-General. If we are to depend on the new agent I must suggest as prudent that he should take early means of gaining accurate knowledge of our wants and where those wants exist. Under every aspect 1 can but look to the future with concern.

Transportation is another matter of the gravest moment. So long as our operations were confined to the lines of the railroads in our possession we could dispense with large supply trains; but to make a forward movement now (and I hope no other will again be necessary) roads and wagons must be substituted. Our present supply of these means of mobility is only adequate for the baggage of the troops. Every effort is, however, being made to increase our means of transportation, and I shall trust that the sacrificing, intelligent patriotism of our people will soon and in time make up the deficiency. No movements, however favorable the opportunity, can be made without it. The country, I may add, between us and the Tennessee River is entirely destitute of any supplies. What our own troops had left has been seized By the enemy. We must, therefore, move full-handed until we van reach his depots, which we know to be well supplied.

The next great want of this army is that of proper commanders for its sub-divisions. Since the battle of Shiloh (where we lost many of our best officers) the elective feature of the conscript law has driven from the service the best who remained, and to a great extent has demoralized the troops. So many of our general officers have been absent, wounded or sick, that it has been quite difficult to keep up any organization, especially as the whole number attached was short of the real wants of the service. Many recommendations made were not ratified, and some general officers appointed or promoted without recommendations from this quarter are only incumbrances and would be better out of the way. Of all the major-generals, indeed, in this army now present, since the transfer of Van Dorn, Breckinridge, and Hindman, but one (Hardee) can now be regarded as a suitable commander of that grade. Among the junior brigadiers we have some excellent material, but it is comparatively useless, being overshadowed. Could the Department by any wholesome exercise of power or policy relieve this army from a part of this dead-weight it would surely give confidence to the troops and add much to our efficiency. I acknowledge the difficulties in the way and the delicacy of the measure, but the safety of our cause may depend on it.

Recommendations for promotions and appointments are inclosed,* to which the speedy attention of the Department is invited.

your obedient servant,

General, Commanding.

* Not found, Fs

RICHMOND, VA., June 30, 1862.

General BRAGG, Tupelo, Miss., via Mobile, Ala.:

In looking at my dispatch to you of yesterday I find that I stated the

appropriation to the Selma and Meridian connection to be $400,000. I