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741 Series I Volume LI-II Serial 108 - Supplements Part II

Page 741 Chapter LXIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-CONFEDERATE.

injured and turned in was furnished by Captain Garnett at Williamsport from guns captured perhaps by other commands. The only guns captured by this corps are one 3-inch rifle, Washington Artillery, and three 10-pounder Parrotts, Henry's battalion, making the total four, as we have all along considered. Major Eshleman brought the 3inch rifle off the field under fire. The Napoleon he received from the ordnance department. By reference to the tables you will observe that the number of guns of the Washington Artillery is the same as it was, having turned in one 12-pounder Napoleon and one 12-pounder howitzer, and received one 3-inch rifle, captured, and one 12-pounder Napoleon from Captain Garnett. In Henry's battalion the number of guns also remains the same, having turned in one 12-pounder howitzer, one 3-inch rifle bursted, and one 6-pounder gun, and received three 10-pounder Parrotts captured. Cabell turned in one 3-inch rifle, which reduced his armament one gun. Dearing exchanged with Alexander a 12-pounder howitzer for a 20-pounder Parrott. Alexander's battalion has three guns less than before the battle; one 12-pounder howitzer injured and abandoned, two 12-pounder howitzers sent to the rear.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. B. WALTON,

Colonel and Chief of Artillery First Army Corps, Commanding.

[27.]

RICHMOND, VA., July 28, 1863.

General R. E. LEE,

Commanding Army of North. Virginia, Culpeper Court-House, Va.:

GENERAL: Yours of the 24th* and 27th # have been received. Efforts have been made, and will continue to be made, to send up the convalescents and obsentees from the army, and I am well disposed in regard to your suggestion for a general amnesty. Your remarks in relation to the service of enrollment impress me as likely to lead to improvement. Colonel Preston will be here in a day or two to take charge of the Burean of Conscription, and I hope will so conduct it as to secure better results. For some time past I have felt the evil to which you refer-the employment of young, able-bodied men, and in excessive numbers, by the quartermaster's department for duties which could as well be performed by aged men or desabled soldiers. The horseshoes you want were sent to you, but I am informed the first lot went to Stanton, and would only reach you after being brought back. You know how rare a quality is that which is termed administrative capacity, and how much it was needed in our condition. Without work-shops or stores or artisans, and without even the agricultural habits suited to the wants of this great war, is was needful that a system economizing all supplies should be so administred as to avoid exhaustion. Grain and pork can be reproduced annually, but where shall we get future supplies of beeves, sleep, and horses? The hides of the beeves butchered should have furnished a large surplus of leather, and as our commerce, herefore small, is threatened with destruciton, the importance of this item increases. The railroads are growing worse, and heavy losses are said to have been sustained in the southwest of locomotives and machinery, which cannot soon, if during the war, be replaced. Our people have proven their gallantry and patriotic zeal; their fortitude is now to be tested. may God render them with all the virtue is needed to save a suffering country to maintain a just

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* Probably Lee to Cooper, VOL. XXVII, Part III, p. 1037.

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# Ibid., p. 1040.


Page 741 Chapter LXIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-CONFEDERATE.