| Confederate States of America |
| Navy Department |
| Richmond, December 11th, 1863 |
| |
| His Excellency |
| Z. B. Vance |
| Governor of North Carolina |
| Raleigh, N. C. |
| |
| Sir, |
| I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th. ulto, enclosing a
statement of Mr. Gilbert Elliott, an earlier reply to which has been
precluded by the necessity of making the enquiries rendered proper
thereby. |
| ***** |
| Your remark that "the
iron furnished by the state under the express promise of both himself
(Capt. Lynch) and you has been applied to other purposes"
requires correction. The total amount of rail road iron received at
the Rolling mills up to the 30th ulto from North Carolina -- and much
of which cannot be rolled for want of coal, is 192 tons {24
carloads}. If this were
rolled into armor plates it would produce 144 tons only {18
carloads} to be sent
back to North Carolina; wheras 336 1/2 tons of rolled plates {42
carloads},
requiring 420 tons to make them have been ordered back there (and are
delayed only by want of transportation) 86 1/2 tons {11
carloads} of which have
already reached there. |
| It is proper also to add that
in addition to this iron nearly 700 tons {88
carloads} of additional armor plates
and fastening, requiring 875 tons of iron to make them have been taken
from other sources and been sent to North Carolina for the ships at
Wilmington. |
| Your Excellency will
doubtless remember from my correspondence with you directly, and
through Flag Officer Lynch, on the subject, my frequent and earnest
efforts to obtain rail road iron in North Carolina to build iron clad
vessels within the state, which efforts were fruitless up to a
comparatively recent date -- so recent that much of the iron obtained
it has been found impossible as yet to roll. I enclose copy of a
letter from Martin & Elliott, written on January last, in which
they state that you have given them assurance of enabling them to
obtain rail road iron for a floating battery on the Roanoke, and the
construction of which was induced by their representation and belief
that they could get the iron to cover it, and had them countermand the
order. |
| ***** |
| I am respectfully |
| Your obt. servt. |
| S. R. Mallory |
| Secretary of the Navy |
|