| Augusta, April 23d 1864 |
| |
| Major S. B. French |
| CS |
| Richmond VA |
| |
| Major, |
| I arrived here last evening &
despatched to you that supplies were arriving freely & going forward
without detention & that I would proceed on to Macon & Columbus to hurry
them on. |
| This morning I have conferred
more fully with Major Cranston & Capt Sims & visited the Depots. Every
thing is now working well. All transportation is appropriated to Govt
purposes when required, & the depots are kept clear. Twenty five cars
move off daily, & next week Capt Sims expects to despatch daily 30 cars.
Major Allen advises Major Cranston that shipments of corn have been
retarded recently by the weather, but that he is getting off large
supplies of bacon to Richmond. |
| In view of all this I deem it
best for me to return to Columbia & see that matters are progressing
properly there, & then proceed on to Charlotte & Salisbury, & so on to
Raleigh & Gaston and that no private goods are permitted to move, when
Govt property is awaiting transportation, & that subsistence stores take
precedence. It is very difficult to get prompt transportation at
intermediate points of the NCa road, especially as Major Echols is
pressed with application for the Qr Masters Dept. Major Carrington
telegraphed to him as I had & through them, that there were but 200 bags
of Qr Masters corn there in Richmond. Still as heavy shipments were
enroute, he yielded a train to Major Lowe. Yet as a general thing,
Quarter Masters think they best discharge their duty by first subserving
their own Department |
| I take the first train, which
is tomorrow morning for Columbia. |
| Very Respectfully |
| W H Smith |
| Major & CS |
|