| Quarter Master General's Department |
| Richmond, June 8th 1864 |
| |
| Hon. W. A. Gasham |
| C. S. Senate |
| |
| Sir, |
| The memorial of the Justices
of Robeson Co. N. C. asking the privilege of purchasing 5000 bush. of
Govt. corn on the line of the W. & M. R. R. {Wilmington
& Manchester RR} & submitted by you to the Sect. of
War, has been by him, referred to me for reply. It would afford me the
most sincere pleasure to relieve this suffering, which daily &
urgent applications show me to be real & wide spread, could it be
done without hazarding the supplies necessary to the support of our
armies in the field. But my utmost efforts with the R. Roads, even
after stopping all private travel, have failed to accumulate any
surplus; & while this is the case, & armies so large rely for
their food upon corn brought from Georgia, I cannot feel at liberty to
divest from those armies any portion of the supplies that we have
collected upon the Railways. |
| A. R. Lawton, Q. M. G. |
|