Dalton, January 25, 1864
| |
| His Excellency Joseph E. Brown |
| |
| Dear Sir, |
| I have the pleasure to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 16th instant, and to offer you my
thanks for it. |
| It gives me great satisfaction to be
able to tell you that the daily receipts of provision and forage
from Atlanta {via the Western & Atlantic
RR} are now fully equal to the consumption, and that if the
working of the road continues to be as effective as it is now we may
hope for a gradual accumulation, such as is necessary to prepare us
for accidents or movements of the enemy. |
|
I have had no intelligence from the officer sent into Mississippi,
although he was dispatched immediately after your first letter
reached me; nor have I heard from Lieutenant-General Polk, whom I
addressed at the same time, in relation to the rolling-stock of this
road taken to Corinth.
|
| I have learned that five trains
belonging to the Nashville & Chattanooga {RR}
and Knoxville and Dalton {East
Tennessee & Georgia RR} roads are now east of the
Savannah River and employed by the Confederate Government, and have
requested the Quartermaster-General to have them returned without
delay. Should this be done the transportation of all that we need
will be easy. If I had the control of the officers employed in
procuring supplies for the army, stock-cars should not be used; the
beeves should be driven. I have partially succeeded in relieving the
road of their transportation by having them butchered at Atlanta.
This enables us to transport in two cars an amount of beef that
before required five. |
| Thanking Your Excellency most cordially for the
promptness with which you have acted upon my suggestions, and the
interest you manifest in whatever concerns this army, I am, with
high consideration, your obedient servant, |
| J. E. Johnston |
|