| Richmond, Va. |
| December 15, 1864 |
| |
| General R. E. Lee |
| Petersburg, Va. |
| |
| To meet your immediate necessity, the
Secretary of the Navy has sent to the War Department from navy
stores at Charlotte
1,500 barrels of salt pork and beef {about 10
carloads, if a barrel weighed 100 pounds}. The Secretary of
War has ordered meat to be brought up from Wilmington. There has been criminal neglect in permitting blockade-runners at
the
port
of
Wilmington
to come in with little or no freight, leaving army supplies at West India
ports waiting for shipment. |
| Jefferson Davis |
|