| Confederate States of America, War Department |
| Richmond, Va., February 18, 1865 |
| |
| The President of the Confederate States |
| |
| Sir, |
| I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of the following resolution of the Senate adopted on the
24th ultimo: |
| Resolved,
That the President of the
Confederate States of America be respectfully requested to furnish
the Senate |
|
First. With information
as to the number of white men between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five, and of the number of negroes who, in addition to their
own officers, may be required for the necessary employments and the
proper discharge of the functions of the Department of Medicine, of
the Commissary-General, of the Quartermaster-General of the
Engineers, of the Ordnance, and of the Niter and Mining Bureau.
Second. A like estimate
as to the Post-Office and Navy Departments.
Third. A like estimate
in regard to the railroad transportation of the country, including
not only the working, but the equipment, repairs, and construction,
in his consideration, of the number required for such
transportation.
Fourth. To specify the
railroads, if there be any such, whose repairs and construction, in
his opinion, will be necessary for military purposes and ought to be
effected in whole or in part by appropriations from the Confederate
Treasury. |
| In response to the foregoing resolution
I submit the inclosed communications from the respective bureaus of
this Department to whose operations the inquiries relate. |
| ***** |
| In response to the third clause of the
resolution the Quartermaster-General finds himself unable, for the
reasons assigned by him, and by Lieutenant-Colonel Sims, in charge
of railroad transportation, to state the number of men required.
These numbers vary so greatly with the varying conditions of the
country, the positions of the armies, and the consequent changing
demands upon different railroads, that even an approximation in
numbers is difficult. |
| In response to the fourth clause, the
Chief of Engineers and the Quartermaster-General concur in
indicating the following as the most important railroads, the
repairs or construction of which are necessary for military
purposes, viz: |
| First, the connection of Columbia, S.C., with
Augusta, Ga.; second, the connection of Albany, Ga., with
Thomasville, Ga.; third, the connection of Union Springs, Ala., with
Montgomery, Ala.; fourth, the connection of Montgomery, Ala., with
Selma, Ala.; to which the Chief of Engineers adds: Fifth, the
completion of the railroad bridge over the Tombigbee River at
Demopolis, Ala. |
| I concur in the recommendation of the
Chief of Engineers, that instead of making separate appropriations
for the construction of particular works, and for repairs, that a
general appropriation be made for construction and repairs of
railroads necessary for military purposes, to be applied to such
works as the future exigencies of the war shall indicate to be most
essential. |
| Respectfully, your obedient servant, |
| John C. Breckinridge |
| Secretary of War |
|