| Quartermaster General's Department |
| Sep. 20th 1864 |
| |
| To the President |
| |
| Sir, |
| I have the honor to return herewith a
communication called "Logistics" referred to me for remarks. |
| The work proposed in this communication is
simply impossible of performance, & the writer exhibits an entire
misapprehension as to what the rolling stock of a R. Road can with
safety be made to do. It is proposed to run cars from Columbus Geo. to
Charlotte, N. C. a distance of 500 miles, without breaking bulk. This
might be done for one or two trips, but the cars would wear out more
rapidly that they could be replaced, & no R. Road officer of
experience would undertake to perform such unheard of work. The
communication is based upon the idea that there are plenty of cars
& engines in the Confederacy to accomplish this transportation.
Permit me to show what it would require. A car carries, say 300 bus.
corn, the actual quantity rarely exceeds 250, 100 cars are then
necessary to start it from Columbus, it will take eight days running
100 miles per day to reach Richmond, hence 800 cars are necessary to start
the stream of 30,000 bu. of corn & as the return trip will consume
the same time, no less than 16000 cars will be required to keep a
continuous stream; & they must run 100 miles every day, as any
stoppage for repairs or any detention by accident will mar the
calculations. Average the freight engines in the country at 14 cars
each & 114 engines are required to move the 1600 cars. But an
Engine must be cleaned & repaired every third day, therefore one
third more power or 152 engines are needed. This calculation is based
upon the presumption that the stock would always be in good order
& that no accident would ever occur: but it would be a small
estimate to say that one fourth of this machinery would be out of
running order, so that to do the work successfully would require 2000
cars more! Is it necessary to add argument to these figures? |
| Reference is made to the stock of the
Memphis & Charleston Nashville & Chattanooga & E. Tenn.
& Geo. R. Road. Every car & engine owned by these
companies, has been in Government employ, for more than 12 months. If
nothing but corn had to be transported, no difficulty would be met in
supplying our wants & accumulating a surplus, but even then we
would not expect 30000 bush a day. The cotton required by Govt. in
Wilmington is a heavy strain; the movement of troops & provisions
a greater drag than is supposed; while the movement of artillery &
ordnance stores, & the demand of the Navy & Subsistence Dept.
go to make up a pressure upon transportation, that cannot be
appreciated by those who are not in daily contact with the
perplexities caused by facilities unequal to the demand. |
| Improvements can doubtless be made in the
future as they have been in the past; & it is believed that every
effort is now being made to accomplish that object. But I fear that
little aid can be expected from the suggestions of a writer whose
views are derived from the figures presented in the paper referred. |
| A. R. Lawton, Q. M. G. |
|