Confederate States of America
| Quartermaster-General's Department |
| Richmond, January 26, 1863 |
| |
| Hon. James A. Seddon |
| Secretary of War |
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| Sir, |
| In connection with my communications of
December 9 and January 8, replies to which have not been received, I
deem it my duty to submit the following additional statements upon
the subject of the transfer of the control and supervision of
railroad transportation from the Quartermaster's Department to Col.
W. M. Wadley, assistant adjutant-general:
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| Nearly two months have elapsed since that
transfer was made, during which time both the country and the Army
have continued to look to this department to regulate the
transportation of military supplies by railroads, and to fill with
promptness not only the ordinary requisitions of the service, but to
meet also the extraordinary demands resulting from unexpected
emergencies. An instance of recent occurrence furnishes an example
in point. On the evening of the 23d instant I read letters from
General Lee to the President of the gravest importance. They
contained strong representations of the scarcity of provisions in
his command, and of great delay in the transportation of stores of
every description which were essential to the Army of Northern
Virginia, menaced, as it was, with the advance of the enemy.
Regarding the case as of urgent necessity, I devolved upon officers
of this department the duty of sending forward these supplies with
the utmost dispatch. The character of the service rendered will
appear from the report of Captain Carrington, herewith inclosed.
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| I respectfully submit that although the
responsibility, and to no small extent the duties, of regulating the
transportation by railroads are still devolved upon me, I am
entirely uninformed what measures have been adopted by Colonel
Wadley to secure the prompt transportation of army supplies.
Notwithstanding the inseparable connection of the department with
this subject, it is unadvised of the instructions given by him to
the railroad authorities, and of the conditions and terms of such
arrangements as he has made since he assumed the control of railroad
transportation. I have, however, deemed it my duty to adopt such
measures as were indispensably necessary to the public interests,
and have therefore immediately provided by my orders for a
continuance of transportation over the East Tennessee and Virginia
road, interrupted by the destruction of the Holston and Watauga
bridges. Thirty car-loads of much-needed supplies of subsistence
stores and cloth were reported to me as detained at Charlotte, N.
C., and I have also been advised of serious detention in the
transportation of guns, ordnance stores, ammunition, etc. I brought
these and other cases to the attention of Colonel Wadley, but I have
not been informed by him whether the delay has been remedied, and am
therefore unable to give satisfactory assurances on the subject when
applied to by the officers to whom the information is important.
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| I beg to repeat, therefore, my earnest
conviction that it is essential to the public service that the
control of this important branch of military transportation should
not be transferred from this department, and that at least the
officer to whom its supervision is intrusted should be required to
report with sufficient regularity to this office to enable me to
know the precise arrangements existing between the Government and
the railroads, and their capacity to meet all demands for
transportation of troops and military stores. Without such
information I cannot reasonably expect that the duties of my
department can be performed without constant difficulty and
perplexity.
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| I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant |
| A. C. Myers |
| Quartermaster-General |
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