Very Important Civil War Confederate Horse Procurement Letter
(On Printed Stationary) Office Inspector General Field Transportation
Richmond, Feby. 14 1865
Genl, Lawton
GrM Genl. Sir
In obedience to your verbal instructions I have the honor to report as follows, Required to be furnished by me immediately to the army in front of Richmond and Petersburg for active operations 2482 horses, 1376 mules for Genl. Early in the Valley, 238 horses, 339 mules. For Genl. Echols SW Va 250 horses 250 mules. For troops in NC 300 horses 250 mules = Total 3270 horses 2409 mules. If I am furnished with $100,000 in Gold to pay for horses contracted outside our lines and ($3,000000) three million Dollars in Treasury notes to pay for animals to be obtained in Virginia and NC. I feel confident that 2500 animals of the number named above can be gotten by impressment and by purchase, provided I am permitted to pay further at local appraisements. (700) seven hundred (soldiers?) additional will be returned to service fro our infirmaries by the 1st of April. For the balance my only hope is, to either take from the plow, or through our efforts in the Trans-Mis. The condition of our military affairs is sober and Georgia has added new embarassments to my Dept. 2650 animals are called for immediately. I have but faint hope in being able to procure any thing approaching that number within those states, by either purchase or ordinary impressment to meet immediate demand. I ask for authority to impress temporarily animals needed in agriculture. And to do anything whatever in those states. I must be furnished immediately with ($3000000) three million of dollars in Treasury notes and be allowed to pay local appraisements. I deem it proper to add that the animals expected to be gotten with gold, are to come from enemy lines and cannot be had with our money.
I am Sir very Respectfully
YrObSer
A.H. Cole
Maj insp Genl
CSArmy
(on 1 panel of verso)
A.H. Cole
to
Genl. Lawton
Stating number of animals and means necessary to pay for them Requested for immediate use.
Feby, 16, 1865
Respectfully referred to Hon. Secy of War
____ are _____
A R Lawton
(on 2nd panel of verso)
War Dept
Feb 15, 1865
Respectfully Submitted to the President for his consideration in communication with recent considerations. This Dept. is suffering greatly for want of means and requisitions on the Treasury have not been met.
John C Breckinridge
Sec of War
Refd to the Secty of the Treasury for remarks
17 Feb 65
J.D.
(Remainder of verso)
Respectfully returned to His Excellency the president. The means at the Command of the Treasury were exhausted at the end of December. An inadequate supply for the use chiefly of the Commissary Dept, & further pay of the Army has since been obtained by the _____ specie for Treasury notes. Should the specie itself be employed in the purchase of supplies, the operation of the Treasury would be brought to an early close, as the amount of specie does not exceed $750,000. I have not ceased since the commencement of the Session to urge upon Congress the necessity of adopting prompt measures for the relief of the Treasury. One of the measures recommended is the duplication of the present taxes given to the States the right to assume the payment of the additional taxes. This may be easily and quickly done by borrowing the specie held by the bank and devoting it to the purpose of obtaining Treasury notes to the required amount. I have continued to press the importance of this measure and have today addressed a letter to Hon. R.M.T Hunter (President pro tem, CSA Senate) inviting his cooperation & assistance in procuring the requisite action in the _____ Legislature of Virginia, and suggesting that this patriotic body should both act itself and appeal to other States to follow their example. If it is the opinion of the President that the application of the Q M General for $100,000 in specie should be satisfied, not withstanding the general exigency I will at once comply. The $300,000 required in currency maybe shortly supplied in certificates of indebtedness made receivable of taxes. A bill has to today passed the House investing them with this privilege - $50,000 in sterling bills have already been furnished for the purchase of horses and mules.
G.A. Trenholm
Secy Treasury
Feby 20, 1865
Secy of War, the remarks of the Secty of Tresry seem to me conclusive
J.D.
4 March 65
An important historical series of documents pertaining to the great scarcity of horses in the confederacy and the difficulty in procuring them for the Confederate upcoming spring campaign...especially with the absence of funds. “The supply of draft and riding animals was a responsibility of the Quartermaster General’s Department in both armies. Horses and mules were the primary motive power for transport on the field and were used up on a grand scale. Between 1 September and 15 October 1862, the Army of the Potomac alone was issued over 10,000 horses. The leaner Confederate army as a whole consumed an average of 20,000 draft and artillery horses per year, only 5,000 of which were lost on active service, the remainder being lost through disease, starvation, abandonment or sale. Once deprived of the major breeding areas in Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas the Confederate army used up animals faster then they could be replaced by natural increase. Consequently, the Confederates were forced early on to exercise some central control over animal procurement and distribution. This function was performed by Major A.H. Cole, Inspector General of Field Transportation in the office of the Confederate Quartermaster General.”
Four pages, very legible, minor tape restoration at several folds, overall in vg cond.
Those who signed the above letter.
J.(efferson) F.(innis) D.(avis) (6-3-1808 - 12-6-89) A graduate of Jefferson College, United States Military Academy, Transylvania University and the Confederate States navel Academy.President of the Confederate States from February 22, 1862 to May 5, 1865.
Alexander Robert Lawton (11-4-1818 - 7-2-1896) favored Georgia's secession and became colonel of the 1st Georgia Volunteers. He commanded the Savannah troops that seized Fort Pulaski and was commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate Army on April 13, 1861. He participated in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, the Seven Days Battles and the Second Battle of Bull Run. He was wounded at Antietam. After his recuperation, in August 1863, Lawton became the Confederacy's second Quartermaster General. He was determined in his responsibilities but was unable to solve the problems of material shortages and poorly regulated railroads.
John C(abell) Breckenridge (1-15-21 - 5-17-75) A graduate of Centre College in 1839 and further legal studies at Transylvania university he began to practice law in 1845. He was elected vice-president of the United States at the age of 35 under Buchanan. When Kentucky declared for the Union in September of 1861, he accepted a commission as a Confederate brigadier and was promoted to Major General on April 14, 1862. In 1862 he commanded the Reserve Corps at Shiloh, defended Vicksburg the same year, was at Baton Rouge, Murfreesboro and part of Johnston's campaign to relieve Vicksburg and at Chickamauga. He won his most significant victory at the Battle of New Market. He rode with General Early in the raid on Washington. On February 4, 1865 Breckinridge was appointed by President Davis as Secretary of War.
G.(eorge) A.(lfred) Trenholm. (2-25-1807 - 12-6-1876). By 1860, as part of the firm of Fraser and Trenholm, brokers in cotton, Trenholm had become one of the wealthiest men in the south owning real estate worth $90,000 and personal property, including slaves valued at $35,000. He was invested in hotels, steamships, hotels, wharves, cotton and plantations plus being a director of the Bank of Charleston and of a South Carolina railroad. When the war broke out he moved his commercial headquarters from New York to the Bahamas and Bermuda. He also was the financier of a twelve-vessel flotilla for Charleston's defense. Sixty of his commercial ships carrying cotton, tobacco and turpentine to England,and bringing back coal,iron, salt, guns and ammunition continually ran the Union blockade. His company made $9,000,000 by blockade running. His company Fraser, Trenholm and Company became the Confederate government's overseas banker. On July 18, 1864 Trenholm was officially appointed as Secretary of the Treasury. However Trenholm could do little to stop the financial havoc as the rebel government grew insolvent and printing money caused inflation. He proposed a direct tax, reducing the circulation of paper currency, further public subscriptions for war bonds, and purchasing blockade runners (rather than continuing to rely on private shippers), but the Confederate Congress refused to pass those measures.
A. H. Cole. Major Inspector-General Freight Transportation, Confederate States of America. Major A.H. Cole was charged with the duty of providing horses and mules for artillery and transportation service for all the armies east of the Mississippi. By the time this letter was written A.H. Cole was having a very serious problem procuring horses for the Confederacy. A good 1st class horse was $60.00 and $40.00 for a second class horse. In Mississippi 600 lbs of cotton was needed to purchase a 1st class horse and in Mexico a horse could only be purchased with gold or sterling. When General Lee suggested that the government convert its cotton and tobacco into gold for this purpose, the secretary of the treasury insisted that the effort had been made to do so and promised that it would be continued. The government had now, however, been reduced to the slow process of barter and really unable to act promptly. The only evidence found that any of the gold was ever furnished is an order of Cole on March 7, turning over $2000 in coin to a bonded agent for the purchase of animals within the enemy's lines.
(Sources) Warner, Ezra J. GENERALS IN GRAY. LIVES OF THE CONFEDERATE COMMANDERS; AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW - Vol. 35 No. 4 (July 1930, pp 758-777; Wikipedia; SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY PAPERS- Richmond, VA. September, 1876; UNITED STATES ARMY LOGISTICS, 1775-1992 - AN ANTHOLOGY, Col.1)
