--The Disappearance
of Delusions.--The Supply of Powder.--Saltpeter.--Sulphur.--
Artificial Niter-Beds.--Services of General G. W. Rains.--
Destruction at Harper's Ferry of Machinery.--The Master
Armorer.--Machinery secured.--Want of Skillful Employees.--
Difficulties encountered by Every Department of the Executive
Branch of the Government.
On the third day after my inauguration at Montgomery, an officer of
extensive information and high capacity was sent to the North, to make
purchases of arms, ammunition, and machinery; and soon afterward another
officer was sent to Europe, to buy in the market as far as possible,
and, furthermore, to make contracts for arms and munitions to be
manufactured. Captain (afterward Admiral) Semmes, the officer who was
sent to the North, would have been quite successful but for the
intervention of the civil authorities, preventing the delivery of the
various articles contracted for. The officer who was sent to Europe,
Major Huse, found few serviceable arms upon the market; he, however,
succeeded in making contracts for the manufacture of large quantities,
being in advance of the agents sent from the Northern Government for the
same purpose. For further and more detailed information, reference is
made to the monograph of the Chief of Ordnance.
My letter of instructions to Captain Semmes was as follows:
"Montgomery, Alabama, _February 21, 1861_.
Pages:
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493