Colonel Gorgas to Major Walker. ORDNANCE BUREAU, Richmond, May 8, 1863. MAJOR: It may be necessary to make timely provision for boilers for the Cornubia, which are said to be wearing out. Turn your attention to this point, and, if necessary, order boilers from Liverpool for her in advance-if repairs can then be effected in Bermuda. Other parts of machinery likely to be needed might also be purchased in anticipation of damages to vessels. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Indorsement.] J. GORGAS. It may be necessary to send the Cornubia back to England for boilers. It would be advisable to order new boilers for her, and in my next I will be able to inform you whether they can be put in here. Another steamer is needed to ply between England and Bermuda. N. S. WALKER Major Walker to Major Huse. [Extract. I ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, May 16, 1863. MAJOR: In several of my recent letters I have called your attention to the importance of keeping us supplied with good steam coal. Every steamer takes from 160 to 180 tons. I have now about 600 tons left. For the last which I purchased I was obliged to pay 45 shillings, and was glad to get it at that price. It would be cheapest to charter a vessel for a round sum to bring out the coal and return with a cargo cotton. of As Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co. are the consignees of all the cotton which goes from this port, I presume that they will be happy to facilitate you in the matter. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, SIR: You will proceed with as little delay as possible to St. George's, Bermuda, for the purpose of taking charge of the ordnance stores at that point, "in transitu" for the Confederate States. You will show these instructions to Major N. S. Walker, agent for the war department at St. George's, and receive from him the stores now on hand there. You will proceed at once to take an inventory of all property of the Confederate States, whether belonging to this bureau or to other departments, and will report to the chief of each bureau the stores on hand there belonging to his department. You will, as far as possible, keep the stores of each bureau in separate depots, and will assign, if necessary, a competent clerk to the charge of each until you shall be relieved by some officer or agent of each bureau. Your first care will be to secure the necessary warehouses, where the public stores may be securely kept. These will be leased for you by Major Walker, on your application. You will engage the necessary assistants, and arrange the stores in such a way as to enable you to ship any articles called for without delay. Safe depots must be obtained or built for powder and saltpeter. Every attention must be paid to the preservation of ordnance stores, to which you will give your personal supervision. Requisitions will be addressed to you by various officers, and you will fill them whenever approved at this office. When articles asked for for this bureau are not on hand, you will at once order them from Major Caleb Huse, at London, through Major Walker, or from any agent at Liverpool whom he may designate. Disbursements for clerk-hire and other expenses incident to the depot will be made by Major Walker, on accounts certified to by you. Very respectfully, Major SMITH STANSBURY, P. A., C. S. Artillery, Present. Approved: JAMES A. SEDDON, J. GORGAS. Secretary of War. Major Walker to Major Huse. ST. GEORGE'S, May 23, 1863. MAJOR: I inclose several letters, which I must beg of you the favor to have forwarded to their proper destination. The one addressed to T. K. Gilliat & Co. is sent to me by Mr. Lawley, correspondent of the London Times. They make a postmaster of me, and I must take the liberty of doing the same with you. Yours, very truly, Major Walker to Major Huse. N. S. WALKER. ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, May 23, 1863. MAJOR: I beg again to call your attention most earnestly to the importance of keeping me supplied with good steam coals. I hope that some are already on the way. My stock is almost exhausted. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, N. S. WALKER. Colonel Gorgas to Major Walker. [Extract.] ORDNANCE BUREAU, Richmond, June 1, 1863. MAJOR: It is a very great disadvantage that the department cannot be informed as to the amount of principal articles on hand at Bermuda, especially lead and saltpeter. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. GORGAS, Colonel. P. S.-Paper for making cartridges is to be sent over by first boat. If there is none on hand, send immediately to Major Huse to buy a large quantity. J. G. Colonel Gorgas to Major Walker. ORDNANCE BUREAU, Richmond, June 3, 1863. i MAJOR: Please to send in some Colt's pistol-caps as soon as possible; also, by next steamer, twenty barrels of alcohol, which is urgently needed. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Major N. S. WALKER, Government Depositary, St. George's, Bermuda. J. GORGAS. P. S.-Don't omit to send twenty tons of lead by each steamer, if possible. Colonel Gorgas to Major Huse. [Extract.] J. G. WAR DEPARTMENT, ORDNANCE BUREAU, Richmond, June, 1863. MAJOR: Your letter of May 16 was duly received, and I proceed to notice the matters contained in it in the order in which they occur. The purchases as per your list are very opportune, and will be of great value. I trust no delay has arisen in forwarding them to Bermuda. Your instructions will have impressed you with the necessity of adding large quantities of saltpeter to your list as soon as practicable. Though not immediately needed, every effort must be made to accumulate a stock in this country. A shipment, one hundred and fifty to two hundred tons per month, would not be too much. Major CALEB HUSE, 71 Jermyn Street, London, England. J. GORGAS. Mr. St. John to Colonel Gorgas. CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT, NITER AND MINING BUREAU, Richmond, June 12, 1863. COLONEL: I respectfully request that the agents of the ordnance department, at Nassau and Bermuda, be directed to ship, per month, forty tons of lead and sixty tons of saltpeter as a minimum, and as much more as can be reasonably forwarded, in view of other urgent government wants. I also request that reserves, amounting to at least one thousand tons of lead and eight hundred tons of saltpeter, may be rapidly accumulated at both points, and, at the discretion of the agents in charge, that shipments of these reserves be frequently made by private vessels. To avoid multiplying agents, I further request that these supplies be specially charged upon such officers as you may designate, and that they be instructed to report to this bureau, through the chief of ordnance, the shipments and reserves of each month. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, COLONEL J. GORGAS, Chief of Ordnance. [Indorsement.] J. M. ST. JOHN, Respectfully referred to Major S., Stansbury, commanding depot at Bermuda, who will make it his earliest duty to ascertain and report to the niter and mining bureau, through this office, the amount of saltpeter and lead on hand at Bermuda. He will take immediate steps to get these supplies, and accumulate the reserves asked for. He will draw from Nassau all such supplies as he can obtain there, and ship them over in the government steamers, at the rates indicated as a minimum, and as much beyond as the exigencies of the service will admit. It is of the highest importance that we should be placed beyond the contingency in our supplies of saltpeter and lead. JULY 13, 1863. The within, with indorsements, is a true copy. J. GORGAS, Colonel. SMITH STANSBURY, Major. Major Walker to Major Huse. [Extract.] ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, June 30, 1863. DEAR MAJOR: I will write to you at length by next Halifax mail. A pressure of business prevents me from doing so now. Major Pearson will inform you of the "status in quo" at this place. Send us coal, coal, coal! Each steamer takes one hundred and eighty tons-so that six hundred tons will be quickly consumed. Pardon this hurried scrawl. Yours, very truly, N. S. WALKER. Major Walker to Major Huse. [Extract.] ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, July 9, 1863. MAJOR: Coal, coal, coal! Send me two thousand tons-six cargoes instead of two. The Lee, I fear, will be laid up for want of it. You may calculate that each steamer will take one hundred and eighty tons. Excuse this hurried and informal communication. MAJOR: I am now out of coal. I cannot be blamed for it, as I can refer you to my letters of three months ago urging shipments. Seeing the necessities of the service on my arrival on the island, I purchased every ton which could be had; and although the last mail brought me your letter advising shipment, I was under the necessity of sending the H. Pinckney to Halifax to save a steamer the loss of a I am yours, very truly, moon. N. S. WALKER. Major Stansbury to Major Huse. ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, MAJOR: The Confederate steamers Florida and the R. E. Lee (Giraffe) have been detained here several days for want of coal, and for which we have been compelled to send to Halifax. Our steamers which run the blockade at Wilmington require the coincidence of a high tide to cross the bar and of a dark night to evade the blockaders. The detention of a single day in their regular trips often involves the further detention of ten or twelve days, or greatly increased risk of capture. I earnestly recommend that seven hundred tons of Cardiff coals be dispatched here per month, to meet the prospective wants of our vessels, and that a reserve of two thousand tons be accumulated as soon as possible, to meet contingencies. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, SMITH STANSBURY, Major. |