Major Stansbury to Major Huse. ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, August 11, 1863. MAJOR Referring to my letter of 14th ultimo, requesting the pur chase of four or five millions of percussion-caps immediately, I beg to request the purchase, in addition, of five millions. The demand is great, and the supply here exhausted. We need, immediately, carbines, (for cavalry,) revolvers, (for cavalry,) equipments, (for cavalry,) saddles, &c. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, QUEEN'S HOTEL, Leeds, August 17, 1863. MAJOR: My instructions require me to arrange for the supply of cer-. tain building materials required for the erection of the armory buildings at Macon, which are to be completed this fall, but which cannot be without these materials being available in season to be applied to their purposes. Not being able to see you in London last week to confer with you on this and other subjects, I beg to append below a statement of the funds required for this purpose, viz: For the purchase of window-glass.. For the purchase of lead pipe. Total... £600 0 0 1,250 0 0 800 0 0 150 0 0 2,800 0 0 You will much oblige me by informing me, by return mail, whether you can furnish funds with which to purchase these materials. With reference to the probable amount of funds that would be required for the payment for the additional machinery I would propose to order for laboratory purposes and the manufacture of gun-carriages, &c., I have obtained estimates from the manufacturers, and they are as below, viz: For gun-carriage machinery.. Total £6, 779 0 0 10, 065 0 0 16, 834 0 0 Terms of payment required: one-third when contracts are signed, the balance in full as the machinery is delivered, (on each delivery.) The terms are same as stipulated for the armory machinery now in hand. I shall be glad to know whether or not the funds can be provided for this machinery, or any portion of it. It would be very desirable, indeed, to secure it to the government establishments, and I have selected only such as would be most useful and essential. Your views on this subject will also much oblige me. Please send me check for my pay and allowances for July, and mileage, as per my memorandum inclosed to you on the 5th instant. I have the honor to be, major, respectfully, your obedient servant, Major Stansbury to Major Huse. [Extract.] ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, August 18, 1863. MAJOR: I inclose copy of a letter from Colonel Gorgas. Since the fall of Vicksburgh, the Trans-Mississippi department will have to be supplied by direct shipments to Texas, and, I presume, out of stores drawn from this point and Warsaw. As soon as I can make out a correct inventory of the stores here, I will forward a copy for your guidance. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, SMITH STANSBURY, Major. Major Stansbury to Major Huse. ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, August 20, 1863. MAJOR: The steamer R. E. Lee will leave this port in a few days for Wilmington, and her cargo will nearly exhaust our stores. We shall therefore require to be replenished with everything necessary for the support of a large army, and not readily obtained in the confederate States. Having carefully examined the invoice of the Coral Isle, the only vessel known to be on her way here, the following supplies are most urgently needed: Infantry arms, the best to be procured-Enfield rifles preferred; cavalry arms, say carbines, the best; revolvers, large size; a full supply of ammunition for the above; lead, saltpeter, percussioncaps, (a large amount already ordered,) cavalry carbines, Enfield bullets, thread and twine, alcohol, sheet-copper, copper wire, steel wire, cavalry and artillery hardware generally, lanyard cord, Scotch pig-iron, leather for saddles and artillery harness. Be kind enough to compare my memoranda with your instructions from Colonel Gorgas, and of your own purchases and shipments, with which we are not acquainted. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, SMITH STANSBURY, Major. Major Bayne to Major Huse. ORDNANCE OFFICE, Richmond, August 22, 1863. MAJOR: I avail of this opportunity to urge you to speed to the islands as rapidly as possible all the stores on hand and ordered for the gov ernment, especially lead, saltpeter, and percussion-caps, which still constitute our chief need. The Gibraltar arrived at Wilmington, North Carolina, in the begin ning of the present week. The Blakeley guns will be placed where they are most wanted, with as little delay as possible. The siege of Charleston progresses vigorously. This is by far the most formidable attack yet made, and probably no such weight of metal has ever before been rained upon a besieged city. By order of Colonel Gorgas, chief of ordnance. THOS. L. BAYNE, Major on duty in Bureau. General Moore to Major Huse. SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE, SIR: You are hereby authorized to place to the credit of the ordnance department 6d. per pound on all the cotton belonging to the medical department received by you, which is transported by the steamers belonging to the ordnance department to Berinuda or Nassau, from confederate ports. This amount is in payment of freight on said cotton to the above ports. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. V. MOORE, Surgeon General Confederate States Army. Colonel Gorgas to Major Huse. ORDNANCE OFFICE, Richmond, August 25, 1863. MAJOR: It appears from your letter of 8th ultimo that the debt to S. Isaacs, Campbell & Co. has been settled. You can have no further use then for the $2,000,000 worth of bonds sent out to you by Major Walker, and as they can be used here, I must beg of you to return them to me by special messenger at as early a day as practicable. Your obedient servant, Major CALEB HUSE, 71 Jermyn Street, London. J. GORGAS. * See Vol. VI, page 203. 1 Colonel Gorgas to Major Huse. ORDNANCE OFFICE, Richmond, August 25, 1863. MAJOR: On the 29th November, 1862, you wrote as follows: "Fearing that there might be no steamers available at Bermuda for shipping supplies to the Confederate States, and hoping to avoid wasting money in landing and storing the cargo of the Harriet Pinckney, and fearing moreover that there might be no provision on the island for storing the ammunition that constitutes a portion of her cargo, I thought it prudent to purchase the ship, which I accordingly did for the sum of £18,500.” I remained under the impression that the H. Pinckney belonged to the department until a day or two ago, when Captain Stiles's letter of 8th instant from Bermuda informed me that "the vessel was [is] fully under the control of S. Isaacs, Campbell & Co., they being registered owners, and that they had given Captain St. John [her commander] orders under no circumstances to run her into a confederate port." Orders, which were afterward countermanded, had been given by me to Captain Stiles to bring in the H. Pinckney with all dispatch, and this letter of his came in reply to my orders. I desire, then, to know whether or not the vessel belongs to our department. If she does, I of course wish that she should be under the exclusive control of myself or of my agents. There is an obvious advantage in having her registered as British property and sailed under the British flag, and I can but be indebted to Messrs. S. Isaacs, Campbell & Co. for the use of their name. An evident misunderstanding exists here, and I would beg of you to clear it away as speedily as possible. Your obedient servant, Major CALEB HUSE, 71 Jermyn Street, London. J. GORGAS. Major Walker to Major Huse. [Extract.] ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, MAJOR: Your favors of the 24th July and August 7 and 8 came duly to hand: You need have no apprehension with regard to the suspension by the authorities of the intercourse between this port and the coast. The public character of the ships will not at all interfere in the prosecution of the business. Our flag has been honored at this place by a salute, and there are privileges extended to it here which are not accorded to the British flag. Do not allow my importunate demands for coal to be satisfied with two cargoes. Three or four cargoes should be shipped every month. It is useless to fill the wharves here with goods, unless the means are sup plied of transferring them to the coast. Keep us, then, supplied with a large amount of coal. Yours, very truly, 5 A C-VII N. S. WALKER. Fraser, Trenholm & Co. to Major Huse. LIVERPOOL, September 2, 1863. DEAR SIR: Your favors of 28th August from Folkstone, and 31st, from Paris, reached us together yesterday evening, and their contents. are noted. We have endeavored to make our accounts as full as we can, but on any point on which you are in doubt we shall be glad to give detailed explanation. As regards coal, Mr. Walker has requested us to send him at least eight hundred tons per month, and a sufficient additional supply to accumulate a stock there of two or three thousand tons. The cost of these shipments, we presume, is to be charged to his account, and consequently deducted from the proceeds of the cottons forwarded by him. He has also directed us to send him, by each monthly steamer, £2,000 in coin, to be similarly charged. We mention this in order that you may estimate more accurately the probable available balances arising from his cotton shipments. We are, dear sir, yours, respectfully, FRASER, TRENHOLM & CO. Per J. R. ARMSTRONG. C. HUSE, Esq., 25 Grand Rue Auteuil, Paris. Major Stansbury to Major Huse. ST. GEORGE'S, BERMUDA, September 5, 1863. MAJOR: Please forward as rapidly as possible arms, (only one hun dred and fifty cases on hand;) ammunition, (none on hand;) lead, (only one hundred and fifty tons on hand;) saltpeter, (none on hand;) percussion caps, (none on hand ;) cavalry arms and equipments, say carbines, revolvers, cavalry sabers, &c., (none on hand.) Of cannon powder, we have on hand about one thousand barrels; but I have orders from Colonel Gorgas to ship cannon powder as fast as possible. The departure of two or three steamers to Wilmington with powder as part of their cargoes will clear us out. A supply should be forwarded at once. I think a considerable portion of it should be "mammoth powder” for heavy guns. The powder for field guns might be marked F; that for heavy guns Very respectfully, your obedient servant, SMITH STANSBURY, Major. Colonel Gorgas to Major Huse. ORDNANCE OFFICE, "Richmond, September 7, 1863. MAJOR: Purchase and ship by first opportunity to Burmuda five thousand pounds of fish or white bonnet glue for making fuse-cases. |