Commissary Department, at Richmond, in the counties lying between the Rappahannock and Pamunkey, to the Central Railroad at Hanover Court-House. I think this a more convenient point than any on the Fredericksburg Railroad, and one from which transportation to Richmond can be more readily obtained.

I would suggest that the Quartermaster-General, in Richmond, collect all the wagons that can be spared from the posts at Gordonsville, Charlottesville, Staunton, Lynchburg, Richmond,&c., which may probably amount to 50, and apply them to the transportation of the wheat in Greene, Madison, and Culpeper Counties,&c., to the railroad, for conveyance to Richmond. Our necessities make it imperative that every exertion be made to supply the army with bread. As the Commissary Department purposes to issue sugar to the army in lieu of part of its meat ration, it has occurred to me that if its supply will warrant it, that by offering to exchange sugar for salt meat in the counties where grain is being collected, many persons might be tempted to part with bacon now retained for their own use. A few thousand pounds even, collected in this way, would be of assistance to the army.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE,

General.

QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, C. S. A., Richmond, January 19, 1863.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to state, in regard to the memorandum received from you this morning, that a portion of the men in General D. H. Hill's I have ordered 1,200 pairs of shoes and 400 or 500 pairs of blankets to be forwarded at once, for their supply. I have also called upon the chief quartermaster of the Army of Northern Virginia to ascertain and report to what cause the destitution of these men is to be attributed, as measures have been taken to supply all requisitions made for the whole of that army, with shoes and blankets, to the full extent of the supplies of the latter article.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. C. MYERS,

Quartermaster-General.

HEADQUARTERS HAYS' BRIGADE, January 19, 1863.

Hon. JOHN PERKINS, Jr., Richmond:

DEAR SIR: The interest I know you fell, as a Representative from Louisiana, in everything appertaining to the welfare and comfort of the troops from that State, furnishes me with the inducement to trouble you with a communication, unpleasant, from its disclosure of painful facts, and distressing in the enormity of the suffering suggested. I refer to the condition of this brigade with respect to its want of shoes and clothing.

Among 1,500 men reported for duty, there are 400 totally without covering of any kind for their feet. These men, of course, can render