to be there distributed to troops ordered there without arms, you say you had some new companies assembled and ready to receive arms for drill. "These arms were expected from the Confederate Government be previous engagement both from the President and Secretary of War." I am at a loss to know to what engagement you refer. As I had no knowledge of your camp of instruction, so I could not have contemplated sending arms to it. Troops were supposed to be imemdiately required in the army of General Holmes. the enemy threatened to advance up the Neuse, but could readily change his position and assail Wilmington or Weldon. Undisciplined troops were those who alone could be expected, and if there should be time to train them it could be done perhaps as well in the army as out of it. When, therefore, you reported the formation of your regiments, we naturally desired they should be sent at once to General Holmes at Goldsborough. Even now, when you inform me that it was a mere paper organization, I must still think, if the companies were in fact organized, that the condition of North Carolina at that time justified the wish to have them in the field before the regimental organization had been completed. The necessity for a larger number of troops than the number of public arms has led to the arming of troops with private or sporting weapons; from some of the State the supply has been liberal. I did not know before the receipt of your letter that your State had done so much for the Confederacy in the way of arms. Her claim to my gratitude was sufficient, however, independently of this, to have prevented me certainly from discriminating against her troops to favor those of other States. Mississippi went early into the market, purchased freely such weapons of war as were on the market, but she could not from "her own arms" have furnished her own regiments, and like most of the States has depended for a portion of her arms on the supplies found in the arsenals and armories of the old Government. I am sure you the Secretary of War and General Lee if you suppose either of them intended to slight North Carolina or to embarass you, and will refer your letter that you may be directly answered and informed as to the matters treated of in your letter.

Very respectfully, yours,

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

[9.]

SPECIAL ORDERS,
ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 81.
Richmond, April 9, 1862.

* * * * *

XIX. The Thirty-sixth Regiment Virginia Volunteers, under Colonel J. McCausland, will proceed at once to Lewisburg, Va., and report for duty to Brigadier General Henry Heth, commanding.

* * * * *

By command of the Secretary of War:

John WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

[12.]

HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION,
Louisa Court-House, Va., April 9, 1862.

Captain ESHLEMAN,

Commanding Washington Artillery:

CAPTAIN: The general commanding directs that you move on and reach this point if possible by to-night. You need not wait for the