Breadstuffs are more abundant; but here again we are met by serious difficulties in the way of transportation. This supply comes mainly from Southwestern Georgia, together with forage for the horses. The ralroads are deficient in cars and engines, and to add to our troubles we are informed that many of these are employed in the transportation of Government cotton to Wilmington. For further information on this point I beg leave to refer you to Major Peters' report on this subject, a copy of which was forwarded to Colonel McMicken, chief quartermaster, Army of Tennessee. To supply the army and the posts and hospitals belonging thereto, I need ten car-loads of meal per day. At present I can command, from all sources, an average of five. The stock of flour is nearly exhausted. There is still a limited supply of wheat in the country, but it can be had only by impressment. I believe I have now given you a succinct, general view of the position of the department. In a personal interview I could give a more thorough and detailed statement. If you think it for the good of the service, I should be pleased to report to you and receive such suggestions as you long and valuable experience may dictate.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. F. CUMMINGS,

Major and Commissary of Subsistence.

[32.]

RICHMOND, VA., January 2, 1864.

General J. E. JOHNSTON,

Dalton, Ga.:

Your dispatch of the 1st instant received.* Have not sufficient knowledge of subject here to form opinion. Send information and what you advise.+

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

[32.]

[JANUARY 2, 1864.]

COMMANDING GENERAL, THE CORPS, DIVISION, BRIGADE, AND REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE:

GENERAL: Moved by the exigency in which our country is now placed, we take the liberty of laying before you, unofficially, our views on the present state of affairs. The subject is so grave, and our views so new, we feel it a duty both to you and the cuse that before going further we should submit them for your judgment and receive your suggestions in regard to them. We therefore respectfully ask you to give us an expression of your views in the premises. We have now been fighting for nearly three years, have spilled much of our best blood, and lost, consumed, or thrown to the flames an amount of property equal in value to the specie currency of the world. Through some lack in our system the fruits of our struggles and sacrifices have invariably slipped away from us and left us nothing but long lists of dead and mangled. Instead of standing defiantly on the borders of our territory or harassing those of the enemy, we are hemmed in to-day into less then two-thirds of it, and still the enemy menacingly confronts us at every point with superior forces. Our soldiers can see no end to this state of affairs except to our own exhaustion; hence, instead of rising to the occasion, they are sinking into a fatal apathy, growing weary of

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*See VOL. XXXII, Part II, p. 506.

+For reply, see ibid, p. 517.

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