767 Series I Volume XXIII-II Serial 35 - Tullahoma Campaign Part II
Page 767 | Chapter XXXV. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.- CONFEDERATE. |
100,000 pairs shoes. We can supply 175,000 pairs cotton drawers and 175,000 cotton shirts.
I am limited to a small district for getting leather, and so in most of goods, but think the Quartermaster-General may rely pretty much upon the above figures.
All of which is most respectfully submitted.
V. K. STEVENSON,
Major and Quartermaster.
EXHIBIT F.
QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT,
Atlanta, Ga., April 9, 1863.
Colonel WM. PRESTON JOHNSTON,
Aide to the President, Richmond, Va.:
COLONEL: As suggested by you on your tour of inspection through this depot a few days since, I beg to inclose herein a statement showing the quantities and kinds of clothing made at this depot during the last two quarters, with the average cost of each garment. No part of this clothing is made under contract; the material is purchased by myself and agents; the woolen goods is nearly all made from wool furnished to the factories by myself. The material is issued to the tailors and cut into the required garments, under the immediate supervision of the superintendent, after which the cut garments pass into the hands of the trimmers, who supply the necessary trimmings and pass them to the inspectors by whom they are issued to the seamstresses, and charged up against them by a clerk whose special duty it is to keep the accounts against the female operatives employed in sewing. The number of ladies engaged in sewing for this depot is usually about three thousand, composed mostly of women whose male supporters are absent with the army.
To accomplish all this work only twenty-seven men are employed, of whom are one superintend, two clerks, two inspectors, two trimmers, and twenty tailors. I feel satisfied that more work cannot be done for the number of men engaged, and I am always ready for a comparison of the quality of clothing produced in this depot with that at any other, and I think no depot in the Confederate States can produce clothing cheaper.
It is proper to remark that the number of garments made at this depot could be increased at least 33 per cent. if I could command a greater supply of woolen goods or the wool from which to make it. If I could be authorized to employ agents of my own selection to visit. Texas this spring and summer, for the purpose of purchasing and bringing out wool, I would pledge myself to increase the quantity of clothing from this depot as above stated.
The manufacture of shoes for the army I consider as the most important in connection with the clothing department. The shoe factory in my charge here has only been in operation about thirty days, but I am satisfied it will soon realize my expectations. I have now on hand leather sufficient to make about 400,000 pairs shoes, all which was purchased by my agents in Middle Tennessee, and was all paid for at reasonable prices. Not a pound was impressed, the people selling it freely at a price not exceeding one-half the market price in this section.
The great difficulty in the manufacture of shoes in the South here-
Page 767 | Chapter XXXV. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.- CONFEDERATE. |