Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/224

194 March 3, 1862. To the Senate and House of Representatives.

I herewith transmit the report of the Department of Justice.

 To the Senate and House of Representatives. I herewith transmit the report of the Secretary of War, with accompanying documents, inviting attention to the facts therein presented, and commending the recommendation to your favorable consideration. [Received March 4, 1862.]

 March 4, 1862. To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In response to the resolution of the House of yesterday, calling on the President to communicate "what additional means in money, men, arms, and munitions of war are in his judgment necessary, or may be within the present year, for the public service, including operations on land and water," I have to reply that the military forces, whether land or naval, which will be required must depend upon the operations of the enemy and upon contingencies which cannot be foreseen. Taking our present condition as the basis of the calculation, it may be stated in general terms that our land forces should be increased by the addition of, say, 300,000 men in the field and those for whom call has already been made; that the Navy should be increased by a number of vessels suited to river and harbor defense, say, fifty iron-clad propellers, and a fleet of, say, ten of the most formidable war vessels to protect our commerce upon the high seas, with the requisite armaments and crews. For this additional force, land and naval, there would be required, say, 750,000 small arms of all kinds, and of siege, and field, and seacoast artillery, say, 5,000 guns; of powder, say, 5,000 tons in addition to that which can be made within the limits of the Confederacy. The manufacture of projectiles could, it is believed, be carried to the requisite extent in our own foundries, at a cost which must be measured by the number of guns actively employed. For further details I refer to the accompanying reports of the Secretaries of War and Navy. The 