Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 7.djvu/543

62 which if protected from the enemy will, under the smiles of Providence, furnish an amount of provisions that will relieve the western army from all fear of want."

Says The Mississippi, a newspaper published at Jackson, in March, 1863, in an editorial: "The subsistence, the clothing and the camp equipage for a tremendous army have been exclusively drawn from the State of Mississippi, and this too, when several of her most populous and productive counties have been under the control of the enemy. Mississippi manufacturers have made nearly all the material used for the army in the whole department. The Jackson manufactory makes 5,000 garments weekly. The material is cut out in the city by experienced and industrious tailors, and distributed over the country in Hinds and adjoining counties to be made up. Soldiers' wives and destitute families are always supplied with work first, thus enabling them to support themselves while lending a helping hand to the cause. Similar factories at Bankston, Choctaw county, Columbus, Enterprise, Natchez and Woodville make up 500 per week, the sewing of which is distributed in the same way. The hat factories at Jackson and Columbus make 200 hats per day. We also have a manufactory at Jackson which turns out 50 blankets per day. The Pemberton works at Enterprise, and Dixie works at Canton, make not less than 60 wagons and ambulances per week. Arrangements are now being made to start an extensive government shoe-shop, with a capacity of turning out 6,000 pairs of shoes per month. The most extensive tannery in the Confederacy is situated at Magnolia, and supplies 600 hides daily. Tents manufactured from Mississippi cloth are the best in the Confederacy, and enough of them are made at Jackson and Columbus to supply the army."

The legislature of Mississippi had already recognized the devotion and loyalty of the women of the State to the cause in the following resolution, adopted January