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146 contains information I did not at first possess. Thus amended, I enclose it to you that it may appear of record, should you think it worthy of the honor, among the valuable Confederate papers which are published monthly in the Southern Historical Society Papers, so ably conducted by you. I remain, dear sir, yours very truly, 1em

On my return to Charleston in September, 1862, to assume command of the Department of South Carolina and Georgia, I found the defences of those two States in a bad and incomplete condition, including defective location and arrangement of works, even at Charleston and Savannah. Several points—such as the mouths of the Stono and Edisto rivers, and the headwaters of Broad river at Port Royal—I found unprotected; though soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, in 1861, as I was about to be detached, I had designated them to be properly fortified. A recommendation had even been made by my immediate predecessor that the outer defences of Charleston Harbor should be given up as untenable against the ironclads and monitors then known to be under construction at the North, and that the water-line of the immediate city of Charleston should be made the sole line of defence. This course, however, not having been authorized by the Richmond authorities, it was not attempted, except that the fortifications of Cole's Island—the key to the defence of the Stono river—was abandoned and the harbor in the mouth of the Stono left open to the enemy, who n1ade it their base of operations. Immediately on my arrival I inspected the defences of Charleston and Savannah, and made a requisition on the War Department for additional troops and heavy guns deemed necessary; but neither could be furnished, owing, it was stated, to the pressing wants of the Confederacy at other points. Shortly afterward Florida was added to my command, but without any increase of troops or guns, except the few already in that State; and, later, several brigades were withdrawn from me, notwithstanding my protest, to reinforce the armies of Virginia and Tennessee.