Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/97

 Confederate Ordnance Department. 8T

Good rifled arms on hand at the beginning of the war (this

includes the arms in the hands of volunteer companiesj, 25,000

New arms manufactured in the Confederacy and in private

establishments 40,000

Arms received from the battle-fields and put in good order (this includes the great number of arms picked up by the soldiers) .. 150,000

Imported from January ist, 1862, to July ist, 1863 185,000

Total 400,000

This estimate does not include pistols and sabres, of which a small supply was imported.

To account for the very large number obtained from the enemy (rather an under than an over estimate), it must be remembered that in some fights, where our troops were not finally successful, they were so at first ; and swept over the camps and positions of the enemy. Whenever a Confederate soldier saw a weapon better than his own, he took it and left his inferior arm ; and although he may have been finally driven back, he kept his improved musket. So, too, on every field there were partial successes which in the early part of the war resulted in improved weapons ; and although on another part of the field there may have been a reverse ; the enemy had not the same advantage ; the Confederate arms being generally inferior to those of their adversaries. The difference of arms was not so marked at a later day except in cavalry arms, in which we were always at a disad- vantage, the celebrated Spencer carbine being generally in the hands of the enemy's cavalry during the last two years of the war.

A CENTRAL LABORATORY.

The unavoidable variation in the ammunition made at the different arsenals pointed out, early in the war, that there should be a general superintendent of all the laboratories, invested with authority to in- spect and supervise their manipulations and materials. To this end Lieutenant-Colonel Mallet, a chemist and scientist of distinction, who had for some years been professor in the University of Alabama, was selected and placed in charge of this delicate and important duty. I attribute much of the improvement in our ammunition to this happy selection. A more earnest and capable officer I cannot imagine. What a set of men we would have had after the war out of which to form an Ordnance Department, had we been successful ! Rains, St. John, Mallet, Burton, Wright, White, Baldwin, Rhett, Ellicott, An-