Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/143

 Reminiscences of Field Ordnance Service. 137

Reminiscences of Field Ordnance Service with the Army of Northern Virginia — 1863-'5.

BY COLONEL WILLIAM ALLAN, FORMERLY CHIEF OF ORDNANCE, SECOND CORPS, A. N. V.

A valuable and interesting paper by General Gorgas in Vol. XII, Southern Historical Papers, gives a terse but vivid description of the enormous difficulties which beset the Confederacy in reference to munitions of war. The principal difficulties of the situation, of course, rested upon the department which was charged with obtain- ing the needed supplies, but it may be interesting and useful to recall some of the experiences of the ordnance officers in the field, whose duty it was to husband and distribute these supplies.

During the campaign of 1862, which, as General Gorgas says, was the hardest year upon his department, the perplexities of ordnance officers in the Army of Northern Virginia were frequendy relieved by important captures from the enemy. The stores obtained from Banks, McClellan, Pope, Burnside, and the capture of Harper's Ferry, were of immense assistance in the campaign, and eked out the meagre supplies to be obtained from Richmond. The organization of the ordnance department in the field was at this time imperfect. There were few ordnance officers below divisions and corps, and even in the case of these larger bodies the duty of ordnance officer was often combined with other staff duty. As a result, but little sys- tem or order existed in the management and distribution of supplies. Great waste, too, existed, but all serious difficulty was avoided by frequent and valuable captures. During that summer a law was passed by Congress providing for the full organization of the ord- nance department in the field; by the assignment of regular ordnance officers to all commands from brigades up, and, at the suggesdon of General Gorgas, the Secretary of War determined to secure the offixers needed for these appointments by means of a competitive examination. A board of competent officers was commissioned to conduct these examinations throughout the Confederacy. The ex- aminations were held at the leading centres, both east and west of the Mississippi, including the headquarters of all the principal armies. From the list thus obtained it was designed that the appointments should be made in order of merit. Some divergence from this rule was subsequently made, when it was found that far more of the sue-