Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/519

 Address Delivered hy Governor Z. B. Vance. 513

made, two thousand best Enfield rifles with one hundred rounds of fixed ammunition, one hundred thousand pounds bacon, five hundred sacks of coffee for hospital use, fifty thousand dollars' worth of medicines at gold prices, large quantities of lubricating oils, besides minor sup- plies of various kinds for the charitable institutions of the State. Not only was the supply of shoes, blankets, and clothing more than suffi- cient for the supply of the North Carolina troops, but large quanti- ties were turned over to the Confederate government for the troops of other States. In the winter succeeding the battle of Chickamauga, I sent to General Longstreet's corps fourteen thousand suits of cloth- ing complete. At the surrender of General Johnston the State had on hand, ready-made and in cloth, ninety-two thousand suits of uni- form, with great stores of blankets, leather, etc., the greater part of which was distributed among the soldiers and people. To make good the warrants on which these purchases had been made abroad, the State purchased and had on hand, in trust for the holders, eleven thousand bales of cotton and one hundred thousand barrels of resin. The cotton was partly destroyed before the war closed, the remainder, amounting to several thousand bales, was captured, after peace was declared, by certain officers of the Federal army. The proceeds probably went into the United States treasury, and probably not. Quie7i sabe.

This good vessel, the Ad- Vance, was finally captured on her twelfth trip, going out, by reason of unfit coal. She usually brought in enough Welsh coal, which being anthracite, made no smoke, to run her out again, but on this occasion she was compelled to give her supply to the cruiser Alabama, which was then in port, and to run out with North Carolina bituminous coal, which choked her flues, diminished her steam, and left a black column of smoke in her wake, by which she was easily followed and finally overtaken.

In addition to these supplies brought in from abroad, immense quantities of bacon, beef, flour and corn, were furnished from our own fields. I have no possible data for estimating these, but any one who is acquainted with the Valley of the Roanoke, and the black alluvial lowlands of Eastern North Carolina, will recognize what they can do in the production of corn when actively cultivated. And they and all the lands of this State were actively cultivated for the production of food. I was told by General Joseph E. Johnston that when his army was surrendered at Greensboro' he had in his depots in North Carolina, gathered in the State, five months' supplies for sixty thousand men, and that for many months previous General Lee's army had been almost entirely fed from North Carolina.