Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 22.djvu/104

 92 Southern Historical Society Papers.

and did a noble work, though history has failed to embalm in living record a tribute to their labors. Their reward has been found, not in the recognition of a grateful country, but in the conscious strength which sustains those whose labor is not in vain.

WHAT THEY DID.

Some sought service in your army and rose to high rank. Others built your seashore and river batteries, mounted your heavy guns, drilled and instructed your men in their use; in the service of am- munition, shot and shell ; developed a torpedo and sub-marine ser- vice, and protected the rivers and harbors of your land against invasion.

Others, still, set to work to manufacture your ordnance ord- nance stores and supplies.

The ordnance works at Richmond, under Commander Brooke, Lieutenants Minor and Wright, supplied the equipment of your vessels in the James, and at Wilmington, carriages for heavy guns in shore-batteries, and between May, '61 and '62, shipped to New Orleans, 220 heavy guns, many of them the efficient banded rifle gun, the invention of Commander John M. Brooke.

The ordnance works at Charlotte, N. C, under Ramsay, chief engi- neer, C. S. N. (who had seen service in the Merrimac), supplied heavy forgings, shafting for steamers, wrought-iron projectiles, gun carriages, blocks, ordnance equipment of every kind, and an ord- nance laboratory.

Commander Catesby Ap. R. Jones, (late executive officer of the Merrimac), at Selma, Ala., superintended the various branches of a foundry, and the manufacture of heavy guns, forty-seven of which were used in the defences of Mobile and Charleston.

At Atlanta, Ga., Lieutenant D. P. McCorkle was in charge of ord- nance works for the making of shot, shell, and gun carriages.

Lieutenant Kennon (and, subsequently, Lieutenant Eggleston), at New Orleans, was engaged in the manufacture of fuses, primers, fire- works, cannon, gun carriages, projectiles, and ordnance of all kinds.

At Petersburg the navy established a rope walk, substituting cot- ton for hemp, and supplied the navy, the army, coal mines, railroads, and canals.

NECESSITY FOR SUCH INDUSTRIES.

Such industries had to be established, for your necessities were great and urgent. Their proper conduct required skill and intelli-