Duke University Libraries 
 
 D03209711N 
 
R, E F O R T 
 
 SECEETAEY OF WAE. 
 
 Confederate ;• America, } 
 
 War Depahtment,, ' 
 
 Richmond, January S, 1863. ) 
 
 His Excellency Jefferson I 'avis, 
 
 ident of the Confederate States of America : 
 
 Sir : I have the honor to submit to you the following report of the 
 action and condition of this Department: 
 
 :• the toils, privations and many battles of the past ye.tr, it i3 
 gratifying to be able to present the army as fully equal, if not su- 
 perior, in all the elements of strength to what it has been at any 
 if the war. Jts numbers, though still seriously inade- 
 to fill fully its organizations, yet afford a neaier approxil 
 than heretofore to that result. When, in addition, it is considered 
 that a large proportion of these . not of new recruits, but of 
 
 soldiers inured to the exposures of service and made veterans by the 
 ordeal of constant danger, its superior endurance ami stability must 
 readily be acknowledged. It is not deemed requisite to state it€ 
 
 I ate, nor to detail the exact proportions of its respective 
 brand .ice. It may be sufficient to say generally, in respect 
 
 to the latter, that it is believed they exist in such respective propor- 
 tion as approved military judgment considers most promotive of 
 efficiency and co-opera I 
 
 army, thus constituted, could it be recruited and maintained to 
 its full complement, would, in all probability, be the largest in pro- 
 portion to population ever maintained in actual service by any nation, 
 ill attain the maximum which the production and resources of 
 even the wide expanse and fertile regions of the Confederacy would, 
 without oppressive exactions on the people, render judicious to sus- 
 tain. Nor, when it is recollected how, with numbers much short of 
 this standard of completion, it has, in the past, generally wrested 
 victory from the far superior forces of the enemy, and repelled the 
 horde of invaders on which, with the presumptuous. insolence of anti- 
 
cipated succst* euir foe have relied to overwhelm us, can it be doubted 
 that such an army would be fully adequate to all future needs and 
 exigencies, and sufficient to assure final peace and independence. 
 
 To secure the completion of its numbers, reliance must be placed 
 on the measures of legislation known popularly as the Acts of Con- 
 scription, approved, the one on the 16th of April, 1862, and the other 
 on the 27th of September, 1862. 
 
 By the first of these acts, all the white male citizens of the Con- 
 federacy capable of bearing arms, between the ages of eighteen and 
 thirty-five years, with a few guarded exceptions, were constituted 
 soldiers of the Provisional army, and devoted first to filling up the 
 ranks of the old organizations. This was one of the most remarkable 
 ordeals -to which the patriotism and self devotion of any people was 
 ever subjected. It was demanded by the imperious necessity of the 
 crisis. Without decadence of the real valor of our people, or their 
 invincible determination to achieve their independence, the first flush 
 of enthusiasm, and the rush of volunteers fired by threatened inva- 
 sion, had comparatively ceased. Not unnaturally, under experience 
 of the diseases, privations and hardships of the soldier's life, and the 
 influence of delusive hopes of a speedy peace inspired by early victo- 
 ries, the spirit of volunteering had died out. While, however, the 
 ardor of the individual did not suffice for the proffer of self-devotion, 
 the sentiments and convictions of the mass recognized as the most 
 sacred obligation the stefn duty of defending, if needs be, with their 
 -entire numbers, their imperilled liberty, fortune and honor. They 
 were engaged in a righteous war for all men hold dear. " Foes, as 
 malignant in intent, as unscrupulous in means, with numb'ers unex- 
 ampled in modern -war, aided by patient training, complete organiza- 
 tion, and all the appliances of military science, were pressing on for 
 their subjugation or extermination. The contrast presented at the 
 same time by our banded forces was not less striking than discourag- 
 ing. The periods of enlistment of more than two-thirds of our 
 soldiers were very near their termination, and it was manifest that, 
 notwithstanding the ulterior purpose of the great majority, at some 
 future time to re- enlist in the ranks of the armed defenders of their 
 country, their resolution was not sufficient to resist the prospects 
 cherished for months, amid the sufferings and monotony of the camps, 
 of returning to their homes and there temporarily enjoying their 
 habitual comforts and pleasures. They had, too, for self-justification 
 the plea that they had borne their part of the burthen and peril, and 
 that it was inequitable that numbers equally interested and capable, 
 but only less bold or more prudent, should enjoy all the benefits 
 without sharing in their trials and dangers. Our army was in incipient 
 disorganization, and on the eve of dissolution. The natural conse- 
 quences ensued in a series of grave disasters. Reverse succeeded 
 reverse. In the east, Roanoke Island, the key to the inland waters 
 Of North Carolina, was captured. We had to fall back from Manassas, 
 abandon bur defences at Yorktown, and yield Norfolk, with all the 
 advantages of its contiguous navy yard and dock. In the west, 
 Forts Henry and Donelson fell, with the loss, at the latter, of the 
 
gallant force who had victoriously repelled, till exL 
 them, to meet overwhclmii - . All d 
 
 Mississippi had to be yi loned, and Nashville, the c 
 
 an d M city of Tennessee, became the unresisting 
 
 prey of the victor?. Finally, as tie crowning se for- 
 
 tune, N he commercial emporium of the South, with the 
 
 forts that gu i outlet of tl 
 
 after resistance so feeble as to arouse not less of ib indigna- 
 
 tion, passed into the occup 
 of our struggle, and with a people of id invinci- 
 
 it might well ha\ • F>ut, to their 
 
 . it only ro 
 rner struggles. A supren I self-devoti 
 
 ■ 
 
 in the army 
 3 of enli jtment were j the sacrifice 
 
 involved in the renewal of all their- and dangers, and the 
 
 renunciation of their anti enjoymen 
 
 "better conceived than portrayed. Y re scarce a murmur cf 
 
 disappointment and disaffection, and i " as. known, 
 
 of resistance or revolt, of the 
 
 groat body of the people, who. with full realization of all to be en- 
 countered, yielded themselves kindred to the call of 
 oeed. The results worthily r<- b sacrifices. 
 The army was speedily, \\ and recruited, and with sterner 
 sense of its task, and renewed I I to meet the exultant 
 foe. 
 
 By the rapid concentration of General A. 
 
 hnstpH was enabled, with some approximation to equality of 
 strike a decisive hi' vin the brilliant victory cf 
 
 Shiloh, where the enemy wore • i utter destruct 
 
 the hasty arrival of reinfon re than sue- 
 
 fully repel' 
 In the east, the happy 
 at a critical time the "advance of the g ral army, destin 
 
 the capture of our capital, until our force-, rescued by the coi 
 mate strategy of General J. E. John re of envel- 
 
 oping armies, could arrive to tl iven in 
 
 partial battles at Williamsburg and elsewhere, dismayed and 
 the Federal army in its advance, until General Johnson had securely 
 withdrawn his forces to his chosen lines of Meanwhil 
 
 Jackson, by a series of rapid movements and bold attack 
 strategy equalled valor, with far inferior numbers, defeated succes 
 four Generals, with as many armies, swept the Valley of Y. 
 of hostile forces, made the Federal authorities tremble in their capital, 
 and frustrated the combinations by which the enemy had purposed to 
 aid General McClellan and environ Richmond by large converging 
 armies. During these operations, the grand army of McClellan, in- 
 veigled by the skill of General J. E. Johnson to settle down on the 
 
swamps of the Chickahominy to the prudent occupation of digging- 
 trenches and earthworks, was, on the first favorable opportunity, stricken 
 with marked success in the severe engagement of the Seven Pines. 
 Unfortunately, before his guidance had consummated victory, General 
 Johnson was wounded and disabled. Our army was then transferred 
 to that consummate commander, General R. E. Lee. Soon thereafter, 
 summoning to his aid General Jackson, the prestige of whose name 
 and recent exploits sufficed for the security of the Valley, he, in pur- 
 suance of a plan, as admirably conceived as on his part boldly execu- 
 ted, assailed McClellan in flank and rear, and by a series of bloody 
 victories, drove from their labored defences his grand army. Shattered 
 and dismayed, it cowered for protection under cover of its gunboats, 
 there to swelter and waste beneath the oppressive sun and pestilent 
 malaria of a shadeless plain on the banks of the lower James. Even 
 that measure of good fortune was due solely to those accidental miscar- 
 riages in combinations which in war often mar the wisest arrange- 
 ments. The execution of General Lee's plan, Avith vigor equal to its 
 conception, must inevitably have eventuated in the capture of the 
 whole demoralized army of the enemy. 
 
 While'these triumphs were being won, another large army of the 
 enemy was advancing through Piedmont Virginia, towards its central 
 lines of railroad communication, under the command of General Pope. 
 He had disgraced the character of an officer by braggart boasts, and 
 outraged humanity and civilization, by stimulating and sanctioning 
 desolating ravages and vindictive cruelties by his unscrupulous troops. 
 General Jackson, dispatched with a moderate force to stay his pro- 
 gress, administered a speedy rebuke to his arrogant vaunts, and gave- 
 an earnest of coming chastisement by defeating, in the sharp engage- 
 ment of Cedar Run, his advanced division under General Banks. 
 
 Soon after, General Lee, despising the shrunken proportions and 
 quelled spirit of the grand army in its unenviable asylum, proceeded, 
 with the larger proportion of his forces, to unite with Jackson and 
 confront the then collected and imposing army of Pope. By a 
 succession of movements, too masterly to be comprehended, and too 
 rapidly executed to be withstood by Pope, he broke up his communi- 
 cations, intercepted his supplies, and by throwing forces in his rear, 
 drove him to rapid flight, chased him from the Rapidan to Bull Run, 
 and at last forced him, but not until sustained by large reinforcements 
 from Washington, to a decisive battle on the already memorable field 
 of Manassas. There a second victory, scarce less decisive than the 
 first, attested the continuing superiority of our troops, and the un- 
 changed favor of the God of Battles. The. enemy fled to refuge 
 under their old defences at Arlington, and again spread dread and 
 confusion in their quaking capital. Instead of wasting strength and 
 resources by either assailing the strongholds of the enemy or tarry- 
 ing in the country wasted by the repeated ravages of war, General 
 Lee, with boldness and dexterity, passed his army rapidly into Mary- 
 land. There, with part of his forces, he penetrated to the centre of 
 the State, collecting large stores of much needed supplies, and by 
 stirring appeals, rousing the people of that oppressed State to strike 
 
for their own deliverance. With another portion, the rapid Jackson 
 moved to the capture of Harper's Ferry, with its hostile force of 
 11,000 men and great stores of munitions and supplies. This was 
 crowned with perfect success, and must be recognized as among the 
 most brilliant achievements of the war. 
 
 Under the shock of our victories, in the Valley and around Richmond, 
 and of the successes of our arms in the west, the Federal executive, still 
 tenacious of the hope to crush us by surpassing numbei arces, 
 
 had ordered a draft of six hundi id more men to be at once 
 
 furnished and hurried to the support of his still superior but disheart- 
 ened armies. From the numbers of this call may be inferred, 
 the extent of the panic and the losses of the enemy, from our succes- 
 sive victories. At" the commencement of the campaign they had 
 their boasts and their hopes on having seven hundred thousand men 
 in arms for our overtl e that campaign was half 
 
 pleted, their fears called for nearly a duplication of their ori 
 numbers. While the ribed were occurring, rapid and 
 
 great additions under this call had been made to the Federal ai 
 and not morcly of untrained levies, since the j -position of 
 
 them in garrison? and the r - of action, 
 
 had placed art disposition large numbers of their best troops, 
 spirits had \ broken by defeats. By these means GetL 
 
 McGiellan, wh# had been summoned with his shattered remnant of the 
 grand army to the defence of the capital, was enabled at the head of 
 an immense army, to issue forth to attack Gen., Lee and relieve Har- 
 per's Ferry. r lhe movem 
 
 pated, was too late for the latter purpose, as Harper's Ferry had already 
 yielded, yet it brought him in the face of our forces before th 
 been concentrated from that and their other n in Maryland. 
 
 The first shock of his whole force was thus cast on on dumns 
 
 of Gen. Lee's army, guarding his rear 
 
 bravely sustained and even repelled by the gallant Gen. 1). H. Hill, 
 yet his necesary retirement to the point of combination selected by 
 Gen, Lee, gave to the enemy the appearance of a first sue. -ess, and was 
 unscrupulously trumpeted as a great victory, to animate the ho] 
 :e of the Federal army. Thus r< inspirited, with treble i 
 numbers and artillery, they ventured an attack on Gen. Lee in the 
 position near Sharpsburg, where he had collected the larger portion 
 of the forces remaining to him after so man}' arduous marches and 
 glorious victories. The battle, protracted from morn to night, was 
 stubborn and bloody, bu" resulted in the final repulse of the i 
 from all our positions. The field remained in our occupancy, and the 
 next morning, te the challenging Bre of our guns, no response was made, 
 and no enemy appeared. McClellan had withdrawn, as afterwards 
 appeared, some five miles in retreat. The victory was ours, but gained 
 over numbers already overwhelming and certain to be immediately 
 reinforced, it could not be followed up and improved. Exhausted by 
 the unwonted celerity of past movements, and by the inevitable 
 of his many victories, and exposed to have his communications and 
 supplies intercepted by his host of foes, Gen. Lee judiciously with- 
 
6 
 
 drew "his army with all its numbers and stores in safety across the- 
 Potomac. The enemy finding in this movement of wise precaution a 
 pretext for the arrogant claim of victor)*, followed to th.e river bank, 
 but ventured not to assail their retiring conquerors, much less to cross 
 the river in pursuit. Our gallant army, in proud defiance of the hosts 
 red on the opposite shore, rested rind recruited on the Virginia 
 side, with the satisfaction of having well nigh destroyed two grand 
 armies of invader?, and severely staggered a third, more numerou 
 cither. A pause of martial inaction followed for some weeks, and may- 
 be considered as i termination in the east to one of the most 
 remarkable campaigns of history. 
 
 In the west, less brilliant, but still very decisive, successes attended' 
 cur arms. From the effects of the victory of Shiloh, and of the re-in- 
 vigorated ranks and spirits of our forces under the* action of the con- 
 script law, our armies in each department prepared to make active 
 advances, and by combined movements pressing forward their dis- 
 couraged and retreating fb.es, to repossess the country previously 
 occupied by them, and to go forward to the redemption of the State of" 
 Kentucky, and the attack of one or more of the leading cities of .the 
 west. In the prosecution of this plan. North Alabama and Mississippi 
 were speedily cleared of the footsteps of the foe. All of Tennessee, 
 save the strongholds of Memphis and Nashville, and the narrow districts 
 commanded by them, were retrieved, and by converging armies, nearly 
 the whole of Kentucky was occupied and held. The signal victory of 
 Richmond was won, with the capture and dispersion of nearly the 
 whole much superior forces of the enemy, by the skill and valor of Gen. 
 E. Kirby Smith and his brave command. While a series of brilliant 
 cavalry movements and successes, won by the gallant Col. Morgan, 
 broke up all efforts on the part of the disaffected unionists or scattered' 
 Federal forces to raTry and combine, and afforded at once, protection 
 and encouragement to rise, to the loyal citizens of the State. These 
 movements threatened the safety, and excited* the greatest consternation). 
 • cities of Cincinnati and Louisville. 
 
 Meanwhile, Gen. Braxton Bragg, with a well appointed army, 
 trained and disciplined under his efficient organization, moved boldly 
 forward through Tennessee and Kentucky. By doing this he. so 
 flanked and endangered the rear of Gen. Buell, in command of 
 the leading army of the enemy in the west, as to compel him to rapid 
 retreat, for refuge and reinforcements, on the Ohio at Louisville, or 
 elsewhere. Had Gen. Buell, as might naturally have been expected 
 from his numbers, been more bold to encounter his tnemy, or less 
 rapid in his flight, Gen. Bragg would probably have accomplished, 
 after sweeping all foes from before him in Middle Kentucky, the great 
 object of overthrowing Bueli's army and capturing Louisville Unfor- 
 tunately, Buell effected evasion of battle, and escaped safely to that 
 city, which, under the occupancy of his army, became too strong for 
 assault. Sheltered in Louisville, Buell was enabled to receive and or- 
 ganize the very large reinforcements which the draft of the Federal" 
 Government, and the dread of invasion in the populous States of the 
 Northwest, caused to be forwarded with extraordinary dispatch. His. 
 
force3, before superior, became vastly larger than all our commands in 
 Kentucky, and he began by various movements to threaten our con- 
 nections and communications with the more Southern 
 About the same time, the diversions which were 'expected to be 
 by our forces still remaining on the southern borders of West Ten- 
 
 ■. towards Memphis and Nashville, failed of anticipated s; 
 Ono division sustained a check at Iuka and was obliged to fall back, 
 and some time later the whole command, in a most daring and deter- 
 mined attack on the entrenched positions of the enemy at Corinth, 
 were defeated with serious loss and driven to a rapid, retreat. 
 
 re these events had fully occurred. General Bragg had con- 
 cluded that prudence required the present withdrawal of our armies 
 from Kentucky, and the removal into security of the large, and under 
 our circumstances, most valuable supplies of every kind which had 
 been collected during the occupancy of that abundant and unexlia 
 country. His arrangements were being made with due care and de- 
 liberation for these »n«ls. and portions of his forces, preceded by im- 
 mense trains, were already moving Southward, when General Buell, 
 under the encouragement of his great numbers, at last ventured attack 
 on one of his divisions. The result was. when comparative . 
 arc consid 'red. the brilliant victory to us of Pcrryville. Its results 
 •en in the subsequent prudent avoidance of all interruption or 
 • bv the enemy to the quietly retreating columns of our 
 armies with their gathered stores, who resumed commanding positions 
 of their selection in the State of Tennessee. Thus, in Kentucky, as 
 in Virginia, our armies, not conquered or repelled, but diminished by 
 their own successes, were, from mere paucity of numbers, constrained 
 to retire to avoid environment by overwhelming forces, but under the 
 ting prestige of victory, were prudently respected and una3- 
 l by their enemies. 
 
 Of the various operations of our forces on more limited then: 
 is impracticable, within reasonable limits, to give a succinct account. 
 sufficient to say, generally, that from the reorganization of our 
 army, and the turn in the tide of fortune, that successes hav. 
 numerous and reverses very few, and that, with scarce an exception, 
 in small actions as in great engagement ?, the superior skill of our 
 officers and valor of our soldiers have been signally vindicated. 
 
 More special allusion, however, is due to the memorable repulses of 
 the enemy with their formidable gunboats at Drewry's Bluff, near 
 Richmond, and at Yicksburg. At each were illustrated not m<>! 
 nally the fortitude and valor of the armed defenders, than the heroic 
 resolve and self-devotion of the citizens, who preferred for their fair 
 cities' destruction to subjugation. The examples were pregnant with 
 monition and encouragement. The gunboats lost their prestige of 
 terror. Cities ceased to be abandoned or surrendered on the approach 
 of a foe, and all were taught how freemen, above fear and ready for 
 all sacrifice, may proudly defy the most potent agencies of modern 
 warfare. 
 
 The foregoing detail has been indulged in from a double purpose. 
 First, to render a tribute of justice to our armies, whose grand* 
 
8 
 
 achievements, being then in process of accomplishment, my predeces- 
 sor, from considerations of prudence, abstained in his last report from 
 commemorating ; and secondly, and more especially, to demonstrate 
 the imperious necessity that demanded the first enactment of con- 
 scription, and the glorious effects that at once vindicated the wisdom 
 of its adoption, and repaid the sacrifices of our soldiers and people in 
 accepting it. It is hardly too much to say, that it wrought our salva- 
 tion from destruction or infamous thraldom. Could it indeed have 
 been somewhat sooner adopted, or more speedily and thoroughly exe- 
 cuted, it may well be doubted whether the first act alone might not 
 have sufficed to have extorted from our obdurate foes, in their own cap- 
 ital, or on their own conquered soil, permanent peace and indepen- 
 dence. At the culminating point of our late successful advances, 
 could fifty thousand more troops of the Confederacy have been added 
 to ttie victorious armies of Generals Lee and Bragg, the full fruition 
 of our highest hopes would almost have been assured. In no spirit 
 of vain regret is the reflection indulged, but because of its deep prac- 
 tical monition for the future. In lieu of such happy consummation, 
 our triumphal progress was arrested and our victorious armies 
 compelled to retire before the hosts summoned to the field by the 
 large draft of the Federal Government. The same necessity is there- 
 fore again pressing on our people with scarce less stringent urgency. 
 In wise prevision of it, the second act of conscription, heretofore re- 
 ferred to, was judiciously provided by Congress at its last session, 
 giving to your Excellency the power to call into the Provisional Army 
 all subject to military duty between the ages of thirty-five and forty- 
 five, or such part thereof as in your judgment was necessary to the 
 public defence. Under this act, you have called into service, for the 
 present, only those between the ages of thirty-five and forty, who are 
 slibject to military service, and not exempted by an act passed soon 
 after, known as the Exemption Act, exempting certain classes, of per- 
 sons, and such others as the President shall be satisfied on account of 
 justice, equity or necessity ought to be exempted. The call, as well 
 as the first Act of Conscription, are now being actively executed by 
 the department. A sub-bureau, attached to the Adjutant General's 
 Department, has been organized, charged with this subject exclusively. 
 In every State one or more Camps of Instruction for the reception 
 and training of conscripts, has been or is being established in judici- 
 ously selected locations. To each State an officer, styled a Com- 
 mandant of Conscripts, is appointed, charged with the supervision of 
 the enrolment and instruction of conscripts, and he recommends a 
 surgeon, a quartermaster, a commiss iry and the drillmasters requisite. 
 Pursuant to another Act of Congress, approved October 1 I, 1862, 
 in each city, county, parish, or district in the several States, a place 
 of rendezvous for persons enrolled is established, where they are ex- 
 amined by surgeons, and in each Congressional District a board of 
 three surgeons is appointed to make the examinations aforesaid. It 
 has not been found practicable to spare from the service of the armies 
 and hospitals a sufficient number of Confederate Surgeons to consti- 
 tute these, but at least one in each district will be associated with local 
 
surgeons of repute for the duty, and the effort will be made to prevent, 
 by exchanges with other districts, surgeon? of any particular county 
 from officiating on the conscripts therefrom. In at least each county 
 or city an enrolling officer is expected to act. and he is instructed to 
 enrol all not of the exempted classes, between the specified ages of 
 en and forty, so that those who have evaded or been neglected 
 in former enrolments, and the number startling]? large of soldiers 
 who, on one pretence or another, are avoiding Berviee, as Well as 
 those embraced by your late call, may be subjected to duty. 
 
 In the enforcement of these laws of conscription, the Department 
 is constrained to be inflexible, and even appear harsh. The sacrifices 
 1 for service are painfully realized, but they are felt to be im- 
 peratively demanded for the public safety. The exemptions. ; 
 far more liberal in the last than the former act. still affect compara- 
 tively few. and those of certain limited classes, while the exempnng 
 power vested in yonr discretion seems to contemplate only individual 
 of persons who ought to be exonerated " on account of justice, 
 equity or necessity ." In considering the character of the clag 
 empted, it is evident that Congress contemplated the enumeration of 
 all of the prescribed ages, whose offices or function ! more 
 
 essential to the public weal at home than in the service. The prin- 
 ciple of the bill is, therefore, that the whole necessary operations of 
 society and business can and must be done bj the exempts, and those 
 above and below the prescribed ages, while all other white males, 
 capable of bearing arms, shall be in the armies of the Confed 
 for the sacred duty of public defence. 
 
 This principle the Department rigidly applies, with but few in- 
 considerable exceptions of the clearest equity or necessity. An im- 
 pression has strangely prevailed, that the exemptions prescribed 
 by the act availed, as well to di From the army, as to exon- 
 
 erate from the call of conscription. For this no foundation can be 
 found in the law, while the earnest aim clearly expressed in the first 
 act to retain the army as absolutely essential, as well as the general 
 phraseology of the law, excludes such construction. The whole 
 and operation of the second act apply exclusively to those to be sub- 
 jected to the expected call of the President, and the act of exemption, 
 passed to limit ami define it. can. of course, have no wider stretch. 
 The very term exemption implies freedom from a call to be made, not 
 discharge from existing service. It is well, too, in every view, that 
 such is the only reasonable construction of the act. for a more mis- 
 chievous mode could hardly have been devised to weaken and dissatisfy 
 the army, than to hare made the grounds of exemption causes of dis- 
 charge. Apart from the inevitable loss in numbers to the army, it 
 could not be expected that the soldiers not embraced seeing comrades 
 equally capable of service discharged -on such grounds, as, for in- 
 stance, that they had plantations with twenty slaves without other 
 male adult on them, or because of their addiction to special mechanical, 
 mining or manufacturing pursuits, would not feel the gravest discon- 
 tent and indignation. Demoralization, if not more disastrous effects, 
 must inevitably have ensued. 
 
10 
 
 There are certain classes of officers and employees, not exactly 
 engaged in State or Confederate service, yet so important in their 
 public ministry, such as the officers and police of cities, firemen, 
 superintendents of water or gas works, and the like, and others again 
 essential to corporations private in interest, but highly important to 
 the transaction of general business, or to works of public benevolence, 
 such as the officers and clerks of express companies, of leading banks, 
 evangelical societies and similar institutions, to whom it might be 
 advisable to extend the privilege of exemption. The classes of trades- 
 men or mechanics exonerated in deference to the peculiar needs of 
 society, might also be enlarged. 
 
 There are, too, in the Confederacy districts of not. very fertile 
 country, where the citizens are generally in moderate circumstances, 
 and have few or no slaves. The draft on them of all the males be- 
 tw<5bn eighteen and forty will probably remove their laboring classes 
 to such an extent as to endanger scarcity and even destitution among 
 the remainder. Some relaxation of the law, graduating the number 
 to he conscribed in proportion to the deficiency of slave labor in any 
 county or district, would be both equitable and judicious. 
 
 One of the exemptions of the act, that which " to secure the proper 
 police of the country " exempts " one. person on each plantation of 
 twenty iTegroes, on which there is no white male adult not liable to 
 military duty," has caused, in many portions of the Confederacy, dis- 
 satisfaction and complaint. This has been, in many instances, from 
 mere invidiousness in regarding the slaves merely as property, and 
 not as a servile class to be controlled from considerations of general 
 safety. In others where' the slaves arc regarded only as helpless 
 dependents to be cared for and directed. The claim has been asserted 
 that similar privilege of exemption should at least be accorded to 
 those who had many helpless children or females dependent solely on 
 their care or labor. The latter view would alone seem entitled to 
 consideration. 
 
 It would probably relieve the law from much odium, and yet pro- 
 mote only equity and the public good, if where, as in cases not unfre- 
 quently presented, eight or ten helpless whites are dependent on one 
 male friend within the prescribed ages, exemption should be accorded 
 by law. 
 
 It will be observed, you have not yet exhausted your power of call. 
 The faithful execution, of tjiat mode it is confidently hoped will dispense 
 with the need of farther draft on those, who from their age are apt to 
 be, by their larger ties and interests, most essential to society. Our 
 armies may thus be adequately recruited and maintained at the max- 
 imum required by their organizations. More need scarce be desired. 
 
 The organization of the army has been advanced by the appoint- 
 ment, under the act of Congress, of seven Lieutenant Generals. They 
 were all Major Generals, and selected for approved skill, conduce and 
 experience. They are all now in active service, some commanding 
 seperate departments, and others heading army corps under a General 
 in the field. Major and Brigadier Generals in requisite numbers to 
 meet? the exigencies of the service, have been appointed and assigned. 
 
11 
 
 The policy of organising the brigades with troops and Generals from 
 the several States, has been pursued, and as. opportunities offer, with- 
 out detriment to the service, -will be carried out. The greater satisfac- 
 tion^ the men from each State, when eolle aero us 
 emulation for glory to their State, and the fair apportionment of offi- 
 cers assured to each State according to its contribution of defenders to 
 the country, will, it is hoped, overbalance the inconvenience of s; 
 ing regiments or companies previously 1 the liability to 
 State jealousies. The policy will be in to a full trial of its 
 merits. 
 
 The military courts authorize 1 at t: if Congress have 
 
 been constituted. In making the appointments, white qualifications 
 were first considered, preference among the applicai far as 
 
 the range of choice allowed, given to those who had been wounded or 
 disabled in service. These tribunals Bupply a need much felt by #ur 
 commanders in the field. The of frequent con 
 
 • much embarrassment and many delays. Without them now the 
 prompt administration of the military law may be secured, desertion 
 and straggling checked, license of all k ". and temperance, 
 
 [pline and subordination advanced. 
 
 The various branches of spec): heretofore established have 
 
 proven judicious and worked generally well. 
 
 The battalion of sharpshooters at; le has done 
 
 much to restore our superiority as marksmi bad begun to be 
 
 endangered by th nt practice therewith, 
 
 of our less skilful ad. On many occasions, their 
 
 1 as the valor of these battalions, has been Btrikingly exbi 
 and they are now regarded as almost a necessity to a proper organi- 
 zation. 
 
 The appointments of artillery officers for ordnance service, and of 
 engineers, have as yet been made only in part. ' Boards, however, 
 have been constiti amination of candidates, and arc re- 
 
 quired to hold tli' different parts of the Confederacy, so 
 
 as to afford ilities of access to those at a distance from the 
 
 capital. Soi ive been held and v. 'ports have been made 
 
 Ling the order of merit in which the successful candidates have 
 : . It is the purpose of the department, when these lists have 
 been completed, to make the appointments from them, and as justice 
 and implied faith seem to demand, to give priority in commission accord- 
 the reported grades of qualification. 
 
 The engineer officers already appointed and acting, have proved 
 most efficient aids, as well in field operations as in local works and 
 defences. They have had. however, no special corps of men. but only 
 such as when occasion required, were detailed for the special service. 
 It may be well doubted whether a company or two in each brigade 
 should not be special; I to engineering work, and be exclu- 
 
 sively commanded by engineer officers. Greater skill and efficiency 
 could not fail to be attained by the men so employed, while the 
 inconveniences which often arise from the delay in special details, and 
 the occasional controversies arising between the officers in command 
 
of tlie detailed men and the engineer officers guiding their operations* 
 would be avoided. In connection with such a corps, a company of 
 pioneers and pontoniers armed only with revolvers and sabres^ but 
 carrying some effective tool, as an axe, a pick or a spade, might be 
 advantageously constituted, under the command of an engineer officer. 
 One detachment of them might precede each brigade in its march, 
 smoothing the roads and bridging the small streams, while another 
 should accompany the trains, prepared to remove impediments, or 
 give prompt assistance in case of accidents. The celerity of army 
 movements, on which often great results depend, would be sensibly 
 increased by such an arrangement. 
 
 The officers for ordnance serm:e, as far as appointments have been 
 made, have rendered the distribution of munitions and the supply of 
 arms and artillery more regular and complete, and have, at the same 
 time, promoted economy in consumption, care in preservation, and 
 greater efficiency in their use. 
 
 The signal corps has been filled and organized, and is now in effec- 
 tive operation. It justifies the expectations entertained of its utility, 
 and contributes materially to the dispatch of orders, the transmission 
 of intelligence, and the general safety of the army. 
 
 The policy of organizing corps of Partizan Rangers has not been 
 approved by experience. The permanency of their engagements and 
 their consequent inability to disband and reassemble at call, precludes 
 their usefulness as mere guerillas, while the comparative independence 
 of their military relations, and the peculiar rewards allowed them for 
 captures, induce much license and many irregularities. They have not 
 unfrequently excited more odium and done more damage with friends 
 than enemies. The men composing them would be more useful in the 
 regular organizations, and while the department has been reluctant to 
 disband them, it avoids raising more, and endeavors to persuade and 
 promote the conversion of existing corps into similar bodies in the line 
 of the Provisional Army. 
 
 The principle now applicable to nearly all the regimental and com- 
 pany organizations, of promotion by seniority, and of election in the 
 lowest grade only, is believed to have given more satisfaction than did 
 that of general election. A feeling of greater security and more pro- 
 fessional pride is engendered, and stronger inducements are presented 
 to all subordinate officers to improve and prepare themselves for 
 higher positions. Still, in an army where a large proportion of the 
 officers have had no previous military training or experience, due as- 
 surance cannot be felt of the competency of those on whom promotion 
 may, by this rule, be cast. A provision against gross incompetency 
 is, 'indeed, made by the authority conferred by act of Congress for 
 the convening of a board to determine qualifications, but resort to 
 this remedy is naturally odious, and in practice it proves but little 
 efficacious. It is not to be denied, too, that promotion Jby seniority 
 alone represses ambitious aspirations, and the spirit of enterprise and 
 daring which promotion by merit inspires. Some recognition of this, 
 and desire to avoid its effects, have been manifested by the enactments 
 of Congress allowing promotions to be made by the President in cases 
 
13 
 
 of distinguished skill and valor, but save in the rare case where re- 
 commendation of extraordinary merit is given by the commanding 
 general, such appointments can only be made to a vacancy in the com- 
 pany, battalion or regiment to which the party is attached. 
 where promotion by seniority is the almost invariable rule, the exercise 
 of this appointing power becomes odious, is construed into iujusti 
 all the inferior officers of the special organization, and I atent 
 
 and dissension. In consequence, it is very rarely exercised, and the 
 injurious effects of promotion by seniority alone are not by this j 
 sion effectively counteracted. It is suggested that some beneficial 
 effect in inspiriting to deed- of valor and the display of extraordinary 
 merit, would result from confining Action to the lowest grade, (the 
 starting point on the road, to honors) To those, if any were in the com- 
 pany, who had been recommended by their commanders for distin- 
 guished skill and valor. This would not deprive the company of the 
 privilege of election, but would confine the choice among the most 
 worthy. Still the higher and more important grades would lie sup- 
 plied only by seniority, and. with deference, it is recommended, that 
 some mode be devised by the wisdom of Congress to Lave vacanci 
 that class more frequently the rewards of high deeds and superior 
 qualifications. This is the mor< e the cominis-i 
 
 officers in the provisional army being dependent on the continuance of 
 their organizations, some of the most valuable in the service have been 
 thrown out by the dissolution or disbanding of their companies or 
 regiments, when, often through their own gallantry, too much reduced 
 for service. Under the present system, however meritorio 
 efficient, there is no place for them in the line, and they can only be 
 replaced in the army by conscription as private.-. This is scar- 
 unjust than impolitic. Some provision- should be adopted by which 
 such officers should retain their coin- or the privilege of ap- 
 
 pointment to vacancies which they are eminently fitted to fill should 
 be accorded to them. The hardships to the officers in such i 
 together with reluctance to lose their i-ervices, has sometimes induced 
 generals in command, particularly in the more distant departments, to 
 assign such officers temporarily to vacancies, for which the officers 
 entitled by seniority were known to be less competent, or to .-; 
 duties. An embarrassment results. The officers, in some ca-es, after 
 long service, find that they have lost their commissions by the pre- 
 vious disbanding of their commands, and can neither be recog 
 nor receive their pay as officers. Some appropriation to mee 
 cases, and provide compensation at least for the period of their actual 
 service, should be provided. 
 
 In this connection another interesting class of cases deserve- 
 ing notice. It has repeatedly happened that officers who have raised 
 companies or regiments, or who have been passed over 
 with their commands to the Confederate service, after joining some of 
 our armies, but before their muster rolls have been duly returned, or 
 notice properly given to the Adjutant General, have been captured, 
 or tad their commands broken up and dispersed by the enemy. Some, 
 in such cases, have pined long in prison, others have served in asr-igued 
 
14 
 
 commands for months, and when cither exchanged, or led to apply for 
 recognition and pay as officers, have found no authority in the depart- 
 ment to allow either. Several cases like these of peculiar hardship 
 occurred among the officers of the Louisiana State troops transferred 
 to the Confederate service, who were cither captured or dispersed after 
 the fall of New Orleans. . It is recommended that whenever their im- 
 prisonment or service as officers can be .satisfactorily established, 
 payment to them be authorised by law. 
 
 Measures to afford adequate supplies of ordnance, arms and muni- 
 tion s for the army have claimed- the earnest attention of the depart- 
 ment. The increased stringency of the blockade by the enemy, while 
 it has made the importation of sufficient supplies more difficult and 
 -. has at the same time induced more energetic efforts to find and 
 develope all internal resources. The results co far are very encour- 
 Our present supplies are at least as abundant as they have 
 t any time past, and our prospects for the future more promising. 
 Two establishments, in addition to the leading one heretofore existing 
 at this city, for making ordnance have been founded in interior towns 
 under the auspices of the department, one of which is already in suc- 
 cessful operation, and the other will be in a very short time. Besides 
 these, some smaller establishments have been fostered and engaged in 
 similar work. Thus the serious anxiety which resulted *om depen- 
 dence on a single establishment, liable to be interrupted by casualties 
 or the chances of war, has been removed, and a larger provision se- 
 cured for future supplies. Of small arms, the department can now 
 furnish stores more adequate to the requirements of the army than at 
 any preceding date, while of munitions it entertains now no dread of 
 deficiency. In these particulars also, by the encouragement and es- 
 tablishment of manufactures within the Confederacy, the department 
 is daily becoming less dependent on foreign supply, and it indulges 
 the hope that it will, at no remote period, be able to dispense altogether 
 with that reliance. In this connection, it would be injustice not to re- 
 fer to the efficient aid which has been rendered by the Nitre Bureau, 
 which is charged with much more general operations than its name 
 would indicate. The most serious embarrassment to be apprehended, 
 in reference to the ordnance supplies, is in the deficiency of iron. 
 ■ the war, nearly all iron works within the S ates of the 
 Confederacy had languished or decayed, and from the sense of pre- 
 cariousness in the future and the scarcity of suitable labor, it has 
 been very difficult to establish them in sufficient numbers and on an 
 adequate scale to meet the necessities of the war. It has been ne- 
 cessary that the department should stimulate enterprise by large 
 advances and liberal contracts, and likewise contribute by details 
 to the supply of labor. Many new furnaces have been es- • 
 tablished, and those in operation have been enlarged and tempted to 
 continue more uninterruptedly in blast. If the contracts made with the 
 department are only fully carried out, it is believed the supply will 
 prove adequate, but there are many difficulties in the prosecution of 
 the work from the enhancement of all prices and from the temptations 
 constantly offered to contractors to prefer the superior profits which 
 
15 
 
 they can command by supplying the general market. In some in- 
 stances the department has had no alternative I i im- 
 pi-essment to enforce the fulfilment of its contracts or to supply its 
 pressing necessities. 
 
 Embarrassments of the like nature have affected the operations of 
 the Quartermaster and Subsistence Departments. For some of the 
 leading articles required by the former, reli 
 
 placed to a considerable extent on foreign Bnpplies, since they are not 
 adequately furnished within the Confederal This has been 
 
 speciallv the case with v, 1 leather, and under 
 
 and interruption there have been at times 
 
 rather Bcant supplies of bla les of 
 
 clothing. Still, by using to the utmost internal the es- 
 
 tahlishment of factories and tl'e organisation of worl nd by 
 
 in use. the army haa neve 
 suffer. Of late greater sue attended import .1 be- 
 
 ipplies have been ma ral terms 
 
 an extent that security is now felt of timely and abundant pro- 
 ■ attain a result - fort and pi 
 
 vtktion of our gallant armies, the department will spare no exertion or 
 sacrifice. 
 
 For due Applies of forage and v en placed 
 
 ou the product] >n 3 of the Coi 
 
 they have proved abundant, They are. however, mor by the 
 
 peculiar circumstances of the country. The harvests of th • 
 
 d have not generally proved propitiou tanding the 
 
 much larger' breadth of land devoted to the culture of c 
 forage, the product in many extensive districts Of tie 
 below the average and in some even t 1 
 
 want of transportation make difficult the collection. a and 
 
 equalization of such products. In addition, the ra war, 
 
 prosecuted by our malignant enemies in shameful violation of all civ- 
 ilized usage for the ends of rapine or destruction, ha. 1 con- 
 do districts cf fertile country. The disti 
 have' , mainly those which have heretofore affo ; irgest 
 supplies of meat. The rearing of animals for food !■ eethe 
 war very generally increased throughout the Confederacy, an I 
 other districts larger supplies than heretofore may I Still 
 the scarcity of grain and for "heck considerably this incr 
 production, and render adequate supplies for the future more doubtful. 
 sr cause renders the procurement of the supplies that ex- 
 ist difficult. The redundant issue of treasury notes, which the needs 
 of the treasury has made inevitable, by inflating the currency, far be-, 
 yond the wants of the country for a circulating medium, has caused a 
 great enhancement of all prices, and inspired a general and inordinate 
 spirit of speculation. As the cause of enhancement ha- ustbe 
 continuous, being the necessary issue of treasury notes, so the increase 
 in prices has been, an i without check from lcgislati.ii adily 
 progressive. This is so understood or has been so experienc 
 
 . that there is the strongest repugnance on the part of all 
 
having necessary supplies to sell, to part with them even at the exag- 
 gerated current rates, from the conviction that a longer holding will 
 assure still higher prices. This motive is so influential and general, 
 that it is next to impossible to supply the necessities of the govern- 
 ment at fair prices, or by voluntary contracts. . 
 
 Resort to the power of impressment has become an absolute neces- 
 sity for the support of our armies. It is a power of great delicacy, 
 liable to perversion and abuse, and should be surrounded by every 
 safeguard of equity consistent with its exercise. The sanction and 
 regulation of the power, by law, is earnestly commended to the early 
 consideration of Congress. By controlling the transportation on the 
 railroads on some judicious general system, and the due regulation 
 and exercise of the power of impressment, the evils referred to may, 
 in a measure, be remedied, and the supplies, absolutely essential may 
 be commanded. But it is not to be disguised that a more complete 
 remedy is desirable, and that it can only be found in the regulation of 
 the currency, the cessation of inflation, and the consequent reduc- 
 tion of prices to a more stable standing- This more appropriately 
 pertains to the province of the Treasury Department, by the able 
 head of which it will doubtless be fully presented. As, however, the 
 War Department is the great consumer, and most prejudiced by this 
 evil, it may be pardonable to say, that there is but one radifel remedy. 
 That is easy and simple. It is by legislation to limit the negotiability 
 of the treasury notes, so that there shall never be outstanding, at any 
 one time, more than the maximum required for the circulation of the 
 Confederacy. 
 
 The estimates of the several bureaux of this Department for the 
 period ending June 30th, 1863, are herewith submitted. They will 
 be found to be large, but not larger, it is believed, than the exigencies 
 of the service require. 
 
 An interesting report, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
 is herewith submitted. ( During the past summer, there were among 
 the tribes in the Indian country some agitations and disturbances, 
 which threatened internal conflicts, and a possible outbreak upon the 
 contiguous States. They have, however, been happily appeased, and 
 there is every reason now to expect tranquility among themselves^ 
 and their amity and alliance with the Confederate States. 
 
 From the preceding imperfect review may be found assurances of 
 the increasing power, means and resources of the Confederacy for 
 the successful prosecution of the war. We have room, too, for gratu- 
 lation at the firmness, unity and self-devotion of our people, and the 
 skill and valor of our generals and soldiers, and much cause of devout 
 gratitude to the God of battles, for the signal triumphs vouchsafed over 
 the hosts of our malignant foes. 
 
 . Nor can I conclude. without commemorating another glorious victory 
 that has just given added cause of thankfulness and rejoicing. Gen- 
 eral Lee and his noble command have, at Fredericksburg, hurled back 
 in dismay, and with frightful slaughter, the grand arnrj of invasion, 
 engaged for the fourth time in the vain task of conquering our capital. 
 They had sacked and desolated tlje town, one of the most respectable 
 
17 
 
 of the State, with rapacity and brutality that would have disgraced 
 savages, and it was made the appropriate scene of their retribution, 
 for its streets were piled with their dead and wounded. From the 
 face of .the avengers they Blank away amid storm and darkness, leav- 
 ing to our gallant army the assurance of acknowledged superiority, 
 and affording to all a bright augury of their future total expulsion 
 from our soil. 
 
 Such happy result will likewise he advanced by the renewed gallant 
 repulse of the enemy's combined attack by land and water on Vicks- 
 bnrg, and by the decided victory of General Bragg and his brave com- 
 mand, which, on the olst ultimo, crowned the triumphs of the year. 
 Scarcely less hopeful assurance is afforded by the indecisive and 
 bloody struggle of the second instant, which, while resulting in the 
 temporary retirement of General Bragg's forces to a better line of de- 
 fence, inflicted such grievous losses on the enemy as to leave his army 
 too shattered and dismayed to follow. 
 
 Respectfully submitted. 
 
 JAMES A. SEDDON, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
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