Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1864-02-05
NO.

men between fifty and sixty, abolish all detail
for teamsters, orderlies, ambulance driver:
hospital assistance, and fill the vacancy ere
ated with negroes and mulatoes (ample allow
Iauce being made for places that could be ilIet
l'by disabled soldiers) and it is easy to perceiv
what the consequence will be upon agricultu
raj production.
/ The sum is not fnishsed yet. Horses mus
/ be fed as well as men, and an army without
I horses is a man without limbs. With very
great difficulty horses barely sufficient to serve
the purposes of the existing army are obtained
Last spring large impressments of horses were
made in this city and throughout Virginia
1t was matter of doubt, whether the hack
carriage, dray, cart and indeed all the horses
in the city indispensabIy necessary to the
business of the Government, should not be
siezed. The questien'of horse feed was Sc
rious indeed. With one hand the Coufeder-
ate officials siezed the horses Of the citizens
and with the ether siezed forage of all sorts
from the people in the country, TO feed them
with. Farmers ceased to send hay, oats, and
corn to sown. 70 send was to insure Impress
ment. During the winter Stuart's Cavalry
had been scattered ali over the State to pro-
cure food, and TO recruit. The absence of
Hamptons Legion, and the worn down con-
dition of the remainder OF Stuart's horses, en-
abled the enemy to penetrate with impunity
within the defenses of the capital. Aud even
now, when the harVests have been gathered
but few weeks, the Quartermaster of the
army of Northern Virginia can tell a strange
story Of the distance zhich their forage has
-, I,,E.- -
proposed to deGsle the army, and, of course,
to increase the trains proportionately.
Sill another addition to the sum must be
made. An army must have, beside wagons
and traips, muskets, cannon and ammunition
Pemberton's losses of the two former at Ra-
ker2s Greek and Vicksburg, added to Bragg's
at Chattanooga, and Lees losses of muskets
at Gettysburg and 10 the retreat, must have
left a bare suficiency Of both to supply present
needs and to make good the annual wear and
tear. With regard to ammunition, we know
what Lee suffered ut Gettysburg for want of
il. We know further that whenever a battle
begins ordnance officers are sure to telegraph
for more ammunition. We have never had !
superabundauce, and since the port ofl
Charleston has been closed, Wilmington al
most hermetieally sealed, and the nitre beds |
of Tennessee have been wrested from us, it is |
not likely that we ever will have more than |
full supply for the army on its present footing. |
1t may be said that we have whole winter |
before ussin which to make guns, cannon. and |
powder ad iimitum So we had Iast winter,
with comparatively open ports through which /
to draw supplies from abroad. Yet Lee fell |
short in Pennsylvania, and Richmond was so
bare that cartridges had TO be taken from the
boxes of portion of the city troops to fill up
his OWN with. Yet next spring we are to
have twice, perhaPs thrice as many men in
The field as we had last spring, with thrice as
many muskets, thrice the number of cannon,
md thrice the need for ammunition! .a5#
Thus, in the last analysis, we find an army
,oorly clad, scantiiy fed, indiferently equip
BED, badly mounted. with insufficient trains,
Ind with barely enough ammunition. To re-
nedy the evil, we are going to double and if
possible, quadruple the number of men and
lorses, take away every efficient master from
he agricultural districts, and leave the labor
rs, on whom both men and horses depend for
xisteDce, prey to natural idleness, aud wit h
Inducements to revolt. If this be not judicial
MADNESS, Che history Of desperate measures
dopted by. feeble and affrighted councils does
ot spresent an example. e.s .r.-.- --