Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1864-01-29

be fed as well as men, and an army without
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 through
/ out Virginia. lt was a matter of doubt
whether the hack, carriage, dray. cart, aud, -,
I indeed, all the horses in the city not indis-
[ pcnsahly necessary to the businessof the Gov
crnment should not be- seized. The question of
horscieed was serious indeed EWith one hand
the Confederate officers seized the horses of
the citizens and with the other seized forage
Of all sorts from the people in the country 10
feed them with.
Formers ceased o. md hay, fodder, oats
and corn 70 town. 10 send was TO insure
impressment. During the Winter. Stuart's
cavalry had been scattered over all the State
TO procure food and to recruit The absence
Of HamptOn's Legion and the worn-down
condition Of the remainder Of Stuart's horse.
enabled the enemy TO penetrate with impuni-
ty within the defenses of the capital. And
even now, when the haryests have been
gathered but few weeks, the Quartermas-
ter Of the Army Of Northern Virginia can
tell strange story Of the distance which
their forage has % traverse before it reaches
them. Yet it Is proposed to double the ar
my. and Of course 10 increase the trains pro-
portionally.
Still another addition to the sum must be
made. IN army must have, besides wagons
and trains, muskets, cannon and ammuni-
tiOn. Pemberton's enormous losses Of the
two former at Bakers Greek and NicksburC,
added 70 Bragg at Chattanooga and Lees
losses Of muskets at Gettysburg and in the
retreat, thus have left bare sufiiciency of
both to supply present needs and to make
good the annual wear and tear With re-
gard to ammunition, We know what Lee suf-
tered at Gettysburg for want of IT, We
know further, that wherever a battle begins,
ordnance officers are sure To telegraph for
more ammunition. We have never had a
superabundance, and since the port of
Charleston has been closed, Wilmington
almost hermetically sealed, and the nitre
beds of tennessee have been wrested from US.
it Is not likely that we ever will have more
THANH full supply for the army on its
present footing.
lt may be said that We have a whole Win
ter before Us in which to make guns, cannon
and powder qd HiiflaH. 50 we had last Win
l'l hAAAA N'fAA tFAltAtANtAN Nltl IftIt0 llEuuEu
which % dulw supplies from abroad. Yet
Lee fell short in Pennsylvania, and Richmond
was So bare that cartridges had to be taken
from the boxes OF a portion Of the city troops
10 I'LL his own with. Yet next Spring we
are 90 have twiec perhaps thriceas many men
m the field as We had last Spring. with
thrice as many musket>, thrice the number
Of cannon, and thrice the need for ammuni-
ton
Thus, in the last analysis, We find we have
m army poorly clad, scantily fed, Indifferent
" equipped, badly mounted, with insufficient
trains, and with barely enough ammunition.
To remedy the evil. We are going to double,
md If possible. quadruple the number Of
men and horses, taking away every efficient
master from the agricultural districts, and
leave the laborer, ON whom both men and
horses depend for existence, a prey to natur-
Il idlcness, and with every inducement to re-
volt. Il this be not Judicial madness. the
history Of desperate measures adopted by
eeble and afrshted councils does not pre-
ent an example