The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer., 1864-01-29
BEL AIR. MD. FRIDAY MORNING,

MS proceedings, his rate OF production
having been one Napoleon gun per diem.
The daily yield of the powder mill is now
at the rate of 8,400 pounds a day, which
might, if occasion required, be Indefinitely
increased. But with every important
station in the Confederacy already surfeit-
ed with powder, with large supplies in
the hands of Generals Beauregard, Bragg,
Johnston, and at Mobile aul Wilmington
(Gen. Lee, of course, draws his supplies
from Richmond), and with two other pow
der mills in active operation, it is of little
Importance that even this rate of produc-
tion should be maintained. The ordinary
consumption of powder in the Confederacy
is rated at 1000 pounds day; but is
of course, greatly increased by such
seiges as those Of Vicksburg and Charles
ton, which bring up the average to TO-
600 pounds a day, occasioned by the large
demands of the heavy artillery employed.
1t is singular commentary upon this
war, that nation which two years ago
produced not pound OF powder, should
now think nothing Of u daily consumption
of 10000 pounds, produced entirely from
their own resources. 1t is evident that
obstacles and shortcomings are of little
moment when encountered by such me-
chanical ingenuity and chemical resources
as are possessed by Colonel Rains. The
details Of his difficulties in the powder
mills here are too technical to afford inter.
est to the general reader; but I may men,
ton that his substitution of white poplar,
called cottonwood, in the place of willow
for the manufacture of charcoal required
in gunpowder, has been most successful;
nor can any one fail to be struck with the
ingenuity of the sensitive tube attached to
one of his projectiles, or at the adaptation
and improvement of Captain Blakeley's
principle of construction for rifled shells,
and at many other successful inventions of
Colonel Rains genius. ..
He assures me that, having been sum-
moned to Charleston to investigate the
cause of the explosion which destroyed
Captain Blakeleys big gun on its first
discharge, he acertained beyond question
that it was due to improper loading. The
remaining Blakely gun was successfully
fred with 55 pounds of powder, and at
2 degrees of elevation it threw its bolt for
900 yards, the bolt subsequently careering
along on the top of the water, bound after
bound, for nearly two miles, before it
sank. Itmust not be imagined, because
I have described somewhat in detail the
Government works in this city, that Au-
gusta is exceptionally conspicuous above
other Confederate cities as q contributor
Of war material 1U 'j,
1t is estimated that Richmond alone fur.
nishes sixty per cent. of all the war sup.
plies needed by the Confederates, while to
Atlanta, Macon, Montgomery, Athens. Sell
ma and many more cities, including Char
lotte and Columbia, the possessors of the
other powdnr mills, great credit is due.
[ ought not to omit to mention that Col.
Rains considers the removal of General
Resecrans (with whom he is intimately
acquaintcd) from the command of the
western Federal army as the greatest of
boons to the Confederates. s'If the Fed.
erals have lacked success in the West it is
from no fault of Rosecrans.'' These were
Colonel Rains words, and in spite of
Rosecrans' seemingly strange strategy be-
fore Chickamauga, they are entitled to-
great weight.
But during the last mouth | have seen
so clearly the difficulties which beset an
advancing army on either side in such
country, that it is impossible not doubly to
regret that an opportunity, such as the
battle Of Chickamauga offered to the Con-
federates, and. which would, if rightly
seized, have disposed of half their enbar-
easements, should have been so deplora.
bly, thrown away. That great efforts will
be made by the Federals to hold the line
of the Tennessee river from Knoxville to
Bridgeport, and the line of the Memphis
and Charleston Railroad from Bridgeport
to the Mississippi river, will be palpable
to all who are at the pains Of casting o
glance at q good map.
/ Ii the war be terminated upon the uti
possidctts principle, the possession + this
line will assign to the Federals the whole
Of Tennessee aud Kentucky; secondly, if
the war continues, it is of the highest
importance to exclude the Confederates
from the nitre caves and coal and copper
mines Of East Tennessee. Twelve months
ago the loss of this region would have
been most. momentous TO the South. At
present, with upwards Of 1000 pieces Of
field artillery Of their own manufacture or
import In their hands, aud with all the
lpiecey taken from their enc nv which