| Headquarters Department of North Carolina |
| Goldsborough, N. C. |
| February 12, 1863 |
| |
| Hon. James A. Seddon |
| Secretary of War |
|
|
| Sir, |
| I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, inclosing a letter
written to you by Maj. C. S. Carrington in relation to forage at
Tarborough and the sources from which I am to draw supplies for my
forces. I have had many years of experience in the quartermaster's
department, and foreseeing last summer that the Army of the Potomac
would have to depend on the supplies from North Carolina, gave implicit instructions to all my quartermasters accordingly.
Before the crop was ripe enough to shell I ordered it to be brought
in the shuck in box cars, and from that time to the present have
sent it forward to Petersburg
and Richmond
as fast as cars could be procured. The quartermasters at Weldon and
Tarborough {both on the Wilmington &
Weldon RR} have been furnished by me with every means necessary to
collect the forage, but the greatest difficulty I have had to
encounter has been with the railroad companies. I have caused many
letters to be written and have had interviews with the officers
asking their aid to get the forage out of the country, and have gone
so far as to impress trains to send grain to your city. Several
weeks since I directed Captain Venable to force the cars, whenever
they were about to return empty from Weldon to Petersburg {on
the Petersburg RR}, to proceed to Halifax
{8 miles south of Weldon, on the Wilmington
& Weldon RR} for grain for the Army of the Potomac. In a letter addressed to W. T. Joynes some time since I earnestly
solicited his aid as president of the Petersburg and Weldon {the
Petersburg} Railroad
in this matter, and have urged this also on Colonel Frémont of the
Wilmington & Weldon Railroad. Storehouses have been built and
large wagon trains sent to Tarborough by my orders to secure grain;
***** |
| Yours, very respectfully, |
| S. G. French |
| Major-General, Commanding |
|