| Quartermaster's Office |
| Staunton, Va. |
| May 15, 1864
|
| |
| Maj. Gen. J. C. Breckinridge |
| |
| General, |
| I have just received the following
dispatch: |
| Gordonsville |
| May 15, 1864 |
| |
| Maj. H. M. Bell |
| I have
dispatch from General Lee, dated 12 o'clock last night, in which he
says: "Borrow all the corn you can from citizens and send me at
once. If persons holding corn will not let you have it, impress it,
I presume an impressment will not be necessary when the magnitude of
the stake is thought of. Answer me at once what you can do." He
wants an answer from Lynchburg, Staunton, and Charlottesville. He also wants every artillery horse that can be had. Send by
{Virginia Central RR} passenger train anything you can get. |
| W. B. Richards |
| Major and Quartermaster |
| |
| I am arranging to send to every part of
the country to get corn from the citizens, but as the emergency is
great and pressing, I will ship from the corn here belonging to your
command all that I can get off by mail train in the morning -- say
from 600 to 1,000 bushels {about 2 to 4 car
loads}. As you are in a good grass country, I
hope you will be able to subsist without much grain, but I will, if
you cannot spare this corn, replace what I take from the corn I hope
to borrow from citizens. If you can spare it, I will send all I can
get from citizens besides. My forage master reports that there is in
my forage house about 1,000 bags of corn belonging to Majors Green
and McKendree. Will you please consult with these officers and
advise me how much of this corn I can send to General Lee. |
| H. M. Bell |
| Major and Quartermaster |
|