Summary:
Union Quatermaster-General Montgomery Meigs writes to General in Chief Halleck to
reply to General George McClellan's complaints about slow delivery of supplies.
Meigs blames the problems on the railroads and discusses provisioning the armies
with clothing and horses. He mentions the loss of 51 boxes of clothing at
Chambersburg to Confederate General Jeb Stuart's raiding cavalry.
Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK,
Gen.-in-Chief, Washington,
D. C.:
Washington City,
October 21, 1862.
Gen.:
I have the honor to return the letter of Gen. McClellan of the 18th instant, upon the supply of clothing and of horses to the army under his command.
Gen. McClellan is constrained to believe that suffering for want of clothing among the soldiers of his command for some time past is in a great degree owing to the want of proper action on the part of the Quarter's Department. He remarks that the Quartermaster-Gen. may have ordered the clothing to be forwarded, but that it has not yet reached the depots of his army, and that unless greater efforts to insure prompt transmission are made by this department, the articles might as well remain in New York or Philadelphia, so far as the army under his command is concerned.
Upon first hearing that there was a deficiency of supply of clothing in that army, I made inquiries of those whose duty it was to attend to this portion of the business of the Quartermaster's Department, and I am assured that all articles of clothing called for by requisition from Gen. McClellan's headquarters were not only ordered but had been shipped on the 14th of October. This department cannot control the trains upon railroads of which the War Department has not taken the management into its own hands. Messengers were sent over the railroads by Col. Sawtelle, appointed quartermaster, assistant to the chief quartermaster of the Potomac, to endeavor to facilitate and hasten the transport of these stores, and Col. Sawtelle reported to me that not only had they all been shipped but that the messengers could find none of them in transitu, and he concluded that they must have reached the termini of the railroads in Hagerstown, Frederick, or Harper's Ferry, with the exception of 51 boxes of clothing, which it was feared had been captured at Chambersburg by Stuart's cavalry. The railroad companies complain that cars are not unloaded at their destinations, and that their sidings are occupied with cars are needed for forwarding supplies. I presume that the missing articles are in some of these cars, or that they have been unloaded and have not yet reached the particular corps or detachment for which they are intended.
The Secretary of War gave to Gen. Haupt (and a more capable man is not to be found) an unlimited authority to do whatever was necessary, in his opinion, to insure safe and rapid transit over the railroads supplying the army of Gen. McClellan. He has, at the instance of the Quartermaster-Gen., within a few days directed Gen. Haupt to take possession of the Cumberland Valley road, against which the greatest complaints are made, and to run it as a United States military railroad route, if on inspection this should appear to be necessary to the public service.
The fact is that no railroad can provided facilities for unloading cars and transacting the business attending the supply of an army of the size of Gen. McClellan's in a short time or in a contracted space. Sidings, switches, depots, turn-outs do not exist and cannot be laid down at once for such a traffic. I believe that the railroad companies and the officers of the Quartermaster's Department have worked faithfully and zealously, but too much business has been thrown upon these railroads. In addition to the stores transported, they have been called upon to move large bodies of troops, which interfered with the transportation and delivery of stores.
Gen. Porter informs me that his troops need clothing still. Any deficiency which may be pointed out will be filled if possible.
Gen. McClellan states that the number of horses received by his army since the commencement of the present campaign is only 1,964, which is several thousands less than reported in my letter of the 14th October to the Secretary of War. The apparent discrepancy is only apparent. That letter was a report made upon seeing a dispatch to you from Gen. McClellan, stating that the arrangements to supply horses were insufficient; that the weekly average issue to the Army of the Potomac, "including that in front of Washington" was only 150 which was not enough to supply waste. That letter stated distinctly that there had been issued to the "army about the Potomac" since the battles in front of Washington 9,254 horses, that of these, 1,500 had been sent out toward Centreville to the army of Gen. Pope.
The statement which Gen. McClellan compares with this is a statement of the horses received by assistant quartermaster stationed at Frederick, Hagerstown, Harper's Ferry, and at Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, from the 8th of September to the date of the report, which is only 1,964 horses, 7,290 less than the number given by the Quartermaster-Gen. as issued to the whole army defending Washington from the date of the battles of Bull run to the 11th of October.
I have no doubt that both statements are correct. They are not inconsistent. Both depend upon official reports of very different transactions. One is the whole, the other a part only of the issues.
Upon Gen. McClellan assuming command of the troops for defense of Washington, he gave orders to the chief quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac to issue no horses except upon his order. I gave instructions to the chief quartermaster of this depot to issue horses only as required by this order, that is to issue them only upon requisitions approved by Gen. McClellan or by the staff officers representing him. Some 11,000 horses have been thus issued, the only exception authorized by me having been a special issue of 1,000 horses to enable Gen. Bank's cavalry to scout and picket the country in front of Washington at the time Stuart's cavalry raid made this of urgent importance.
If Gen. McClellan will instruct the officers authorized to approve requisitions in his name to confine this approval to be made on the Upper Potomac, all the horses will be sent there till his wants are fully supplied; but if by his authority or in his name they approve requisitions for the troops in front of Washington, the horses will be issued to these troops under his direction. The whole 11,000 or 12,000 horses would have been sent to Harper's Ferry of Frederick had he so ordered.
In regard to a falling off in the quality of the horses, I can only say that the horses lately provided have been procured by contracts, and on specifications and inspection identical with those formerly used, expecting that, finding five-year-old horses liable to distemper and disease, officers providing them have generally been instructed to buy no horses under six years of age. The demand for horses has been so great lately that they have been carried off and put to service in many cases before recovered from the fatigue and exhaustion of transportation from the country by rail.
The railroads are heavily taxed and transportation has been delayed. A case is reported in which horses remained fifty hours on the cars without food or water, were taken out, issued, and put to immediate service. The horses were good when shipped, and a few days' rest and food would have recruited them, but the exigencies of the service, or perhaps carelessness and ignorance, put them to a test which no horses could bear.
I do not think that the complaint of Gen. Pleasonton has any greater foundation than this. The same system of purchase, the same system of inspection, the same specifications, and a price fixed by public competition of bidders and contractors, as heretofore, ought to procure horses of the same quality as of old. The stock is not yet seriously affected by the war consumption. There were 6,000,000 of horses in the United States in 1860.
As I have learned that Gen. McClellan was of opinion that many horses could be purchased quickly in the country which he now occupies, I have authorized Col. Ingalls, chief quartermaster of the army under his command, to purchase 2,000 horses in that neighborhood. Several thousands are ordered here from more distant markets.
Gen. McClellan's letter blames the Quartermaster's Department, of which I am the head. In reply, I have sought only to show that the department has endeavored to supply all the wants of his army, as far as known, and have stated the measures taken for that end, and my opinion, from the investigations made, that the greater part if not all the clothing required is within the lines of his army, and needs only to be distributed by the force under his command.
The department had the supplies on hand, sent them forward, and will send forward others to replace them if advised of any being lost or captured. There was no intention in my letter of 14th instant to make accusations against any one. The statement made you that only 150 horses had been issued weekly to the Army of the Potomac, including that in front of Washington, was a mistake which I was obliged to correct when the dispatch was referred to me. It is the duty of this department to provide for the wants of the army, and it is my desire to do so efficiently, promptly, and abundantly.
I regret that any officer in high command should think that the department under my direction has failed to do its whole duty; but, while I cannot admit that he is right in this opinion, I shall gladly avail myself of any suggestions which he or you may have to offer tending to improve so much depends upon it.
There should be no controversy or misunderstanding between the generals and this department, and there shall be none if I can prevent it. Whether the efforts the department are recognized or not, they will be continued.
The letter of Gen. McClellan is returned herewith.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
M. C. MEIGS,
Quartermaster-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 19, Serial No. 27, Pages 17-20, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
