Saturday, April 26, 2014

Quartermaster-General Montgomery C. Meigs to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, October 14, 1862

OCTOBER 14, 1862.
 Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK,
Commander-in-Chief, Hdqrs. of the Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I find that in the month of September there were issued from this department to the army defending Washington, under command of Major-General McClellan, 4,493 horses; from 1st to 11th October, 3,261 horses; total from this department, 7,754 horses. Colonel Ingalls, by special authority from this department, purchased in Harrisburg 1,000 horses, which were taken direct to the army near Frederick and Sharpsburg, so that for six weeks the issue has been at the rate of 1,459 per week.

There remained on hand, on the 11th, 497 serviceable horses, which, with what have been daily received since, have been issued before this time.

During the first days of September 1,500 horses, not included in the above, were sent out toward Centreville to the army of General Pope; 42 of these were lost, and the remainder exchanged for unserviceable stock not included in the above statement.

There have been issued, therefore, to the army about the Potomac, since the battles in front of Washington, to replace losses, 9,254 horses. For transportation, a very large number of mules has been supplied in addition to the above.

Is there an instance on record of such a drain and destruction of horses in a country not a desert?

I was informed by Colonel Ingalls, whose report, though called for, has not yet been received, that the number of animals with the army on the Upper Potomac was over 31,000.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
 M. C. MEIGS,
 Quartermaster-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 19, Part 1 (Serial No. 27), p. 15

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