HEADQUARTERS ARMY, 18th
January, 1864.
BRIG.-GEN. A. R. LAWTON,
Quartermaster-General, Richmond.
GENERAL: The want of shoes and blankets in this army
continues to cause much suffering and to impair its efficiency. In one regiment
I am informed that there are only fifty men with service able shoes, and a
brigade that recently went on picket was compelled to leave several hundred men
in camp who were unable to bear the exposure of duty, being destitute of shoes
and blankets
The supply by running the blockade has become so precarious
that I think we should turn our attention chiefly to our own resources, and I
should like to be informed how far the latter can be counted upon. . . .
I trust that no efforts will be spared to develop our own
resources of supply, as a further dependence upon those from abroad can result
in nothing but increased suffering and want.
I am, with great
respect, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of
Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 321-2
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