HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF
NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
September 2, 1864.
His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS,
President of the Confederate
States:
Mr. PRESIDENT: I beg leave to call your attention to the
importance of immediate and vigorous measures to increase the strength of our
armies, and to some suggestions as to the mode of doing it. The necessity is
now great, and will soon be augmented by the results of the coming draft in the
United States. As matters now stand we have no troops disposable to meet
movements of the enemy or strike when opportunity presents, without taking them
from the trenches and exposing some important point. The enemy's position
enables him to move his troops to the right or left without our knowledge,
until he has reached the point at which he aims, and we are then compelled to
hurry our men to meet him, incurring the risk of being too late to check his
progress and the additional risk of the advantage he may derive from their
absence. This was fully illustrated in the late demonstration north of James
River, which called troops from our lines here who, if present, might have
prevented the occupation of the Weldon railroad. These rapid and distant
movements also fatigue and exhaust our men, greatly impairing their efficiency
in battle. It is not necessary, however, to enumerate all the reasons for
recruiting our ranks. The necessity is as well known to Your Excellency as to
myself and as much the object of your solicitude. The means of obtaining men
for field duty, as far as I can see, are only three. A considerable number
could be placed in the ranks by relieving all able-bodied white men employed as
teamsters, cooks, mechanics, and laborers, and supplying their places with
negroes. I think measures should be taken at once to substitute negroes for
white in every place in the army, or connected with it, where the former can be
used. It seems to me that we must choose between employing negroes ourselves or
having them employed against us. A thorough and vigorous inspection of the
rolls of exempted and detailed men is, in my opinion, of immediate importance.
I think you will agree with me that no man should be excused
from service for any reason not deemed sufficient to entitle one already in service
to his discharge. I do not think that the decision of such questions can be
made so well by any as by those whose experience with troops has made them
acquainted with the urgent claims to relief, which are constantly brought to
the attention of commanding officers, but which they are forced to deny. For
this reason I would recommend that the rolls of exempts and details in each
State be inspected by officers of character and influence, who have had
experience in the field and have had nothing to do with the exemptions and details.
If all that I have heard be true, I think it will be found that very different
rules of action have been pursued toward men in service and those liable to it
in the matter of exemptions and details, and I respectfully recommend that Your
Excellency cause reports to be made by the Enrolling Bureau of the number of
men enrolled in each State, the number sent to the field, and the number
exempted or detailed. I regard this matter as of the utmost moment. Our ranks
are constantly diminishing by brittle and disease, and few recruits are
received. The consequences are inevitable, and I feel confident that the time
has come when no man capable of bearing arms should be excused, unless it be
for some controlling reason of public necessity. The safety of the country
requires this, in my judgment, and hardship to individuals must be disregarded
in view of the calamity that would follow to the whole people if our armies
meet with disaster. No detail of an arms-bearing man should be continued or
granted, except for the performance of duty that is indispensable to the army,
and that cannot be performed by one not liable to, or fit for, service.
Agricultural details take numbers from the army without any corresponding
advantage.
I think that the interests of land owners and cultivators
may be relied upon to induce them to provide means for saving their crops, if
they be sent to the field. If they remain at home their produce will only
benefit the enemy, as our armies will be insufficient to defend them. If the
officers and men detailed in the Conscript Bureau have performed their duties
faithfully, they must have already brought out the chief part of those liable
to duty, and have nothing to do now except to get such as from time to time
reach military age. If this be true many of these officers and men can now be
spared to the army. If not, they have been derelict, and should be sent back to
the ranks, and their places supplied by others who will be more active. Such a
policy will stimulate the energy of this class of men. The last resource is the
reserve force. Men of this class can render great service in connection with
regular troops, by taking their places in trenches, forts, &c., and leaving
them free for active operations. I think no time should be lost in bringing out
the entire strength of this class, particularly in Virginia and North Carolina.
If I had the reserves of Virginia to hold the trenches here, or even to man
those below Richmond on the north side of the river, they would render greater
service than they can in any other way. They would give me a force to act with
on the offensive or defensive, as might be necessary, without weakening any
part of our lines. Their mere presence in the works below Richmond would
prevent the enemy from making feints in that quarter to draw troops from here,
except in such force as to endanger his own lines around Petersburg. But I feel
confident that with vigorous effort, and an understanding on the part of the
people of the necessity of the case, we could get more of this class than
enough for the purpose last indicated. We could make our regular troops here
available in the field. The same remarks are applicable to the reserves of
North Carolina, who could render similar services at Wilmington, and allow the
regular troops to take the field against any force that might land there. I
need not remind Your Excellency that the reserves are of great value in
connection with our regular troops, to prevent disaster, but would be of little
avail to retrieve it. For this reason they should be put in service before the
numerical superiority of the enemy enables him to inflict a damaging blow upon
the regular forces opposed to him. In my opinion the necessity for them will
never be more urgent, or their services of greater value than now; and I
entertain the same views as to the importance of immediately bringing into the
regular service every man liable to military duty. It will be too late to do so
after our armies meet with disaster, should such unfortunately be the case. I
trust Your Excellency will excuse the length and earnestness of this letter, in
view of the vital importance of its subject, and am confident that you will do
all in your power to accomplish the objects I have in view.
With great respect,
your obedient servant.
R. E. LEE,
General.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
42 (Serial No. 88), p. 1228-30
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