We are not increasing our forces as rapidly as might be
desired, for the want of arms. We had some 150,000 stand of small arms, at the
beginning of the war, taken from the arsenals; and the States owned probably
100,000 more. Half of these were flint-locks, which are being altered. None
have been imported yet. Occasionally a letter reaches the department from
Nashville, offering improved arms at a high price, for gold. These are
Yankees. I am instructed by the Secretary to say they will be paid for in gold
on delivery to an agent in Nashville. The number likely to be obtained in this
manner, however, must be small; for the Yankee Government is exercising much
vigilance. Is not this a fair specimen of Yankee cupidity and character? The
New England manufacturers are furnishing us, with whom they are at war, with
arms to fight with, provided we agree to pay them a higher price than is
offered by their own Government! The philosophical conclusion is, that this war
will end when it ceases to be a pecuniary speculation.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 78
