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ADDRESS.
Fellow Confederate Survivors:
In accepting your invitation to address you on the general historyof the Confederate Powder Works, I do so with some hesitation, onaccount of my close personal connection with a subject which absorbedmy thought, time and energies.
In the history of a war we find, generally, but little referenceto the manufactories engaged in the preparation of material; theyhad been previously established, and were in active operation beforeits commencement, their products being immediately available foractive operations. An instance can scarcely be found in modernwarfare where previous preparations had not been made, and wherethe necessary manufacturing works did not already exist.
The late war was entered upon unexpectedly. Throughout theSouthern country it was supposed that the North would not seriouslyoppose a secession of the States from the Federal compact, henceno previous provision had been made for such contingency, and nomaterial of war gathered.
Manufactories existed on a very limited scale, and none for warpurposes, hence their speedy erection was of extreme importance,and had to be accomplished under the most unfavorable conditions.
The entire supply of gunpowder in the Confederacy at the beginningof the conflict, was scarcely sufficient for one month of activeoperations, and not a pound was being made throughout its limits.To enter upon a great war without a supply of this essentialmaterial, and without effective means of procuring it from abroad,or of manufacturing it at home, was appalling.
No one was so well aware of this condition of things as the Presidentof the Confederate States, who, being an educated soldier, wasfully alive to the requirements of war, and at once took activemeasures for the creation of war material. Among these, was theerection of a great gunpowder manufactory.
It is the custom of the different nations, in addition to the privatefactories of gunpowder, to have erected at different points national[p4] works to supply the demand for war. The very limited resourcesof the Confederacy not admitting of division, had to be accumulatedat one point. Mr. Davis was necessarily acquainted with most of theofficers of the old army, as he was graduated at West Point, servedwith great distinction in the war with Mexico, and had been Secretaryof War under the Federal Government; he was thus enabledto select his agents for the different services required. Thus thatvery competent officer, General Gorgas, was placed at the head ofthe Ordnance Department; I had the honor of being appointed totake charge of the manufactory of gunpowder, a carte blanche beinggiven. The necessary works were to be e