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the report of the keeper of public arms, he had ‘ordered and received at the arsenal 1,400 rifle muskets.’
This constituted the armament of the State of Tennessee.
The chief of ordnance, Capt. M. H. Wright, thoroughly educated to the duties of his place, soon organized a force for the repair of arms, the manufacture and preparation of ammunition and the equipments of the soldiers, and for the conversion of the flint-lock muskets to percussion; and aided by patriotic citizens like Samuel D. Morgan, established a plant for the manufacture of percussion caps.
Thus he was able to supply the troops of Tennessee as they took the field.
Shipments of caps were made to the authorities at Richmond, who used them very largely at the first battle of Manassas.
About 3,000 pounds of powder were being manufactured daily.
Foundries for the manufacture of field guns were constructed at Nashville and Memphis, and by November, guns of good pattern were turned out at both points at the rate of six a week.
Capt. W. R. Hunt, of the ordnance department, was the efficient head at Memphis.
Nashville soon became a great depot of supplies for the Confederate States.
The manufacture of powder was stimulated, fixed ammunition was made in large quantities, large supplies of leather and material for clothing and blankets were gathered in, and factories for the manufacture of shoes and hats on a large scale were established.
Great stores of bacon and flour and everything required by an army were provided.
From these stores supplies were sent to Virginia and all points in the Southwest, and Nashville attained a degree of importance it never before enjoyed and perhaps will not soon again enjoy.
Major-General Pillow established his headquarters at Memphis and very soon organized the Provisional Army of Tennessee.
Before the close of the month of May, twenty-one regiments of infantry were armed and equipped and in the field, and ten artillery companies and
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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