138 Southern Historical Society Pampers.
cessful candidates were from Virginia than from any other one State, but though the order of merit was thus not strictly followed, the appointments were all made from successful candidates. It is pro- bable that by this method of selection General Gorgas secured a far better body of officers than he could have obtained in any other way.
As soon as the army had fully settled down in their winter quar- ters, after the battle of Fredericksburg, the work of the organization of the department in the field was begun and carried forward. At the same time the army was being supplied for the coming campaign. Colonel B. G. Baldwin, the chief ordnance officer, Army of Northern Virginia, ordered a thorough inspection and report of the condition of the equipments and ammunition throughout the army. Steps were taken to obtain officers for the brigades from the list of success- ful candidates. The work of organizing the artillery into battalions was going on at the same time, and it was decided to assign a lieu- tenant of ordnance to each one of these battalions, and a captain as chief ordnance officer to the artillery of each corps. By February these appointments were pretty much all made, and the chief ord- nance officer of the army had his department thoroughly organized. The inspection of ordnance supplies in the hands of the troops, which had been irregular and imperfect, was now made systematic and exact. Reports of the amount and condition of supplies on hand, and the requisitions to fill deficiencies, were now made at regu- lar intervals. Before this, they had often been careless and hap- hazard.
This result was partly the consequence of the measures adopted to diminish the great waste of ordnance supplies in the hands of the men. When I took charge of the ordnance of the Second corps, Army of Northern Virginia, in January, 1863, it was reported to me that during the preceding three months ammunition, amounting to twenty-five rounds per man, had been wasted or destroyed. This did not include of course that used in the battle of Fredericksburg, but it did include that used on the picket line and perhaps some used in skirmishes. Urgent representations came from Richmond as to the necessity of checking this waste, if the department was to be expected to accumulate an adequate supply for the next summer. From General Gorgas's paper, already referred to, we find that the total capacity of the department for the manufacture of infantry ammunition was about a half a round a day to the man, or in other words forty-five rounds per man in three months. This capacity had
