CONFEDERATE STATES. 



211 



mies in the field without causing suffering among the 

 people till the harvests are gathered next autumn. 

 From that time we shall be entirely dependent on 

 those harvests, and that they may be rendered ad- 

 equate to our wants I unhesitatingly recommend the 

 adoption of the third plan suggested by Gen. Bragg. 



Let the emergency be urged upon the President, 

 while there is yet time to save ourselves. 



Your obedient servant, L. B. NORTHROP, 



Commissary-General, C. S. E. 



Three causes operated during the year to dis- 

 tress the people for provisions: the desola- 

 tion by war of some of the most productive 

 portions of the country, and the reduction of 

 the number of farmers by conscription ; the 

 difficulty of transportation thereby equalizing 

 the production ; and the absence of any proper 

 medium of exchange to induce the farmers and 

 planters to exchange their produce. The first 

 and severest sufferers under these circumstan- 

 ces were those inhabitants of cities and towns 

 who were dependent on wages, and those who 

 composed the families of soldiers in the army. 

 Early in the spring, the dissatisfaction which 

 existed broke out in open tumults. At Salis- 

 bury, North Carolina, a body of soldiers' wives, 

 on if arch 19th, assembled to make an attack 

 upon a storehouse where flour was deposited. 

 On the 25th, a similar occurrence took place at 

 Kaleigh, in the same State. On the 2d of April, 

 a riot broke out in Richmond, the object of 

 which was to obtain food. Another occurred in 

 Mobile, Alabama, about the 15th of April. (See 

 ALABAMA.) In other places similar disturbances 

 took place. In all the cases women were the 

 actors. (See RIOTS.) 



These public disturbances soon ceased with 

 the advance of the season. By the military 

 operations which, followed, the supply of cattle 

 from Texas was cut off, and also the produce 

 from Middle and Eastern Tennessee. The 

 crops during the summer were represented 

 to be good, but as the latter part of the year 

 approached, the apprehensions of a scarcity 

 were manifest. It was said, "the coming 

 winter will be one of unusual trials." In Oc- 

 tober the following facts occurred at Rich- 

 mond. One firm sent one hundred barrels of 

 flour to be sold at $27, while the price in the 

 stores was from $65 to $75, and promised to 

 the city all the flour on hand and all the tolls 

 they might receive at Government prices. An- 

 other firm offered to sell all the flour sent for 

 consumers without any charge for commis- 

 sions. Another offered to grind all the wheat 

 purchased by the city, at the cost of labor. 

 The city of Richmond established a Board of 

 Supply to purchase articles of necessity to be 

 sold to the poor at cost. Petersburg did the 

 same, and the Secretary of War instructed the 

 officers of the Government to facilitate the la- 

 bors of these committees. All the churches 

 and civic societies undertook to support their 

 own poor. One firm, after strenuous efforts for 

 several days, were unable to purchase a lot of 

 flour for the accommodation of their customers, 

 and concluded that the farmers were prevented 



from sending in their wheat because they were 

 required to sell it at five dollars per busheL 

 That there was an abundance in the country, 

 and to spare, no one doubted. On the 29th of 

 October, beef was quoted in Richmond at a 

 dollar to a dollar and a half per pound. The 

 butchers said, they were unable to get cattle, 

 and might be compelled to close their stalls. 

 By an arrangement between the butchers and 

 the Government, it ought to have sold at sixty- 

 five to seventy cents per pound. The newspa- 

 per press of Richmond said : " By a very decid- 

 ed vote the consumers of Richmond have agreed 

 to pay the market price for everything. But if 

 nothing is brought to market, and the people 

 are made to suffer for food and fuel, when both 

 are abundant, then it is very certain that force 

 will secure what funds cannot. Consumers 

 have done their duty ; producers must do 

 theirs." The agents of the city of Richmond 

 sent to Louisa and the adjoining counties re- 

 ported that "the farmers had nothing to sell." 

 It was said that graziers would not bring their 

 cattle to the city to be seized, if they did not 

 sll to the butchers at Government prices. As 

 an illustration of the operation of the " maxi- 

 mum" (price fixed), considerable slaughtered 

 beef was received by some of the butchers. 

 Slaughtered beef was exempt from impress- 

 ment. It was said, on November 2d : 



The speculators are now masters of the situation in 

 regard to the prices of flour a barrel of which, of any 

 kind, at any price, is next to impossible to obtain. 

 The hoarders should be made to come to terms that 

 is, to put their stores in the market. 



Beef is in great abundance in the Piedmont country, 

 we learn, and also in the upper valley, and sells at from 

 thirty-five to fifty-six cents on the hoof. If the im- 

 pressing officers will hold off their hands, we need 

 nave no fears for the coming winter. 



At an early hour on Saturday morning the meat sup- 

 plied at the city market gave out, and numerous fami- 

 lies in consequence had to dine off Grahamite dinners. 

 So long as beef is impressed for the benefit of twelve 

 thousand Yankee prisoners, this condition of the city 

 markets may be expected to continue. 



The condition of the supplies in Charleston 

 is thus described : 



Since the necessaries of life have reached the very 

 exorbitant rates which they now command, our city 

 fathers have been most zealously laboring for the ben- 

 efit of the citizens at large, and with what success the 

 thousands who are now daily supplied with flour, rice, 

 &c., at less than half the current market prices, can 

 gratefully testify. The action of the council in this 

 matter, as well as for the supply of fuel, has tended 

 very materially to check the inflation of prices, which, 

 but for this course, would be much higher. Yesterday 

 afternoon one hundred and fifty cords of wood were 

 distributed in quarter cord lots to six hundred fami- 

 lies, at the rate of twelve dollars per cord. 



It was reported that in Southeastern Ala- 

 bama, and Southwestern Georgia, fifty per cent, 

 more of hogs had been raised than at any pre- 

 vious season of the year. The crops of wheat 

 gathered in those sections were unusually large. 

 In North Carolina the agents of the city of 

 Petersburg were quite successful in procuring 

 supplies. It was asserted that either North or 

 South Carolina, Georgia, or Alabama, could 



