relinquish--not only such luxuries as tea and coffee, but also
such utter necessities as medicines. And though the native herbs
were diligently studied, though the Government established
medical laboratories with results that were not inconsiderable,
the shortage of medicines remained throughout the war a
distressing feature of Southern life. The Tredegar Iron Works at
Richmond and a foundry at Selma, Alabama,were the only mills in
the South capable of casting the heavy ordnance necessary for
military purposes. And the demand for powder mills and gun
factories to provide for the needs of the army was scarcely
greater than the demand for cotton mills and commercial foundries
to supply the wants of the civil population. The Government
worked without ceasing to keep pace with the requirements of the
situation, and, in view of the immense difficulties which it had
to face, it was fairly successful in supplying the needs of the
army. Powder was provided by the Niter and Mining Bureau; lead
for Confederate bullets was collected from many sources--even
from
the window-weights of the houses; iron was brought from the mines
of Alabama; guns came from newly built factories; and machines
and tools were part of the precious freight of the
blockade-runners. Though the poorly equipped mills turned a
portion of the cotton crop into textiles, and though everything
that was possible was done to meet the needs of the people, the
supply of manufactures was sadly inadequate. The universal
shortage was betrayed by the limitation of the size of most
newspapers to a single sheet, and the desperate situation clearly
and completely revealed by the way in which, as a last resort,
the Confederates were compelled to repair their railroads by
pulling up the rails of one road in order to repair another that