CS commissary bureau

[atlantis]

CS commissary operations have long been condemned as substandard. Question how much was this the fault of congress and how much the fault of the commissary general. My understanding is the bureau was underfunded.

 

[leftyhunter]

CS commissary operations have long been condemned as substandard. Question how much was this the fault of congress and how much the fault of the commissary general. My understanding is the bureau was underfunded.

There are other factors that we need to evaluate before casting blame.
One major problem and I will defer to our logistics expert @wausaubob is adequate transportation. The Confedracy had major difficulties in all areas of transportation. Obviously trains are the quickest way to transport goods in the mid Nineteenth Century but they require a lot inferstructure and skilled personnel. They also need adequate protection against Unionist guerrillas and Union Cavalry.
Boats are very efficient other then the small caveat of rivers don't always go where there needed plus the Union Navy can be an issue.
Horses can go anywhere except the water but they need lots of food and clean water which isn't always going to be the case. Draft animals require no small amount of grain not just grass and filthy water carries diseases that can kill horses.
Seaborne shipping can work but again the USN can be problematic in that regard.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

CS commissary operations have long been condemned as substandard. Question how much was this the fault of congress and how much the fault of the commissary general. My understanding is the bureau was underfunded.

As pointed out in the book" Bitterly Divided the South's Inner Civil War" David Williams thenewpress.com many plantation owners refused to grow food and instead grew crops for export.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

CS commissary operations have long been condemned as substandard. Question how much was this the fault of congress and how much the fault of the commissary general. My understanding is the bureau was underfunded.

Also in terms of food production if farmers are in the army or even diverted from work in the Homeguards which definitly occurred and slaves run away that's a problem that the Commissary Bureau can't solve.
Leftyhunter

 

[leftyhunter]

CS commissary operations have long been condemned as substandard. Question how much was this the fault of congress and how much the fault of the commissary general. My understanding is the bureau was underfunded.

How does one convince others in the American South to accept Confedrate money which is basically monopoly money as the war progresses?
Leftyhunter

 

[Rhea Cole]

Firstly, the Confederate states produced more than enough food to support the army. The data from the 1860 census leaved no doubt of that. Farmers were taxed in kind a percentage of the crop. No money exchanged hands. The incompetence of the commissary officials, root, stem & branch beggars belief. Mountains of taxes in kind gathered from farmers rotted at rail junctions. It didn't take much of that to dampen the farmer's enthusiasm. Due to dim wits CSA armies starved in the midst of plenty.

 

[DaveBrt]

Firstly, the Confederate states produced more than enough food to support the army. The data from the 1860 census leaved no doubt of that. Farmers were taxed in kind a percentage of the crop. No money exchanged hands. The incompetence of the commissary officials, root, stem & branch beggars belief. Mountains of taxes in kind gathered from farmers rotted at rail junctions. It didn't take much of that to dampen the farmer's enthusiasm. Due to dim wits CSA armies starved in the midst of plenty.

You forgot what you just said -- "Mountains of taxes in kind gathered from farmers rotted at rail junctions." The first problem was a railroad system that could not handle the very heavy load the war imposed upon it. The second problem was the lack of farmers once conscription took hold. Corruption of the Commissary Bureau and speculation by civilians would not have existed if the required food was produced and delivered to where it was needed.

 

[jackt62]

It also didn't help that the CS Commissary General was Lucius Northrup, who was considered by many within the CS government and military to be mediocre in performing that function.

 

[Rhea Cole]

It also didn't help that the CS Commissary General was Lucius Northrup, who was considered by many within the CS government and military to be mediocre in performing that function.

Northrup was in a class by himself. "The most hated man in the Confederacy" was incompetent to a point that one prominent historian said that a man with evil intent could have not done half the damage Northrup did.