investigation in the base of the capitol, used as an armory, where
an immense amount of this work had been done. I have been told that
the basement of our National capitol has been used to prepare bread
for loyal soldiers; _that_ basement was used to prepare them
bullets. At Bowling Green I saw many thousands of rifles and
shot-guns which had been collected for alteration, and the machine
shop of the Louisville and Nashville railroad was used as an armory.
Many of these guns were destroyed, and others left, when the town
was evacuated. Nor should it be forgotten that almost every man of
any position owned a pair of Colt's repeaters, many of them of the
army and navy size. These were eagerly bought up by the Confederate
authorities, who paid from thirty to sixty dollars apiece for them.
They were for the cavalry service. Add to these facts, that every
country blacksmith made cutlasses from old files, &c.; most of them
clumsy but serviceable weapons in a close encounter. Artillery and
cavalry sabers were manufactured at New Orleans, Memphis, and
Nashville, and probably at other places.

In short, at the beginning of the year 1862, there was rather a
surfeit than any scarcity of arms all over the South. Indeed, the
energies of the entire people were employed in the production of
every description of small-arms, and the enthusiasm displayed rivals
the example of ancient Carthage, in her last fruitless struggle
against the Romans. And this enthusiasm pervades all classes. I
doubt not, if the bow was considered a weapon of war now, the fair
maidens of the South would gladly contribute their flowing tresses
for bowstrings, if necessary, as did the women of Carthage. Their
zeal and self-denial are seen in the fact that the ladies have
given vast amounts of jewelry to be sold to build gunboats,
fortifications, &c.; the women of Alabama actually contributing