Breckinridge, John C. (John Cabell), 1821-1875 to Jefferson Davis

Official report to the president, signed as Confederate secretary of war, tracing the state of the Confederacy's finances from 1861 to the present. He declares that the current abysmal state of the budget, and the consequent inability of the nation to meet its debts, is causing desertion and a decline in civilian morale. "I invite your attention to the condition of this Department in respect to its claim upon the Treasury, and the necessity for prompt attention to that claim...Of the requisitions for 1864 and 1865 there remains unpaid the sum of $161,322,573.45 and besides this the sum of $69,601,422.58 which were drawn prior to the 1st April last in old issue returned to the Treasury...The army pay is in arrear for several months. This is an excuse for desertion, the sale of clothing, equipments, and munitions by the soldiers. The operatives in the workshops are suffering and many have deserted. The railroad service is reduced to the lowest point of depression from the same cause. The soldiers in hospitals and who have been furloughed or returned are deprived of many necessaries. Throughout the whole country discontent and discredit has arisen from the failure to pay for supplies of food and animals that have been impressed. It is plainly impracticable for this Department to carry on any of its operations under such a condition of things."