September 21, 1862 (Sunday): For Want of Shoes

Civil War Richmond (etc.usf.edu)

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
Near Martinsburg, W. Va., September 21, 1862.
Colonel A. C. MYERS, Quartermaster-General, Richmond, Va.:
    COLONEL: I desire to call your attention to the great deficiency of clothing in this army (particularly under-clothing and shoes), for the want of which there is much suffering. When in Maryland, I am informed by Colonel Corley, there were purchased, through individuals privately, by the Quartermaster's Department, for distribution, some 4,000 or 5,000 pairs of shoes. This was by no means sufficient to supply the men without them, there being at this time at Winchester a camp of 900 men who are not effective because barefooted, and a great many more likewise with the army. The near approach of cold weather rudders it all the more necessary that clothes, and especially underclothing, should be supplied, and I request that you will forward to Winchester, at as early a day as practicable, such a supply of clothing and shoes as it is in the power of the Department under your control to furnish.
    I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,


    R. E. LEE,
    General.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 19, Part 2, Page 614.

The accounts of the Antietam campaign rightly focus on the straggling in Lee's army caused, at least in part, by a lack of shoes.  Now back in Virginia, Lee petitions the Quartermaster-General for shoes and under clothing.