In Jail Richmond Va July 15, 1861
Cn Main & 26 street
Brig Genl Winder
Sir
I have to report the three last guards as coming without arms except the one to-day which has flint lock muskets without flints. or bayonets. I attempted to load one. but found the powder settled between the pan & barrel making it impossible to fire it off, although a flint was picked up & inserted for trial.
I am very respectfully
David W Todd
1st Lt CSa in charge
(Verso)
Complaining that unarmed Guards have be sent to this Jail
Hd Qr Richmond
July 16th 1862
Respy referred to Genl Fauntleroy1 for Correction
R E Lee
Genl Comy
Respy referred to Col Gilham2 for correction
By order
J E Johnston
Ma’j & A A Genl
Read July 15th 1861
Source: The Archives of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, Papers of the Lee Family, Box 3, M2009.259
Transcribed by Caitlin Connelly, 2016 May 31
1. Thomas T. Fauntleroy (ca. 1795/96 – 1883) was a soldier active in the US Army during the War of 1812, Seminole War of 1836, the Mexican-American War, and expeditions against Utes and Apaches in the 1850s. He resigned his commission after the Battle of Fort Sumter in 1861 and was appointed Brigadier General of the Provisional Army of Virginia. He refused to confirm this commission after the organization of the CSA and was relieved of that rank in August of 1861.
2. William Gilham (1818-1872) was a soldier who served in the Seminole War and the Mexican-American War. In 1846 he became a professor at the Virginia Military Institute, and in 1860 wrote a manual that was in use for 145 years. He became a colonel in the Confederate Army in 1861 and instructed new recruits at Camp Lee in Richmond, VA. He briefly commanded a brigade but soon returned to teaching at VMI. After the war he became the President of the Southern Fertilizer Company.
