Hello- Also, if anyone has any information regarding the manufacturing capability of the City of New Orleans, or comments on same, this would be additive to Mr. Black's line of enquiry. Any information brought to light regarding the shadowy Mr. Kirk appreciated. The loss of the manufacturing capability of the city of New Orleans, early in 1862, proved to be a fatal blow to the Confederacy. The Confederacy was actually ahead of the Federals in construction of modern warships and armament early on. Steam engines to be built in New Orleans never reached the ten hulls they were planned for. This at a time when the total production of ironclads in the north was two side-wheels and the U.S.S. Monitor with the Eads boats soon on the rivers. To fall behind is to be run over.

The manufactury of the South would not have reached the stage it did without the energy and ability of two naval fellows. Mr. Carr, without whom the ability of the South to manufacture its own machine tools would never have been realized. He was formely on staff of the Steam Engineering Dept. at the Gosport Yard. Mr. Williamson , formely head of the Steam Engineering Dept. of the United States Navy, whos contribution to both the Army and the Navy of the Confederate States by vertue of his energy and ability are incalcuable.

Regarding Gorgas, with minimal resources and under constant increasing pressure on land and sea, this fellow grew a manufacturing and logistics operation that provided.

Gorgas left a journal that gives some insight into the man. It is published by the University of Alabama Press. Also pertinent is the text "Plowshares into Swords" by Frank E. Vandiver, which chronicles the Ordnance Bureau of the Southern Confederacy. The most enlightening details of the operation were brought to me through reading the transcripts of Congressional hearings regarding the losses; details of capacity given. These are in the OR's, both Army and Navy.

I'm interested in what knowledge you folks out there have on the topic. Any decendents of Southern machinists out there?