JACKSON, MIss., September 11 1862. Hon. SECRETARY OF WAR, Richmond, Va.:
Your dispatches about arms received. Chief of Ordnance of Van Dorn's command believes, as I do, that a conflict of orders exists about arms. Gorgas says he sent 7,000 to Price and 2,000 to Pettus. There are no arms at Columbus or elsewhere for exchanged prisoners arriving rapidly and anxious to go forward. Please see ordnance officer at Richmond and direct arms to be sent to Colonel Stockton, at Jackson.
LLOYD TILGHMAN.[Indorsements.]
Chief of Ordnance, for immediate attention.
G. W. RANDOLPH.The above arms were sent by special messengers with Capt. Clay Taylor.
J. GORGAS. RICHMOND, Va.
From this we learn that exchanged prisoners were armed by means of a shipment from Richmond to the armory at Jackson MS. No arms came from the arsenal at Columbus MS. Service records of Capt W. Ormsby Watts, ordnance officer for General Tilghman, include a letter commending Tilghman for quickly turning the mass of exchanged prisoners into a fighting force. Watts writes, "The dispatch with which Genl T organized, armed and equipped this army was amazing when officers and men were more like children just let loose from school." This letter appears in fold3 under Confederate Officers, W Ormsby Watts, images 44-52.
Evidently the majority of ams received were altered percussion muskets. Watts mentions altered percussion muskets and his repeated requests for "long-range" rifles to arm the right companies of regiments. In this way, he explains, Tilghman's men could contend with "Yankee sharpshooters" on equal terms.
As late as the 1st quarter of 1864, the ordnance officer of the brigade, Lt Oscar F Bledsoe, was issuing ammunition as follows --
200,000 cal 69
75,000 cal 58
50,000 cal 54
20 cal 36
Other reports appear in the records of Lt Bledsoe. Obviously altered US percussion muskets were the most common arm carried by the 26th Mississippi from late 1862 through early 1864.
For data on arms carried by Mississippians serving under Brig Gen Joseph Davis, see inspection reports for the army of Northern Virginia. More information on that if anyone is interested.