The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 349
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, 1868-1865 349
purchase, collection or other disposition of government cotton
were ordered to report to and receive instructions from him. As
the area of the department was too great to be administered effi-
ciently from a single office, subordinate offices were established at
Houston, Texas, and Monticello, Arkansas.83 The purpose of the
creation of the bureau was to insure uniformity of policy and
method in making available the one marketable resource of the
country and to guarantee centralization of control at the com-
mander's headquarters. But this plan, especially the order forc-
ing all agents under the control of the bureau, was opposed by
those who had been sent out by the war department. However,
the executive officers at Richmond sustained the commander.84
Of the sub-bureaus, that known as the "Texas cotton office" at
Houston, was the most important because of the area of its op-
erations, the great amount of cotton produced in Texas, and its
close proximity to Mexico, which was the chief outlet for the
staple. Lieutenant-Colonel W. J. Hutchins, a capable and well-
known business man of Houston, was placed in charge of this office
and was instructed to, make plans for it satisfactory to the Texans,
just, uniform, and effective. This cotton office became, by order of
the commander, the purchasing bureau of all supplies, through the
medium of cotton, for the district of Texas, and agents already
purchasing cotton in the district were made subject to it."5
From, the first the cotton office was beset with difficulties. Its
funds were meager, and it was forced into unequal competition
with the state agent and the speculator, both of whom could pay
higher prices with better money. Frequently, indeed, cotton that
had been engaged by Confederate agents was delivered to the
speculator or the state for a higher price. Smith protested to
Governor ifurrah against the state plan for purchasing cotton;
83Special Orders No. 198, November 22, 1863, Off. Recs., XXVI, ii, 437.
438. When the Arkansas office was established cannot abe determined,
but it was probably not until the summer of 1864.
84Texas Republican, December 9, 1864; Off. Recs., Series IV, Vol. II,
1016.
s"The Galveston Tri-Weekly News, March 28, 1864; The Weekly State
Gazette, October 26, 1864.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/355/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.