Josiah Gorgas (1818-1883) was a General and Chief of Ordnance for the Confederate States Army; later, president of the University of Alabama.

The collection includes a typescript copy of General Gorgas' notes concerning the arms and artillery of the Confederate States Army during the U.S. Civil War. Gorgas reports on the distribution of rifles and muskets at the beginning of the war, the resources needed to supply the armies with arms and ammunition, the manufacture of infantry, artillery and cavalry equipment; the organization of the Bureau of Ordnance; the transfer of guns to the South; and his role in coordinating everything from his post in Charlotte, NC. Gorgas makes observations about specific types of artillery, such as the Napoleon Field Gun and the Borman Fuze, and describes three explosions at Confederate arsenal laboratories. A list of principal issues from the Richmond Arsenal, July 1, 1861 to Jan. 1, 1865, is also included. A copy of a 1911 letter from Gorgas' son William C. Gorgas to General William Crozier says that President Jefferson Davis used extracts from these notes in a book about the Confederacy.

The typescript copy was made at the Birmingham District Ordnance Office, April 8, 1926.