When Josiah Gorgas (1818–1883) was appointed chief of the Confederate Bureau of Ordnance in April 1861, the South lacked the industrial capacity to produce the arms and ammunition necessary to fight a major war. Gorgas set about solving the problem by establishing the Bureau of Foreign Supplies to oversee the importation of arms and manufacturing equipment from Europe. He also worked to create a Southern industrial system specifically designed to meet the needs of the Confederate Army. Despite an assortment of handicaps that included an inferior rail system, the South was able to procure and manufacture vast amounts of war materials by the middle of the war.