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 Duke University Libraries 
 
 Correspondence 
 Conf Pam #452 
 
READ AND HAND TO YOUR NEIGHBOR. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 BirrwEEN THE 
 
 SECRETARY OF ¥AR 
 
 AXD 
 
 GOVE K NOR BROWN, 
 
 * 
 
 GRdlWIXG OUT OF A REQUISITION MADE 
 UPON THE GOVERNOR FOR THE 
 
 RESERVE MILITIA OFi GEOR&U 
 
 TO BE TURNED OVER TO CONFEDERATE CONTROL. 
 
 f. 
 
 BOUGHTON, NISBET. BARNES & MOORE, Stath Printers, 
 
 UILLEDGIYILLE, na, 'i^ 
 
 1865. 
 
^^ 
 
 OVv' 
 
 George Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BV THE 
 
 FAMILY OF 
 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
■M^^ 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, 
 War Department, 
 Richmond Va., Av^st 30, 1864 
 
 1 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY J. E. BROWN, 
 
 GovBRNoii OF Georgia, 
 
 Milledgerille, Georgia, 
 Sir : 
 
 The condition of your State, subjected to formidable ia- 
 yasion and menaced with destructive raids in different direc- 
 tions by the enemy, requires the command of all the fortes 
 that can be summoned for defence. From recent official 
 correspondence submitted to the Department, it appears, 
 on your statement, that you iiave organized ten thousand 
 or more of the militia of your State, and I am instructed 
 by the President to make requisition on you for that num- 
 ber, and such further force of militia, to repel invasion, as 
 you may be able to organize, for Confederate service. Those 
 within the limits of General Hood's Department will report 
 to him ; those outside, to the Commandant of the Depart- 
 ment of South Carolina and Georgia. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant 
 
 JAMES A.SEDDON, 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, ) 
 MiLLEDGEViLLE, Ga., September 12, 1864. > 
 
 Hun. Ja/iies A. Seddon, Secretary of War, 
 
 Sir : Your letter of 30th of last month only reached me 
 by last mail. 
 
You refer to the fact that I have organized ten thousand 
 of the militiji of this State, and say you are instructed by 
 the President to make requisition upon me for that number 
 and such other force of militia to repel invasion as I may be 
 able to organize. 
 
 You preface this requisition by the remark that the condi- 
 tion of my State, subjected to formidable invasion and 
 menaced with destructive raids in difterent directions by 
 the enemy, requires the command of all the forces that can 
 be summoned for defence. 
 
 In common with the people of Georgia, I have abundant 
 reason to i*egret that the President has been so late in mak- 
 ing this discovery. This "formidable invasion" commenced 
 in May last, and has steadily forced its way, by reason of 
 OTerwhelming numbers, through the most fertile section of 
 Georgia, till its leader is now in possession of the city of 
 Atlanta, menacing the centre of tho State, threatening by 
 his winter campaign to cut the last line of railroad that 
 connects Virginia and the Carolinas with Alabama and Mis- 
 sissippi. The President, during most of the time since the 
 campaign against Atlanta began, has had at his command a 
 large force, said to number some 30,000 men in Texas and 
 Louisiana. Since the brilliant victories achieved by our 
 armies in the latter State early in the season, this large 
 force has had no enemy to confront except the troops ot a 
 few garrisons, who were in no condition to penetrate the 
 interior of the country or do any serious damage. He has 
 also, if correctly reported, had about 20,000 men under 
 General Early, invadingMaryland and Pennsylvania, thereby 
 uniting Northern sentiment against us and aiding President 
 Lincoln to rally his people to reinforce his armies. About 
 the same time General Morgan was raiding in Kentucky, 
 and General Forrest, the great cavalry leader, has been kept 
 in Northern Mississippi .to repel raids after the country had 
 been so often overrun as to leave but little public property 
 for them to destroy. 
 
 Thus, reversing the rule upon which most great Gen- 
 erals, who have been successful, have acted, of rapid con- 
 centration of his forces at vital points to destroy the invad- 
 ing army, the President has scattered his forces from Texas 
 to Pennsylvania, while a severe blow was being struck at 
 the heart of the Confederacy; and Atlanta has -been sacri- 
 ficed and the interior of Georgia thrown open to further in- 
 vasion for want of reinforcements to. the army of Tennessee. 
 Probably few intelligent men in the country, except the 
 President and his advisers, have failed to see that if Generals 
 Forrest and Morgan had been sent to destroy the railroads 
 over which General Sherman's supplies have been transport- 
 ed for three hundred miles through an enemy's country^ 
 
and to keep the roads cut for a few weeks, and at the sams 
 time the forces of Geaeral E. Kirby Smith and Major Gen- 
 eral Early, or even half of them, had been sent to reinforce 
 Gen. Johnston, or after he was superceeded. General Hood, 
 the army of invasion might not only have been repulsed and 
 driven back, but routed and destroyed. 
 
 This would instantly have relieved Georgia, Alabama, 
 Mississippi and Tennessee from invasion and raids, and have 
 thrown open the green fields of Kentucky for the support 
 of our gallant troops. As the army of General ShermaR 
 is the only protection provided by the Lincoln government 
 for the Western States, and as tiie battle for the possession 
 of a large portion of the Mississippi Valley, as well as of 
 the Gulf States, was t& be fought in Georgia, justice, not 
 only to the people of Georgia, but the pe-ople of all the 
 States, required that all the troops which were not actually 
 necessary to the defence of Richmond, and to hold the ene- 
 my in check at the most vical points on the coast, should 
 have been concentrated for the destruction of the Federal 
 army in Georgia, which would, in all probability have 
 brought the war to a speedy termination. 
 
 I have begged iha President to send reinforcements to the 
 *anny for the defence of Atlanta ever since the enemy were 
 at Etowah. But a very small number have been sent, and 
 if I am correctly informed, part of the troops under General 
 Hood's command have been ordered from this to other 
 States. 
 
 Whib wo have been sorely pressed by the enemy a camp 
 of 30,000 Federal prisoners has been kept in the rear of 
 our army, which has added greatly to our embarrassments, 
 and has it seems required all the small force of Confederate 
 Reserves, organized by Major General Cobb, with other oc- 
 cassional reinforcements to guard them. The reserve force 
 organized under the late Conscript Act for State de- 
 fence, has been thus employed, I presume, by order of the 
 President, and in the hour of her peril Georgia has not had 
 a single one of them at the front v^-ith a musket in his hand 
 to aid in her defence. Had the militia been at his command 
 for such service as he might have ordered, and at such 
 place as he might designate, the presumption is that the 
 same remark might have been Applicable to them, as other 
 employment could, as in case of the local companies under 
 the President's command, have been found for them at other 
 places while the enemy were besieging Atlanta. 
 
 Another remarkable fact deserves attention. During the 
 whole march of the enemy upon Atlanta, and for more 
 than a month after it was closely invested and shelled by 
 the enemy, it never seems to have occurred to the President 
 to make requisition upon me for the militia of Georgia to 
 
aid in repelling this "formidable invasion" or these "de- 
 structive raids," and it is only when he is informed that I 
 have an organization of gallant, fearless men ready to de- 
 fend the State against usurpations of power as well as in- 
 vasions by the enemy, that he makes req-uisition upon me 
 for this force and all others I can organize. I must express 
 my astonishment, however, that you and the President 
 should seem to be ignorant of the fact that this force was 
 organized by roe to aid in repelling the army of invasion, 
 that it was placed by me under the command of General 
 Johnston and afterwards of General Hood for the defence 
 of Atlanta, and that the brave men of which it is composed 
 under the command of the General appointed by the Presi- 
 dent for the defence of the city, have taken their full share 
 in the dangers, fatigues and sufferings of the campaign and 
 have acted with distinguished valor both upon the battle- 
 field and for over forty days in the trenches around the city 
 of Atlanta, and that they formed the rear guard vdien At- 
 lanta was evacuated, and brought off with them safe and in 
 good order the reserve artillery of the army which was 
 especially entrusted to them by the Oommander-in-chief 
 For all this no word of thanks or praise comes from the 
 President to encourage them. They wcr*' iiiilitia. Their 
 Generals and other officers were not ; jtpointed by the 
 President and their services are ignored by him. 
 
 In making this requisition it is quite clear that it was no 
 part of the President's object to get these brave men into 
 service. They were there at the time, in the trenches, 
 among those who were nearest to the enemy, wliere they 
 never faltered in a single instance. It was not done to pro- 
 duce harmony in the command, for the most perfect harmo- 
 ny has existed betvv-een me and both the Generals who have 
 commanded the army since the militia were called out, and 
 it is well known that I placed them for the time under the 
 absolute control of the Confederate General commanding. It 
 was not done to increase the number in service at the front, 
 for the President is too familiar with the obstacles thrown 
 in my way by Confederate officers when I have attempted 
 to compel men to go to the trenches, to have committed 
 this mistake. It was certainly not done to cause Georgia 
 to furnish her quota of troops required in like proportion 
 of other States, for she has already furnished more than her 
 just quota, and to every call responded with more than 
 were required, while she has borne the rigors of conscrip- 
 titn executed with as much severity as in any other State. 
 I hear of no similar requisition having been made upon any 
 other State. While Georgia has more than filled every 
 requisition made upon her in common with her sister States, 
 and has borne her full share of conscription, and has for 
 
7 
 
 months had her reserved militia under arms from sixteen to 
 firty-fiv3 years of age, I am informed that even the Confed- 
 erate reservea of other States from seventeen to eighteen, 
 and from forty-five to fifty, have till very lately been per- 
 mitted by the President to spend much of their time at 
 liome attending to their ordinary busi.iess. Without de- 
 parting from legitimate inquiry as to the cause of this re- 
 quisition, I might ask why this! distinction is made against 
 the good people of this State, and why her Confederate re- 
 serves are kept constantly in service, and why requisition is 
 made for her whole militia, when the same is not required 
 of any other State. It is quite clear that it was not made 
 either to compel the State to do her just part which she 
 lias always done, or to put more of her sons into active ser- 
 vice for her defence, for every man called for by the re- 
 quisition was in service before it was made. The President 
 must then have had some other motive in making the re- 
 quisition, and I think it not uncharitable under all the cir- 
 cumstances to conclude that the object was to grasp into 
 his own hands the entire control of the whole reserve 
 militia of the State, which would enable him to disband its 
 present organization, and place in power over it his own 
 partizans and favorites as Major General, Brigadier Gen- 
 erals, &c., &c., in place of the distinguished officers who 
 were appointed to command in conformity to the Constitu- 
 tion of the country and the laws of the State, and who havfr 
 comnaanded the organization with so m.uch honor to them- 
 selves, satisfaction to the troops, and advantage to the pub- 
 lic service. 
 
 Again it is worthy of remark that the requisition is made 
 upon me for the whole militia of the State — all I have or- 
 ganized and all I can organize — without limitatiun of time 
 or place of service. If I comply with it the militia of Geor- 
 gia after the President has obtained absolute control over 
 them may be taken for the war from their State, as tens of 
 thousands of their brave f?lIow citizens now are, while 
 Georgia and their homes are being overrun. If I am asked 
 to trust the sound judgment and good faith of the President 
 tor their discliarge and return to their home« at such times 
 as their services are not indispensable in the military field, 
 I cannot forget the faith that was violated last fall to thous- 
 ands of Georgians who were organized under a requiiition 
 from the President to be 'employed in the local defence of 
 importantcities, and in repelling in emergencies the sudden or 
 /mw.<<<?«/ incursions of the enemy," to be employed 'only 
 when and so long as they might be needed," "with the 
 privilege of remaining at home in the pursuit of their ordina- 
 ry avocations, uiiless when called for a temporary exigency 
 to active duty" 
 
s 
 
 . Thousands of these men organized for six months service, 
 with the guarantees above mentioned, were called out early 
 in September last, and were kept constantly in service till 
 the expiration of their term in March. During most of the 
 time they were guarding no important city. There was no 
 sudden emergency or transient incursion of the enemy, no 
 exigency fur the last four months of the time, and still they 
 were kept in service in violation of the faith that had been 
 pledged to them, and were denied the privilege of going 
 home or altending to the '-pursuit of any of their ordinary 
 avocations," and this too after the contract, under which 
 they had entered the serviee, had been pressed upon the con- 
 sideration of the President. 
 
 It is impossible for the agricultural and other industrial 
 pursuits of the people to be saved from ruin if the whole 
 reserve militia of t lie State, from IG to 55, are put perma- 
 nently into the service as regular troops. Judging from the 
 past, I ean not place them at the command of the President 
 for the war, without great apprehension that such would be 
 their fate. Indeed, not even the President's promise to the 
 contrary is found in the requisition you now make. I am 
 not, therefore, willing to expose the whole reserve militia 
 of Georgia to this injustice, and our agricultural and other 
 interests to ruin, when no other State is required to make 
 any such sacrifice or to fill any such requisition. 
 
 The Constitution of the Confederate States authorizes 
 the States, as well as the Confederacy, to keep troops in 
 time of war when actually invaded, as Georgia now is. Her 
 militia have been organized and called into active service 
 tinder her own laws for her own defence ; and I do not feel 
 that I am authorized to destroy her military organization at 
 the behest of the President, or to surrender to him the com- 
 mand of the troops organized and retained by her by virtue 
 of her reserved power for her own defence, when greatly 
 needed for that purpose, and which are her only remaining 
 protection against the encroachments of centralized power. 
 I therefore decline to comply with or fill this extraordinary 
 requisition. While I refuse to gratify the President's. am- 
 bition in this particular, and to surrender the last vestige of 
 the sovereignty of the State by placing the remainder of her 
 n>ilitia under his control for the war, I beg to assure yoa 
 that I shall not hesitate to order them to the front, and 
 they will not shun the thickest of the fight when the ene- 
 my is to be met upon the soil of their beloved State. Nor 
 will I withhold them from the temporary command of the 
 Confederate General who controls the army during great 
 emergencies when he needs their aid. 
 
 I shall, however, retain the power to withdraw ,them and 
 
to furlough or disband them for a time, to look to their 
 agricultural and other vital interests vvhich would other- 
 wise be ruined by neglect, whenever I see they can be 
 spared from the military field without endangering the ' 
 safety of the State. Of this the Governor of the State, ait 
 Milledgevillc, where ho is near the field of operations and 
 can have frequent interviews with' the Commanding Gen- 
 eral, ought to be as coHipetcnt to judge as the President of 
 the Conlederary, some hundreds of miles from the scene of 
 action, charged with the defence of Richmondand all the 
 other responsibilities which require his attention and di- 
 vides his time. 
 
 Georgia now has upon the soil of Virginia nearly 50 regi- 
 ments of as brave troops as ever met the enemy in deadly 
 conflict, not one of which ever faltered in the hour of trial. ' 
 She has many others equally gallant aiding in the defence of 
 other States. Indeed the blood of her sons has crimsoned 
 almost every battle-field East of the Mississippi, from -the 
 first Manassas to the fall of Atlanta. Her gallant sons who 
 still survive are kept by the President's orders far from. her 
 soil while their 'homes are being overrun, their wives and 
 children driven out before the enemy and reduced to beg- 
 gary and want, and their almost idolized State exposed to 
 temporary subjugation and ruin. Experience having shown 
 that the Army of Tennessee, with the ' aid of the militia 
 force of the State, is not able to withstand and' drive back 
 the overwhelming numbers of the army of invasion, as the 
 Executive of-Georgia in behalf other brave sons now absent 
 in other States, as well as of her whole people at home, I 
 demand as an act of simple justice that such reinforcements 
 be sent as are necessary to enable the army upon her soil 
 to stop the ])rogres8 of the enemy and dislodge and drive 
 liim back. In view ofthe fact that the permanent posses'-^ 
 sion of Georgia by the enemy, not only ruins her people, 
 but cuts the Confederacy, East of the Mississippi in two, 
 and strikes a death blow at the Confederate Government it- 
 self, I trust this most reasonable request will be granted. 
 If,- however, I should be informed that the President will 
 send no reinforcements and make no further effort to . 
 strengthen our defences, I then demand that he permit al! 
 the sons of Georgia to return to their owrf State, and with- 
 in her own limits, to rally around her glorious flag — and as 
 it flutters in the breeze in defiance ofthe foe, to strike for 
 their wives and their children, their homes and their altars 
 ^and the "green.graves" of their kindred and sires ; and I as 
 their Executive promise that whoever else may be yvith- 
 drawn from her defence, they will drive the enemy back to 
 her borders, or, overwhelmed and stricken down, they will 
 nobly perish in one last grand ajid glorious effort to wrest 
 the standard of her liberties and independence from the 
 
10 
 
 grrap of the oppressor and plant it immovably upon her 
 Kacred soil 
 
 I am very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOSEPHS. BROWN. 
 
 CONFEDERATE ST ATE> OF AMERICA, ^ 
 
 War Dkpartme:^t, ^ 
 
 Ridunnnd^ October Sth, 1S64. ) 
 HIS EXCELLENCY J. E. BROWN, 
 
 GrOVERNOR OF GEORGIA, 
 
 Milledgevilie, Ga. 
 .Sir : 
 
 Your letter of the 12th ult. reached me some days since. 
 Its tenor and spirit have caused painful surprise. It re- 
 quires forbearance in reply to maintain the respect I vi'ould 
 pay your station, and observe the official propriety you have 
 so transcended. Ishallseekto notice only such portions 
 as appropriately pertain to an official communication. 
 
 The Department, on the 30th of August, under the di- 
 rectioti of the President, made a requisition upon you for 
 'the entire Militia, which had been or should be organized by 
 you, that they might be employed to repel the "formida- 
 ble invasion" of Georgia, by the enemy, and to secure her 
 from "destructive raids." The requisition was for Militia 
 in a state of organization. The apoointment of the officers 
 of Militia is secured by the Constitution to the State from 
 which they are drawn, and in proposing to accept organized 
 Militia, the officers legally appointed would necessarily ac- 
 company their commands. 
 
 The inducements to this call were several. You had in 
 official communication, stated that you had ten thousand 
 Jlilitia organized, and you were known to be apparently 
 busy in organizing others. Of these, a portion, it was known, 
 were with the army of Tennessee in some auxiliary rela- 
 tion, and had rendered valuable service, with that army ia 
 the defence of Georgia. Only a limited number, however, 
 ndt believed to constitute half of the number Reported by 
 3''0u to be actually organized, were so employed, and were, 
 as has been ansouiijced by you, held there only at your 
 pleasure, and for such time and during such opei'ations as 
 you might approve. The services of these, gallant defen- 
 ders of their State, were so appreciated, as to render it de- 
 sirable that the full number organized, or to be organized, 
 should be secured, to repel the formidable invasion threaten-' 
 jng to overrun the State ; and both to impart greater unity 
 and efficiency to the command of them htid enable the Gen- 
 eral Commanding, to rely on the period and tenure of their 
 services, it was necessary they should be in Confederate 
 
ii 
 
 service, and subject, not to your judgment or disposal, but 
 to the control of the constitutional Commander-in-Chief. It 
 is easy to see how uncertainty as to their control or reten- 
 tion, must impair reliance by the Commander on these 
 troops, and embarrass all calculations for their employment 
 and efficiency in combined operations. An additional, ground 
 of the call was, that some of these troops had been detailed 
 for objects not admitfed by the Enrolling Ofiicers in the 
 State to be authorized by Confederate law, and others were 
 claimed as primarily liable, or previously subjected to Con- 
 iederate service. This had engendered controversy, and 
 endangered collision between the local, Confederate and 
 State authorities, which it was most desirable to anticipate 
 and preclude. 
 
 Besides, these Militia, as far as they were serving with 
 the Confederate army, had to be subsisted from the commis- 
 sary stores of the Confederacy, and might equitably expect 
 pay from its Treasury; but if held as State troops only, 
 both subsistence and pay constituted a charge on the State 
 alone. 
 
 Serious embarrassment's had already arisen on these very 
 points, and departure had been necessary from the regular 
 obligations of the Confederate Government, which were 
 not just to either that Government or its disbursing officers. 
 The powers of the Confederate Government to provide for 
 the common defence, are exercised according to laws 
 through agencies adopted by Congress. None of these laws 
 contemplated the fulfilment of this duty, by troops organi- 
 zed and held by the State in its own service, and under of- 
 ficers ijesponsible only to it. 
 
 The Constitution of the Confederate States d\)es not con- 
 fer on the State, the power to kee[) troops in time of war. 
 The States are prohibited from "keeping troops or ships of 
 war in time of peace, entering into any agre«;ment or com- 
 pact with anotlier State, or with a foreign power, or en- 
 gaging in war, unless actually invaded, or in such iminent 
 danger as will not admit of delay." The power of keeping 
 troops in time of war, is thus reserved, and naturally in- 
 cludes whatever is necessary to accomplish tlia object of 
 the reservation, and is limited in its scope and operation 
 only by the Constitution of the Confederate States, "and 
 the laws which shall be made in pursuance thereof." It 
 does not imply any vv'ithdrawal from the Confederate Gov- 
 ernment, of those instrumentalities and agencies, that the 
 Constitution has confided to the Government of the Confed- 
 eracy for the fulfilment of the obligations it has imposed up- 
 on it. 
 
 The powers to declare war, to raise armies, to maintain a 
 naVy, to make rules for the government of the land and 
 caval forces, to make . rules concerning captures on land 
 
12 
 
 and water, to protect each ot the States against invasion, 
 which are deposited with Congress, manifest the purpose 
 of the States in forming their Constitution, to charge the 
 Confederate Government with the burden of providing for 
 the common defence. The clause in the Constitution rela- 
 tive to the militia, was framed In harmony with the same 
 purpose. The Constitution charges Congress with the or- 
 ganization, equipment and discipline of the Militia, and 
 designates the President as Commander-in-Chief of those 
 thatma}'^ be called into service. 
 
 It was evidently the design of the Constitution, and of 
 the laws of Congress, in pursuance thereof, which are thie 
 supreme law of the land, that the President should have the 
 discretion and the power of calling this militia into service, 
 and having personally or through Confederate Commandei'S, 
 the disposition and command of them. In a crisis of great 
 peril, and in a case of plain invasion of your State, he has 
 exercised this power, and made the Constitutional require- 
 ment on you. You have met it with a distinct refusal. 
 
 This is the first instance in the annals of the Confederacy 
 of the suggestion of a doubt on the right of the President 
 to make such call, and the obligation of compliance by the 
 State Executive. 
 
 During the last war with Great Britian, a question of the 
 kind was made by the Governors of Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut with the President of the then United States. 
 They claimed to decide wheth(?rthe exigencies existed which 
 authorized the President to make a requisition for Militia to 
 repel invasions, and denied his power to associate tbem 
 with other troops under a Federal officer. They affected 
 to believe {he exercise of such a power, imperiled State 
 Rights, and promoted personal ambition. The judicial tri- 
 bunals determined adversely to the pretensions of these 
 Governors, and the country did not fail to discover, lurking 
 under their specious pretences, hostility, scarcely less than 
 criminal to the constituted authorities of the Union, an un- 
 liceensed ambition in themselves, and a dangei'ous purpose, 
 in the midst of war, to cripple patriotic efibrts for the pub- 
 lic defence. The impression was not wanting, either the« 
 or since, that they were even in cominunication with the 
 enemy, or at least proposed to give them encouragement 
 and moral suppoi't. 
 
 Without imputing to you such disigns, I cannot repress 
 apprehensions of similar effects from your analogous course 
 under the present more trying circumstances, as indeed it 
 must be admitted in all particuh^rs ; and especially on the 
 main point of the existence of invasion, there was more 
 plausibility in their case than in yours, on the grounds as- 
 signed for refusal. 
 
 On.analyzing your Excellency's letter, it is apparent that 
 
13 
 
 tke prominent and influencing reasons of your action, 
 spring from a spirit of opposition to the Government of the 
 Confederate States, and animosity to the Chief Magistrate 
 whom the people of the Confederacy have hoaored by their 
 •hoice and confidence. Your reasons may be reduced to the 
 following : 
 
 1. That the campaign in Georgia, not having been con- 
 trolled by the President, according to your conceptions, or 
 with the. means you advised, you will not permit any force 
 you can control to be subject to his disposition; but will 
 yourself retain their control, and mete out your assistance 
 according to your views of policy and State interest. 
 
 2. That you suspect the President of a design, after the 
 reception of these militia, to disorganize or disband them 
 that he may displace the officers commanding them and 
 substitute his partisans and favorites. 
 
 3.' You apprehend that these militia, under the Presi- 
 dent's control, will be employed for such length of time, 
 and under such condition as will be deleterous to the in- 
 terests of themselves and the State, and esteem yourself a 
 better judge on these points, especially as to when aud 
 where they shall be employed, furloughed or discharg- 
 ed, &c. 
 
 •A. That these troops, besides being necessary as a de- 
 fence against invasion, are also necessary to defend the State 
 against usurpations of power, and as "a protection against 
 the encroachment of centralized power," and that the 
 knowledge of the President of their ability and disposition 
 to do this was the motive for the cali on you. 
 
 In reference to the first, it might not be safe as it would 
 not be expedient now to expose the circumstances of the 
 present campaign, the counsels that guided, or the resour- 
 ces that have been or could be commanded for its opera- 
 tions. ■ ^ 
 
 None should have known more certainly than your Ex- 
 cellency the zeal and energy with which the President and 
 this Department, under his auspices, have striven to com- 
 mand resources and means for the defence of Georgia and 
 the overthrow of the invader, nor the impediments and dif- 
 ficulties often unfortunately resulting from the obstruction 
 of the local authorities which they had to encounter. Aware 
 early of the danger that menaced the State, besides con- 
 centrating troops from other Departments for its defence, 
 this Department strained all the powers vested in it for re- 
 cruiting the army wnthin the limits of Georgia, and accumu- 
 lating supplies for its support. The legislation of the Con- 
 gress that ended its sessien in February last had been com- 
 prehensive and vigorous. 
 
 Your Excellency can not have forgotten how that legis- 
 lation was denounced and the efforts of the department im- 
 
1* 
 
 paired by the countervailing action of the Executive ani 
 local authorities of your State. To the department it can 
 not be imputed 88 a fault that Georgia was invaded by 
 '•overwhelming numbers." The ten thousand militia you 
 boast to have organized, without adding to the e»unt, those 
 you are proceeding to organize, if incorporated with the 
 veteran regiments prior to the let of of May, would have 
 been a n invaluable acquisition to the Army of Tennessee, 
 and n ot improbably have hurled back the invader from the 
 thres hold of your State. That they, or a large propertioa 
 of them at least, were not ready for that service and other 
 auxiliary means to its operations were not afforded, I am 
 bound to think was due to the obstacles and embarrassments 
 interposed by your Excellency and the local authorities with 
 your countenance, to the enforcement of the acts of Con- 
 gress for the recruitment and maintenance of the armies. 
 Your Excellency may not have foreseen and realized the 
 extent and import of the approaching invasion, but to 
 whom, then, with most safety and wisdom (apart even 
 from constitutional obligation,) can the disposition and com- 
 mand of the troops in question be committed ? 
 
 In your second reason it is difficult to find anything but 
 the ascription to the President of an unworthy design — a 
 design that can not be accomplished without disappointing 
 the objects which I have explained as the cause of the re- 
 quisition. The disbanding of the militia organizations, af- 
 ter their call into service, would result in the discharge of 
 such of the men as are not liable to service under the act of 
 Congress of February last, and those who are liable, in such 
 an event, would be placed in those veteran regiments raised 
 for Confederate service in the State of Georgia prior to 
 April; 186i, whose diminished numbers attest the fidelity, 
 valor and suffering with which they have performed their 
 duty. Whether, therefore, the militia be retained in their 
 militia organization, as is comtemplated; or be disbanded 
 as you apprehen<l may be done, in neither event can new 
 organizations be made or new officers appointed. Your 
 suspicions as to the motives and designs of the President 
 are simply chimerical. - 
 
 In your third reason, your Excellency has apparently for- 
 gotton the true inquiry, where, constitutionally and legally, 
 in all such matters, the discretion of decision is lodged, and 
 further, that a provision adequate, in the view of Congress, 
 against abuse has been provided in the limitation of time 
 for which the Militia may be called out, to six months. In 
 illustrating the danger of undue detention in Confederate 
 service, your Excellency refers to the course pursued to- 
 wards the troops for local service., enlisted by you last Fall, 
 under a call from the Department. During the last winter, 
 your Excellency addressed to this Department ajiacrimoni- 
 
15 
 
 0U8 letter on this subject, which was replied to in a spirit 
 of forbearance, and with a careful abstinence from the use 
 of recriminating language. 
 
 Justice to myself demands that I should place upon the 
 records of the department the facts to which you have 
 again alluded in the same language of acrimonious re- 
 proach. It had been designed to raise troops for special de- 
 fence and local service as the general rule throughout the 
 State, to constitute a part of the Provisional Army, and to 
 be subject to the call ol the President when needed. You 
 asked to supervise and control the whole matter, and unfor- 
 tunately the privilege was yielded. 
 
 You abused it tolorm non-descript organizations, not con- 
 forming to the regulations of the Provisional Army, scant 
 in men, and abounding in officers, with every variety of 
 obligation for local service, generally of the most restrict- 
 ed character, and for the brief period of only six months. 
 Thus it was that you were enabled to indulge the vain 
 boast of raising some sixteen thousand men for the defence 
 of the State, while in fact, scarce a decent division of four 
 thousand men could be mustered for the field, and those' on- 
 ly for six months service. From the time they \ver<i 
 passed to Confederate service there was pressing necessity 
 for their presence in the field, for Georgia was not only 
 menaced, but actually invaded, and the number was too 
 limited to allow substitution or furlough. Apart from this, 
 you persistently claimed that they should be held and re- 
 garded as Militia. In that view, they could not, if dismiss- 
 ed, be recalled on emergency as local troops, and this natu- 
 rally induced their detention for the full period of their 
 limited terra of service. 
 
 To your last reason I refrain from replying, as its cliar- 
 acter would justify. I cannot think the significancy of the 
 language quoted has been duly appreciated by your Excel- 
 lency. I prefer to consider them as inconsiderate utter- 
 ances rather than the foreshadowing of a guilty purpose to 
 array your State in armed antagonism against the Confed- 
 eracy, and so to betray, the cause of herself and sister 
 States. 
 
 Such purpose I tnow would be scorned andj-ebuked by 
 her heroic soldiery and loyal people, and it will not, while 
 it be possible to avoid it, be ascribed by me to one whose 
 official station makes him their recognized organ. I must, 
 however, gravely regret that the spirit of your ExcelleLcy's 
 past action and public expressions, has caused grievous mis- 
 conceptions in relation to the feelings and purposes of your- 
 self, and perhaps «f others of influence in your State, in the 
 convictions of our enemies to their encouragement, and the 
 mortification of many patriotic citizens of the Confederacy. 
 
 Our enemies appear to hare conceived you were even 
 
16 
 
 prepared to entertain orertures of separate accommodation, 
 and that your State, so justly proud of its faitli, valor and 
 renown, could be seduced or betrayed to treachery and de- 
 sertion. So painful a manifestation of the hopes inspired 
 by your indulgence of resentments and suspicions against 
 the Confederate Administration will, it is hoped, awaken 
 to consideration and a change of future action. To the De- 
 l»artment it would be lar more grateful instead of being en- 
 gaged in reminding of constitutional obligations and repell- 
 ing unjust imputations, to be co-operating with your Ex- 
 •ellency in a spirit of unity and confidence, in the defence 
 ©f your State and the overthrow of the invader. 
 
 Very Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 JAMES A. SEDDON, 
 
 Secjretary of War. 
 
 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, J 
 
 MlLLEDOEVILLE, GeO., V 
 
 .(• Kovember l-ith, 1SG4. ) 
 
 HON.' J AMES A. SEDDON, 
 
 Secretary oe War. 
 
 Sir: Official engagements have prevented earlier atten- 
 tion to your letter of Sth ult., which reached me on the 
 20th. 
 
 You are pleased to characterize a portion of my letter as 
 acrimonious, and claim that I have transcended the bounds 
 of official propriety, and seem to desire me to understand 
 that you labor under difficulties in restraining yourself 
 within the bounds of forbearance in your reply. As the 
 acrimony of my letter consisted in a simple narrative of 
 truths, communicated in a plain, straight-forward manner, 
 calling things by their right name, I feel that I am due you 
 no apology. Of course no personal disrespect was intend- 
 ed. I am dealing, not with individuals, but w^ith great 
 principles, and with the conduct of an administration of the 
 Government, of which your Department is but one branch. 
 And if you .will not consider the remark acrimonious, I will 
 add that the people of my State, not being dependent and 
 never intending to be, upon that Government for the priv- 
 ilege of exercising their natural and Constitutional rights, 
 nor the Executive of the State for his official existence, I 
 ghall on all occasions feel at liberty to exercise perfect in- 
 dependence in the discharge of my official obligations, with 
 no other restraints than those thrown around me by a sense 
 of duty, and the Constitution of my country, and the laws 
 of my State. 
 
 Y#u remark that this is the first instance in the annals of 
 
17 
 
 the Confederacy of the suggestion of a doubt on the right 
 oi the President to make such a call, and the obligation of 
 compliance by the State Executive. Doubtless vou are 
 right, as this is unquestionibly the first instance in'the an- 
 nals of either the old or new Confederacy of mch a call, 
 made by the President. It presents the isolated case of aa 
 attempt, by the President, to single out a particular State, 
 and, by grasping into his own hands its whole military 
 strength, to divest it of its last vestige of power to maintain 
 it^ sovereignty ; not only denying to it the right plainly re- 
 served in the Constitution, to keep troops in time of war when 
 actually icvaded, but claiming the power to deprive it of 
 .its whole militia and leave it not a man to aid in the execu- 
 tion of its laws, or to suppress servile insurrection in it» 
 midst. 
 
 The President demands that Georgia shall turn over to 
 hitn, and relinquish her command and control over every 
 militiaman now organized by her Executive, and all he 7nay 
 he able to organize. The militia is composed mainly of a 
 class of men and boys, between ages not subject by the laws 
 of Congress or of the State to serve in the Confederate ar- 
 mies. The President calls for all the State has of the above 
 description As no 5mc//. requisition was ever before made 
 upon any State, and it probably never entered into the 
 mind of an}'^ Statesman that sucli a call ever would be made, 
 it never became necessary to question the right to make it. 
 
 You cite the case of the refusal of the Governors of Mas- 
 sachusetts and Connecticut, during the last war with Great 
 Britain^ to furnish troops for the cfmqjon defense upon the 
 requisition of the President of the United States, and say it 
 must be admitted that my course is analogous to theirs "in 
 all particulars," and that there was more, plausibility iia 
 their case than in mine, on the grounds assigned for refusal. 
 Let us test th4s statement by the st;indard of truth. You 
 say the cjses are analogous '• in all particulars." I deny 
 ihat they are analogous in any particular. To show the 
 character of that call, I quote the language of President 
 Monroe : 
 
 "It will be recollected that ivhen a call was made on the 
 Militia of that State, lor service in the late war, under art 
 nrrangcmcnl which Wd^ alike applicable to the Militia of all the 
 States, and in conformity with the acts of Congress, the Ex- 
 ecutive of Massachusetts refused t* comply with the call.'* 
 That, then, was a call under an arrangement a^/^-e applicable 
 to r/ze Militia of all tJie States. This is not a call made under 
 an arrangement aWcc applicable to the Militia of a// the Stntesy 
 or indeed of any of the other States. This is a call for all 
 the Militia which the Executive of Georgia has organized 
 of matj be. able to organize. No mch call was made by the 
 Presid(?i!L upon the Militia of any other Strite. The analogy 
 
18 
 
 fails then at the very first step. But let us trace it a little 
 further. That was a call for men within the age required 
 to do military service in the armies of the United States. 
 This is a call for men who are exempt by act of Congress 
 from all «ervice in the Confederate armies, and of whom it 
 is expressly declared, by an act of the Legiglat'jre of Georr 
 gia, that they shall not be "liable to any draft or other com- 
 pulsory process to Jill any rajuisition for troops upon the 
 Governor of the State by the President of the Confederate 
 States." Tliat was a call which the President could leg^- 
 ly make, and which the Governors had lawful authority to 
 fill. This is a call which the President had no lawful right 
 to make, and which the Governor could not fill without vi- 
 olating a positive statute of his State. That was a call for 
 active Militia who were not in service, but were at home 
 attending to their ordinary pursuits. This is a call for re- 
 serve Militia, who, at the time it was made and were, for 
 months past, bad been in actual service — most of the time 
 in the trendies around Atlanta, under the constant fire of 
 the guns of the enemy. In that case, the Governors of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut refused to place the Militia 
 of those States under the command of a Federal General. 
 In this case, the Militia had already been placed by the Gov- 
 ernor of Georgia under the command of a Confederate Gen- 
 eral, where they were on the very day the call was made, 
 and had been for some months previous. 
 
 In that case, the Governors of those States adjudged that 
 Tio em 3rgency existed to justify the call for the Militia, after 
 the President had decided that it did, and they refused to 
 order them into the field. In this case, the Goveraor of 
 Georgia admitted that the emergency did exist, and had or- 
 dered them in months before the President saw the emer- 
 gency, and called for the services of the Militia. In that 
 case, the President was making an honest eiiort to get the 
 Militia of Massachusetts and Connecticut into'service, to aid 
 in repelling any assaults that might be made by the enemy. 
 In this case, the President, after the reserve Militia of Geor- 
 gia had been called out by the Governor and put into active 
 service, was using his official influence, as shown by Gener- 
 al Orders Nos. 03 and 67, issued by his Adjutant General, 
 to get the Militia of Georgia out of service, where they 
 were confronting the enemy and sbedding their blood in the 
 defence of their State. 
 
 When they were in the trenches under the fire of the en- 
 emy, the President held out. as a reward for their delin- 
 quency in case of their desartion from the State Militia and 
 ^ireturn home, a guaranty of the privilege of remaining there 
 in local companies, to be called out only in emergencies, to 
 defend their own counties and vicinage. 
 
 I append to this letter paragraph 1, General Orders No. 
 
19 
 
 «3, and a paragraph of General Order No. 67, by reference 
 to which it will be seen that all detailtd men were required, 
 and all exempts from Confederate service invited to enroll 
 themselves in local cojnpanies at home, with promise that 
 they should be called out only in emergencies, to defend 
 the Counties of their reyidence and contiguous counties. 
 
 The present Militia of Georgia are composed of exempts 
 from Confederate service and such detailed men as are not in 
 the military service of tiie Confederate States. The Militia 
 of the State, then at the front, was composed of men of these 
 classes only. The order was addressed to all men of both 
 classes. The President denied the right of the Governor of 
 Georgia to call out the detailed men for service, and would, 
 if consistent, stand ready to protect them in case they 
 would desert the Militia service and return home and join 
 his local coujpanies. Thus the strong temptation of re- 
 maining at hoiiie was hold out by the Presideat to these 
 men, if they would ingloriously abandon Atlanta, when be- 
 leaguied by the enemy, and, after deser'ion frohi the Mili- 
 tia, enlist in Confederate service, which would give the 
 President the entire command of them and enable him to 
 destroy the Militia organization of the State. Fortunately 
 the temptation succeeded in seducing but a small portion 
 of the Militia to desert and return home. They were gen- 
 erally true men and stood gallantly by their colors, knowing 
 that their couatry needed their services at the front and not 
 in local companies in the rear. General Order No. 63 was 
 issued on the 6th of August and was followed by General 
 Order No. 67 on the 16th of the same month. The President 
 then waited tv^'o weeks, and as the Militia still remained in 
 the trenches around Atlanta, he found it necessary to change 
 his policy and resort to a requisition upon me for the whole 
 Militia of the State, as the only means left of accomplishing 
 his objects. 
 
 President Madison offered no such inducements to, and 
 made no such requisition upon the Militia of Massachusetts 
 and Connecticut. So much for the analogy of the two ca- 
 ses. But you are as unfortunate in your facts as in your 
 analogy, as will be further seen by your statement that the 
 "judicial tribunals determined adversely to the pretensions 
 of the Governors." By reference to the Sth.volume Massa- 
 cjiusetts Reports, Supplement, page 549, you will find that 
 the Judges of the Supreme Court of that State had the case 
 before them, and determined every point made by Govern- 
 or Strong in his flivor, and " adversely to the pretensions" 
 of the President. 
 
 But you remind me, that the 10,000 Militia, which you 
 say I had organized, with those I was proceeding to organ- 
 ize, if incorporated with the veteran regiments, prior to the 
 first of May, would Jiave been an invaluable acquisition to 
 
20 
 
 the army of Tennessee and not improbably have hurled 
 back the invaders from the threshold of my State. If this 
 were true and the movements and strength oftheeiemy 
 were so much better understood by the President than by 
 myself, as you would have the country believe, why was it 
 that the President made no call for the Militia in May, when 
 the armies were above Daltont Why was the call delay- 
 ed till the 30th of August, two days before Atlanta fell, 
 and then mailed to me too late to reach Milledgeville till 
 after the tall ? If the control of the whole Militia of the 
 State, by the President, was so essential to the defence of 
 Atlanta, how do you account for the neglect of the Presi- 
 dent to call for them till after the campaign had ended, in 
 the surrender of the city to the enemy? 
 
 Seeing that the President did not seem to appreciate the 
 emergency, and the danger to Atlanta, upon consultation 
 with that fiir-seeing General and distinguished soldier, Jo- 
 seph E. Johnston, I had ordered the Militia to report to him 
 and aid the gallant army of Tennessee. I first ordered out 
 the civil and military officers of the State, when the armies 
 were near Dalton, and afterwards called out the reserved 
 Militia, including all between sixteen and fifty-five years of 
 age, when they were at Kennesavv. During all this time, 
 and for nearly tvv^o months afterward, no call was made by 
 the President for their services. If the statements you now 
 make are correct, surely such neglect by the President iii 
 so critical an emergency, involves little less than criminal- 
 ity. 
 
 Again, you state, #s one of the inducements to the call, 
 that I had stated in official correspondence, that I had ten 
 thousand Militia organized — that a portion of these were 
 known to be with the army of Tennessee in some auxiliary 
 relation — only a limited number, however, not belived t© 
 constitute half the number reported by me to. be actually 
 organized. 
 
 You are again incoirect in your facts, and unfortunately 
 ignorant of the strength of the force that was under your 
 command. 
 
 In the official correspondence to whiclfc I suppose you al- 
 lude, I did not state that I had organized tc7i thousa?id Militia. 
 The language used, was, " nearly ten thousand armed men." 
 At that time, the two regiments of the State Line, who are 
 regular troops for the war, numbered nearly fifteen hun- 
 dred. They too, were placed under the Confederate Com- 
 mander, and nearly five hundred of them, while under his 
 command, have been disabled or lost upon the battle-field. 
 But if I had made the statement as you incorrectly charge, 
 it would have been true. 
 
 The tri-monthly report, forwarded by Maj. Gen. G. W. 
 Smith, who commands the Division of Sf^te Militia, tt Gen- 
 
21 
 
 eral Hood, dated 10th September, 1804, but a few days af- 
 ter the fall of Atlanta, showed upon the muster rolls of his 
 Division, nine thousand one hundred and seventy men. This 
 report did not include the regiment of Fulton County Mili- 
 tia, which had been detached for local service in the city, 
 under the command of Brig. Gen. M. J. Wright, of the Con- 
 federate army ; nor the regiment of Troup County Militia, 
 which was stationed, by the Commanding General, at West 
 Point, under Brig. Gen. Tyler, of the Confederate army. 
 Nor did it include the two regiments of the State Line, 
 which had been ordered into other Divisions of the Army of 
 Tennessee. Nor did it include the Battalion of Cadets, of 
 the Georgia Military Institute, who did gallant service hi the 
 trenches of Atlanta. Nor did it embrace the names of the 
 gallant dead of this Division, who never turned their backs 
 to the enemy, but fell upon the battle-ficLd or died in the 
 hospital These had rendered the last service in the power 
 of the patriot to their country before the President saw the 
 necessity which induced him to call for them, and as they 
 slept at the date of his call in the soldier's grave, they were 
 untortuately unable to respond. But if you say that the 
 whole ten thousand were not in the trenches with muskets 
 in their hands, I reply, that while many were sick and some 
 absent without leave, a larger proportion of the number up- 
 on the muster rolls were there than of probably any other 
 Division in General Hood's army. And judging from the 
 late speech of the President in Macon, n much larger number 
 than the usual average in the armies of the Confederacy. 
 
 As I uiidui;^>tand your letter, you deny that it was the pur- 
 pose of the President to disband or disorganize the Militia, 
 and say he intended to take the organization, with all its 
 officers, and maintain it. I do not pretend to quote your 
 language, but state what I understand to be the substance. 
 Unfortunately your own record contradicts you. In the re- 
 quisition made by you,' occurs this sentence : '• Those with- 
 in the limits of General Hood's Department, will report to 
 him ; those outside, to the Commandant of the Department 
 of South Carolina aa 1 Geergia." The line between these 
 Departments cuts in two Gen. Smith's Division, and prob- 
 ably three of the four brigades of which it is composed, and 
 the requisition orders, that part of this Division, and those 
 brigades on one side of it, to report to General Hood, then 
 at Atlanta, and that part on the other side to the Command- 
 ant whose headquarters were at Charleston. But this was 
 not all, it amounted to an order in advance, if I responded 
 to the call, to a large proportion of the Militia then under 
 arms, to leave Atlanta in the very crisis of her fate, and re- 
 turn home and report to General Jones, whose headquar- 
 ters were at Charleston. This would not only have perma- 
 nently divided and disbanded the militia organization, as it 
 
existed under the laws of the State, but would have aided 
 the President in carrying out his policy already referred t», 
 of withdrawing the Militia from Atlanta before its fall, and 
 compelling armed men, then aiding in ito defence, to leave 
 and report to a Commandant upon the coast, where there 
 was no attack anticipated from the enemy. So determined 
 was the President to accomplish both these objects, that he 
 did not pretend to conceal his purpose, but incorporated it 
 into the requisition itself. 
 
 Past experience has also shown that the President wi'll 
 surmount all obstacles to secure to himself the appointment 
 of the officers who are to command troops under his con- 
 trol. Soon after the commencement of the war, Georgia 
 tendered to him an excellent brigade of her most gallant 
 sons, fully armed, accoutred and equipped, with twomonths 
 training in camp of instruction. He refused to accept it as 
 it was, but disbanded it, and refusing to recognize the Com- 
 manding General (though every officer, I believe, in the 
 brigade, from the highest to the lowest, petitioned to have 
 him retained,) scattered the regiments into other Brigades. 
 The twelve months men entered the service with officers 
 elected by them, and he accepted them with their officers. 
 The Constitution of the Confederate Slutes, as I have here- 
 tofore most conclusively shown, and ;i< the Legislature of 
 the State has resolved, as well as the i.;vvs of the State, au- 
 thorise them to elect officers to fill all vacancies that occur. 
 The President has disregarded this right, and claims and ex- 
 ercises the right to appoint all such officers for them. His 
 past course, as well as the plain language of the requisi- 
 , tion, shows that you misrepresent the President v/hen you 
 deny that it was liis purpose in making the requisition to 
 disband the Militia ; and I am satisfied that I do him no in- 
 justice, in supposing that it was his intention, after they 
 were disbanded, to appoint his own partisans and favorites 
 to command them. 
 
 Reference is made in your letter, to the act of Congress, 
 to show that the President could only hold the Militia six 
 months under' a call upon the Governor, for their services. 
 You seem to forget that many of those then in service, for 
 whom he called had already served nearly four months'. And 
 you seem to suppose that I will be unmindful how easy it 
 would be at the end of six months for the President simply 
 to renew the call for another six months, and continue this 
 to the end of the war, and in this way keep the old men and 
 boys of Georgia constantly in service, to the destruction of 
 all her agricultural and other material interest, while no 
 such requirement is made of any other State. But if this 
 were not possible by these repeated calls, what guaranty 
 have they under the act of Congress and the promise of the 
 President, that they would be disbanded at the end of six 
 
months ? The original twelve moaths men entered the serr 
 vice under the like protection, as thej supposed, of an act 
 of Congress, and a solemn contract with the President that 
 they should be discha rged at the end of their time. But be- 
 fore the time. expired the President procured another act ot 
 Congress, which changed the law on that subject, and be 
 then refused to be bound by his contract, and those of them 
 who survive are yet in service near the end of the fourth 
 year. Even the furloughs promised them were not allow- 
 ed. And ministers of religion who made a contract with 
 the Government to serve for one year, and others wiio 
 agreed to serve three years in the ranks, are held after the 
 expiration of their time, when they would be embraced'm 
 the exemption act, which protects those at home, if the • 
 Government had kept its faith and discharged them accor- 
 ding to the contract. 
 
 In this connection I m.ust also notice your remarks in ref- 
 erence to the six months' men of last fall, in this State. And 
 as every material statement you now make upon that sub- 
 ject is contradicted by the records of your Department — 
 made' up over your own signature, the task is an unpleas- 
 ant one. 
 
 You say " it had been designed to raise troops for special 
 defense and local service for the war with the obligation 
 of service as the general rule throu(rhout the State, to consti- 
 tute a part of the provisional army, and to be subject to the* 
 call of the President when needed." If this statement means 
 anything, it is intended to mean that the call was made on 
 me for the troops to serve jhr the icar, with obligation as the 
 irencral rule, to do service throus^hout the State. That is what 
 you now say. What did you then say ? I quote from your 
 requisition of 6th June, 1883, 
 
 " The President has therefore determined to make a re- 
 quisition on the Governors of the several States, to furnish 
 by an appointed time, for service within the State, and for 
 the limited period of six months, a number .of men," etc. 
 Again, in the same requisition you say, " I am instructed 
 by the President, in his name, to make on you a requisitioa 
 for eight thousand men, to be furnished by your State, for 
 the period of six moxths from they//s/ d/iy of August nexf^ 
 unless in the intermediate time, a volunteer force organized 
 under the law for local defense and special service, of at least 
 an equal number, be mustered and reported as subject to hi^ 
 call for service, within your State." 
 
 This does not look much as if the call was made for troop* 
 FOR THE WAR ! Was it for troops to sferve sls the general 
 rule throughout the State ? I quote from the same document. 
 You say, "it becomes essential, that the reserves of our 
 population, capable of bearing arms, etc., be relied on for 
 employment in the load dfense of important^cities, and in re- 
 
24 
 
 pelling, ?w emergencies the sudden or trons'icnt incursions of 
 the enemy." Again, *' local organizations or enlistments 
 liy volunteering for limited j^eriods and special purpoics, if they 
 can be iaduced, would afford more assurance of prompt and 
 efficient action." You then refer to the two acts of Con- 
 gress for local defense and special service, and enclose cop- 
 ies of them and call my attention to them. And you pro- 
 ceed to say, " under the former of these, if organizations 
 could be effected, with the limitations prescnUd in their muster 
 rolls* of service Only at home or at spccijicd points of iu)])OT- 
 tance within the particular State, they vv©uld be admirably 
 adapted to obtain the desired end." In speaking of the in- 
 ducements to be held out to those vi'ho will form volunteer 
 companies under the act of Congress you speak of them as 
 *• organizations for speck/ service within the State, under 
 officers of their own selection, and with the privilege of ?t- 
 .maini7ig at home, m the pursuit of their ordinary avocations, 
 unless when called for a temporary exigency to active duty." 
 In reference to the service to be performed by these organ- 
 izations, you then use this language : 
 
 "Without the general disturbance of a call on the mili- 
 tia, the organizations nearest to the points of attack, would al- 
 ways be readily summoned to meet the emergency, and the 
 population resident in cities and their vicinities would, without 
 serious interruption to their business sr domestic engagements, 
 stand organized and prepared to man their entrenchments 
 and defend, under the most animatingincitements, their prop- 
 erty and homes." 
 
 You remark again, " After the most active and least 
 needed portion of the reserves were embodied under the 
 former law. the latter would allow smaller organizations with 
 more limited range of service, for objects of police and the 
 pressing contingencies of neighborhood defense. Could these 
 laws be generally acted on, it is believed, as full organiza- 
 tions of the reserve population would be secured for casual 
 needs, as would be practicable." 
 
 There is not a word in any of this, about service as the 
 general rule throughout the State. But every expression looks 
 to local and limited services in sudden emergencies, such, as 
 the sudden incursions of the enemy, and to the defense of 
 their own homes, and the entrenchments around them, by 
 those who live in cities, *' to neighborhood defense," "casual 
 raids," etc., with the clear promise to all, that so soon as 
 such emergency had passed, they should be permitted to re- 
 turn home and attend to their " ordinary avocations," their 
 " business or dom.estic engagements," etc. The troops rec- 
 ollect .how this promise was kept. 
 
 But you charge that I had formed nondescript organiza- 
 tions not conforming to the regulations of the Provisional 
 army, scant in men'anad abounding in officers, with every 
 
25 
 
 variety of obligation for local service, generally of the most 
 restricted character, and for the briffjieriod of only six months. 
 Each organization formed hj me was in conformity to 
 the statutes, copies of which you enclosed as the guide for 
 my action, and for the exact time designated in your requi- 
 sition over your own signature. Each had the number of 
 men specified in the statutes, and no one of them had a super- 
 numerf ry officer, with my consent, or so far as I know or be- 
 lieve. The requisition expressly authorized me to accept 
 troops for local defense, of the most restricted character, 
 with *' the limitations prescribed in their muster rolls, of 
 service only at home or at speci/icd points of importance." But 
 while you expressly authorized this I refused to do it, ex- 
 cept in case of companies of mechanics and other workmen 
 in cities — the operatives in factories, and the employees of 
 rail roads, etc., when the nature of their avocations made it 
 actually necessary. In all other cases I refused to accept 
 the companies when tendered, if their muster rolls did not 
 cover and bind them to defend, at least one-fourth ®ftho 
 whole territory of the State. Many of them covered the 
 whole territory of the State with the conditions of their 
 muster rolls. • Some complaints were made at my course, 
 because I required more than was required by either the 
 acts of Congress, or the requisition of the Secretary of War. 
 ' Another charge is, that when called out " scarce a decent 
 division of four thousand men could be mustered for the 
 field, and then only for six monthsy Your obliviousness of 
 facts, as well as of records, is indeed remarkable. Only 
 those whose muster rolls embraced Atlanta and the territory 
 between it and the Tennessee line were called out till near 
 the end of the period for which all were enlisted, and you 
 got a division of many more than four thousand within that 
 boundary. 
 
 The others, over twelve thousand, were at home, engaged 
 in their " ordinary avocations," ready to respond to your 
 call in case of an " emergency," or " sudden incursion of 
 the enemy." But you never called for any of them till a 
 short time before the end of the term of their enlistment. 
 Those you then called out you never even armed, and it was 
 believed by them that they were only assembled for the 
 convenience of the conscript officers, to save them the 
 trouble of searching through the country to see if any 
 among them were subject to conscription. Nobody preten- 
 ded that there was any " emergency," or " sudden incui^ion 
 of the enemy" at the time of the last call, in the sections of 
 the State they had agreed to defen(,l. I have gone thus ful- 
 ly into this r*?cord for the purpose of showing the palpable 
 injustice which you- attempt to do me, and of exposing the 
 flimsy pretext under which you seek to defend the bad faith 
 which was exercised by the Government towards the gallant 
 
26 
 
 men who, by their prompt response, more than doubly fill- 
 ed your requisition in its letter and spirit. 
 
 As a last means of escape you say I persistently claimed 
 that they should be held and regarded as militia. " In that 
 case they could not, if dismissed, be recalled on emergency 
 as local troops, and this naturally induced their detention 
 for the full period of their limited term of service." I should 
 have been greatly obliged if you had given a reason why 
 Militia, mustered into service for the period of su' wo«//<s, 
 with the express promise that they should be permitted to 
 remain at home in the pursuit of their "ordinary avoca- 
 tions," except in " emergencies" or to meet '* sudden and 
 transient incursions of the enemy," could not receive fur- 
 loughs and return home between " emergencies" or " sud- 
 den and transient incursions of the enemy," and reassemble 
 on the recurrence of the emergency. Why could not the 
 same men, living in the same district, united for the same 
 purpose, to defend the same territory against " sudden and 
 transient incursions of the enemy," have received furloughs 
 to return home and attend to the pursuit of their •' ordina- 
 ry avocations," if called Militia and commanded by officers 
 appointed as the Constitution provides, by the States, as well 
 as if called local companies, and commanded by officers 
 appointe 1 by the President ? What strange magic is there 
 about the President's commission which would enable men, 
 organized for service under officers holding it, to receive 
 furloughs when not needed for service, which the same 
 men, organized for the same service, could not get if their 
 officers received their commissions in the constitutional 
 mode from the State? If the same companies, composed 
 of the same officers and men, may be temporarily dismissed 
 when not needed for the service they have engaged to ren- 
 der, when called by the name " local companies," why may 
 this not be done when they are called by the name Militia ? 
 
 As no reason can exist for the distinction you attempt to 
 draw as a justification ©f the President's conduct, none was 
 assigned by you. It is simply absurd to say, that the mili- 
 tia cannot be furloughed and sent home when not needed, 
 to be re-called when needed. But for the interruption of 
 our militia organization, which grew out of the Conscript 
 Act of February last, instead of ten thousand, I could have 
 sent nearer thirty thousand to Atlanta, to aid in its defense. 
 
 The Legislature, unfortunately for Georgia, turned over 
 to the President's control, that part of the organized mili- 
 tia within the ages specified in the act of Congress, a.nd 
 •when the hour of peril came, out of all the large number 
 embraced in the act of Congress, and turned over to his 
 control by the resolution ot the Legislature, he bad n«t a 
 single one at the front with a musket in his hands, to aid in 
 the defense of the Stats. Of all the Confederate reserves, 
 
27 
 
 to which the State was told she might safely looii for de- 
 fense, not a man with a musket in his hands was at the 
 front during the whole march of the Federal army from 
 Dalton till its triumphant entrance into Atlanta. And if 
 action had been delayed until the President called, as shown 
 by the date of his call, not a man of all the reserve militia 
 of the State would have been there. The Confederate re- 
 serves organized were not sufficiently numerous to guard 
 the unarmed Federal prisoners in the State, and I had to 
 furnish, when their services were much needed at the front, 
 a battalion of militia to aid them. 
 
 The interruption by the State authorities, to which yoU' 
 refer, is entirely imaginary. After the decision of the 
 Legislature, your otficers were left perfectly free to execute 
 the law of Congress in all its rigor. But if it were real, 
 surely the President, with the aid of his large force of offi- 
 cers in this State, should have been able to get somebody to- 
 the front. A single man with a good musket might have 
 rendered some as.'^istance. Or if this, by reason of ineffi- 
 ciency, could not be done, if he had ordered his corps of 
 conscript officers there, as I ordered the State officers, they 
 were sufficiently numerous to have done essential service. 
 For even this favor, at that critical period, the people of 
 Georgia would have been under great obligations to him. 
 
 I must not forget another ground of the call, as you terra 
 it, which was that some of these troops (the ten thousand 
 organized militia) had been detailed for ©bjects not admiW 
 ted by enrolling officers in the State to be authorized by 
 Confederate law, and others were claimed as primarily lia- 
 ble, or previously subject to Confederate service. This, 
 you say, had " engendered controversy," which it was most , 
 desirable to " anticipate and preclude." As Confederate 
 enrolling officers had denied the right of the State to make 
 details, and had claimed certain men whom the Governor 
 held as part of the militia of the State, and as the Gover- 
 nor did not at once yield to the pretensions of those Con- 
 federate officers, but was disposed to cofitend for the rights 
 of the State, the President, unwilling to allow the contro- 
 versy, determined to relieve the ^tate of her whole militia; 
 by making requisition for it, and taking it all into his own 
 hands, which would " anticipate and preclude" any further 
 controversy ; as the State, having no militia left, i>eed 
 have no further controversy about her right to any particu- 
 lar individuals as part of it. 
 
 This new discovery of the President of the mode of set- 
 tling a controverted right, and the magna nimity and states- 
 manship displayed by him in this affiiir, cannot be too highly 
 appreciated. 'By imitating his example in future, the 
 stronger party can always make a^speedy settlement with 
 the weaker, without allowing any unpleasant controversy 
 about rights. 
 
2S 
 
 Your assertion, that my past action and public expres- 
 sions have given encouragement to our enemies, to the mor- 
 tification of many patriotic citizens of the Confederacy, 
 may be properly disposed of by the single remark, that if 
 we may judge of the encouiagement of our enemies by the 
 general expression of their public journals, the President 
 gave them more delight, hope and encouragement, by his 
 single spe6!ch at Macon, than all the past acts and public 
 expressions of my lif«3 could have done, had I labored con- 
 stantly to aid a«d encourage them. He who can satisfy the 
 enemy that two-thirds of the men who compose our gal- 
 lant armies are absent from their posts, affords them delight 
 and encouragement indeed, as they will no longer doubt, if 
 this be true, that the spirit of our people is broken, and 
 "that oar brave defenders can no longer be relied on to sus- 
 tain our cause in the field. All remember the mortification 
 which this speech of -the President caused to the patriotic 
 citizens of the Confederacy. If it had been true, surely it 
 should not have been publicly proclaimed by the President 
 But I am satisfied it was not true, and that, in making the 
 statement, the President did grievous injustice to the brave 
 men who compose our gallant, self-sacrificing armies. 
 
 It has also been agreeable to you to speak ©f my action 
 as springing from a spirit of ojjposition to tJie Confederate Gov- 
 ernment, and animosity to the Chief Magistrate. I have but 
 a word of reply to this unjust and ungenerous attack. Some 
 .men are unable to distinguish between opposition to a gov- 
 ernment and unwillingness blindly to endorse all the errors 
 of an administration, or to discriminate between loyaUy to 
 a cause and loyalty to their master. My loyalty is only 
 dwQ to my country ; you can bestow yours where your in- 
 terest or inclinations may prompt. 
 
 I do not consider that the point you attempt to make 
 a,bout the pay and subsistence of the militia, while under 
 the Confederate General commanding the Department, has 
 in it even a show of plausibility. They were accepted by 
 him for the time as an organization, and. while under his 
 control, he has the absolute command of them, and the 
 Governor of the State does not exercise the slightest control 
 •ver them. What possible pretext for saying that he may 
 not order this division subsisted and payed as well as any 
 oth^r division under his command ? There is just as much 
 reawn for saying that a divisien of Georgians under Gen. 
 Lee should not be subsisted and paid by the Confederacy, 
 while under his command, as that this division under Gen. 
 Hood should not be subsisted and paid while he command- 
 <^^,them. The truth at the bottom of all this is so visible, 
 imX it cannot be concealed even by an attenipt to muddy 
 * tb^"^ater. , 
 
 I find the st.itement. emphasized by you, that the Con- 
 
29 
 
 stitution of the Confederate States does not cortftr oq the 
 States the power to keep trpops in time of war. As the 
 States were sovereign and possessed all power when they 
 formed the Constitution which gj^ve life to the Confederate 
 Government, neither that GoTernmeuf n«r the Constitu- 
 tion could confer any power on the States. ThCy rc/ained 
 all that they did not confer upon it. But admit your state- 
 ment, and what follows i You were obliged to admit in 
 the next sentence, that the States did reserve that powerl 
 Having reserved it, they are certainly authorized to exercise 
 it. As you admit, thoy not only reserved the p«wer, but 
 the reservation naturally includes whatever is necessary to 
 accomplish the object of it. But you then attempt to ex- 
 plain it a\vay, by denying that the reservation means any- 
 thing, and, in eflect, contend that the Confederate Govern- 
 ment may take from the State the last one of the troops 
 which she has reserved the power to keep, without violat- 
 ing the reserved rights of the State. In oiher words, the 
 State has plainly reserved the right to keep troops in time 
 of war, when actually invaded. But this right, you, in ef- 
 fect, say, is subordinate to the will of the President, wiio 
 may take the last one of them from her whenever he choos- 
 es to do so. 
 
 According to your mode of reasoning, if a State or an 
 individual delegates certain powers to an agent, and reserves 
 certain other powers, the reserved powers are limited by, 
 and subordinate to the delegated powers, and maybeen-^. 
 tirely destroyed by them when, in the opinion of the agent,' 
 this is necessary to enable him to execute, to their fullest 
 extent, the delegated powers. In other words, the reserved 
 powers are to be construed strictly., and the delegated pow- 
 ers liberally, and the reserved are to yield to the delegated 
 whenever there is apparent conflict, I confess I had not 
 understood this to be the doctrine of the State Rights or 
 Jeftersonian school. I had been taught that the delegated 
 powers are to be construed strictly, and in case of a delega- 
 tion of powers with certain reservations, that the delegated 
 powers are limited and controlled by the reserved powers. 
 This well-estinblished rule is repudiated by you, when it 
 conflicts with the purposes of the Confederate administra- 
 tion, and you claim that the power reserved by the States 
 to Jccci) troops in time of war, when actually invaded, simply 
 means that they may keep them till the Confederate Exec- 
 utive chooses to call for and take the last tne of them out 
 of their control. 
 
 To justify all this, you are driven to the usual plea of 
 necessity. Y«u say it was necessary that the whole militia 
 of Georgia should be in Confederate service, and subject, 
 not to my judgment or disposal, but to the c mtrel of the 
 constitutional Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 I deny that the President is, er ever can be, without the 
 
30 
 
 consent of the State, the constitutional Commander-in- 
 Chief of the xcholc militia of the State. When we take 
 the whole context together, the Constitution is plain upon 
 this point. He is declared to be the Commander-in-Chief 
 of the Arr]2y ^^^ Kavy of the Confederate States, and of 
 the militia of'the several States, uhen called into the actual 
 service of the Confederate States. 
 
 Congress has power to provide for calling forth the mi- 
 litia to execute the laws of the Confederate States, suppress 
 insurrections and repel invasions. 
 
 Congress has power to provide for organizing, arming 
 and disciplining the militia, and for governing sitch part of 
 them as may be employed in the service of the Confederate 
 States. Then comes the qualification. The States reserve 
 the rigljt to keep troops iu time of war, when actually in- 
 vaded. If she is not invaded, under provision made by Con- 
 gress, they may \)e caHed forth, if the emergency requires 
 it. If she is invaded, she may Jcecp such part of them as 
 she thinks proper, under her reserved riglit, and they can- 
 not be taken Vk'ithout her consent. The whole case is in a 
 nutshell. Congress may provide for calling forth the mili- 
 tia, and for governing such j^urt of them as are employed in 
 the service of the Confederate States. The President is. 
 for the time, Commander-in-Chief of all who are so citi- 
 jiloycd. And all may be so cmjdcnjed, except such as the State 
 determines to keep, by virtue of her reserved right in time 
 of war, when actually invaded. These Conj^ress has no 
 right to call forth, and no right to provide for governing; 
 and of these the President is not the constitutional Com- 
 inander-in-Chief, but the Governor of the State is, so long 
 as the State kcejis them, and she has an uuquestionable right 
 to kc(p them as long as the invasion of her territory lasts.. 
 
 This I understand to be the constitutional right of the 
 State of Georgia. By this, as her Executive, I stand, and 
 regard with perfect indifference all assaults upon either my 
 loyalty or motives by those who deny this right, or seek to 
 wrest it from her, to increase their own power or gratify 
 their own ambition. 
 
 A word as to the use I shall make of this militia, and of 
 •all the troops at the command of the State. No sentence 
 in my former letter is an " inconsiderate utterance." No 
 Tv^ord in it justifies the construction, that I v/ill array my 
 State in " armed antagonism against the Confederacy." 
 On the contrary, I will use the troops to support and main- 
 tain all the just rights and constitutional powers of the 
 Confederacy, to the fullest extent. No State is truer to the 
 Covfedcranj than Georgia ; and none will make greater 
 sacrifices to maintain its rights, its just powers and its in- 
 dependence. The sacrifices of her people at home, and 
 the blood of her sons upon the battle field, have abundantly 
 
31 
 
 established this truth. But while I will employ all the 
 force at my command to maiDtain all the constitutional 
 rights of the Confederacy and of my State, I shall not hes- 
 itate to use the same force to protect the same rights against 
 external assaults and internal usurpations. Those vrho im- 
 agine themselves to be the Confederacy, and consider only 
 loyalty to themselves as loyalty t« it, and who recognize iu 
 neither the people nor the States anj^ rights which conflict 
 with their purposes or future designs, doubtless see' in this 
 the "foreshadowing of a guilty pu.rpose." It is, to say the 
 least of it, a fixed purpose. 
 
 ' It is not only my right, but my duty, to uphold the con- 
 stitutional rights and liberties of the people of Georgia, by 
 force, if necessary, against usurpations and abuses of power 
 by the Central O^ovcrnment. The militia is, under the 
 Constitution, one of the proper instrumentalities for that 
 purpose. There is scarcely a single provision in the Constitu- 
 tion, for the protection of life, liberty or property in Georsia, 
 that has not been and is not now constantly violated by 
 the Confederate Government, through its officers and 
 agents. ' 
 
 It has been but a short time since one of the stores of 
 the State of Georgia, containing property, in the peaceable 
 possession of the State, was forcibly entered by a confeder- 
 ate officer, and the property taken therefrom by force. I 
 had no militia present at the time to repel this invasion of 
 the rights of the sovereign State, but should have had 
 them there soon if the property had not been restored. 
 
 A single Confederate Provost Marshal, in Georgia, ad- 
 mits that thirty citizens and soldiers have been shot by his 
 guard, without his right to shoot citizens being questioned 
 till within the last few days, when he was greatly enrr.ged 
 that a true bill for murder should have been found by a 
 grand jury against one of them for shooting down a citizen 
 is the streets, who offended him by questioning h.is authori- 
 ty over him. Every citizen in the State, both man and 
 woman, is arrested in the cars, streets and highways, who 
 presumes to travel without a pass. They are arrested 
 without law, and imprisoned at pleasure of Government 
 officials. The houses, lands and effects of the pewjle of 
 Georgia are daily seized and appropriated to the use of the 
 Government or its agents, without the shadow of law, 
 without just compensation, and in defiance of the decision 
 of the Supreme Judicial Tribune ot the State? and her 
 officers of justice are openly resisted by the officers of the 
 Confederate States. The property of the families of sol- 
 diers, now under arms to sustain the Confederacy, is forci- 
 bly taken from them without hesitation, and appropriated, 
 in many cases, without compensation. 
 
 In this state of things, the militia are necessary to uphold 
 
the civil tribunals of the State, and will be used for that 
 purpose whenever the proper call is made by the proper 
 authorities. 
 
 No military authority, State or Confederate, can be law- 
 fully usfed for any other purpose than to uphold the civil 
 authorities, and so much of it as the Constitution of my 
 country has confided to my hands shall be used for that 
 purpose, whether civil society, its Constitution and laws 
 shall be invaded from without or from within. Measured 
 by your standard, this is doubtless disloyalty. Tested by 
 mine, it is a high duty to my country. 
 Respectfully, etc, 
 
 JOSEPH E. BROWN. 
 
 CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, > 
 War Department, Richmond, Va., December 13, 1864. > 
 
 HIS EXCELLE.XCY JOS. E. BROWN, 
 
 Governor of Georgia, ' 
 
 Macon Ga. : 
 
 • 
 
 Sir — Your letter of the 14th ult. has been received. In 
 accordance with the rule I have prescribed to mj^self in my 
 correspondence with you, I shall avoid all notice of the ob- 
 servations in your letter which do not in my opinion form 
 matter-proper for official communication ; and therefore 
 much of your letter will have no response. 
 
 An Act of Congress of the 27th ot February, 1S61, pro- 
 vided : ''That to enable the Government of the Cpnfede- 
 rate States to maintain its jurisdiction over iill questions of 
 peace and war, and to provide for the public defence, the 
 President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to 
 assume control of all railitaiy operations* in every State, 
 having reference to or connection vi'ith questions between 
 said States, or any of them, and powers foreign to them." 
 On the 6th March of the same year they empowered the 
 President ''to employ the militia, military and naval forces 
 of the Confederate States to repel invasion, maintain the 
 rightful possession of the Confederate States in every por- 
 tion of the territory belonging to each State, and to secure 
 the public tranquility and independence against threatened 
 invasion." These Acts of Congress do not exceed the com- 
 petency of that body under the Constitution. They con- 
 fer plenary powers upon the President to employ all the 
 military power of the Confederate States to meet the ex- 
 traordinary emergencies that might arise, and which were 
 then foreshadowed. You do not deny the existence of the 
 emergency anticipated and provided for by Congress. You 
 simply contend that you should employ the militia instead 
 
•38 
 
 of the President. That you should conduct «ow^ military 
 operationa, rather than the President, and that Congress 
 judged unwisely in confiding power to him, rather than to 
 youi;8elf. In my judgment, these Acts of Congress bind 
 you, both as a citizen and art otticer, and you owe prompt, 
 cordial and unhesitating obedience to them. 
 
 In stating the parallel case of the conduct of the refrac- 
 tory Governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 
 war witii Giea^ Britain, during the administration ol Mr. 
 Madison, I was aware that the former had the support of 
 the opinion of the Judges of that State, as contained in a 
 letter addressed to him, and as cited by you. Tht-y had al- 
 so the support of their State Legislatures, and of the re- 
 solves of the Hattford Convention, composed of delegates 
 from tliose and other States. The authority of these dif- 
 ferent public officers and agencies support your Exeellenciy ; 
 but the judicial opinions of the Supreme Court of New 
 York, and of the Supreme Court of the United States, as 
 rendered in the line of their duty in cases before them, and 
 the general sentiment ot the people, and the uniform action 
 of the autlioritics of loyal States, aiford no such support. 
 
 Maj. Gen. Cobb intorms the Departujent that he has 
 made a satisfactory adjustment of this difficulty, and I dis- 
 miss the subject without further reujark. , 
 
 In the summer of 1803, it became apparent that unless 
 the population of the different States who were not em- 
 braced m the Acts of Congress of the IGth April and 27th 
 September, 1SG2, providing for the public defence, usually 
 termed Conscription Acts, were organized for service, that 
 the ccmntry would be exposed to frequent and injurious in- 
 cursions from the enf^my, by which it would be devastated 
 before the means of defence could be carried to the place 
 of invasion^ A [)roposar for the organizatioh was [)repared 
 and communicated to the Governors of all the Statef='. 
 This plan was to organize all the non-conscript population 
 in companies under the Acts of Congress to provide for the 
 local defence 'or special service. These Acts provided only 
 for voluntaty enlistments, and an alteniative, or rather an. 
 auxiliary proposition, was presented to fticilitate the ac- 
 complishment of this leading and prominent object. 
 
 I addressed you on the Gth of June, 1863, a letter on the 
 subject, a telegram on the 12th, and a second letter on the 
 19th of the same month. The General Orders of the De- 
 partment, embodying its views as to the nature of these 
 volunteer organizations, and disclosing the details of the 
 measure, were published by the Adjutant and Inspector 
 General, the 22d June, 18G3. These orders required that 
 those companies shouhl be formed for service during the 
 war ; that they were not to be called into service except 
 in cases of emergency ; that they were not to be employed 
 3 
 
34. 
 
 beyond the limits of the State ; that when the emergencj 
 terminated they were to be dismissed to their homes ; that 
 service in those companies wonld excuse from service as 
 militia ; that those companies wore preferred to militia or- 
 ganizations ; that they were to be armed by the Confede- 
 rate States as far as necessary, and w«re to be paid by them 
 while in service. A copy ot this order is enclosed. 
 
 These views were disclosed in the letters I have before 
 referred to. The extracts you have made from them to de- 
 fend your conduct, do not represent the views of the De- 
 partment fairly. 
 
 In my letter of the 6th of June, I state tjie necessity for 
 organization of the non-conscript population ; the many and 
 grave objections to the use of the militia ; the superiority 
 of the system of defence proposed by voluntary organiza- 
 tioiiSi for home defence, and the motives that might be ad- 
 drosisid to the people to adopt that mode of defence. I 
 state 111 that letter that : "For this (the organization) the 
 legislation of Congress has made a full provision by two 
 laws, one entitled An Act to Provide for Local Defence and 
 {Special Service, approved August Slst, 18GJ ; the other 
 entitled An Act to authorize the Formation of Volunteer 
 Companies for Local Defence, approved October 13th. 
 ISGL*; to which your attention is invited, and of which, as 
 thev are brief, copies are appended. Under the former of 
 these, if organizations could be effected with the limita- 
 tions presented in the muster rolls of service only at home, 
 or at specified points of importance within the particular 
 State, they would be admirably adapted to obtain the de- 
 sired ends, of calling out those best qualified for thiC ser- 
 vice; of employing them only when and so long as they 
 mijiht be needed; of having them animated with esprit dii 
 corfi^<<; reliant on each other and their selected officers, and 
 of thus securing the largest measure of activity and ef- 
 ficiency, perhaps, attainable from other than permanent 
 soldiers. After the,most active and least needed portion* 
 of the reserves were embodied under the former law, the 
 latter would allow smaller organizations with more limited 
 range tf service, for objects of police and the pressing con- 
 tingencies of neighborhood defence. Could these laws be 
 generally acted on, it is believed as full organization of the 
 reserve population would be secured for casual needs as 
 would be practicable." 
 
 I closed that letter by saying: "lam instructed by the 
 President in his name to make on you a requisition for five 
 thousand men, to be furnished by your State for service 
 thferein, unless in the intermediate time a volunteer force, 
 organized under the lavs^ for local defence and special ser- 
 \ice of at least a7i eqiuil ?iumber he mustered and reported as 
 subject to his csil] for service within your Stdte.''^ 
 
36 
 
 In ray telegram of the 121k, I say: ''Your assurance of 
 co-jperation is gratifying. Organizations under the law of 
 the Provisional Congress are preferred, because of their 
 longer term of duratioyi and greater adaptation for ready call 
 on temporary serrice and then for dismissal to their ordi- 
 nary pursuits." 
 
 In my letter of the 19th of June, I repeated the argu- 
 ments in favor of organizations for local defence in pref- 
 erence "to militia organizations or organizations on a fcasis 
 similar to the mi-litia lor a limited period of service." I 
 stated to you that "I did not suppose there would be such 
 difficulties, delays or confusion as you anticipated ; that 
 the process of forming the organizations is very simple and 
 familiar to your people as having been generally adopted 
 in volunteering for the Provisional Army. There will be 
 no occasion to send on to the Department here anything 
 but the muster rolls, which, under the rrgulations to he issued 
 may be verified by a judge, justice or colonel of militia. 
 I think, with deference to your opinion, the whole matter 
 of prompt and easy accomplishment." 
 
 The regulations referred to were published on the 2f?d of 
 June, 1SG3. They declare their object to be to afford "in- 
 structions as to the method by which such organizations 
 may be made, and the privileges they may claim;" and 
 with these regulations, the Act of Congress of August Slstr 
 1861, was published, v»'hich authorized the President to ac- 
 cept the services of volunteers of such kind and in such 
 proportion as he may deem expedient to serve for such 
 time as he mayprescribe, for the defence of exposed places 
 or localities, or sach special service as he may deem expe- 
 dient. 
 
 The general features of these regulations I have already" 
 stated. They define with exactness the conditions as to 
 time of enlistment, the place of service, the duration of 
 their special and particular service upon the Presidential 
 call. These were the organizations that you were expected 
 to form, and you seem to have entirely overlooked or for- 
 gotten the duty that you undertook to fulfill. 
 
 It is not pretended by you that you carried into effect 
 this plan for the organization of the State reserves, and that 
 your promised co-operation v.-as unproductive of the results 
 anticipated from it. You followed the suggestions of your 
 own mind, and did not act, and, so far as this Department 
 knows, did not attempt to act, conformably to the views 
 presented to you. , 
 
 I made no complaint of your failure to do this, nor was 
 the failure made the subject of any observation, until you 
 assumed the ground of being the injured party, from which 
 you railed a*t the President and the Department, as wai)t- 
 in^ in faith to you ; while the fact was, if there was any 
 
36 
 
 ■want of faith or breach of duty, you alone were tha guilty 
 party. I recur to the sulj^ject now sinipl\- to correct the 
 jnisrepresentation of the conduct of the Department by 
 your garbled extracts from its correppondencc — extracts 
 which do not exhibit fairly the subject under consideration. 
 I abstain now from imputing your conduct to bad faith to 
 the Department, in repelling the wanton and reckless as- 
 sault upon the integrity of the administration of this De- 
 partment. 
 
 Your remarks upon the patriotism and services of the 
 people of Georgia will have no contradiction from me. I 
 fully appreciate both. I have not believed that they cCuld 
 be seduced from their fidelity to the Confederate States, or 
 their duties under their constitution. I have not supposed 
 that they could be betrayed into an^^ desertion of the com- 
 mon cause. The unanimous voice of the Legislature of the 
 State was not required to assure me of tiieir truth and loy- 
 ' alty. It has but confirmed the opinion that- the seeds of 
 baleful jealousies, suspicions and irritation that- have ^o in- 
 dustriously been scattered among them, have been wholly 
 unproductive of the fruit anticipated. 
 
 It is to be hoped in the future that all the energy that 
 has been thus en:)];)loyed v^-ill be diverted to the legitimate 
 object of achieving the independence of the Confederate 
 States, securing the peace and tranquility of thiD Confede- 
 racy, and promoting thereby the true greatness of Georgia. 
 Verv respectfully, your ob'dt serv't, 
 
 'JAMES A. SEDDON, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, ) 
 Macon, Ga., Jan. 6, 1SG5. > 
 
 HON. JAMES A. SEDDON, SECRETARY OF WAR: 
 
 Sir — It becomes my duty to notice your communication 
 of 13th December, which reached me a few days sint'e. 
 
 After citing the acts of Congress of SSlH February and 
 the Gth March, 1861, conferring power upon t\u^ President 
 to assume control of military operations in the States, and 
 to call forth the militia, etc., you declare that Congress in 
 passing these acts did not exceed its competency under the 
 Constitution, and you then insist on a construction of these 
 acts, whicli denies the right reserved by the States to keep 
 troops in time of war, and which confers upon the President 
 the pov/er to call upon one State for aclass of her popula- 
 tion which are not subject, under any law of Congress, to 
 do military duty, and for which he makes no similar requi- 
 Eition upon any other State. 
 
 The acts which you quote are not properly susceptible of any 
 
37 
 
 such construction, as you are obliged to place upon them t& 
 make them serve your purpose. If they were, there could 
 be no doubt upon the mind of any lawyer who understands 
 the rudiments of constitutional law, that Congress had no 
 power or authority to pass them. No candid lawyer will 
 insist, for a moment, that an act of Congress can take from 
 the States the right which they have plainly reserved ia 
 the Constitution to keep troops in time of war, or that the 
 President has any power or control over any troops which 
 a State may so keep, or that he can justly and legally make 
 requisition for them, or that he has any legal or just ground* 
 of complaint if a State ibfuses to turn them over to him if 
 he should transcend his legal authority by making the re- 
 quisition. Nor will any lawyer insist that the President 
 has any power to make requisition for niilitia which Con- 
 gress has not made provision for *^ organizimr,'^ or for men 
 or boys not subject to militia duty under the laws of Con- 
 gress. As these acts of Congress could coiifer upon the 
 President no pov^^ers which are denied to him by the Con- 
 stitution, and as his late requisition upon the Executive of 
 this State was in clear violation of her reserved rights under 
 the Constitution, I am surprised that you should attempt to 
 justify this usurpation of undelegited powers by a resort to 
 Congressional action as directory to the President to violate 
 the rights of the States. 
 
 In your farmer Jetter, you declared that my refusal to fill 
 this requisition of the President, was analogous in ''all par 
 ticulars" to the conduct of the Governors of Massachusetts 
 and. Connecticut in the last war with Great Britain, in re- 
 fusing to iill the requisition made upon them by the Presi- 
 dent Oj' die United -States. In my answer, I showed too 
 conclusively for reply, that the cases were not analogous ia 
 any particuhir. Without attempting to make good your as- 
 sertion, or to controvert a single position in my argument, 
 or to trace the analogy \u a single particular, you again al- 
 lude to the subject in your last letter by saying : "In sta- 
 ting the poralhl case of the conduct of the refractory Gov- 
 ernors of Massachusetts and Connecticut," etc. Now no 
 one knew better than yourself that the cases were in no de- 
 gree parallel, and that you could neither trace the parallel 
 lines nor point out the analogy. 
 
 To avoid a mistatement contained in your former letter 
 that "the judicial tribunals determined adversely to th« 
 pretensions of these Governors," you say you were aware 
 that the former (the Governor of Massachusetts) had the 
 support of the opinion of the Judges of that State and ot" 
 the Legislatures of those States, etc.; and that the author- 
 ity of these support me in my position. Here again, you 
 are as incorrect as I have shown you to be in almost every 
 important statement which has been made by you. There 
 
38 
 
 is nothing in the opinion of the Judges of the Supreme 
 dourt of Massachusetts sustaining the Governor of that 
 State, which gives the slightest support to my position, or 
 that has the least bearing upon the controversy between us. 
 What were the points decided by that opinion of the Court? 
 They were substantially the following: 
 
 Ist. That when the President made a requisition upon 
 the Governor of a State for the militia to repel threatened 
 invasion, it was the right of the Governor to judge whether 
 the emergency existed. He decided that it did not. 
 
 2. That when the militia were called out under a requi- 
 sition from the President, no Federal officer but ths Presi- 
 dent pi person had the right to command them. These were 
 the positions of the Governor of Massachusetts, and the 
 opinion of the Judges sustained him. 
 
 Neither of these questions has arisen in this discussion. I 
 have not denied the existence of the exigency, but foresaw 
 it and had the reserve militia in the field in battle with the 
 enemy months before the President seems to have seen it^ 
 at least months before he realized it to an extent to cause 
 him to make the requisition. 
 
 I have not raised the question as to the right of a C«>ufed- 
 erate officer, other than the President in lyrrson, to command 
 this militia so called out by me while iii ■;ervice. On the 
 contrary, I had placed them under the (;<> umand of a Con- 
 federate General long before the requisition was made. 
 With these facts before you, a little reflection cannot fail to 
 show you how much mistaken you are when you make the 
 assertion that the decision of the Judges of the Supreme 
 Couit of Massachusetts, or of the Legislatures of those two 
 States sustain my course or any position I have taken. As 
 there is vmxther analogy nor par/iUcl between the cases cited 
 by you and my own case, no decision sustaining the Gov- 
 ernors in those cases can either sustain or condemn my 
 course upon an entirely diflerent state of facts and circum- 
 stances. 
 
 But you say the judicial opinions of the Supreme Court 
 uf New York, and of the Supreme Court of the Uni- 
 ted States as rendered in the line of their duty, afford 
 no such support. As you have not shown how the 
 action of the Governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
 or the correctness of their position could have come judi- 
 cially before the Supreme Court of New York, or -the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States ; and as you have not 
 been able to cite any case in which the question of the con- 
 duct of those Governors was ever before either of said 
 Courts, I am left to suppose that you are, as I have shown 
 you to be in so many instances, again unfortunate in your 
 statement of facts, and that in attempting to sustain an er- 
 roneous statement in your other letter, you have added an- 
 other to former mistakes. 
 
89 
 
 As an excuse for dismissing the subject without further 
 attejiipt to sustain yoitr position, you reruaric that Major 
 Greneral Cobb informs the Department that he has made a 
 satisfactory adjustment of this ditficulty. While there has 
 been perfect harmouy between General ( obband myself in 
 7uilitary matters froui the commencement of Siierman's ad- 
 vance^ upon Atlanta to tlie present time, as there has been 
 between Generals Johnston, Hood, Beauregard and myself; 
 there has been no adjustment whatever between me and 
 General Cobb, of what you are pleased to term " this diffi- 
 culty.'' I have neither by word nor act done anything to 
 recognize the right of the President to make this requisi- 
 tion, or to admit the obligation of the Governor to fill it. I 
 have stood in reference to Genaral Cobb as I have towards 
 YOU and the President upon the reserved rights of the State, 
 and have refused to relinquish the control of the State over 
 her reserved militia', while she determines to keep them, or 
 to fill a requisition which the President had no right to 
 uiake. I am happy to find that upon reflection you 
 seem to see yeur error, and are prepared to accept this as a 
 salisfactory adjiistmmf o( a controversy which you hare un- 
 justly provoked, and in which you cannot sustain yourself 
 upon any known principle of reason or law. 
 
 You devote a greater part of your letter to another at- 
 tempt to justify your bad fiiith to the Georgia troops called 
 out under the President's requisition of 6th June, 1863, and 
 to prove contrary to the plain language of the requisition, 
 that they were culled for during the war. You complain of 
 what you call my "garbled extracts," and you quote ex-^ 
 tensively from the requisition, but you are particularly care- 
 ful to so "garble" your own extracts as not to quote that 
 essential part of it twice stated in the letter, as I have al- 
 ready shown, that they were required on]y {or a ix months. It 
 was- upon this requisition, with the two acts of Congress, 
 which you sent with it as the guide for my conduct, that I 
 promised co-operation with you in the organization. The 
 promise was redeemed both in letter and spirit, and your 
 call for eight thousand men {i\ot Jive thousand as you now eF- 
 roneously state in your last letter) was met with more than 
 double the number required, organized in strict accordance 
 with the plain language of the requisition and the acts of 
 Congress on that subject. 
 
 As candor and trath at least are expected of one occupy- 
 ing your position, it is painful to witness the shifts to 
 which you resort to do injustice to my State, and to mis- 
 represent the conduct of her Executive in a matter where 
 he more than doubly filled your requisition. 
 
 I am now favored by you with a copy of a General Order 
 issued by Adjutant General Cooper, weeks after the requi- 
 sition was made, which I io not recollect that I ever saw, 
 
49 
 
 till I received your letter, and you complain that I did not 
 carry out 3'our views as expressed in that order. I obey no 
 orders from your Department; nor was this order furnished 
 to me whv?n you made the requisirion, or during the organi- 
 zation of the troops with even a request that I conform to 
 it. I was asked by you to organize the troops in accord- 
 ance with your letter containing the requisition and the 
 two acts I'f Congress, of which you enclosed copies, for six 
 moiU/is service, with the pledges contained in your letter, to 
 which I referred in my last letter, that they should only be 
 called out for sudden emergencies, etc. This I did on my 
 part, and you refused to redeem the pledges made on your 
 part. This is the vi-'hole case, and I here dismiss this part 
 of the subject whh niy regrets that justice to myself and 
 the large numbwr of citizens of my fc^tat6 wiio suffered un- 
 necessarily by your action, has made it a duty for me to ex- 
 pose you¥ bad taith and the misstatements to which you have 
 resorted to sustain an interpretation of your requisition 
 which its plain language unquestionably precludes. 
 
 By the expression in your letter that: *'It (the unanim- 
 ous voice of the Legislature of this State) has but confirm- 
 ed the opinion that the seeds of baleful jealousies, suspicions 
 and irritation that have so industiiously been scattered 
 among them '(the people) have been wholly unproductive of 
 the fruits anticipated," I am left to conclude that in your 
 disingenuous effort by insinuation to call in question my 
 motives in jyrnicstmg against the President's usurpations and 
 abuses of power, you, as is your habit, base your assertion 
 upon an assumption of flicts which do not exist. The Leg- 
 islature of this State at the late session passed no resolu- 
 tions, and expressed no unanimous voice, upon any question 
 connected with the conduct of the Administration of whieh 
 you are a member, nor did they utter in its behalf any voice 
 of approbation. 
 
 While the people of this State are true and loyal to our 
 cause, they are not unmindful of tke great principles of Coa- 
 Btitutional Liberty and State Sovereignty upon which we 
 entered into this struggle, and they will not hold guiltless 
 those in power who, while charged v^'ith the guardianship 
 of the liberties of the people, have.subverted and trampled 
 personal liberty under foot, and disregarded the rights of 
 priTate property, and the judicial sanctions by w^hicb, in all 
 free governments, they are protected. 
 
 The couise pursued by the Administration towards Geor- 
 gia, in her late hour of extreme peril, has shown so con- 
 clusively, as to require no further argument or illustration, 
 the wisdom of the reservation made by the States, in the 
 Constitution, of the right to keep troops in time of war. 
 Georgia has furnished over one hundred thousand other 
 gallant sons to the armies of. the Confederacy. The great 
 
41. 
 
 body of these men was organized into regiments and bat- 
 talions of infantry and artillery, which have been sustained 
 by recruitT from home, from month to month, to the extent 
 of our ability. Those who survive of these regiments and 
 battalions have become veterans in the service, who, if 
 permitted, would hav«i returned to their State, and render- 
 ed Sherman's march across her territory and the escaue of 
 hie army alike impossible. 1 asked that this be allowed, if 
 assistance could not be otherwise afforded. It was denied 
 us, and the State has been passed over by a large army of 
 the enemy. Hundreds of miles of h^r railroad* have beea 
 for the present rendered useless. A broad belt of her ter- 
 ritor3^ nearly four hundred miles in length, has been de- 
 vastated. Within this belt most of the public property, in- 
 cluding several court houses with tiie public records, and a 
 vast amount ofprivate property, including many dwellings, 
 gin houses, much cotton, etc., have been destroyed. The 
 city of Atlanta, with several of the villages of the State, 
 have been burnt; the Capital has been occupied and dese- 
 crated by the enemy, and Savannah, ihe seaport city of the 
 State, is i ow in his possession. During the period ofSher- 
 man's march from Atlanta to Milledgeville, there were not 
 one thousand men of all the veteran infantry regiments and 
 battalions of Georgians, now in Confederate service, upon 
 the soil of this State. Nor did troops from other State* 
 fill their places. 
 
 Thus "abandoned to her fate" by the President, Geor- 
 gia's best reliance was her reserve militia and^ State line, 
 whom she had organized and still kfeps, fis.by ,the Constitu- 
 tion she has a i'ight to do. VVithont them nuicli more 
 property must have been destroyed and the city of Macon, 
 80 impoitant to the State "and Confederacy, must have 
 shared the fate of Atlanta and Savannah, while Augusta, 
 with the small Confederate force by which she was saved 
 divided with Macon, must also have fallen. 
 
 These troops whom Georgia krep/! have not only acted 
 with distinguished gallantry upon many bloody battle- 
 fields upon the soil of their own State, hut they have, when 
 an important service could be rendered by them, marched 
 into the interior of «ther States. The noble conduct of the 
 Troup County Militia, in their march to Pol lard, Alabama, 
 to aid in the protection of the people and property of that 
 State against the devastations of the enemy, and the heroic 
 valor displayed by Maj. General G. W. Smith and part of 
 his comniand then with him at Honey vlill, in South Caro- 
 lina, where he won — with the Georgia Jklilitia, her State 
 Line and a small nnmber of gallant Confederate troops 
 most of whom were Georgians — one of the most signal vic- 
 tories of the war in proportion to the number engaged, 
 fully attest the correctness of my assertion in their behalf. 
 
•4a 
 
 In view of these facts, with the late bitter experience of 
 the people of this State fresh in his recollection, t^ie Geor- 
 gia statesman must indeetl be a blind worshipper of the 
 President, who would advocate the policy of turning over 
 to his control, to be carried out of the State at his bidding, 
 old men and boys not subject under the laws of Congress 
 to military service, and of a class not required by him of 
 any other State. 
 
 I cannot close this communication without noticing cer- 
 tain expressions in your letter, which are not unfrequently 
 used by persons in authority at Richmond, such as "refrac- 
 tory Governors," "loyal States," etc. Our people have 
 become accustomed to these Imperial utterances from those 
 who wield the central despotism at Washington, but such 
 «'xpres.sions are so utterly at variance with the principles 
 upon which we entered into this cont^-st in 1S61, that it 
 sounds harshly to our ears to have the officers of a, Govern- 
 ment, which is the agent or creature of the States, discu^ 
 sing the loijali'j and disloyalty of* the sovereign States td 
 their central agent — the loyalty of the creator to the 
 creature — which lives asd moves and has its being only at 
 the will of theStates; and to hear their praise ofthe.Gov- . 
 i.Tnors of sovereign States for their subserviency, or their 
 denunciation of those not subservient as "refractory." If 
 our liberties are lost, the fatal result will not be properly 
 chargeable to disloyal States or "refractory Governors," but 
 it will grow out of the betrayal, by those high in Confede- 
 rate authority, of the sacred principles of the Constitution, 
 which they have sworn to defend. 
 
 Had some officials labored as successfully for the public 
 good as they have assiduously to concentrate all power in 
 the Confederate Government, and to place the liberty and 
 property of every citizen of the Confederacy subject to the 
 caprice and control of the President, the country would 
 not have been doomed to witness so many sad reverses. 
 Nor Vv'ould we now be burdened to support the vast hoard 
 of supernumerary officers and political favorites, who are 
 tpiartered upon us to eat out our substance, while they 
 avoid duty and danger in the field, having little other duty 
 to perform, but to endorse, indiscriminately and publicly, 
 by newspaper communications arid otherwise, fevery act of 
 the President, whether right or wrong ; and to reconcile 
 the people, by every means in their power, to the constant 
 encroachments which are made upon their ancient usages, 
 customs and liberties. 
 
 If all these favorites ofpowei who are able for active 
 duty, and whose support in the style in which they live, 
 while all around them is misery and want, costs the people 
 millions of dollars, were sent to the field and compelled to 
 do their part in battle, the President would have no reason 
 
43 
 
 to make illegal reqaisitions upon this State for her old men 
 and boys, who are not ' subject to his control uader any 
 law, State or Confederate ; but he would soon be able, by 
 heavy reinforcements, to fill the depleted ranks of the ar- 
 mies of the Confederacy. As the President is clothed with 
 all the power necessary to compel these political favorites 
 to shoulder arms and aid in driving back the invader, the 
 subject is respectfully commended to your consideration as 
 well worthy of energetic action. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 " ^ JOSEPE E. BROWN. 
 
« 
 
 
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