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A COMPILATION

MESSAGES AND PAPERS

CONFEDERACY

INCLUDING THE DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE
1861-1865

PUBLISHED BY PERMISSION OF CONGRESS
BY
JAMES D. RICHARDSON
A Representative from the State of Tennessee
Compiler and Editor of "Messages and Papers of the Presidents"

In Two Volumes — Volume I.

NASHVILLE
UNITED STATES PUBLISHING COMPANY
1905

Copyright, 1904,
BY
James D. Richardson.

TO THE SOLDIERS ON BOTH SIDES WHO LAID DOWN
THEIR LIVES IN THE FOUR YEARS' WAR, 1861-1865,
EACH FIGHTING FOR WHAT HE THOUGHT WAS
RIGHT, AND ALSO TO THOSE WHO, AFTER HOSTILI
TIES CEASED, GAVE THEIR BEST ENDEAVORS TO
PROMOTE PEACE AND HARMONY BETWEEN THE
SECTIONS LATELY IN ARMS, THIS WORK IS RE
SPECTFULLY DEDICATED, NOT TO PERPETUATE THE
RECORD OF THE STRIFE, BUT IN TOKEN OF THOSE
BETTER FEELINGS WHICH HAVE SINCE REUNITED
THE PEOPLE OF ALL SECTIONS UNDER ONE FLAG,
WITH ONE HOPE AND ONE DESTINY, IN A UNION
OF STATES THAT IS INDISSOLUBLE.

Prefatory Note.

The official papers of all the Presidents of the United States
from Washington to McKinley were compiled by me a few years
ago. That compilation is entitled "Messages and Papers of the
Presidents," is in ten volumes, and was published by the au
thority of Congress. I have now, by permission of Congress,
compiled and edited all the messages, proclamations, and inau
gural addresses of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate
States, together with the important and interesting diplomatic
correspondence of the Confederacy. This compilation is a fitting
companion piece to the former work. Biographical sketches of
President Davis, Vice President Stephens, General Robert E.
Lee, and the three Secretaries of State, Robert Toombs, Robert
M. T. Hunter, and Judah P. Benjamin, have been prepared and
are included. There will be two volumes of this work, the first
containing the official papers of the President, the second com
prising the diplomatic correspondence. The only omission of
any message has been in the case where it contained simply a
formal nomination without comment. Neither the State papers
of Mr. Davis nor the diplomatic correspondence of the Confed
eracy have ever before been compiled.
The "Messages and Papers of the Presidents" contains their
official papers without any political coloring by the editor and
compiler, and so the papers herein published are given to the
public entirely without any sectional or political bias. The ob
ject in view in making this publication is to place all the messages
and papers of the Confederacy and the diplomatic correspond
ence before the public at large of all sections of our country in a
convenient and enduring form. As stated, these are given with
out comment, and the reader is left to draw his own conclusions.
It will be conceded that no man more fully appreciated and
understood the motives and principles which actuated the South
ern States and their people in their conduct in withdrawing from
the Union than the man thev chose to be their President, and it
(vii)

viii Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
is equally true that but few men ever lived in our land who were
so happy in finding language to give adequate and forcible expres
sion to these motives and principles.
These volumes contain the sentiments and opinions entertained
by Mr. Davis as he gave utterance to them during that stormy and
perilous period of war, and those who agreed and acted with
him then, and who now think as he did, should find ample and
complete satisfaction for themselves as they peruse the pages of
this work; while those who did not then and who do not now
so agree with him and his associates should not only be willing
to have what he said in behalf of the Confederacy brought to
light, but, on the other hand, should be desirous of having this
done, so that from every standpoint publicity may be given to
what they consider to have been his and their errors and mis
takes. There will be found in the Index of Volume I a number of
encyclopedic articles which are intended to furnish the reader
definitions of politico-historical words and phrases, some of which
occur in the papers of the Chief Magistrate, or to develop more
fully questions or subjects to which only indirect reference is
made, or which are but briefly discussed by him. There will also
be found brief accounts of more than a hundred battles in which
the armies of the Confederate States were engaged. I have ear
nestly endeavored to make these articles historically correct, and
to this end have carefully compared them with the best authori
ties. There has been no effort or inclination on my part to inject
partisan or political opinions of any nature into these articles.
On the other hand, I have sought only to furnish reliable his
torical data and well-authenticated definitions, and to avoid the
expression of my own opinion.
The great wonder is that those who delight in hunting up and
publishing interesting history, which was so thrilling when the
events that made it were being enacted, have not heretofore dug
up these papers from their hidden repositories in the archives
of the Government at Washington, and given them to the public.
This is true especially of the diplomatic correspondence. The
addresses, messages, and proclamations of Mr. Davis were all
read during the war with the keenest interest as they were pub
lished, although they have been buried out of sight since its

Prefatory Note. ix
close. They relate to the establishment of the provisional, and
later to the permanent, Government of the Confederacy, its rise,
progress, and fall, and contain a frequent statement of the funda
mental grounds on which the rights of the Southern people to
set up a Government for themselves rested, and tell vividly of
the successes and defeats of the Confederate Army on many
bloody fields. Much of the history and many events shown by
them have been overlooked, or linger only in the minds of many
persons in a half-forgotten way. But this is not true of the
diplomatic correspondence, for it has never heretofore been pub
lished. It was all, or nearly all, profoundly secret and con
fidential at the time the communications were passed between
the Confederate Commissioners and the State Department of the
Confederacy. It will be remembered that the Commissioners to
the leading nations of Europe were William L. Yancey, of Ala
bama, Pierre A. Rost, of Louisiana, and A. Dudley Mann, of Vir
ginia. Later there were sent abroad James M. Mason, of Vir
ginia, John Slidell, of Louisiana, and L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mis
sissippi. Messrs. Yancey and Mason spent much of their
time at the Court of St. James, Mr. Slidell, at Paris, Mr. Rost,
at Madrid, Mr. Lamar, at St. Petersburg, and Mr. Mann, at
Brussels, although each made visits to other capitals. John T.
Pickett was the Commissioner to Mexico. The foreign cor
respondence, therefore, was written and signed in the most part
by these gentlemen, or some one of them. The letters to them
emanated from the State Department, and were signed by the
Secretary for the time being. The Secretaries of State were Rob
ert Toombs, of Georgia, Robert M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, and
Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, in the order named, all schol
arly men of the highest culture, and all of them prior to the
war had been members of the United States Senate. Mr. Ma
son and Mr. Slidell had also been members of that body, and
Mr. Yancey had been a member of the House of Representatives.
All of them had also held other high positions in their respective
States. Some of the papers are signed by William M. Browne,
of Mississippi, who occasionally acted as Secretary of State.
When the war closed, the soldiers of both sides of the four
years' desperate conflict returned to their peaceful pursuits, and
were soon busy in their efforts to recover lost fortunes and to gain

x Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the mastery over new and complicated questions arising out of
changed conditions. For these and other reasons, they did not be
stow attention upon this correspondence, and it has never been
unearthed and given to the public in either the Southern or
Northern States. It will, therefore, be new in both sections, and
the people of each must alike find enjoyment and pleasure' in
reading it. Interest in it will begin with the first notes given the
Commissioners by the Government, and their departure for Eu
rope. The story of their efforts to evade the blockade of the
Southern ports, the successful passage of Mason and Slidell from
their own shores to Cuba, and their embarkment for Europe on
an English vessel, from which they were captured on the high
seas, and brought to the United States as prisoners, the peremp
tory demand by Great Britain upon the United States for their
restoration to her ships, the compliance with this demand, and
their safe arrival and reception in Europe are all of thrilling in
terest, even at this remote day.
If the United States Government had persisted in holding these
gentlemen, it would in all probability have become embroiled in
war with Great Britain, the results of which no one could have
foretold ; nor is it possible to conceive what might have been the
effect of such a war upon the fate and fortunes of the Con
federacy. When divested of the sad memories of that dark and gloomy
period, this correspondence reads almost like romance.
From Mexico there will be found valuable and important cor
respondence. These communications are mainly to and from
Mr. Pickett, and in them, among other things of interest, will
be found something of the story of the installation by France of
Maximilian, the unfortunate young Austrian archduke, upon the
throne as Emperor of Mexico, which he subsequently lost, and
which cost him his life.
The reader will find a carefully prepared Index in each volume,
which will materially assist in the investigation of the subjects
therein discussed. These Indices are largely the labor of my
son, James D. Richardson, Jr., who has also aided me in the en-
tire work- James D. Richardson.
January i, 1905.

Contents of Volume I. Page
Resolution Permitting the Compilation  v
Prefatory Note  vii
Provisional Constitution  3
Biographical Sketch of Jefferson Davis  17
Provisional Congress :
First Session :
Election of President and Vice President  29
Notification of Election to President and Vice President. 30
Inauguration of President  31
Inaugural Address  32
Permanent Constitution  37
Provisional Congress :
First Session (Continued) :
Messages  55
Letter of President Davis to President Lincoln  55
Messages  56
Veto Message  59
Proclamations  60
Second Session (Called) :
Messages  63
Veto Messages.  100
Proclamations  102
Act Recognizing Existence of War, etc  104
President's Instructions to Private Armed Vessels .... 1 1 1
Act Amending Act Recognizing Existence of War, etc. . 1 13
Resolution of Thanks  114
Letter of President Davis to President Lincoln  115
Third Session:
Messages  IT7
Dispatch of President Davis to the Congress  124
(xi)

xii Messages and Papers of the Confederacy. Page
Messages  125
Veto Message  130
Proclamations  :  131
Resolutions of Thanks  133.
Fourth Session (Called) :
Message  134
Proclamation  135
Fifth Session:
Messages  136
Veto Messages  156
Proclamations  166
Resolutions of Thanks  168
Biographical Sketch of Alexander H. Stephens  173
First Congress :
First Session :
Inauguration of President  181
Inaugural Address  183.
Messages  189
Veto Messages  215
Proclamations  217
Addresses  228
Resolutions of Thanks  230
Second Session:
Messages  232-
Veto Messages  262
Proclamations  268
Resolutions of Thanks  ,  275
Third Session:
Messages  276
Veto Messages  o2o
Proclamations  ?2a
Addresses  ,,r
Resolutions of Thanks  ,,7
Appointment of Vice President Stephens as Military
Commissioner to United States  ,,g
Letter of President Davis to President Lincoln  343

Contents of Volume I. xiii
Fourth Session: Page
Messages  345
Veto Messages  408
Proclamation  412
Address  414
Official Regulations to Carry into Effect Act to Impose
Regulations upon Foreign Commerce, etc  417
Resolutions of Thanks  420
Biographical Sketch of Robert E. Lee  437
Second Congress:
First Session :
Messages  443
Veto Messages  457
Address  477
Resolutions of Thanks  479
Second Session:
Messages  482
Message of President Lincoln on the Hampton Roads
Conference, Including Correspondence  521
Veto Messages  553
Proclamations  563
Address  568
Act Providing for Appointment of General in Chief. . . . 570
Communication from President's Private Secretary.... 570
Index  573

Illustrations.

Page

Confederate Capitol at Montgomery  Frontispiece
Jefferson Davis  16
Alexander H. Stephens  172
Robert E. Lee  436
(XV)

Constitution for the Provisional
Government.

Constitution for the Provisional
Government.
We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States of
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Lou
isiana, invoking the favor of Almighty God, do hereby, in behalf
of these States, ordain and establish this Constitution for the Pro
visional Government of the same : to continue one year from the
inauguration of the President, or until a permanent constitution or
confederation between the said States shall be put in operation,,
whichsoever shall first occur. Article I.
Section i. All legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested
in^this Congress now assembled until otherwise ordained.
Sec. 2. When vacancies happen in the representation from any
State, the same shall be filled in such manner as the proper au
thorities of the State shall direct.
Sec. 3. (i) The Congress shall be the judge of the elections, re
turns, and qualifications of its members; any number of deputies
from a majority of the States, being present, shall constitute a
quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from
day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of ab
sent members ; upon all questions before the Congress, each State
shall be entitled to one vote, and shall be represented by any one or
more of its deputies who may be present.
(2) The Congress may determine the rules of its proceedings^
punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the con
currence of two-thirds, expel a member.
(3) The Congress shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and
from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may
in their judgment require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the
members on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those
(3)

4. Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
present, or at the instance of any one State, be entered on the
journal. Sec. 4. The members of Congress shall receive a compensation
for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the
Treasury of the Confederacy. They shall in all cases, except!
treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest
during their attendance at the session of the Congress, and in
going to and returning from the same ; and for any speech or de
bate they shall not be questioned in any other place.
Sec. 5. (1) Every bill which shall have passed the Congress
shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the
Confederacy ; if he approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he shall
return it with his objections to the Congress, who shall enter the
objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it.
If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the Congress shall
agree to pass the bill, it shall become a law. But in all such cases
the vote shall be determined by yeas and nays ; and the names of
the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the
journal. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within
ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to
him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed
it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return;
in which case it shall not be a law. The President may veto any
appropriation or appropriations and approve any other appropria
tion or appropriations in the same bill.
(2) Every order, resolution, or vote intended to have the force
and effect of a law, shall be presented to the President, and before
the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or, being dis
approved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Congress,
according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a
bill. (3) Until the inauguration of the President, all bills, orders,
resolutions, and votes adopted by the Congress shall be of full
force without approval by him.
Sec 6. (1) The Congress shall have power to lay and collect
taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for the revenue necessary to
pay the debts and carry on the Government of the Confederacy;
and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout
the States of the Confederacy.

Constitution for the Provisional Government. 5
(2) To borrow money on the credit of the Confederacy.
(3) To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several States, and with the Indian tribes.
(4) To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform
laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the Confederacy.
(5) To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign
coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.
(6) To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the se
curities and current coin of the Confederacy.
(7) To establish post offices and post roads.
(8) To promote the progress of science and useful arts by se
curing, for limited times, to authors and inventors the exclusive
right to their respective writings and discoveries.
(9) To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court.
(10) To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on
the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations.
(11) To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and
make rules concerning captures on land and water.
(12) To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of
money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.
(13) To provide and maintain a navy.
(14) To make rules for the government and regulation of the
land and naval forces.
(15) To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws
of the Confederacy, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.
(16) To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed
in the service of the Confederacy, reserving to the States respec
tively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training
the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.
(17) To make all laws that shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers
expressly delegated by this Constitution to this Provisional Gov
ernment. (18) The Congress shall have power to admit other States.
(19) This Congress shall also exercise executive powers, until
the President is inaugurated.
Sec. 7. (1) The importation of African negroes from any for
eign country other than the slave-holding States of the United

6 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
States, is hereby forbidden ; and Congress are required to pass such
laws as shall effectually prevent the same.
(2) The Congress shall also have power to prohibit the intro
duction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confed
eracy. (3) The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus
pended unless, when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public
safety may require it.
(4) No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
(5) No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce
or revenue, to the ports of one State over those of another ; nor
shall vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear,
or pay duties in another.
(6) No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in conse
quence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement
and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money
shall be published from time to time.
(7) Congress shall appropriate no money from the treasury, un
less it be asked and estimated for by the President or some one of
the heads of departments, except for the purpose of paying its own
expenses and contingencies.
(8) No title of nobility shall be granted by the Confederacy ;
and no person holding any office of profit or trust under it shall,
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolu
ment, office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince,
or foreign state.
(9) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a re
dress of such grievances as the delegated powers of this Govern
ment may warrant it to consider and redress.
(10) A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of
a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not
be infringed.
(11) No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house
without the consent of the owner ; nor in time of war, but in a man
ner to be prescribed by law.
(12) The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,

Constitution for the Provisional Government. 7
papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures
shall not be violated ; and no warrants shall issue but upon prob
able cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly de
scribing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be
seized. (13) No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other
wise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a
grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or
in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public
danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be
twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any
criminal case to be a witness against himself ; nor be deprived of
life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall
private property be taken for public use without just compensation.
(14) In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the
right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State
and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which
district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be con
fronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the as
sistance of counsel for his defense.
(15) In suits at common law, where the value in controversy
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be pre
served ; and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined
in any court of the Confederacy than according to the rules of the
common law.
(16) Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
(17) The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the
people. (18) The powers not delegated to the Confederacy by the Con
stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people.
( 19) The judicial power of the Confederacy shall not be con
strued to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prose
cuted against one of the States of the Confederacy, by citizens of
another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

8 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Sec. 8. ( i ) No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con
federation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit
bills of credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in
payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or
law impairing the obligation of contracts ; or grant any title of
nobility. (2) No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any
imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be abso
lutely necessary for executing its inspection laws ; and the net
produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or
exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the Confederacy,
and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the
Congress. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay
any duty of tonnage, enter into any agreement or compact with
another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless
actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of
delay. Article II.
Section 1. (1) The executive power shall be vested in a Presi
dent of the Confederate States of America. He, together with
the Vice President, shall hold his office for one year, or until this
Provisional Government shall be superseded by a permanent gov
ernment, whichsoever shall first occur.
(2) The President and Vice President shall be elected by ballot
by the States represented in this Congress, each State casting one
vote, and a majority of the whole being requisite to elect.
(3) No person, except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of one
of the States of this Confederacy at the time of the adoption of
this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President ; neither
shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have at
tained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resi
dent of one of the States of this Confederacy.
(4) In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties
of the said office (which inability shall be determined by a vote of
two-thirds of the Congress), the same shall devolve on the Vice
President; and the Congress may by law provide for the case of
removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and

Constitution for the Provisional Government. 9
Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President ;
and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be re
moved or a President shall be elected.
(5) The President shall at stated times receive for his services,
during the period of the Provisional Government, a compensation
at the rate of $25,000 per annum ; and he shall not receive during
that period any other emolument from this Confederacy, or any
of the States thereof.
(6) Before he enter on the execution of his office he shall take
the following oath or affirmation :
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
office of President of the Confederate States of America, and will,
to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Con
stitution thereof.
Sec. 2. (1) The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy of the Confederacy, and of the militia of the sev
eral States, when called into the actual service of the Confederacy ;
he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in
each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the
duties of their respective offices ; and he shall have power to grant
reprieves and pardons for offenses against the Confederacy, ex
cept in cases of impeachment.
(2) He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of
the Congress, to make treaties; provided two-thirds of the Con
gress concur ; and he shall nominate, and, by and with the advice
and consent of the Congress, shall appoint ambassadors, other
public ministers, and consuls, judges of the courts, and all other
officers of the Confederacy whose appointments are not herein
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law.
But the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such in
ferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, in the
courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
(3) The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that
may happen during the recess of the Congress, by granting com
missions, which shall expire at the end of their next session.
Sec. 3. (1) He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress
information of the state of the Confederacy, and recommend to
their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient ; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the Con

10 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
gress at such times as he shall think proper ; he shall receive am
bassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed ; and shall commission all the officers
of the Confederacy.
(2) The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the
Confederacy shall be removed from office on conviction by the
Congress of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misde
meanors: a vote of two-thirds shall be necessary for such con:
viction. Article III.
Section 1.(1) The judicial power of the Confederacy shall be
vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as are
herein directed, or as the Congress may from time to time ordain
and establish.
(2) Each State shall constitute a district, in which there shall
be a court called a district court, which, until otherwise provided
by the Congress, shall have the jurisdiction vested by the laws of
the United States, as far as applicable, in both the district and
circuit courts of the United States, for that State; the judge
whereof shall be appointed by the President, by and with the ad
vice and consent of the Congress, and shall, until otherwise pro
vided by the Congress, exercise the power and authority vested by
the laws of the United States in the judges of the district and cir
cuit courts of the United States, for that State, and shall appoint
the times and places at which the courts shall be held. Appeals may
be taken directly from the district courts to the Supreme Court,
under similar regulations to those which are provided in cases of
appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, or under such
regulations as may be provided by the Congress. The commissions
of all the judges shall expire with this Provisional Government.*
*This paragraph was amended as follows:
Be it ordained by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That
the second paragraph of the first section of the third article of the Consti
tution of the Confederate States of America be so amended in the first line
of said paragraph as to read, "Each State shall, until otherwise enacted by
law, constitute a district;" and in the sixth line, after the word "judge," add
"or judges."
Approved May 21, 1861.

Constitution for the Provisional Government.

n

(3) The Supreme Court shall be constituted of all the district
judges, a majority of whom shall be a quorum, and shall sit at
such times and places as the Congress shall appoint.
(4) The Congress shall have power to make laws for the trans
fer of any causes which were pending in the courts of the United
States, to the courts of the Confederacy, and for the execution of
the orders, decrees, and judgments heretofore rendered by the said
courts of the United States ; and also all laws which may be requi
site to protect the parties to all such suits, orders, judgments, or
decrees, their heirs, personal representatives, or assignees.
Sec. 2. (1) The judicial power shall extend to all cases of law
and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United
States, and of this Confederacy, and treaties made, or which shall
be made, under its authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors,
other public ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and
maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the Confederacy
shall be a party; controversies between two or more States; be
tween citizens of different States; between citizens of the same
State claiming lands under grants of different States.
(2) In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers,
and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Su
preme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases
before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate juris
diction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under
such regulations as the Congress shall make.
(3) The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall
be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said
crimes shall have been committed ; but when not committed within
any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress
may by law have directed.
Sec. 3. (1) Treason against this Confederacy shall consist only
in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them
aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless
on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on con
fession in open court.
(2) The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of
treason ; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood,
Or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

12 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Article IV.
Section i . ( i ) Full faith and credit shall be given in each State
to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other
State. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the
manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be
proved and the effect of such proof.
Sec. 2. ( i ) The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all priv
ileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.
(2) A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State,
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from
which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having
jurisdiction of the crime.
(3) A slave in one State2 escaping to another, shall be delivered
up on claim of the party to whom said slave may belong by the ex
ecutive authority of the State in which such slave shall be found,
and in case of any abduction or forcible rescue, full compensation,
including the value of the slave and all costs and expenses, shall
be made to the party, by the State in which such abduction or
rescue shall take place.
Sec. 3. (1) The Confederacy shall guarantee to every State in
this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each
of them against invasion ; and, on application of the Legislature,
or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened),
against domestic violence. Article V.
1. The Congress, by a vote of two-thirds, may, at any time, alter
or amend this Constitution. Article VI.
1. This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederacy which
shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which
shall be made, under the authority of the Confederacy, shall be the
supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be
bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State
to the contrary notwithstanding.
2. The Government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps

Constitution for the Provisional Government. 13
for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it, and
their other late confederates of the United States in relation to the
public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal
from them ; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and
earnest desire to adjust everything pertaining to the common prop
erty, common liability, and common obligations of that Union,
upon the principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith.
3. Until otherwise provided by the Congress, the city of Mont
gomery, in the State of Alabama, shall be the seat of government.
4. The members of the Congress and all executive and judicial
officers of the Confederacy shall be bound by oath or affirmation to
support this Constitution ; but no religious test shall be required as
a qualification to any office or public trust under this Confederacy.
Done in the Congress, by the unanimous consent of all the said
States, the eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Confederate
States of America the first.
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.
Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
South Carolina: R. Barnwell Rhett, R. W. Barnwell,
James Chesnut, Jr., C. G. Memminger, William
Porcher Miles, Lawrence M. Keitt, William W. Boyce,
Thomas J. Withers.
Georgia : R. Toombs, Francis S. Bartow, Martin J. Craw
ford, E. A. Nisbet, Benjamin H. Hill, Augustus R.
Wright, Thomas R. R. Cobb, A. H. Kenan, Alexander
H. Stephens.
Florida: Jackson Morton, James B. Owens, J. Patton
Anderson.
Alabama: Richard W. Walker, Robert H. Smith, Colin
J. McRae, John Gill Shorter, William Parish Chilton,
Stephen F. Hale, David P. Lewis, Thomas Fearn, J. L.
! M. Curry.
Mississippi : W. P. Harris, Alex. M. Clayton, W. S. Wil
son, James T. Harrison, Walker Brooke, William S.
Barry, J. A. P. Campbell.
Louisiana: John Perkins, Jr., Alex, de Clouet, C. M.
Conrad, Duncan F. Kenner, Edward Sparrow, Henry
Marshall.

14 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
By a vote of the Congress, on the 2d day of March, in the year
1861, the deputies from the State of Texas were authorized to
sign the Provisional Constitution above written.
Attest. J. J. Hooper, Secretary.
Texas: Thomas N. Waul, Williamson S. Oldham, John
Gregg, John H. Reagan, W. B. Ochiltree, John Hemp
hill, Louis T. Wigfall.

Jefferson Davis.

(^^^^^^-^^-^z^-^^

Jefferson Davis.
Jefferson Davis was born in that part of Christian County, Ky.,
which now forms Todd County on June 3, 1808. His grandfa
ther was a colonist from Wales, and lived in Virginia and Mary
land, and rendered important public service to both while they
were colonies. His father, Samuel Emory Davis, was a Revolu
tionary soldier, as were also his brothers. During the Revolution
his father served for a time with Georgia cavalry, and was an
officer in the infantry in the siege of Savannah. Three of the
brothers of Jefferson Davis, all older than himself, participated in
the war of 1812 ; two of them were with Andrew Jackson, and were
specially mentioned by him for gallantry at New Orleans. After
the Revolution Samuel Davis removed to Kentucky, where he re
sided for a time, and, when Jefferson Davis was an infant, re
moved with his family to a place near Woodville, Wilkinson Coun
ty, Miss. Jefferson Davis received his academic education in early
life near his home, and then entered Transylvania College, Ken
tucky, but in 1824 left there to enter the United States Military
Academy at West Point, having been appointed as a cadet by
President Monroe; graduated in 1828, and was assigned to the
First Infantry as second lieutenant; was engaged with his regi
ment in several battles in the Black Hawk War of 1831-32; was
transferred to a new command called the First Dragoons, and on
March 4, 1833, was promoted to be first lieutenant, and was ap
pointed adjutant; was actively in the service, fighting the Paw
nees, Comanches, and other Indians during the next two years;
but on June 30, 1835, suddenly resigned and entered upon the
duties of civil life. It is said that he was persuaded to this course
by his uncle and other relatives who considered him unusually
qualified to win distinction in a civil career. He married Miss
Sallie Knox Taylor, the daughter of Zachary Taylor, then colonel
of the First Infantry, and became a cotton planter near Vicksburg,
Miss., being about twenty-seven years of age. His wife lived only
a few months. In 1845, m the month of February, he married
2 (-7)

18 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Miss Varina Howell, a daughter of William B. Howell, of Natch
ez, Miss. She still survives. On his farm he pursued a course of
close study, preparing himself for a public life. In 1843 he en
tered politics in an exciting gubernatorial campaign, and acquired
reputation as a popular speaker. In 1844 he was an elector for Polk
and Dallas, and in 1845 was sent to Congress, taking his seat in De
cember of that year. The Tariff, the Oregon question, the Annex
ation of Texas were live issues, and he took an active part at once
in their discussion, giving especial attention to the preparations
for war with Mexico. In a speech on the Oregon question, Feb
ruary 6, 1846, he spoke of the "love of the Union in our hearts;"
and, referring to the battles of the Revolution, said : "They form
a monument to the common glory of our common country." He
advocated converting certain forts into schools of instruction for
the military of the States. War having begun with Mexico, he
determined to reenter military life, and promptly resigned from
Congress in June, 1846, and accepted the position of colonel of the
First Mississippi Volunteer Rifles, to which he had been unani
mously elected. He joined his regiment at New Orleans, and pro
ceeded with it to the Rio Grande to reenforce the army under Gen.
Taylor. On September 21, 1846, he led his disciplined command in
the battle of Monterey, and won a brilliant victory in the assault,
without bayonets, on Fort Teneria, advancing through the streets
nearly to the Grand Plaza through a storm of shot and shell, and
served later on the commission for the surrender of the place. At
Buena Vista his command was charged by a Mexican brigade of
lancers, greatly its superior in numbers, in full gallop,, in a desperate
effort to break the American lines, but Colonel Davis formed his
men in the shape of the letter V, the flanks resting in the ravines,
exposing the enemy to a converging fire, utterly routing them.
During the day he charged up and broke the Mexican lines on
their right, and was seriously wounded, remaining on the field,
however, until the victory was won. Later he was complimented
for coolness and gallantry under fire, by General Taylor in a special
dispatch. On the expiration of its term of enlistment, his regi
ment was ordered home. Colonel Davis was then appointed
brigadier general by President Polk, but he declined the commis
sion, on the ground that a militia appointment by the Federal Ex
ecutive was not constitutional. In August, 1847, he was appointed

fefferson Davis. 19
by the Governor of Mississippi to the vacancy in the United States
Senate caused by the death of Senator Spight, and took his seat
December 6, 1847 > was unanimously elected by the Legislature in
January, 1848, for the remainder of the term, and in 1850 was re
elected for a full term. He was made Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Military Affairs, and here, as in the House, he was
active in the discussions of the slavery question in its various
phases, the Compromise Measures of 1850, and all other important
issues. He said he saw very little in the compromise legislation
favorable to the Southern States, and declared that to his view of
it, "it bore the impress of that sectional spirit so widely at variance
with the general purposes of the Union and destructive of the
harmony and mutual benefit which the Constitution was intended
to secure." He favored the extension of the Missouri compromise
line to the Pacific Ocean, and was at all times an earnest and ar
dent advocate of the rights of the States. Although just fairly
entering upon a full term of six years in the Senate, with almost
a certainty of continued service in that distinguished body, he re
signed his seat therein after a brief service, and accepted the nomi
nation for governor of his State. His party at the preceding elec
tion had been defeated by over seven thousand majority, and while
he was defeated at the election in 1 851, he reduced the majority to
nine hundred and ninety-nine. After a year's retirement he was
appointed Secretary of War in the Cabinet of Mr. Pierce, whom
he had warmly supported for the presidency, and administered the
office with great ability. He made important and valuable reforms
in the military service while filling the office of Secretary of War.
Among them were the introduction of an improved system of in
fantry tactics, iron gun carriages, rifled muskets and pistols, and
the "use of the Minie ball. Four regiments were added to the
army, the defenses on the seacoast and frontier were strengthened,
and, as a result of experiments, heavy guns were cast hollow, and
a larger grain of powder was adopted. He promoted surveys of
the Western Territories with a view to the construction of a rail
road to the Pacific, which he had favored as a Senator, and was
deeply interested in the extension of the Capitol at Washington
City. At the close of Mr. Pierce's term he left the Cabinet, and in
the same year ( 1857) again entered the Senate. He opposed the
bill to pay French spoliation claims, advocated the southern

20 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
route for the Pacific railroad, and opposed Mr. Douglas's doc
trine of "popular sovereignty." On July 9, 1861, Mississippi se
ceded, and on July 24 — having been officially informed of the
fact — he delivered a farewell address, and withdrew from the
Senate and went to his home. Before reaching his home he had
been appointed by the convention of his State commander in
chief of the Army of Mississippi, with the rank of major general.
On February 9 he was elected President of the Provisional Gov
ernment of the Confederate States, at Montgomery, Ala., and on
the 18th day of the same month he was inaugurated as such
President. He delivered an inaugural address that day, which
he said was deliberately prepared and uttered as written, and, in
connection with his farewell speech to the Senate, presented a
clear and authentic statement of the principles and purposes which
actuated him in assuming the duties of the high office to which he
had been called. In this inaugural address, among other things,
he said: "Our present political position has been achieved in a
manner unprecedented in the history of nations. It illustrates the
American idea that governments rest on the consent of the gov
erned, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them
at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which
they were established. The declared purpose of the compact of the
Union from which we have withdrawn was to 'establish justice, in
sure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, pro
mote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity;' and when, in the judgment of the
sovereign States composing this Confederacy, it has been pervert
ed from the purposes for which it was ordained, and ceased to an
swer the ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal to
the ballot box declared that, so far as they are concerned, the gov
ernment created by that compact should cease to exist. In this
they merely asserted the right which the Declaration of Independ
ence of July 4, 1776, defined to be 'inalienable.' Of the time and
occasion of its exercise they as sovereigns were the final judges,
each for itself. The impartial and enlightened verdict of mankind
will vindicate the rectitude of our conduct; and He who knows
the hearts of men will judge of the sincerity with which we have
'labored to preserve the government of our fathers in its spirit.
The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the United States,

Jefferson Davis. ai
and which has been solemnly affirmed and reaffirmed in the Bills
of Rights of the States subsequently admitted into the Union of
1789, undeniably recognizes in the people the power to resume the
authority delegated for the purposes of government. Thus the
sovereign States here represented have proceeded to form this
Confederacy; and it is by abuse of language that their act has
been denominated a revolution. They formed a new alliance, but
within each State its government has remained ; so that the rights
of person and property have not been disturbed. The agent
through which they communicated with foreign nations is changed,
but this does not necessarily interrupt their international relations.
Sustained by the consciousness that the transition from the former
Union to the present Confederacy has not proceeded from a disre
gard on our part of just obligations, or any failure to perform
every constitutional duty, moved by no interest or passion to in
vade the rights of others, anxious to cultivate peace and commerce
with all nations, if we may not hope to avoid war, we may at least
expect that posterity will acquit us of having needlessly engaged
in it." Again, he said : "We have entered upon the career of in
dependence, and it must be inflexibly pursued. Through many
years of controversy with our late associates of the Northern
States we have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity and obtain
respect for the rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity,
not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separatipn, and
henceforth our energies must be directed to the conduct of our own
affairs, and the perpetuity of the Confederacy which we have
formed. If a just perception of mutual interest shall permit us
peaceably to pursue our separate political career, my most earnest
desire will have been fulfilled. But if this be denied to us, and the
integrity of our territory and jurisdiction be assailed, it will but
remain for us with firm resolve to appeal to arms and invoke the
blessing of Providence on a just cause." Continuing, he said:
"With a Constitution differing only from that of our fathers in so
far as it is explanatory of their well-known intent, freed from
sectional conflicts, which have interfered with the pursuit of the
general welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that States from
which we have recently parted may seek to unite their fortunes to
ours under the government which we have instituted."
He insisted that he and those associated with him were "actu-

22 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
ated solely by the desire to preserve our own rights and to promote
our own welfare," and that "the separation by the Confederate
States has been marked by no aggression upon others, and fol
lowed by no domestic convulsion." He said: "Should reason
guide the action of the government from which we have separated,
a policy so detrimental to the civilized world, the Northern States
included, could not be dictated by even the strongest desire to in
flict injury upon us; but, if the contrary should prove true, a ter
rible responsibility will rest upon it, and the suffering of millions
will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of our aggressors."
Near the close of his inaugural he used these words: "We have
changed the constituent parts, but not the system of government.
The Constitution framed by our fathers is that of these Confeder
ate States. In their exposition of it, and in the judicial construc
tion it has received, we have a light which reveals its true mean
ing. Thus instructed as to the true meaning and just interpreta
tion of that instrument, and ever remembering that all offices are
but trusts held for the people, and that powers delegated are to
be strictly construed, I will hope by due diligence in the perform
ance of my duties, though I may disappoint your expectations, yet
to retain, when retiring, something of the good will and confidence
which welcome my entrance into office." In "his message to Con
gress of April 29, 1861, shortly after the opening of the war at
Fort Sumter, he made official announcement of the purpose and
policy of the government at Montgomery in regard to the war.
He said: "We feel that our cause is just and holy; we protest
solemnly in the face of mankind that we desire peace at any sacri
fice save that of honor and independence ; we seek no conquest, no
aggrandizement, no concession of any kind from the States with
which we were lately confederated ; all we ask is to be let alone ;
that those who never held power over us shall not now attempt our
subjugation by arms. This we will, this we must, resist to the
direst extremity. The moment that this pretension is abandoned
the sword will drop from our grasp, and we shall be ready to
enter into treaties of amity and commerce that cannot but be
mutually beneficial. So long as this pretension is maintained,
with a firm reliance on that divine power which covers with its
protection the just cause, we will continue to struggle for our in
herent right to freedom, independence, and self-government."

Jefferson Davis. 23
War followed, and was prolonged for four years, during which
time Mr. Davis was continued as President. In November, 1861,
an election was held under the permanent Constitution, and he was
chosen President, without opposition, for six years. The first
Congress under the permanent government met in Richmond on
February 18, 1862, and he was inaugurated on the 22d of that
month. The Confederate army in Virginia under General Lee
surrendered April 9, 1865, and soon after the war ended. Mr.
Davis left Richmond on Sunday night, April 2, and went to Dan
ville, Va., and from there to Charlotte, N. C, where he remained
until the 26th of April, when he left with a small force of cavalry
as an escort. He reached the Savannah River and crossed it May
4, and went to Washington, Ga., where he remained a few days.
In his work, the "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,"
Mr. Davis says: "When I left Washington, Ga., with the small
party which has been enumerated, my object was to go to the
south far enough to pass below the points reported to be occupied
by Federal troops, and then turn to the west, cross the Chatta-
hoochie, and then go on to meet the forces still supposed to be in
the field in Alabama. If, as now seemed probable, there should
be no prospect of a successful resistance east of the Mississippi, I
intended then to cross to the Trans-Mississippi Department, where
I believed Gens. E. K. Smith and Magruder would continue to
uphold our cause." On May 10 he was captured by Federal cav
alry, and, with members of his family, his wife and several small
children, one an infant, who were traveling with him, was carried
to Macon, Ga., and from there to Hampton Roads. He was then
removed to Fortress Monroe, and incarcerated in a cell, his wife
and family being returned to Savannah, Ga. In mentioning his
imprisonment at Fortress Monroe, in his work to which reference
has just been made, he says: "Bitter tears have been shed by the
gentle, and stern reproaches have been made by the magnanimous,
on account of the needless torture to which I was subjected, and
the heavy fetters riveted upon me, while in a stone casemate and
surrounded by a strong guard ; but all these were less excruciating
than the mental agony my captors were able to inflict It was long
before I was permitted to hear from my wife and children, and
this and things like this was the power which education added to
cruelty; but I do not propose now and here to enter upon the

24 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
story of my imprisonment, or more than merely to refer to other
matters which concern me personally, as distinct from my con
nection with the Confederacy." He was kept in prison about two
years, and on May 6, 1866, was indicted for treason in the United
States Court for the District of Virginia. With his counsel he
insisted on a prompt and speedy trial, but the government post
poned the trial and held him without bail until May, 1867, when
upon a writ of habeas corpus he was brought before the court at
Richmond and admitted to bail, the bond being fixed at $100,000.
The bond was promptly given, and he was released. After an
enthusiastic reception at Richmond, he went to New York, then to
Canada, and in the summer of 1868 visited England and France.
While in England he declined an offer to enter upon business with
a Liverpool firm. In December, 1868, a nolle prosequi was en
tered by the government in his case, and he was therefore never
brought to trial; and in the general amnesty of that month he
was included. He subsequently removed to Memphis, Tenn., and
became the president of a life insurance company. In 1879 he
was bequeathed an estate by a lady admirer, Mrs. Dorsey, of
Beauvoir, Miss., where he went to reside and where, living a life
of seclusidn, he gave himself up largely to literary pursuits.
Occasional public demonstrations in the South revealed the at
tachment of the people there for him. This was notably the case
when he attended the unveiling of the statue of Benjamin Hill, in
Atlanta, the dedication of a monument to Confederate soldiers at
Montgomery in 1886, and when he at another time visited the Geor
gia State Fair, at Macon. He avoided ostentatious display of him*
self ; but when opportunity offered, the Southern people, by impos
ing popular demonstrations, gave evidence of their undiminished
attachment to his personal character, and their sympathy for him
in his misfortunes. They believed him to be a man of the highest
personal integrity, a sincere Christian, a gentleman of refined and
elevated character, and one thoroughly impressed with the cor
rectness of the political and constitutional views he held, and the
rightfulness and righteousness of the cause he espoused. He de
voted much time of the last years of his life to the writing of his
history of the war, the "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Gov
ernment," published in 1881. The purpose he had in view in
preparing and publishing this work he set forth briefly but sue-

Jefferson Davis. 25
cinctly in his preface thereto in these words: "The object of this
work has been from historical data to show that the Southern
States had rightfully the power to withdraw from a Union into
which they had, as sovereign communities, voluntarily entered;
that the denial of that right was a violation of the letter and spirit
of the compact between the States; and that the war waged by
the Federal Government against the seceding States was in dis
regard of the limitations of the Constitution, and destructive of
the principles of the Declaration of Independence." He closed
the second and last volume of this work with the following words :
"In asserting the right of secession, it has not been my wish to
incite to its exercise : I recognize the fact that the war showed it
to be impracticable, but this did not prove it to be wrong; and
now that it may not again be attempted, and that the Union may
promote the general welfare, it is needful that the truth, the whole
truth, should be known, so that crimination and recrimination may
forever cease ; and then, on the basis of fraternity and faithful re
gard for the rights of the States, there may be written on the arch
of the Union 'Esto perpetua.' "
The death of Mr. Davis occurred at New Orleans about one
o'clock a.m., December 6, 1889. His funeral ceremonies were
worthy of the illustrious character of the deceased statesman.
Public meetings were held in many cities and towns of the South
to give expression to the common sorrow, and the flags of the
State Capitols were placed at half-mast. His character was eulo
gized, and the newspapers generally, North as well as South, print
ed complimentary and laudatory notices of him. He was buried
temporarily in New Orleans, and later his remains were removed
to Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, where there were
erected for them a tomb and monument. A special funeral train
conveyed them from New Orleans to Richmond, passing through
several States. At many places convenient stops were made, that
the assembled people might make respectful and affectionate
tributes to his memory. The train moved day and night almost
literally in review before the line of people who thronged the
route and stood with uncovered heads to see it pass. It was ap
propriate that his remains should rest at last in Richmond, the
city which was the immediate scene of his labors as the Confed
eracy under his guidance for four years maintained an unequal

26 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
struggle for a permanent place among the nations of the earth,
and which, so long defended by the immortal Lee and his heroic
battalions, successfully withstood the fierce and terrible assaults
of the great armies of the Union, led by brave and renowned
soldiers.

Provisional Congress.

Provisional Congress.
FIRST SESSION.
ASSEMBLED AT MONTGOMERY, ALA., FEBRUARY 4, l86l. AD
JOURNED MARCH l6, l86l, TO MEET SECOND MONDAY IN MAY.
ELECTION OF PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
FOR PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
Saturday, February 9, 1861.
Open Session.
Congress met pursuant to adjournment.
An appropriate prayer was offered up by the Rev. Dr. Basil
Manly. The Chair announced that the first business in order was the
administration of the oath to the deputies to support the Constitu
tion of the Provisional Government.
Whereupon Judge Richard W. Walker, of the supreme court
of the State of Alabama, administered the oath to the President,
and the President administered the oath to the members of Con
gress. The oath thus taken was as follows :
You do solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution for the
Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America, so help you
God. At the suggestion of Mr. Memminger, while the oath was be
ing administered all the members stood upon their feet.
*******
The Congress then proceeded to the election of a President and
a Vice President for the Provisional Government.
Mr. Curry moved that two tellers be appointed to conduct said
election, which was agreed to. (29)

30 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Whereupon the President appointed Mr. Curry and Mr. Miles
as tellers. The vote being taken by States for President, the Hon. Jefferson
Davis, of Mississippi, received all the votes cast, being six, and was
duly declared unanimously elected President of the Provisional
Government. On motion of Mr. Toombs, a committee of three was appointed
to inform Mr. Davis of his election.
Whereupon the President appointed Mr. Toombs, Mr. Rhett,
and Mr. Morton.
The vote was then taken by States for Vice President, and the
Hon. Alexander Hamilton Stephens, of Georgia, received all the
votes cast, being six, and he was duly declared unanimously elected
Vice President of the Provisional Government.
Mr. Perkins moved that a committee of three be appointed to
inform Mr. Stephens of his election, which was agreed to.
And the President appointed Mr. Perkins, Mr. Harris, and Mr.
Shorter. Congress then adjourned till Monday next at n o'clock.
NOTIFICATION OF ELECTION TO PRESIDENT AND
VICE PRESIDENT.
Montgomery, Ala., February 9, 1861.
Hon. Jefferson Davis, Jackson.
Sir: We are directed to inform you that you were this day unan
imously elected President of the Provisional Government of the
Confederate States .of America, and to request you to come to
Montgomery immediately. We send also a special messenger.
Do not wait for him. R. Toombs,
R. Barnwell Rhett,
Jackson Morton.
Montgomery, Ala., February 9, 1861.
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens.
Sir : The Congress for the Provisional Government for the Con
federate States of America have this day unanimously elected you
to the office of Vice President of the Confederate States, and we

Inauguration of President. 31
have been appointed to communicate the fact, and to respectfully
invite your acceptance. In performing this pleasing duty, allow
us to express the hope that you will accept, and we beg to suggest
that it would be most agreeable to the body we represent, as you
are a member of the Congress, that you should signify to it in
person your consent to serve the country in the high position to
which you have been called.
We have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours,
John Perkins, Jr.,
W. P. Harris,
Jno. Gill Shorter.

INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT.
Monday, February 18, 1861.
Secret Session.

At 1 p.m. the President elect of the Confederate States of
America, escorted by the Vice President and the Committee of
Arrangements, appeared within the hall of Congress, and was
escorted to the chair, supported on his right by the Vice President
and on his left by the President of Congress.
On motion of Mr. Chilton, the Congress then repaired, in com
pany with the President elect, to the front of the Capitol for the
purpose of inaugurating the President.
The President of the Congress presented the President elect to
the Congress.
The Rev. Dr. Basil Manly, as chaplain of the day, offered
prayer. The President elect then delivered his inaugural address, after
which the oath of office was administered to him by the President
of the Congress.
On motion of Mr. Chilton, the Congress returned to its hall, ac
companied by the President of the Confederate States.
On motion of Mr. Chilton, it was ordered that the inaugural
address of the President be spread upon the journal of this body,

32 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
and that five thousand copies thereof be printed for the use of the
Congress. And then the Congress adjourned.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
February 18, 1861.
Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, Friends, and Fellow-citizens: Called to the difficult and re
sponsible station of Chief Magistrate of the Provisional Govern
ment which you have instituted, I approach the discharge of the
duties assigned to me with humble distrust of my abilities, but
with a sustaining confidence in the wisdom of those who are to
guide and aid me in the administration of public affairs, and an
abiding faith in the virtue and patriotism of the people. Look
ing forward to the speedy establishment of a permanent govern
ment to take the place of this, which by its greater moral and
physical power will be better able to combat with many difficulties
that arise from the conflicting interests of separate nations, I en
ter upon the duties of the office to which I have been chosen with
the hope that the beginning of our career, as a Confederacy, may
not be obstructed by hostile opposition to our enjoyment of the
separate existence and independence we have asserted, and which,
with the blessing of Providence, we intend to maintain.
Our present political position has been achieved in a manner
unprecedented in the history of nations. It illustrates the Amer
ican idea that governments rest on the consent of the governed,
and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at
will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they
were established. The declared purpose of the compact of the
Union from which we have withdrawn was to "establish justice,
insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity;" and when, in the judgment of
the sovereign States composing this Confederacy, it has been per
verted from the purposes for which it was ordained, and ceased
to answer the ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal

Inaugural A ddress . 33
to the ballot box declared that, so far as they are concerned, the
Government created by that compact should cease to exist. In
this they merely asserted the right which the Declaration of Inde
pendence of July 4, 1776, defined to be "inalienable." Of the
time and occasion of its exercise they as sovereigns were the final
judges, each for itself. The impartial and enlightened verdict of
mankind will' vindicate the rectitude of our conduct; and He
who knows the hearts of men will judge of the sincerity with
which we have labored to preserve the Government of our fathers
in its spirit.
The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the United
States, and which has been solemnly affirmed and reaffirmed in
the Bills of Rights of the States subsequently admitted into the
Union of 1789, undeniably recognizes in the people the power to
resume the authority delegated for the purposes of government.
Thus the sovereign States here represented have proceeded to
form this Confederacy; and it is by abuse of language that their
act has been denominated a revolution. They formed a new
alliance, but within each State its government has remained; so
that the rights of person and property have not been disturbed.
The agent through which they communicated with foreign nations
is changed, but this does not necessarily interrupt their interna
tional relations. Sustained by the consciousness that the transi
tion from the former Union to the present Confederacy has not
proceeded from a disregard on our part of just obligations, or any
failure to perform every constitutional duty, moved by no interest
or passion to invade the rights of others, anxious to cultivate
peace and commerce with all nations, if we may not hope to avoid
war, we may at least expect that posterity will acquit us of having
needlessly engaged in it. Doubly justified by the absence of
wrong on our part, and by wanton aggression on the part of
others, there can be no cause to doubt that the courage and patrU
otism of the people of the Confederate States will be found equal
to any measure of defense which their honor and security may
require. An agricultural people, whose chief interest is the export of
commodities required in every manufacturing country, our true
policy is peace, and the freest trade which our necessities will per
mit. It is alike our interest and that of all those to whom we
3

34 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
would sell, and from whom we would buy, that there should be
the fewest practicable restrictions upon the interchange of these
commodities. There can, however, be but little rivalry between
ours and any manufacturing or navigating community, such as
the Northeastern States of the American Union. It must follow,
therefore, that mutual interest will invite to good will and kind
offices on both parts. If, however, passion or lust* of dominion
should cloud the judgment or inflame the ambition of those States,
wc must prepare to meet the emergency and maintain, by the final
arbitrament of the sword, the position which we have assumed
among the nations of the earth.
We have entered upon the career of independence, and it
must be inflexibly pursued. Through many years of controversy
with our late associates of the Northern States, we have vainly
endeavored to secure tranquillity and obtain respect for the rights
to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, we have
resorted to the remedy of separation, and henceforth our energies
must be directed to the conduct of our own affairs, and the per
petuity of the Confederacy which we have formed. If a just per
ception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue our_
separate political career, my most earnest desire will have been
fulfilled. But if this be denied to us, and the integrity of our
territory and jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us
with firm resolve to appealto arms and invoke the blessing of
Providence on a just cause. '.
As a consequence of our new condition and relations, and
with a view to meet anticipated wants, it will be necessary to pro
vide for the speedy and efficient organization of branches of the
Executive department having special charge of foreign inter
course, finance, military affairs, and the postal service. For pur
poses of defense, the Confederate States may, under ordinary
circumstances, rely mainly upon the militia; but it is deemed
advisable, in the present condition of affairs, that there should be
a well-instructed and disciplined army, more numerous than would
usually be required on a peace establishment. I also suggest that,
for the protection of our harbors and commerce on the high seas,
a navy adapted to those objects will be required. But this; as
well as other subjects appropriate to our necessities, have doubt
less engaged the attention of Congress.

Inaugural A ddress. 35
With a Constitution differing only from that of our fathers
in so far as it is explanatory of their well-known intent, freed
from sectional conflicts, which have interfered with the pursuit of
the general welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that States
from which we have recently parted may seek to unite their for
tunes to ours under the Government which we have instituted.
For this your Constitution makes adequate provision ; but beyond
this, if I mistake not the judgment and will of the people, a re
union with the States from which we have separated is neither
practicable nor desirable. To increase the power, develop the
resources, and promote the happiness of the Confederacy, it is
requisite that there should be so much of homogeneity that, the
welfare of every portion shall be the aim of the whole. When
this does not exist, antagonisms are engendered which must and
should result in separation.
Actuated solely by the desire to preserve our own rights,
and promote our own welfare, the separation by the Confederate
States has been marked by no aggression upon others, and fol
lowed by no domestic convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have
received no check, the cultivation of our fields has progressed
as heretofore, and, even should we be involved in war, there
would be no considerable diminution in the production of the sta
ples which have constituted our exports, and in which the com
mercial world has an interest scarcely less than our own. This
common interest of the producer and consumer can only be inter
rupted by exterior force which would obstruct the transmission of
our staples to foreign markets — a course of conduct which would
be as unjust, as it would be detrimental, to manufacturing and
commercial interests abroad.
Should reason guide the action of the Government from
which we have separated, a policy so detrimental to the civilized
world, the Northern States included, could not be dictated by
even the strongest desire to inflict injury upon us; but, if the con
trary should prove true, a terrible responsibility will rest upon it,
and the suffering of millions will bear testimony to the folly and
wickedness of our aggressors. In the meantime there will remain
to us, besides the ordinary means before suggested, the well-known
resources for retaliation upon the commerce of an enemy.
Experience in public stations, of subordinate grade to this

36 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
which your kindness has conferred, has taught me that toil and
care and disappointment are the price of official elevation. You
will see many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate ; but
you shall not find in me either want of zeal or fidelity to the cause
that is to me the highest in hope, and of most enduring affection.
Your generosity has bestowed upon me an undeserved distinction,
one which I neither sought nor desired. Upon the continuance
of that sentiment, and upon your wisdom and patriotism, I rely to
direct and support me in the performance of the duties required
at my hands.
We have changed the constituent parts, but not the system of
government. The Constitution framed by our fathers is that of
these Confederate States. In their exposition of it, and in the
judicial construction it has received, we have a light which reveals
its true meaning.
Thus instructed as to the true meaning and just interpreta
tion of that instrument, and ever remembering that all offices are
but trusts held for the people, and that powers delegated are to
be strictly construed, I will hope by due diligence in the perform
ance of my duties, though I may disappoint your expectations,
yet to retain, when retiring, something of the good will and con
fidence which welcome my entrance into office.
It is joyous in the midst of perilous times to look around
upon a people united in heart, where one purpose of high resolve
animates and actuates the whole ; where the sacrifices to be made
are not weighed in the balance against honor and right and lib
erty and equality. Obstacles may retard, but they cannot long
prevent, the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice and
sustained by a virtuous people. Reverently let us invoke the God
of our fathers to guide and protect us in our efforts to perpetuate
the principles which by his blessing they were able to vindicate,
establish, and transmit to their posterity. With the continuance
of his favor ever gratefully acknowledged, we may hopefully
look forward to success, to peace, and to prosperity.

Constitution of the Confederate
States.
We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in
its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a perma
nent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tran
quillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity — invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God — do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the Confederate States
of America. Article I.
Section I. All legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested
in a Congress of the Confederate States, which shall consist of a
Senate and House of Representatives.
Sec. 2. (i) The House of Representatives shall be composed of
members chosen every second year by the people of the several
States ; and the electors in each State shall be citizens of the Con
federate States, and have the qualifications requisite for electors
of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature ; but no per
son of foreign birth, not a citizen of the Confederate States, shall
be allowed to vote for any officer, civil or political, State or Fed
eral. (2) No person shall be a Representative who shall not have at
tained the age of twenty-five years, and be a citizen of the Con
federate States, and who shall not, „dien elected, be an inhabitant
of that State in which he shall be chosen.
(3) Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned
among the several States, which may be included within this Con
federacy, according to their respective numbers, which shall be
determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, in
cluding those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding
Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all slaves. The actual enumera-
(37)

38 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
tion shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the
Congress of the Confederate States, and within every subsequent
term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The
number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every fifty
thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative;
and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of South
Carolina shall be entitled to choose six ; the State of Georgia ten ;
the State of Alabama nine ; the State of Florida two ; the State of
Mississippi seven; the State of Louisiana six; and the State of
Texas six.
(4) When vacancies happen in the representation from any
State the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election
to fill such vacancies.
(5) The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker
and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeach
ment; except that any judicial or other Federal officer, resident
and acting solely within the limits of any State, may be im
peached by a vote of two-thirds of both branches of the Legisla
ture thereof.
Sec. 3. (1) The Senate of the Confederate States shall be com
posed of two Senators from each State, chosen for six years by
the Legislature thereof, at the regular session next immediately
preceding the commencement of the term of service; and each
Senator shall have one vote.
(2) Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence
of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into
three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be
vacated at the expiration of the second year ; of the second class
aTTtir expiration of the fourth year ; and of the third class at the
expiration of the sixth year ; so that one-third may be chosen ev
ery second year ; and~ if vacancies happen by resignation, or other
wise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Ex
ecutive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next
meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
(3) No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained
the age of thirty years, and be a citizen of the Confederate States ;
and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the State for
which he shall be chosen

Constitution of the Confederate States. 39
(4) The Vice President of the Confederate States shall be pres
ident of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally
divided. (5) The Senate shall choose their other officers; and also a
president pro tempore in the absence of the Vice President, or
when he shall exercise the office of President of the Confederate
States. (6) The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeach
ments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or
affirmation. When the President of the Confederate States is
tried, the Chief Justice shall preside ; and no person shall be con
victed without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members
present. (7) Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further
than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and en
joy any office' of honor, trust, or profit under the Confederate
States ; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and
subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according
to law.
Sec. 4. ( 1 ) The times, places, and manner of holding elections
for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each
State by the Legislature thereof, subject to the provisions of this
Constitution ; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or
alter such regulations, except as to the times and places of choos
ing Senators.
(2) The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year;
and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless
they shall, by law, appoint a different day.
Sec. 5. (1) Each House shall be the judge of the elections, re
turns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of
each shall constitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller num
ber may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to com
pel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under
such penalties as each House may provide.
(2) Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings,
punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the con
currence of two-thirds of the whole number, expel a member.
(3) Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and

40 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may
in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the
members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of
one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
(4) Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, with
out the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor
to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be
sitting. Sec. 6. (1) The Senators and Representatives shall receive a
compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid
out of the Treasury of the Confederate States. They shall, in all
cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privi
leged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their
respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same ;
and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be
questioned in any other place.
(2) No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for
which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the
authority of the Confederate States; which shall have been cre
ated, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during
such time ; and no person holding any office under the Confederate
States shall be a member of either House during his continuance
in office. But Congress may, by law, grant to the principal officer
in each of the Executive Departments a* seat upon the floor of
either House, with the privilege of discussing any measures ap
pertaining to his department.
Sec. 7. (1) All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the
House of Representatives ; but the Senate may propose or concur
with amendments, as on other bills.
(2) Every bill which shall have passed both Houses, shall, be
fore it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the Con
federate States ; if he approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he shall
return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal,
and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-
thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent,
together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall
likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that

Constitution of the Confederate States. 41
House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of
both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names
of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on
the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be
returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted)
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law,
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their
adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a
law. The President may approve any appropriation and disap
prove any other appropriation in the same bill. In such case he
shall, in signing the bill, designate the appropriations disapproved ;
and shall return a copy of such appropriations, with his objections,
to the House in which the bill shall have originated ; and the same
proceedings shall then be had as in case of other bills disapproved
by the President.
(3) Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence
of both Houses may be necessary (except on a question of ad
journment) shall be presented to the President of the Confederate
States ; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by
him ; or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds
of both Houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed
in case of a bill.
Sec. 8. The Congress shall have power —
(1) To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for
revenue, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common de
fense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States;
but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury ; nor shall any
duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid to pro-.
mote or foster any branch of industry ; and all duties, imposts, and
excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederate States.
(2) To borrow money on the credit of the Confederate States.
(3) To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several States, and with the Indian tribes; but neither this, nor
any other clause contained' in the Constitution, shall ever be con
strued to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate money for
any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce ; except
for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other
aids to navigation upon the coasts, and the improvement of harbors

42 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
and the removing of obstructions in river navigation ; in all which
cases such duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby
as may be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof.
(4) To establish uniform laws of naturalization, and uniform
laws on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the Confederate
States ; but no law of Congress shall discharge any debt contracted
before the passage of the same.
(5) To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign
coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.
(6) To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the 'se
curities and current coin of the Confederate States.
(7) To establish post offices and post routes; but the expenses
of the Post Office Department, after the 1st day of March in the
year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be paid
out of its own revenues.
(8) To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by se
curing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive
right to their respective writings and discoveries.
(9) To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court.
(10) To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on
the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations.
(11) To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and
make rules concerning captures on land and water.
(12) To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of
money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.
(13) To provide and maintain a navy.
( 14) To make rules for the government and regulation of the
land and naval forces.
(15) To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws
of the Confederate States, suppress insurrections, and repel in
vasions. (16) To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed
in the service of the Confederate States ; reserving to the States,
respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of
training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Con-
gress; ( 17) To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever,

Constitution of the Confederate States. 43
over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by
cession of one or more States and the acceptance of Congress, be
come the seat of the Government of the Confederate States ; and
to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent
•of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the
erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other need
ful buildings ; and
(18) To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other pow
ers -vested by this Constitution in the Government of the Confed
erate States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Sec. 9. ( 1 ) The importation of negroes of the African race from
any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Terri
tories- of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and
Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent
the same.
(2) Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction
of slaves from any State not a member of, or Territory not belong
ing to, this Confederacy.
(3) The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus
pended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public
safety may require it.
(4) No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or
impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.
(5) No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in pro
portion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be
taken. (6) No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any
State, except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses.
(7) No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce
or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another.
(8) No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in conse
quence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement
and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money
shall be published from time to time.
(9) Congress shall appropriate no money from the Treasury
except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses, taken by yeas and
nays, unless it be asked and estimated for by some one of the heads

44 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
of departments and submitted to Congress by the President; or
for the purpose of paying its own expenses and contingencies ; or
for the payment of claims against the Confederate States, the
justice of which shall have been judicially declared by a tribunal
for the investigation of claims against the Government, which it
is hereby made the duty of Congress to establish.
( 10) AlLbills appropriating money shall specify in Federal cur
rency the exact amount of each appropriation and the purposes
for which it is made; and Congress shall grant no extra com
pensation to any public contractor, officer, agent, or servant, after
such contract shall have been made or such service rendered.
(n) No title of nobility shall be granted by the Confederate
States ; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under
them shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any
present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, from
any king, prince, or foreign state.
(12) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.
(13) A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of
a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall
riot be infringed.
(14) No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any
house without the consent of the owner ; nor in time of war, but
in a manner to be prescribed by law.
(15; The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but
upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and par
ticularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or
things to be seized.
(16) No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other
wise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a
grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or
in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public
danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to

Constitution of the Confederate States. 45
be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor be compelled, in any
criminal case, to be a witness against himself ; nor be deprived of
life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall
private property be taken for public use, without just compensa
tion. (17) In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the
right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State
and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which
district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be con
fronted with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor ; and to have the as
sistance of counsel for his defense.
(18) In suits at common law, where the value in controversy-
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be pre
served ; and no fact so tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexam
ined in any court of the Confederacy, than according to the rules
of common law.
(19) Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
(20) Every law, or resolution having the force of law, shall
relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.
Sec. 10. ( 1 ) No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or
confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ;
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of
debts ; pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, or law im
pairing the obligation of contracts ; or grant any title of nobility.
(2) No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay-
any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the
net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports
or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the Confederate
States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and con
trol of Congress.
(3) No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any
duty on tonnage, except on seagoing vessels, for the improvement
of its rivers and harbors navigated by the said vessels ; but such
duties shall not conflict with anv treaties of the Confederate States

4,6 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy..
with foreign nations ; and any surplus revenue thus derived shall,
after making such improvement, be paid into the common treas
ury. Nor shall any State keep troops or ships of war in time of
peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State,,
or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded',
or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. But when
any river divides or flows through two or more States they may
enter into compacts with each other to improve the navigation
thereof. Article II.
Section i. (i) The executive power shall be vested in a Presi
dent of the Confederate States of America. He and the Vice
President shall hold their offices for the term of six years ; but the
President shall not be reeligible. The President and Vice Presi
dent shall be elected as follows :
(2) Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature
thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole num
ber of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be en
titled in the Congress ; but no Senator or Representative or person
holding an office of trust or profit under the Confederate States
shall be appointed an elector.
(3) The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote
by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least,
shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; they
shall name in. their ballots the person voted for as President, and
in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President, and they
shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and
of all persons voted for as Vice President, and of the number of
votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and trans
mit, sealed, to the seat of the Government of the Confederate
States, directed to the President of the Senate ; the President of the
Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Represent
atives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be count
ed ; the person having the greatest number of votes for President
shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed; and if no person have such ma
jority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not ex-

Constitution of the Confederate States. 47
ceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House
of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the Presi
dent. But in choosing the President the votes shall be taken by
States — the representation from each State having one vote; a
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members
from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States
shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representa
tives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice
shall devolve upon them, before the 4th day of March next follow
ing, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in case of
the death, or other constitutional disability of the President.
(4) The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice
President shall be the Vice President, if such number be a ma
jority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no person
have a majority, then, from the two highest numbers on the list,
the Senate shall choose the Vice President ; a quorum for the pur
pose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators,
and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.
(5) But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of
President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the Con
federate States.
(6) The Congress may determine the time of choosing the
electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes ; which
day shall be the same throughout the Confederate States.
(7) No person except a natural-born citizen of the Confederate
States, or a citizen thereof at the time of the adoption of this Con
stitution, or a citizen thereof born in the United States prior to
the 20th of December, i860, shall be eligible to the office of Presi
dent; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall
not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen
years a resident within the limits of the Confederate States, as they
may exist at the time of his election.
(8) In case of the removal of the President from office, or of
his death, ¦ resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and
duties of said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice Pres
ident; and the Congress may, by law, provide for the case of re
moval, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and

48 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President ;
and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be re
moved or a President shall be elected.
(9) The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services
a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished
during the period for which he shall have been elected; and he
shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the
_ Confederate States, or any of them.
(10) Before he enters on the execution of his office he shall take
the following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute
the office of President of the Confederate States, and will, to the
best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution
thereof." Sec. 2. (1) The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy of the Confederate States, and of the militia of
the several States, when called into the actual service of the Con
federate States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the
principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, upon any
subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and he
shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses
against the Confederate States, except in cases of impeachment.
(2) He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, to make treaties ; provided two-thirds of the Senators
present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the ad
vice and consent of the Senate shall appoint, ambassadors, other
public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and
all other officers of the Confederate States whose appointments
are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be estab
lished by law; but the Congress may, by law, vest the appoint
ment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the Presi
dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
(3) The principal officer in each of the Executive Departments,
and all persons connected with the diplomatic service, may be re
moved from office at the pleasure of the President. All other
civil officers of the Executive Departments may be removed at any
time by the President, or other appointing power, when their serv
ices are unnecessary, or for dishonesty, incapacity, inefficiency.

Constitution of the Confederate States. 49
misconduct, or neglect of duty; and when so removed, the re
moval shall be reported to the Senate, together with the reasons
therefor. (4) The President shall have power to fill all vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions
which shall expire at the end of their next session ; but no person
rejected by .the Senate shall be reappointed to the same office dur
ing their ensuing recess.
Sec. 3. (1) The President shall, from time to time, give to the
Congress information of the state of the Confederacy, and recom
mend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge neces
sary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene
both Houses, or either of them; and in case of disagreement be
tween them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may ad
journ them to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive
ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers
of the Confederate States.
Sec. 4. (1) The President, Vice President, and all civil officers
of the Confederate States, shall be removed from office on im
peachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high
crimes and misdemeanors. Article III.
Section 1.(1) The judicial power of the Confederate States
shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts
as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish.
The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold
their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, re
ceive for their services a compensation which shall not be dimin
ished during their continuance in office.
Sec. 2. (1) The judicial power shall extend to all cases arising
under this Constitution, the laws of the Confederate States, and
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; to
all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con
suls'; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to con
troversies to which the Confederate States shall be a party; to
controversies between two or more States; between a State and
4

50 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
citizens of another State, where the State is plaintiff; between
citizens claiming lands under grants of different States; and be
tween a State or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens,
or subjects; but no State shall be sued by a citizen or subject of
any foreign state.
(2) In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers
and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Su
preme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other
cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate
jurisdiction both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and
under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
(3) The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment,
shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the
said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed
within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the
Congress may by law have directed.
Sec. 3. (1) Treason against the Confederate States shall con
sist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their ene
mies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted
of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same
overt act, or on confession in open court.
(2) The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment
of treason ; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of
blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.
Article IV.
Section 1.(1) Full faith and credit shall be given in each State
to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other
State ; and the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the man
ner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved,
and the effect thereof.
Sec. 2. ( 1 ) The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States; and
shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this
Confederacy, with their slaves and other property ; and the right
of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired.
(2) A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other
crime against the laws of such State, who shall flee from justice,

Constitution of the Confederate States. 51
and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive
authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be
removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
(3) No slave or other person held to service or labor in any
State or Territory of the Confederate States, under the laws there
of, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in consequence
of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service
or labor ; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom
such slave belongs, or to whom such service or labor may be
due. Sec. 3. (1) Other States may be admitted into this Confederacy
by a vote of two-thirds of the whole House of Representatives
and two-thirds of the Senate, the Senate voting by States ; but no
new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of
any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two
or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Leg
islatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.
(2) The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all
needful rules and regulations concerning the property of the Con
federate States, including the lands thereof.
(3) The Confederate States may acquire new territory; and
Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments
for the inhabitants of all territory belonging to the Confederate
States, lying without the limits of the several Sates; and may
permit them, at such times, and in such manner as it may by law
provide, to form States to be admitted into the Confederacy. In
all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists
in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected by
Congress and by the Territorial government ; and the inhabitants
of the several Confederate States and Territories shall have the
right to take to such Territory any slaves lawfully held by them in
any of the States or Territories of the Confederate States.
(4) The Confederate States shall guarantee to every State that
now is, or hereafter may become, a member of this Confederacy, a
republican form of government; and shall protect each of them
against invasion; and on application of the Legislature (or of the
Executive when the Legislature is not in session) against domestic
violence.

52 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy,
Article V.
Section i. (i) Upon the demand of any three States, legally
assembled in their several conventions, the Congress shall sum
mon a convention of all the States, to take into consideration such
amendments to the Constitution as the said States shall concur in
suggesting at the time when the said demand is made; and should
any of the proposed amendments to the Constitution be agreed on
by the said convention — voting by States — and the same be rat
ified by the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, or by
conventions in two-thirds thereof — as the one or the other mode
of ratification may be proposed by the general convention — they
shall thenceforward form a part of this Constitution. But no
State shall, without its consent, be deprived of its equal representa
tion in the Senate. Article VI.
I. The Government established by this Constitution is the suc
cessor of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of
America, and all the laws passed by the latter shall continue in
force until the same shall be repealed or modified ; and all the of
ficers appointed by the same shall remain in office until their suc
cessors are appointed and qualified, or the offices abolished.
2. All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the
adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the Con
federate States under this Constitution, as under the Provisional
Government. 3. This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate States
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall
be made, under the authority of the Confederate States, shall be
the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in every State shall
be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State
to the contrary notwithstanding.
4. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the
members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and
judicial officers, both of the Confederate States and of the several
States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Con
stitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualifica
tion to any office or public trust under the Confederate States.

Constitution of the Confederate States. 53
5. The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights shall
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the peo
ple of the several States.
6. The powers not delegated to the Confederate States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States, respectively, or to the people thereof.

Article VII.
I. The ratification of the conventions of five States shall be suf
ficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States
so ratifying the same.
2. When five States shall have ratified this Constitution, in the
manner before specified, the Congress under the Provisional Con
stitution shall prescribe the time for holding the election, of Presi
dent and Vice President; and for the meeting of the Electoral
College ; and for counting the votes, and inagurating the Presi
dent. They shall, also, prescribe the time for holding the first
election of members of Congress under this Constitution, and the
time for assembling the same. Until the assembling of such Con
gress, the Congress under the Provisional Constitution shall con
tinue to exercise the legislative powers granted them ; not extend
ing beyond the time limited by the Constitution of the Provisional
Government. Adopted unanimously by the Congress of the Confederate States
of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Loui
siana, and Texas, sitting in convention at the capitol, in the city
of Montgomery, Ala., on the eleventh day of March, in the year
eighteen hundred and sixty-one.
Howell Cobf,
President of the Congress:
South Carolina: R. Barnwell Rhett, C. G. Memminger,
Wm. Porcher Miles, James Chesnut, Jr., R. W. Barn
well, William W. Boyce, Lawrence M. Keitt, T. J.
Withers.
Georgia : Francis S. Bartow, Martin J. Crawford, Benja
min H. Hill, Thos. R. R. Cobb.

54 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Florida: Jackson Morton, J. Patton Anderson, Jas. B.
Owens.
Alabama: Richard W. Walker, Robt. H. Smith, Colin
J. McRae, William P. Chilton, Stephen F. Hale, David
P. Lewis, Tho. Fearn, Jno. Gill Shorter, J. L. M.
Curry.
Mississippi : Alex. M. Clayton, James T. Harrison, Wil
liam S. Barry, W. S. Wilson, Walker Brooke, W. P.
Harris, J. A. P. Campbell.
Louisiana: Alex, de Clouet, C. M. Conrad, Duncan F.
Kenner, Henry Marshall.
Texas: John Hemphill, Thomas N. Waul, John H.
Reagan, Williamson S. Oldham, Louis T. Wigfall,
John Gregg, William Beck Ochiltree.

Provisional Congress. 55
MESSAGES. Executive Department,
Montgomery, Ala., February 25, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I hereby transmit for the advice of the Congress the fol
lowing nominations of Commissioners to the Government of the
United States of America in accordance with the resolution* of
Congress providing for such commission, and declaratory of the
purposes thereof: A. B. Roman, of Louisiana; M. J. Crawford,
of Georgia ; John Forsyth, of Alabama. Jeff'n Davis.

LETTER OF PRESIDENT DAVIS TO PRESIDENT
LINCOLN. Montgomery, February 27, 1861.
The President of the United States: Being animated by an
earnest desire to unite and bind together our respective countries
by friendly ties, I have appointed M. J. Crawford, one of our
most settled and trustworthy citizens, as special commissioner of
the Confederate States of America to the Government of the
United States ; and I have now the honor to introduce him to you,
and to ask for him a reception and treatment corresponding to his
station and to the purpose for which he is sent. Those purposes
he will more particularly explain to you. Hoping that through
his agency, &c. [sic] Jeff'n Davis.
*The resolution is as follows :
"A Resolution for the Appointment of Commissioners to the Gov
ernment of the United States of America.
"Resolved by the Confederate States of America in Congress Assem
bled, That it is the sense of this Congress that a commission of three per
sons be appointed by the President elect, as early as may be convenient
after his inauguration, and sent to the government of the United States of
America, for the purpose of negotiating friendly relations between that
government and the Confederate States of America, and for the settle
ment of all questions of disagreement between the two governments upon
principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith."
Adopted February 15, 1861.

56 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
For the purpose of establishing friendly relations between the
Confederate States and the United States, and reposing -special
trust, &c, Martin J. Crawford, John Forsyth, and A. B. Roman
are appointed special commissioners of the Confederate States to
the United States. I have invested them with full and all manner
of power and authority for and in the name of the Confederate
States to meet and confer with any person or persons duly
authorized by the Government of the United States being fur
nished with like powers and authority, and with them to agree,
treat, consult, and negotiate of and concerning all matters and
subjects interesting to both nations, and to conclude and sign a
treaty or treaties, convention or conventions, touching the prem
ises, transmitting the same to the President of the Confederate
States for his final ratification by and with the consent of the Con
gress of the Confederate States.
Given under my hand at the city of Montgomery this 27th day
of February, A.D. 1861, and of the Independence of the Confed
erate States the eighty-fifth. Jeff'n Davis.
Robert Toombs, Secretary of State.

Executive Office, February 26, 1861.
Gentlemen of the Congress: Though the General Government
of the Confederate States is specially charged with the questions
arising from the present condition of Forts Sumter and Pickens,
and the Executive is required by negotiation ~or other means to
obtain possession of those works, and though the common de
fense and the issues of peace or war of the Confederate States
must necessarily be conducted by their general agents, the only
material of war which we possess is held by the authorities of the
several States. To distribute the arms and munitions so as best
to provide for the defense of the country, it is needful that they
be placed under the control of the General Government. We
have now but little information as to the quantity and quality of
the military supplies on hand, and have no authority to call for
returns from the officers of the States. The courtesy and patriot
ism of the respective Governors would no doubt willingly meet
such inquiry, and would probably induce them to transfer either

Provisional Congress. 57
armament or stores in compliance with a requisition from this
Government, but efficiency requires the exclusive control as well
of the means as of the works of defense. The General Govern
ment being also charged with foreign intercourse, may have in
the course of negotiation to account for the property of the
United States which, as a consequence of secession, passed under
the authority of the several States anterior to the formation of
this 'Government. For these considerations I respectfully suggest
that the proper legislation be adopted to secure the transfer of all
arms and munitions now in the forts, arsenals, and navy yards to
the custody of the Government of the Confederate States, and
that full returns be made of all arms and munitions which have
been distributed from the public stores to the troops of the sev
eral States, with authority to this Government to take charge of
the accountability for them, and also to receive, to be accounted
for to the several States, such arms and munitions as have been
purchased by them, and which they are willing to devote to the
common service of the Confederacy. The difficulty of supplying
our wants in that regard by purchases abroad or by manufacture
at home is well known to the Congress, and will render unneces
sary an argument to enforce the general policy herein presented,
and I have only respectfully to commend the subject to your con
sideration. Jeff'n Davis,,
Executive Department,
Montgomery, Ala., February 26, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I hereby transmit for the advice of the Congress the fol
lowing nominations, in accordance with a resolution passed Feb
ruary 13, 1861, to provide for a commission to proceed to Europe
under instructions to be given : W. L. Yancey, of Alabama ; P. A.
Rost, of Louisiana ; A. Dudley Mann, of Confederate States.
Jeff'n Davis.
Montgomery, Ala.,
Executive Office, March 5, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: Herewith I have the honor to transmit the estimate of the

58 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Secretary of War of the amount required for the support of the
Army of the Confederate States, also, of that requisite for the
support of a portion of the provisional army, authorized to be
raised. The estimate, it will be observed, is for the authorized strength
of the army, and as a large portion of that force will probably not
be enlisted or commissioned, there will be a balance of appropria
tion which, if permitted, might be used to support additional
troops of a provisional army, a character of force which may be
more speedily raised, and on which we must, in any early neces
sity, expect mainly to rely. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, March 12, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: To enable the Secretary of War most advantageously to
perform the duties devolved upon him in relation to the Indian
tribes by the second section of the Act to establish the War De
partment of February 21, 1861, it is deemed desirable that there
should be established a Bureau of Indian Affairs, and, if the
Congress concur in this view, I have the honor respectfully to
recommend that provision be made for the appointment of a
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and for one clerk to aid him in
the discharge of his official duties. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, March 15, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I hereby transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, suggesting for the consideration of Congress an additional
appropriation of one hundred and ten thousand dollars for the
purchase of cannon powder and musket powder. Concurring in
his belief that his former estimate was insufficient, the additional
appropriation asked for is commended to the favorable consid
eration of the Congress. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, March 16, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I hereby transmit a communication from the Secretary of

Provisional Congress. 59
War, suggesting an appropriation of five thousand dollars to
meet the salaries and incidental expenses of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs. Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGE.
Executive Department, February 28, 1861.
Gentlemen of Congress: With sincere deference to the judg
ment of Congress, I have carefully considered the bill in relation
to the slave trade, and to punish persons offending therein, but
have not been able to approve it, and therefore do return it with
a statement of my objections. The Constitution (section 7, ar
ticle I.) provides that the importation of African negroes from
any foreign country other than slave-holding States of the United
States is hereby forbidden, and Congress is required to pass such
laws as shall effectually prevent the same. The rule herein given
is emphatic, and distinctly directs the legislation which shall ef
fectually prevent the importation of African negroes. The bill
before me denounces as high misdemeanor the importation of
African negroes or other persons of color, either to be sold as
slaves or to be held to service or labor, affixing heavy, degrading
penalties on the act, if done with such intent. To that extent it'
accords with the requirements of the Constitution, but in the
sixth section of the bill provision is made for the transfer of per
sons who may have been illegally imported into the Confederate
States to the custody of foreign States or societies, upon condi
tion of deportation and future freedom, and if the proposition
thus to surrender them shall not be accepted, it is then made the
duty of the President to cause said negroes to be sold at public
outcry to the highest bidder in any one of the States where such
sale shall not be inconsistent with the laws thereof. This pro
vision seems to me to be in opposition to the policy declared in
the Constitution — the prohibition of the importation of African
negroes — and in derogation of its mandate to legislate for the
effectuation of that object. Wherefore the bill is returned to you
for your further consideration, and, together with the objections,
most respectfully submitted. Jeff'n Davis.

60 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the Confederate States..
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, an extraordinary occasion has occurred, rendering"
it necessary and proper that the Congress of the Confederate
States shall convene to receive and act upon such communica
tions as may be made to it on the part of the Executive ;
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States, do issue this my proclamation, convoking the Con
gress of the Confederate States for the transaction of business
at the capitol, in the city of Montgomery, oh the 29th day of
April, at twelve o'clock noon of that day, of which all who shall
at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby
required to take notice.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States,
at Montgomery, this 12th day of April, A.D. 1861.
[l. s.] Jefferson Davis.
By the President : R. Toombs, Secretary of State.

By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States,
has, by proclamation, announced the intention of invading this
Confederacy with an armed force for the purpose of capturing
its fortresses, and thereby subverting its independence and sub
jecting the free people thereof to the dominion of a foreign power;
and, whereas, it has thus become the duty of this government to
repel the threatened invasion, and to defend the rights' and liber
ties of the people by all the means which the laws of nations and
the usages of civilized warfare place at its disposal;
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States of America, do issue this my proclamation, inviting;

Provisional Congress. 61
all those who may desire, by service in private armed vessels on
the high seas, to aid this government in resisting so wanton and
wicked an aggression, to make application for commissions or
letters of marque and reprisal to be issued under the seal of these
Confederate States.
And I do further notify all persons applying for letters of
marque to make a statement in writing, giving the name and a
suitable description of the character, tonnage, and force of the
vessel, and the name and place of residence of each owner con
cerning therein, and the intended number of the crew, and to sign
said statement and deliver the same to the Secretary of State, or
to the collector of any port of entry of these Confederate States,
to be by him transmitted to the Secretary of State.
And I do further notify all applicants aforesaid that before
any commission or letter of marque is issued to any vessel, the
owner or owners thereof, and the commander for the time being,
will be required to give bond to the Confederate States, with at
least two responsible sureties, not interested in such vessel, in the
penal sum of five thousand dollars ; or if such vessel be provided
with more than one hundred and fifty men, then in the penal sum
of ten thousand dollars, with condition that the owners, officers,
and crew who shall be employed on board such commissioned ves
sel shall observe the laws of these Confederate States and the in
structions given to them for the regulation of their conduct.
That they shall satisfy all damages done contrary to the tenor
thereof by such vessel during her commission, and deliver up the
same when revoked by the President of the Confederate States.
And I do further specially enjoin on all persons holding of
fices, civil and military, under the authority of the Confederate
States, that they be vigilant and zealous in discharging the du
ties incident thereto; and I do, moreover, solemnly exhort the
good people of these Confederate States, as they love their country,
as they prize the blessings of free governmnt, as they feel the
wrongs of the past and these now threatened in aggravated form
by those whose enmity is more implacable because unprovoked,
that they exert themselves in preserving order, in promoting con
cord, in maintaining the authority and efficacy of the laws, and in
supporting and invigorating all the measures which may be
.adopted for the common defense, and by which, under the bless-

62 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy
ings of Divine Providence, we may hope for a speedy, just, and
honorable peace.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused
the seal of the Confederate States to be affixed, this seventeenth
day of April, 1861.
[Signed] Jefferson Davis.
By the President : R. Toombs, Secretary of State.

Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of
America, to All Whom These Presents Shall
Concern, Greeting:
Know ye, that for the purpose of establishing friendly relations
between the Confederate States of America and the Common
wealth of Virginia, and reposing special trust and confidence in
the integrity, prudence, and ability of Alexander H. Stephens,
Vice President of the Confederate States of America, appointed
special commissioner of the Confederate States to the Common
wealth of Virginia, I have invested him with full and all manner
of power and authority, for and in the name of the Confederate
States, to meet and confer with any person or persons authorized
by the Government of Virginia, being furnished with like power
and authority, and with him or them to agree, treat, consult, and
negotiate of and concerning all matters and subjects interesting
to both Republics ; and to conclude and sign a treaty or treaties,
convention or conventions, touching the premises, transmitting
the same to the President of the Confederate States for his final
ratification, by and with the advice and consent of the Congress
of the Confederate States.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the Confederate
States to be hereunto affixed.
Given under my hand at the city of Montgomery this 19th day
of April, A.D. 1861. Jeff'n Davis.
By the President : Robert Toombs, Secretary of State.

Provisional Congress. 63
SECOND SESSION (CALLED).
MET AT MONTGOMERY, ALA., APRIL 29, l86l. ADJOURNED
MAY 21, l86l.
MESSAGES. Montgomery, April 29, 1861.
Gentlemen of the Congress: It is my pleasing duty to announce
to you that the Constitution framed for the establishment of a
permanent Government for the Confederate States has been rat
ified by conventions in each of those States to which it was re
ferred. To inaugurate the Government in its full proportions
and upon its own substantial basis of the popular will, it only
remains that elections should be held for the designation of the
officers- to administer it. There is every reason to believe that at
no distant day other States, identified in political principles and
community of interests with those which you represent, will join
this Confederacy, giving to its typical constellation increased
splendor, to its Government of free, equal, and sovereign States
a wider sphere of usefulness, and to the friends of constitutional
liberty a greater security for its harmonious and perpetual ex
istence. It was not, however, for the purpose of making this an
nouncement that I have deemed it my duty to convoke you at an
earlier day than that fixed by yourselves for your meeting. The
declaration of war made against this Confederacy by Abraham
Lincoln, the President .of the United States, in his proclamation
issued on the 15th day of the present month, rendered it neces
sary, in my judgment, that you should convene at the earliest
practicable moment to devise the measures necessary for the de
fense of the country. The occasion is indeed an extraordinary
one. It justifies me in a brief review of the relations heretofore
existing between us and the States which now unite in warfare
against us and in a succinct statement of the events which have
resulted in this warfare, to the end that mankind may pass intelli
gent and impartial judgment on its motives and objects. During
the war waged against Great Britain by her colonies on this con
tinent a common danger impelled them to a close alliance and to
the formation of a Confederation, by the terms of which the col-

64 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
onies, styling themselves States, entered "severally into a firm
league of friendship with each other for their common defense,
the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general wel
fare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force of
fered to or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account
of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever."
In order to guard against any misconstruction of their compact,
the several States made explicit declaration in a distinct article —
that "each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independ
ence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by
this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in
Congress assembled."
Under this contract of alliance, the war of the Revolution was
successfully waged, and resulted in the treaty of peace with Great
Britain in 1783, by the terms of which the several States were
each by name recognized to be independent. The Articles of
Confederation contained a clause, whereby all alterations were
prohibited unless confirmed by the Legislatures of every State
after being agreed to by the Congress; and in obedience to this
provision, under the resolution of Congress of the 21st of Feb
ruary, 1787, the several States appointed delegates who attended
a convention "for the sole and express purpose of revising the
Articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the sev
eral Legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall,
when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States, render
the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Govern
ment and the preservation of the Union." It was by the dele
gates chosen by the several States under the resolution just quot
ed that the Constitution of the United States was framed in 1787
and submitted to the several States for ratification, as shown by
the seventh article, which is in these words : "The ratification of
the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the establish
ment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the
same." I have italicized certain words in the quotations just
made for the purpose of attracting attention to the singular and
marked caution with which the States endeavored in every pos
sible form to exclude the idea that the separate and independent
sovereignty of each State was merged into one common govern
ment and nation, and the earnest desire they evinced to impress
on the Constitution its true character — that of a compact between

Provisional Congress. 65
independent States. The Constitution of 1787, having, however,
omitted the clause already recited from the Articles of Confedera
tion, which provided in explicit terms that each State retained
its sovereignty and independence, some alarm was felt in the
States, when invited to ratify the Constitution, lest this omission
should be construed into an abandonment of their cherished princi
ple, and they refused to be satisfied until amendments were added
to the Constitution placing beyond any pretense of doubt the
reservation, by the States of all their sovereign rights and powers
not expressly delegated to the United States by the Constitution.
Strange, indeed, must it appear to the impartial observer, but
it is none the less true that all these carefully worded clauses
proved unavailing to prevent the rise and growth in the Northern
States of a political school which has persistently claimed that the
government thus, formed was not a compact between States, but
was in effect a national government, set up above and over the
States. An organization created by the States to secure the bless
ings of liberty and independence against foreign aggression, has
been gradually perverted into a machine for their control in their
domestic affairs. The creature has been exalted above its cre
ators; the principals have been made subordinate to the agent
appointed by themselves. The people of the Southern States,
whose almost exclusive occupation was agriculture, early per
ceived a tendency in the Northern States to render the common
government subservient to their own purposes by imposing bur
dens on commerce as a protection to their manufacturing and
shipping interests. Long and angry controversies grew out of
these attempts, often successful, to benefit one section of the coun
try at the expense of the other. And the danger of disruption
arising from this cause was enhanced by the fact that the North
ern population was increasing, by immigration and other causes,
in a greater ratio than the population of the South. By degrees,
as the Northern States gained preponderance in the National
Congress, self-interest taught their people to yield ready assent
to any plausible advocacy of their right as a majority to govern
the minority without control. They learned to listen with im
patience to the suggestion of any constitutional impediment to the
exercise of their will, and so utterly have the principles of the
Constitution been corrupted in the Northern mind that, in the
inaugural address delivered by President Lincoln in March last,
5

66 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
he asserts as an axiom, which he plainly deems to be undeniable,
that the theory of the Constitution requires that in all cases the
majority shall govern ; and in another memorable instance the
same Chief Magistrate did not hesitate to liken the relations be
tween a State and the United States to those which exist between
a county and the State in which it is situated and by which it was
created. This is the lamentable and fundamental error on which
rests the policy that has culminated in his declaration of war
'against these Confederate States. In addition to the long-contin
ued and deep-seated resentment felt by the Southern States at the
persistent abuse of the powers they had delegated to the Con
gress, for the purpose of enriching the manufacturing and ship
ping classes of the North at the expense of the South, there has
existed for nearly half a century another subject of discord, in
volving interests of such transcendent magnitude as at all times
to create the apprehension in the minds of many devoted lovers
of the Union that its permanence was impossible.' When the sev
eral States delegated certain powers to the United States Con
gress, a large portion of the laboring population consisted of Af
rican slaves imported into the colonies by the mother country. In
twelve out of the thirteen States negro slavery existed, and the
right of property in slaves was protected by law. This property
was recognized in the Constitution, and provision was made
against its loss by the escape of the slave. The increase in the num
ber of slaves by further importation from Africa was also secured
by a clause forbidding Congress to prohibit the slave trade ante
rior to a certain date, and in no clause can there be found any del
egation of power to the Congress authorizing it in any manner to
legislate to the prejudice, detriment, or discouragement of the
owners of that species of property, or excluding it from the pro
tection of the Government.
I The climate and soil of the Northern States soon proved un-
; propitious to the continuance of slave labor, whilst the converse
was the case at the South. Under the unrestricted free intercourse
i between the two sections, the Northern States consulted their own
interests by selling their slaves to the South and prohibiting slav-
! ery within their limits. The South were willing purchasers of
a property suitable to their wants, and paid the price of the acqui
sition without harboring a suspicion that their quiet possession
was to be disturbed by those who were inhibited not only by want

Provisional Congress. 67
of constitutional authority, but by good faith as vendors, from
disquieting a title emanating from themselves. As soon, how
ever, as the Northern States that prohibited African slavery
within their limits had reached a number sufficient to give their
representation a controlling voice in the Congress, a persistent
and organized system of hostile measures against the rights of
the owners of slaves in the Southern States was inaugurated and
gradually extended. A continuous series of measures was de
vised and prosecuted for the purpose of rendering insecure the
tenure of property in slaves. Fanatical organizations, supplied
/ / with money by voluntary subscriptions, were assiduously engaged
in exciting amongst the slaves a spirit of discontent and revolt;
means were furnished for their escape from their owners, and
agents secretly employed to entice them to abscond ; the constitu
tional provision for their rendition to their owners was first
evaded, then openly denounced as a violation of conscientious ob
ligation and religious duty ; men were taught that it was a merit
to elude, disobey, and violently oppose the execution of the laws
enacted to secure the performance of the promise contained in
the constitutional compact; owners of slaves were mobbed and
even murdered in open day solely for applying to a magistrate
for the arrest of a fugitive slave ; the dogmas of these voluntary
organizations soon obtained control of the Legislatures of many
of the Northern States, and laws were passed providing for the
punishment, by ruinous fines and long-continued imprisonment
in jails and penitentiaries, of citizens of the Southern States who
should dare to ask aid of the officers of the law for "the recovery
of their property. Emboldened by success, the theater of agita
tion and aggression against the clearly expressed constitutional
rights of the Southern States was transferred to the Congress;
Senators and Representatives were sent to the common councils
of the nation, whose chief title to this distinction consisted in the
display of a spirit of ultra fanaticism, and whose business was
not "to promote the general welfare or insure domestic tranquil
lity," but to awaken the bitterest hatred against the citizens of
\ , sister States by violent denunciation of their institutions ; the
^transaction of public affairs was impeded by repeated efforts to
usurp powers not delegated by the Constitution, for the purpose
of impairing the security of property in slaves, and reducing those
States which held slaves to a condition of inferiority. Finally a

68 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
great party was organized for the purpose of obtaining the ad
ministration of the Government, with the avowed object of using
its power for the total exclusion of the slave States from all par
ticipation in the benefits of the public domain acquired by all the
States in common, whether by conquest or purchase; of sur
rounding them entirely by States in which slavery should be pro
hibited; of thus rendering the property in slaves so insecure as
to be comparatively worthless, and thereby annihilating in effect
property worth thousands of millions of dollars. This party, thus
organized, succeeded in the month of November last in the elec
tion of its candidate for the Presidency of the United States.
In the meantime, under the mild and genial climate of the
Southern States and the increasing care and attention for the well-
being and comfort of the laboring class, dictated alike by interest
and humanity, the African slaves had augmented in number from
about 600,000, at the date of the adoption of the constitutional
compact, to upward of 4,000,000. In moral and social condition
they had been elevated from brutal savages into docile, intelligent,
and civilized agricultural laborers, and supplied not only with
bodily comforts but with careful religious instruction. Under
the supervision of a superior race their labor had been so directed
as not only to allow a gradual and marked amelioration of their
own condition, but to convert hundreds of thousands 'of square
miles of the wilderness into cultivated lands covered with a pros
perous people ; towns and cities had sprung into existence, and had
rapidly increased in wealth and population under the social sys
tem of the South ; the white population of the Southern slave-
holding States had augmented from about 1,250,000 at the date
of the adoption of the Constitution to more than 8,500,000 in
i860; and the productions of the South in cotton, rice, sugar, and
tobacco, for the full development and continuance of which the
labor of African slaves was and is indispensable, had swollen to
an amount which formed nearly three-fourths of the exports of
the whole United States and had become absolutely necessary
to the wants of civilized man. With interests of such overwhelm
ing magnitude imperiled, the people of the Southern States were
driven by the conduct of the North to the adoption of some course
of action to avert the danger with which they were openly men
aced. With this view the Legislatures of the several States in
vited the people to select delegates to conventions to be held for

Provisional Congress. 69
the purpose of determining for themselves what measures were
_best adapted to meet so alarming a crisis in their history. Here
it may be proper to observe that from a period as early as 1798
there had existed in all of the States of the Union a party almost
uninterruptedly in the majority based upon the creed that each
State was, in the last resort, the sole judge as well of its wrongs
as of the mode and measure of redress. Indeed, it is obvious
that under the law of nations this principle is an axiom as applied
to the relations of independent sovereign States, such as those
which had united themselves under the constitutional compact.
The Democratic party of the United States repeated, in its suc
cessful canvass in 1856, the declaration made in numerous pre
vious political contests, that it would "faithfully abide by and up
hold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia reso
lutions of 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia
Legislature in 1799; and that it adopts those principles as con
stituting one of the main foundations of its political creed." The
principles thus emphatically announced embrace that to which I
have already adverted — the right of each State to judge of and
redress the wrongs of which it complains. These principles were
maintained by overwhelming majorities of the people of all the
States of the Union at different elections, especially in the elec
tions of Mr. Jefferson in 1805, Mr. Madison in 1809, and Mr.
Pierce in 1852. In the exercise of a right so ancient, so well-
established, and so necessary for self-preservation, the people of
the Confederate States, in their conventions, determined that
the wrongs which they had suffered and the evils with which
they were menaced required that they should revoke the delega
tion of powers to the Federal Government which they had rati
fied in their several conventions. They consequently passed or
dinances resuming all their rights as sovereign and independent
States and dissolved their connection with the other States of the
Union. Having done this, they proceeded to form a new compact
amongst themselves by new articles of confederation, which have
been also ratified by the conventions of the several States with an
approach to unanimity far exceeding' that of the conventions
which adopted the Constitution of 1787. They have organized
their new Government in all its departments ; the functions of the

70 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
executive, legislative, and judicial magistrates are performed in
accordance with the will of the people, as displayed not merely in
a cheerful acquiescence, but in the enthusiastic support of the
Government thus established by themselves ; and but for the inter
ference of the Government of the United States in this legitimate
exercise of the right of a people to self-government, peace, happi
ness, and prosperity would now smile on our land. That peace is
ardently desired by this Government and people has been mani
fested in every possible form. Scarce had you assembled in Feb
ruary last when, prior even to the inauguration of the Chief Mag
istrate you had elected, you passed a resolution expressive of your
desire for the appointment of commissioners to be sent to the
Government of the United States "for the purpose of negotiating
friendly relations between that Government and the Confederate
States of America, and for the settlement of all questions of dis
agreement between the two Governments upon principles of right,
justice, equity, and good faith." It was my pleasure as well as
my duty to cooperate with you in this work of peace. Indeed, in
my address to you oh taking the oath of office, and before receiv
ing from you the communication of this resolution, I had said
"as a necessity, not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of
separation, and henceforth our energies must be directed to the
conduct of our own affairs and the perpetuity of the Confederacy
which we have formed. If a just perception of mutual interests
shall permit us peaceably to pursue our separate political career,
my most earnest desire will have been fulfilled." It was in fur
therance of these accordant views of the Cbngress and the Ex
ecutive that I made choice of three discreet, able, and distinguished
citizens, who repaired to Washington. Aided by their cordial co
operation and that of the Secretary of State, every effort com
patible with self-respect and the dignity of the Confederacy was
exhausted before I allowed myself to yield to the conviction that
the Government of the United States was determined to attempt
the conquest of this people and that our cherished hopes of peace
were unattainable.
On the arrival of our commissioners in Washington on the 5th
of March they postponed, at the suggestion of a friendly inter
mediary, doing more than giving informal notice of their arrival.
This was done with a view to afford time to the President, who

Provisional Congress. 71
had just been inaugurated, for the discharge of other pressing
official duties in the organization of his Administration before en
gaging his attention in the object of their mission. It was not
until the 12th of the month that they officially addressed the
Secretary of State, informing him of the purpose of their arrival,
and stating, in the language of their instructions, their wish "to
make to the Government of the United States overtures for the
opening of negotiations, assuring the Government of the United
States that the President, Congress, and people of the Confederate
States earnestly desire a peaceful solution of these great ques
tions; that it is neither their interest nor their wish to make any
demand which is not founded on strictest justice, nor do any act
to injure their late confederates."
To this communication no formal reply was received until the
8th of April. During the interval the commissioners had consent
ed to waive all questions of form. With the firm resolve to avoid
war if possible, they went so far even as to hold during that long
period unofficial intercourse through an intermediary, whose high
position and character inspired the hope of success, and through
whom constant assurances were received from the Government
of the United States of peaceful intentions ; of the determination
to evacuate Fort Sumter ; and further, that no measure changing
the existing status prejudicially to the Confederate States, espe
cially at Fort Picken's, was in contemplation, but that in the event
of any change of intention on the subject, notice would be given
to the commissioners. The crooked paths of diplomacy can
scarcely furnish an example so wanting in courtesy, in candor,
and directness as was the course of the United States Government
toward our commissioners in Washington. For proof of this I
refer to the annexed documents marked  ,* taken in connec
tion with further facts, which I now proceed to relate.
Early in April the attention of the whole country, as well as
that of our commissioners, was attracted to extraordinary prepa
rations for an extensive military and naval expedition in New
York and other Northern ports. These preparations commenced
in secrecy, for an expedition whose destination was concealed,
*Not found herewith, but see message of President Davis, May 8, 1861,
page 82.

72 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
only became known when nearly completed, and on the 5th, 6th,
and 7th of April transports and vessels of war with troops, muni
tions, and military supplies sailed from Northern ports bound
southward. Alarmed by so extraordinary a demonstration, the
commissioners requested the delivery of an answer to their official
communication of the 12th of March, and thereupon received on
the 8th of April a reply, dated on the 15th of the previous month,
from which it appears that during the whole interval, whilst the
commissioners were receiving assurances calculated to inspire
hope of the success of their mission, the Secretary of State and the
President of the United States had already determined to hold no
intercourse with them whatever; to refuse even to listen to any
proposals they had to make, and had profited by the delay created
by their own assurances in order to prepare secretly the means
for effective hostile operations. That these assurances were
given has been virtually confessed by the Government of the
United States. by its sending a messenger to Charleston to give
notice of its purpose to use force if opposed in its intention of sup
plying Fort Sumter. No more striking proof of the absence of
good faith in the conduct of the Government of the United States
toward this Confederacy can be required than is contained in the
circumstances which accompanied this notice. According to the
usual course of navigation the vessels composing the expedition
designed for the relief of Fort Sumter might be expected to reach
Charleston Harbor on the 9th of April. Yet, with our commis
sioners actually in Washington, detained under assurances that
notice should be given of any military movement, the notice was
not addressed to them, but a messenger was sent to Charleston
to give the notice to the Governor of South Carolina, and the
notice was so given at a late hour on the 8th of April, the eve of
the very day on which the fleet might be expected to arrive.
That this maneuver failed in its purpose was not the fault of
those who contrived it. A heavy tempest delayed the arrival of
the expedition and gave time to the commander of our forces at
Charleston to ask and receive the instructions of this Govern
ment. Even then, under all the provocation incident to the con
temptuous refusal to listen to our commissioners, and the tortuous
course of the Government of the United States, I was sincerely
anxious to avoid the effusion of blood, and directed a proposal

Provisional Congress. 73
to be made to the commander of Fort Sumter, who had avowed
himself to be nearly out of provisions, that we would abstain from
directing our fire on Fort Sumter if he would promise not to open
fire on our forces unless first attacked. This proposal was re
fused and the conclusion was reached that the design of the
United States was to place the besieging force at Charleston be
tween the simultaneous fire of the fleet and the fort. There re
mained, therefore, no alternative but to direct that the fort should
at once be reduced. This order was executed by General Beaure
gard with the skill and success which were naturally to be ex
pected from the well-known character of that gallant officer ; and
although the bombardment lasted but thirty-three hours our flag
did not wave over its battered walls until after the appearance
of the hostile fleet off Charleston. Fortunately, not a life was
lost on our side, and we were gratified in being spared the neces
sity of a useless effusion of blood, by the prudent caution of the
officers who commanded the fleet in abstaining from the evidently
futile effort to enter the harbor for the relief of Major Anderson.
I refer to the report of the Secretary of War, and the papers
which accompany it, for further details of this brilliant affair. In
this connection I cannot refrain from a well-deserved tribute to
the noble State, the eminent soldierly qualities of whose people
were so conspicuously displayed in the port of Charleston. For
months they had been irritated by the spectacle of a fortress held
within their principal harbor as a standing menace against their
peace and independence. Built in part with their own money, its
custody confided with their own consent to an agent who held
no power over them other than such as they had themselves dele
gated for their own benefit, intended to be used by that agent for
their own protection against foreign attack, they saw it held
with persistent tenacity as a means of offense against them by
the very Government which they had established for their pro
tection. They had beleaguered it for months, felt entire confi
dence in their power to capture it, yet yielded to_ the requirements
of discipline, curbed their impatience, submitted without com
plaint to the unaccustomed hardships, labors, and privations of
a protracted siege ; and when at length their patience was reward
ed by the signal for attack, and success had crowned their steady
and gallant conduct, even in the very moment of triumph they

74 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
evinced a chivalrous regard for the feelings of the brave but un
fortunate officer who had been compelled to lower his flag. All
manifestations of exultation were checked in his presence. Their
commanding general, with their cordial approval and the con
sent of his Government, refrained from imposing any terms that
could wound the sensibilities of the commander of the fort. He
was permitted to retire with the honors of war, to salute his flag,
to depart freely with all his command, and was escorted to the
vessel in which he embarked with the highest marks of respect
from those against whom his guns had been so recently directed.
Not only does every event connected with the siege reflect the
highest honor on South Carolina, but the forbearance of her peo
ple and of this Government from making any harsh use of a vic
tory obtained under circumstances of such peculiar provocation
attest to the fullest extent the absence of any purpose beyond se
curing their own tranquillity and the sincere desire to avoid the
calamities of war. Scarcely had the President of the United
States received intelligence of the failure of the scheme which he
had devised for the reenforcement of Fort Sumter, when he is
sued the declaration" of war against this Confederacy which has
prompted me to convoke you. In this extraordinary production
that high functionary affects total ignorance of the existence of
an independent Government, which, possessing the entire and
enthusiastic devotion of its people, is exercising its functions
without question over seven sovereign States, over more than
5,000,000 of people, and over a territory whose area exceeds half
a million of square miles. He terms sovereign States "combina
tions too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of ju
dicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals by
law." He calls for an army of 75,000 men to act as a posse comi-
tatus in aid of the process of the courts of justice in States where
no courts exist whose mandates and decrees are not cheerfully
obeyed and respected by a willing people. He avows that "the
first service to be assigned to the forces called out" will be not to
execute the process of courts, but to capture forts and strongholds
situated within the admitted limits of this Confederacy and gar
risoned by its troops; and declares that "this effort" is intended
"to maintain the perpetuity of popular government." He con
cludes by commanding "the persons composing the combinations

Provisional Congress. 75
aforesaid"— to wit, the 5,000,000 of inhabitants of these States—
"to retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty
days." Apparently contradictory as are the terms of this singular
document, one point is unmistakably evident. The President of
the United States called for an army of 75,000 men, whose first
service was to be to capture our forts. It was a plain declaration
of war which I was not at liberty to disregard because of my
knowledge that under the Constitution of the United States the
President was usurping a power granted exclusively to the Con
gress. He is the sole organ of communication between that coun
try and foreign powers. The law of nations did not permit me to
¦question the authority of the Executive of a foreign nation to de
clare war. against this Confederacy. Although I might have re
frained from taking active measures for our defense, if the States
of the Union had all imitated the action of Virginia, North Caro
lina, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, by denoun
cing the call for troops as an unconstitutional usurpation of power
to which they refused to respond, I was not at liberty to disregard
the fact that many of the States seemed quite content to submit
to the exercise of the power assumed by the President of the
United States, and were actively engaged in levying troops to be
used for the purpose indicated in the proclamation. Deprived of
the aid of Congress at the moment, I was under the necessity of
confining my action to a call on the States for volunteers for the
common defense, in accordance with the authority you had con
fided to me before your adjournment. I deemed it proper, further,
to issue proclamation* inviting application from persons disposed
to aid our defense in private armed vessels on the high seas, to
the end that preparations might be made for the immediate issue
of letters of marque and reprisal which you alone, under the Con
stitution, have power to grant. I entertain no doubt you will con
cur with me in the opinion that in the absence of a fleet of public
vessels it will be eminently expedient to supply their place by pri
vate armed vessels, so happily styled by the publicists of the United
States "the militia of the sea," and so often and justly relied on
by them as an efficient and admirable instrument of defensive
warfare. I earnestly recommend the immediate passage of a law
authorizing me to accept the numerous proposals already received.
* See page 60.

76 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
I cannot close this review of the acts of the Government of the
United States without referring to a proclamation issued by their
President, under date of the 19th instant, in which, after declaring
that an insurrection has broken out in this Confederacy against
the Government of the United States, he announces a blockade
of all the ports of these States, and threatens to punish as pirates
all persons who shall molest any vessel of the United States under
letters of marque issued by this Government. Notwithstanding
the authenticity of this proclamation you will concur with me that
it is hard to believe it could have emanated from a President of
the United States. Its announcement of a mere paper blockade
is so manifestly a violation of the law of nations that it would
seem incredible that it could have been issued by authority; but
conceding this to be the case so far as the Executive is concerned,
it will be difficult to satisfy the people of these States that their
late confederates will sanction its declarations — will determine to-
ignore the usages of civilized nations, and will inaugurate a war
of extermination on both sides by treating as pirates open enemies
acting under the authority of commissions issued by an organized
government. If such proclamation was issued, it could only have
been published under the sudden influence of passion, and we may
rest assured mankind will be spared the horrors of the conflict it
seems to invite.
For the details of the administration of the different Depart
ments I refer to the reports of the Secretaries, which accompany
this message.
The State Department has furnished the necessary instructions
for three commissioners who have been sent to England, France,.
Russia, and Belgium since your adjournment to ask our recog
nition as a member of the family of nations, and to make with'
each of those powers treaties of amity and commerce. Further
steps will be taken to enter into like negotiations with the other
European powers, in pursuance of your resolutions passed at the
last session. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed since the departure
of these commissioners for the receipt of any intelligence from
them. As I deem it desirable that commissioners or other diplo
matic agents should also be sent at an early period to the inde
pendent American powers south of our Confederacy, with all of
whom it is our interest and earnest wish to maintain the most

Provisional Congress. 77
cordial and friendly relations, I suggest the expediency of making
the necessary appropriations for that purpose. Having been of
ficially notified by the public authorities of the State of Virginia
that she had withdrawn from the Union and desired to maintain
the closest political relations with us which it was possible at this
time to establish, I commissioned the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens,
Vice President of the Confederate States, to represent this Gov
ernment at Richmond.* I am happy to inform you that he has
concluded a convention with the State of Virginia by which that
honored Commonwealth, so long and justly distinguished among
her sister States, and so dear to the hearts of thousands of her
•children in the Confederate States, has united her power and her
fortunes with ours and become one of us. This convention, to
gether with the ordinance of Virginia adopting the Provisional
Constitution of the Confederacy, will be laid before you for your
constitutional action. I have satisfactory assurances from other
-of our late confederates that they are on the point of adopting
similar measures, and I cannot doubt that ere you shall have been
many weeks in session the whole of the slaveholding States of
the late Union will respond to the call of honor and affection, and
by uniting their fortunes with ours promote our common interests
and secure our common safety.
In the Treasury Department regulations have been devised and
put into execution for carrying out the policy indicated in your
legislation on the subject of the navigation of the Mississippi
River, as well as for the collection of revenue on the frontier.
Free transit has been secured for vessels and merchandise passing
through the Confederate States ; and delay and inconvenience have
been avoided as far as possible, in organizing the revenue service
for the various railways entering our territory. As fast as experi
ence shall indicate the possibility of improvement in these regula
tions no effort will be spared to free commerce from all unneces
sary embarrassments and obstructions. Under your act authoriz
ing a loan, proposals were issued inviting subscriptions for $5,-
000,000, and the call was answered by the prompt subscription of
more than $8,000,000 by our own citizens, and not a single bid was
made under par. The rapid development of the purpose of the
President of the United States to invade our soil, capture our
' *See page 62.

78 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
forts, blockade our ports, and wage war against us induced me
to direct that the entire subscription should be accepted. It will
now become necessary to raise means to a much larger amount to
defray the expenses of maintaining our independence and repelling
invasion. I invite your special attention to this subject, and the
financial condition of the Government, with the suggestion of
ways and means for the supply of the Treasury, will be presented
to you in a separate communication.
To the Department of Justice you have confided not only the
organization and supervision of all matters connected with the
courts of justice, but also those connected with patents and with
the bureau of public printing. Since your adjournment all the
courts, with the exception of those of Mississippi and Texas, have
been organized by the appointment of marshals and district at
torneys and are now prepared for the exercise of their functions.
In the two States just named the gentlemen confirmed as judges
declined to accept the appointment, and no nominations have yet
been made to fill the vacancies. I refer you to the report of the
Attorney-General and concur in his recommendation for imme
diate legislation, especially on the subject of patent rights. ' Early
provision should be made to secure to the subjects of foreign na
tions the full enjoyment of their property in valuable inventions,
and to extend to our own citizens protection, not only for their
own inventions, but for such as may have been assigned to them
or may hereafter be assigned by persons not alien enemies. The
Patent Office business is much more extensive and important than
had been anticipated. The applications for patents, although con
fined under the law exclusively to citizens of our Confederacy, al
ready average seventy per month, showing the necessity for the
prompt organization of a bureau of patents.
The Secretary of War in his report and accompanying docu
ments conveys full information concerning the forces — regular,
volunteer, and provisional — raised and called for under the sev
eral acts of Congress — their organization and distribution; also
an account of the expenditures already made, and the further es
timates for the fiscal year ending the 18th of February, 1862, ren
dered necessary by recent events. I refer to his report also for a
full history of the occurrences in Charleston Harbor prior to and
including the bombardment and reduction of Fort Sumter, and.

Provisional Congress. 79
of the measures subsequently taken for the common defense on
receiving the intelligence of the declaration of war against us,
made by the President of the United States. There are now in
the field at Charleston, Pensacola, Forts Morgan, Jackson, Saint
Philip, and Pulaski 19,000 men, and 16,000 are now en route for
Virginia. It is proposed to organize and hold in readiness fqr in
stant action, in view of the present exigencies of the country, an
army of 100,000 men. If further force should be needed, the wis
dom and patriotism of Congress will be confidently appealed to
for authority to call into the field additional numbers of our noble-
spirited volunteers who are constantly tendering service far in ex
cess of our wants.
The operations of the Navy Department have been necessarily
restricted by the fact that sufficient time has not yet elapsed for the
purchase or construction of more than a limited number of vessels
adapted to the public service. Two vessels purchased have been
named the Sumter and McRae, and are now being prepared for sea
at New Orleans with all possible dispatch. Contracts have also
been made at that city with two different establishments for the
casting of ordnance — cannon shot and shell — with the view to en
courage the manufacture of these articles, so indispensable for our
defense, at as many points within our territory as possible. I call
your attention to the recommendation of the Secretary for the es
tablishment of a magazine and laboratory for preparation of ord
nance stores and the necessary appropriation for that purpose.
Hitherto such stores have usually been prepared at the navy
yards, and no appropriation was made at your last session for this
object. The Secretary also calls attention to the fact that no pro
vision has been made for the payment of invalid pensions to our
own citizens. Many of these persons are advanced in life; they
have no means of support, and by the secession of these States
have been deprived of their claim against the Government of the
United States. I recommend the appropriation of the sum neces
sary to pay these pensioners, as well as those of the Army, whose
claims can scarcely exceed $70,000 per annum.
The Postmaster General has already succeeded in organizing his
Department to such an extent as to be in readiness to assume the
direction of our postal affairs on the occurrence of the contingency

80 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy^
contemplated by the act of March 15, 1861, or even sooner if de
sired by Congress. The various books and circulars have been
prepared and measures taken to secure supplies of blanks, postage
stamps, stamped envelopes, mail bags, locks, keys, etc. He pre
sents a detailed classification and arrangement of his clerical force,
and asks for its increase. An auditor of the Treasury for this De
partment is necessary, and a plan is submitted for the organiza
tion of his bureau. The great number and magnitude of the ac
counts of this Department require an increase of the clerical force
in the accounting branch in the Treasury. The revenues of this
Department are collected and disbursed in modes peculiar to itself,
and require a special bureau to secure a proper accountability in
the administration of its finances. I call your attention to the ad
ditional legislation required for this Department; to the recom
mendation for changes in the law fixing the rates of postage on
newspapers, periodicals, and sealed packages of certain kinds, and
specially to the recommendation of the Secretary, in which I con
cur, that you provide at once for the assumption by him of the
control of our entire postal service.
In the military organization of the States provision is made for
brigadier and major generals, but in the Army of the Confederate
States the highest grade is that of brigadier general. Hence it will
no doubt sometimes occur that where troops of the Confederacy
do duty with the militia, the general selected for the command and
possessed of the views and purposes of this Government will be
superseded by an officer of the militia not having the same advan
tages. To avoid this contingency in the least objectionable man
ner I recommend that additional rank be given to the general of
the Confederate Army, and concurring in the policy of having but
one grade of generals in the Army of the Confederacy, I recom
mend that the law of its organization be amended so that the grade
be that of general. To secure a thorough military education it is
deemed essential that officers should enter upon the study of their
profession at an early period of life and have elementary instruc
tion in a military school. Until such school shall be established
it is recommended that cadets be appointed and attached to com
panies until they shall have attained the age and have acquired
the knowledge to fit them for the duties of lieutenants. I also call

Provisional Congress. 81
your attention to an omission in the law organizing the Army, in
relation to military chaplains, and recommend that provision be
made for their appointment.
In conclusion, I congratulate you on the fact that in every por
tion of our country there has been exhibited the most patriotic de
votion to our common cause. Transportation companies have
freely tendered the use of their lines for troops and supplies. The
presidents of the railroads of the Confederacy, in company with
others who control lines of communication with States that we
hope soon to greet as sisters, assembled in convention in this city,
and not only reduced largely the rates heretofore demanded for
mail service and conveyance of troops and munitions, but volun
tarily proffered to receive their compensation, at these reduced
rates, in the bonds of the Confederacy, for the purpose of leaving
all the resources of the Government at its disposal for the common
defense. Requisitions for troops have been met with such alacrity
that the numbers tendering their services have in every instance
greatly exceeded the demand. Men of the highest official and
social position are serving as volunteers in the ranks. The gravity
of age and the zeal of youth rival each other in the desire to be
foremost for the public defense; and though at no other point
than the one heretofore noticed have they been stimulated by the
excitement incident to actual engagement and the hope of distinc
tion for individual achievement, they have borne what for new
troops is the most severe ordeal — patient toil and constant vigil,and
all the exposure and discomfort of active service, with a resolution
and fortitude such as to command approbation and justify the
highest expectation of their conduct when active valor shall be
required in place of steady endurance. A people thus united and
resolved cannot shrink from any sacrifice which they may be
called on to make, nor can there be a reasonable doubt of their
final success, however long and severe may be the test of their de
termination to maintain their birthright of freedom and equality
as a trust which it is their first duty to transmit undiminished to
their posterity. A bounteous Providence cheers us with the prom
ise of abundant crops. The fields of grain which will within a few
weeks be ready for the sickle give assurance of the amplest supply
of food for man ; whilst the corn, cotton, and other staple produc-
6

82 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
tions of our soil afford abundant proof that up to this period the
season has been propitious. We feel that our cause is just and
holy; we protest solemnly in the face of mankind that we desire
peace at any sacrifice save that of honor and independence; we
seek no conquest, no aggrandizement, no concession of any kind
from the States with which we were lately confederated; all we
ask is to be let alone; that those who never held power over us
shall not now attempt our subjugation by arms. This we will, this
we must, resist to the direst extremity. The moment that this pre
tension is abandoned the sword will drop from our grasp, and we
shall.be ready to enter ir.to treaties of amity and commerce that
cannot but be mutually beneficial. So long as this pretension is
maintained, with a firm reliance on that Divine Power which cov
ers with its protection the just cause, we will continue to struggle
for our inherent right to freedom, independence, and self-govern
ment. Jefferson Davis.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
I lay before the Congress, for their consideration and advice as
to its ratification, a copy of the convention between the Confed
erate States and the Commonwealth of Virginia, which was signed
at the city of Richmond on the twenty-fourth day of April, 1861,
by the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens on the part of the Confed
erate States, and by commissioners appointed for that purpose on
the part of the State of Virginia.
While performing this act, I congratulate the Congress and the
people of the Confederate States upon the conclusion of this al
liance by which the great and powerful State of Virginia has made
common cause with us and joined her energies and resources to
ours for our common defense against the unprovoked war of ag
gression which the Chief Magistrate of the United States has de
clared against us. Jefferson Davis.
Montgomery, May 6, 1861. Montgomery, Wednesday, May 8, 1861.
Gentlemen of the Congress: In the message addressed to you
on the 29th ultimo,* I referred to the course of conduct of the Gov-
*See page 63.

Provisional Congress. 83
ernment of the United States toward the commissioners of this
Government sent to Washington for the purpose of effecting, if
possible, a peaceful adjustment of the pending difficulties between
the two Governments.* I also made allusion to "an intermediary,
whose high position and character inspired the hope of success ;"
but I was not then at liberty to make any communication on the
subject as specific as was desirable for a full comprehension of the
whole subject. It is now, however, in my power to place before
you other papers, which I herewith address to you from them.
You will perceive that the intermediary referred to was Hon. John
A. Campbell, a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States,
who made earnest efforts to promote the successful issue of the
mission -intrusted to our commissioners, and by whom I was kept
advised, in confidential communication, of the measures taken by
him to secure so desirable a result. It is due to you, to him, and to
history that a narration of the occurrences with which he was con
nected should be made known, the more especially as it will be
seen by the letters hereto appended that the correctness and ac
curacy of the recital have not been questioned by the Secretary of
State of the United States, to whom it was addressed. I avail my
self of this opportunity to correct an error in one of the statements
made in my message of the 29th of April. It is there recitedf that
I was prompted to call you together in extraordinary session by
reason of the declarations contained in the proclamation of Presi
dent Lincoln of the 15th of April. My proclamation, convoking
you, was issued on the 12th of April,t and was prompted by the
declaration of hostile purposes contained in the message sent by
the President to the Governor of South Carolina on the 8th of
April. As the proclamation of President Lincoln of the 15th of
April repeated the same hostile intention in more specific terms
and on a much more extensive scale, it created a stronger impres
sion on my mind, and led to the error above alluded to, and which,
however unimportant, I desire to correct. Jeff'n Davis.
*See page 70. tSee page 63. tSee page 60.

84 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
correspondence between the confederate commissioners,
mr. secretary seward and judge campbell.
The Commissioners to Mr. Seward.
Washington City, March 12, 1861.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States.
Sir: The undersigned have been duly accredited by the Govern
ment of the Confederate States of America as commissioners to
the Government of the United States, and, in pursuance of their
instructions, have now the honor to acquaint you with that fact,
and to make known, through you to the President of the United
States, the objects of their presence in this capital.
Seven States of the late Federal Union, having in the exercise
of the inherent right of every free people to change or reform
their political institutions, and through conventions of their peo
ple, withdrawn from the United States and reassumed the at
tributes of sovereign power delegated to it, have formed a gov
ernment of their own. The Confederate States constitute an in
dependent nation, de facto and de jure, and possess a government
perfect in all its parts, and endowed with all the means of self-
support. With a view to a speedy adjustment of all questions growing
out of this political separation, upon such terms of amity and good
will as the respective interests, geographical contiguity, and future
welfare of the two nations may render necessary, the undersigned
are instructed to make to the Government of the United States
overtures for the opening of negotiations, assuring the Govern
ment of the United States that the President, Congress, and peo
ple of the Confederate States earnestly desire a peaceful solution
of these great questions ; that it is neither their interest nor their
wish to make any demand which is not founded in strictest justice,
nor do any act to injure their late confederates.
The undersigned have now the honor, in obedience to the in
structions of their Government, to request you to appoint as early
a day as possible, in order that they may present to the President
of the United States the credentials which they bear and the ob
jects of the mission with which they are charged.
We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants,
[Signed] John Forsyth,
[Signed] Martin J. Crawford.

Provisional Congress. 85
Memorandum.
Department of State, Washington, March 15, 1861.
Mr. John Forsyth, of the State of Alabama, and Mr. Martin
J. Crawford, of the State of Georgia, on the nth inst., through
the kind offices of a distinguished Senator, submitted to the Sec
retary of State their desire for an unofficial interview. This re
quest was, on the 12th inst, upon exclusively public considera
tions, respectfully declined.
On the 13th inst., while the Secretary was preoccupied, Mr.
A. D. Banks, of Virginia, called at this Department, and was re
ceived by the Assistant Secretary, to whom he delivered a sealed
communication, which he had been charged by Messrs. Forsyth
and Crawford to present to the Secretary in person.
In that communication Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford inform
the Secretary of State that they have been duly accredited by the
Government of the Confederate States of America as commis
sioners to the Government of the United States, and they set forth
the objects of their attendance at Washington. They observe that
seven States of the American Union, in the exercise of a right in
herent in every free people, have withdrawn, through conventions
of their people, from the United States, reassumed the attributes
of sovereign power, and formed "a government of their own, and
that those Confederate States now constitute an independent na
tion, de facto and de jure, and possess a government perfect in all
its parts, and fully endowed with all the means of self-support.
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, in their aforesaid communica
tion, thereupon proceeded to inform the Secretary that, with a
view to a speedy adjustment of all questions growing out of the
political separation thus assumed, upon such terms of amity and
good will as the respective interests, geographical contiguity, and
the future welfare of the supposed two nations might render nec
essary, they are instructed to make to the Government of the
United States overtures for the opening of negotiations, assuring
this Government that the President, Congress, and the people of
the Confederate States earnestly desire a peaceful solution of
these great questions, and that it is neither their interest nor their
wish to make any demand which is not founded in the strictest
justice, nor do any act to injure their late confederates.

86 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
After making these statements, Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford
close their communication, as they say, in obedience to the in
structions of their Government, by requesting the Secretary of
State to appoint as early a day as possible, in order that they may
present to the President of the United States the credentials which
they bear and the objects of the mission with which they are
charged. The Secretary of State frankly confesses that he understands
the events which have recently occurred, and the condition of
political affairs which actually exists in the part of the Union to
which his attention has thus been directed, very differently from
the aspect in which they are presented by Messrs. Forsyth and
Crawford. He sees in them, not a rightful and accomplished
revolution and an independent nation, with an established Gov
ernment, but rather a perversion of a temporary and partisan ex
citement to the inconsiderate purposes of an unjustifiable and un
constitutional aggression upon the rights and the authority vested
in the Federal Government, and hitherto benignly exercised, as
from their very nature they always must so be exercised, for the
maintenance of the Union, the preservation of liberty, and the se
curity, peace, welfare, happiness, and aggrandizement of the
American people. The Secretary of State, therefore, avows to
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford that he looks patiently, but con
fidently, for the cure of evils which have resulted from proceed
ings so unnecessary, so unwise, so unusual, and so unnatural, not
to irregular negotiations, having in view new and untried rela
tions with agencies unknown to and acting in derogation of the
Constitution and laws, but to regular and considerate action of
the people of those States, in cooperation with their brethren in
the other .States, through the Congress of the United States, and
such extraordinary conventions, if there shall be need thereof,
as the Federal Constitution contemplates and authorizes to be
assembled. It is, however, the purpose of the Secretary of State, on this
occasion, not to invite or engage in any discussion of these sub
jects, but simply to set forth his reasons for declining to comply
with the request of Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.
On the 4th of March instant, the then newly elected President
of the United States, in view of all the facts bearing on the present

Provisional Congress. 87
question, assumed the Executive Administration of the Govern
ment, first delivering, in accordance with an early, honored cus
tom, an inaugural address to the people of the United States. The
Secretary of State respectfully submits a copy of this address to
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.
A simple reference to it will be sufficient to satisfy these gentle
men that the Secretary of State, guided by the principles therein
announced, is prevented altogether from admitting or assuming
that the States referred to by them have, in law or in fact, with
drawn from the Federal Union, or that they could do so in the
manner described by Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, or in any
other manner than with the consent and concert of the people of
the United States, to be given through a National Convention, to
be assembled in conformity with the provisions of the Constitu
tion of the United States. Of course, the Secretary of State can
not act upon the assumption, or in any way admit that the so-
called Confederate States constitute a foreign power, with whom
diplomatic relations ought to be established.
Under these circumstances, the Secretary of State, whose official
duties are confined, subject to the direction of the President, to the
conducting of the foreign relations of the country, and do not at
all embrace domestic questions, or questions arising between the
several States and the Federal Government, is unable to comply
with the request of Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, to appoint a
day on which they may present the evidences \>i their authority
and the objects of their visit to the President of the United States.
On the contrary, he is obliged to state to Messrs. Forsyth and
Crawford that he has no authority, nor is he at liberty, to recog
nize them as diplomatic agents, or hold correspondence or other
communication with them.
Finally, the Secretary of State would observe that, although
he has supposed that he might safely and with propriety have
adopted these conclusions, without making any reference of the
subject to the Executive, yet, so strong has been his desire to
practice entire directness, and to act in a spirit of perfect respect
and candor toward Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, and that por
tion of the people of the Union in whose name they present them
selves before him, that he has cheerfully submitted this paper to
the President, who coincides generally in the views it expresses,

88 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
and sanctions the Secretary's decision declining official intercourse
with Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford. April 8, 1861.
The foregoing memorandum was filed in this Department on the
15th of March last. A delivery of the same to Messrs. Forsyth
and Crawford was delayed, as was understood, with their consent.
They have now, through their secretary, communicated their de
sire for a definite disposition of the subject. The Secretary of
State therefore directs that a duly verified copy of the paper be
now delivered. The Commissioners in Reply to Mr. Seward.
Washington, April 9, 1861.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State for the United States, Wash
ington.
The "memorandum" dated Department of State, Washington,
March 15, 1861, with postscript under date of 8th instant, has
been received through the hands of Mr. J. T. Pickett, secretary of
this commission, who, by the instructions of the undersigned,
called for it on yesterday at the Department.
In that memorandum you correctly state the purport of the
official note addressed to you by the undersigned on the 12th
ultimo. Withoufrepeating the contents of that note in full, it is
enough to say here that its object was to invite the Government
of the United States to a friendly consideration of the relations
between the United States and the seven States lately the Federal
Union, but now separated from it by the sovereign will of their
people, growing out of the pregnant and undeniable fact that
those people have rejected the authority of the United States, and
established a government of their own. Those relations had to
be friendly or hostile. The people of the old and new Govern
ments, occupying contiguous territories, had to stand to each
other in the relation of good neighbors, each seeking their hap
piness and pursuing their national destinies in their own way,
without interference with the other; or they had to be rival and
hostile nations. The Government of the Confederate States had
no hesitation in electing its choice in this alternative. Frankly

Provisional Congress. 89
and unreservedly, seeking the good of the people who had intrust
ed them with power, in the spirit of humanity, of the Christian
civilization of the age, and of that Americanism which regards
the true welfare and happiness of the people, the Government of
the Confederate States, among its first acts, commissioned the
undersigned to approach the Government of the United States
with the olive branch of peace, and to offer to adjust the great
questions pending between them in the only way to be justified
by the consciences and common sense of good men who had noth
ing but the welfare of the people of the two confederacies at
heart. Your Government has not chosen to meet the undersigned in
the conciliatory and peaceful spirit in which they are commis
sioned. Persistently wedded to those fatal theories of construc
tion of the Federal Constitution always rejected by the statesmen
of the South, and adhered to by those of the Administration
school, until they have produced their natural and often predicted
result of the destruction of the Union, under which we might have
continued to live happily and gloriously together, had the spirit
of the ancestry who framed the common Constitution animated
the hearts of all their sons, you now, with a persistence untaught
and uncured by the ruin which has been wrought, refuse to recog
nize the great fact presented to you of a completed and success
ful revolution; you close your eyes to the existence of the Gov
ernment founded upon it, and ignore the high duties of modera
tion and humanity which attach to you in dealing with this great
fact. Had you met these issues with the frankness and manliness
with which the undersigned were instructed to present them to
you and treat them, the undersigned had not now the melancholy
duty to return home and tell their Government and their country
men that their earnest and ceaseless efforts in behalf of peace had
been futile, and that the Government of the United States meant
to subjugate them by force of arms. Whatever may be the re
sult, impartial history will record the innocence of the Govern
ment of the Confederate States, and place the responsibility of the
blood and mourning that may ensue upon those who have denied
the great fundamental doctrine of American liberty, that "govern
ments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,"
and who have set naval and land armaments in motion to subject

90 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the people of one portion of this land to the will of another por
tion. That that can never be done, while a freeman survives in
the Confederate States to wield a weapon, the undersigned appeal
to past history to prove. These military demonstrations against
the people of the seceded States are certainly far from being in
keeping and consistency with the theory of the Secretary of State,
maintained in his memorandum, that these States are still com
ponent parts of the late American Union, as the undersigned are
not aware of any constitutional power in the President of the
United States to levy war, without the consent of Congress, upon
a foreign people, much less upon any portion of the people of the
United States.
The undersigned, like the Secretary of State, have no purpose
to "invite or engage in discussion" of the subject on which their
two Governments are so irreconcilably at variance. It is this
variance that has broken up the old Union, the disintegration of
which has only begun. It is proper, however, to advise you that
it were well to dismiss the hopes you seem to entertain that, by
any of the modes indicated, the people of the Confederate States
will ever be brought to submit to the authority of the Government
of the United States. You are dealing with delusions, too, when
you seek to separate our people from our Government, and to
characterize the deliberate "sovereign act of that people as a "per
version of a temporary and partisan excitement." If you cherish
these dreams, you will be awakened from them and find them as
unreal and unsubstantial as others in which you have recently
indulged. The undersigned would omit the performance of an
obvious duty, were they to fail to make known to the Govern
ment of the United States that the people of the Confederate
States have declared their independence with a full knowledge of
all the responsibilities of that act, and with as firm a determina
tion to maintain it by all the means with which nature has en
dowed them as that which sustained their fathers when they
threw off the authority of the British Crown.
The undersigned clearly understand that you have declined to
appoint a day to enable them to lay the objects of the mission
with which they are charged before the President of the United
States, because so to do would be to recognize the independence
and separate nationality of the Confederate States. This is the

Provisional Congress. 91
vein of thought that pervades the memorandum before us. The
truth of history requires that it should distinctly appear upon the
record that the undersigned did , not ask the Government of the
United States to recognize the independence of the Confederate
States. They only asked audience to adjust, in a spirit of amity
and peace, the new relations springing from a manifest and ac
complished revolution in the Government of the late Federal
Union. Your refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful
solution, the active naval and military preparations of this Gov
ernment, and a formal notice to the commanding General of the
Confederate forces in the harbor of Charleston that the Presi
dent intends to provision Fort Sumter by forcible means, if nec
essary, are viewed by the undersigned, and can only be received
by the world, as a declaration of war against the Confederate
States; for the President of the United States knows that Fort
Sumter cannot be provisioned without the effusion of blood. The
undersigned, in behalf of their Government and people, accept
the gage of battle thus thrown down to them ; and, appealing to
God and the judgment of mankind for the righteousness of their
cause, the people of the Confederate States will defend their lib
erties to the last, against this flagrant and open attempt at their
subjugation to sectional power.
This communication cannot be properly closed without advert
ing to the date of your memorandum. The official note of the
undersigned, of the 12th of March, was delivered to the Assistant
Secretary of State on the 13th of that month, the gentleman who
delivered it informing him that the secretary of this commission
would call at twelve o'clock, noon, on the next day, for an answer.
At the appointed hour Mr. Pickett did call, and was informed by
the Assistant Secretary of State that the engagements of the Sec
retary of State had prevented him from giving the note his at
tention. The Assistant Secretary of State then asked for the ad
dress of Messrs. Crawford and Forsyth, the members of the
commission then present in this city, took note of the address on
a card, and engaged to send whatever reply might be made to
their lodgings. Why this was not done, it is proper should be
here explained. The memorandum is dated March 15, and was
not delivered until April 8. Why was it withheld during the
intervening twenty-three days? In the postscript to your mem-

92 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
orandum you say it "was delayed, as was understood, with their
[Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford's] consent." This is true; but
it is also true that, on the 15th of March, Messrs. Forsyth and
Crawford were assured by a person occupying a high official.
position in the Government, and who, as they believed, was speak
ing by authority, that Fort Sumter would be evacuated in a very
few days, and that no measure changing the existing status preju
dicially to the Confederate States, as respects Fort Pickens, was
then contemplated, and these assurances were subsequently re
peated, with the addition that any contemplated change as respects.
Pickens would be notified to us. On the 1st of April we were
again informed that there might be an attempt to supply Fort
Sumter with provisions, but that Governor Pickens should have
previous notice of this attempt. There was no suggestion of any
reenforcement. The undersigned did not hesitate to believe that
these assurances expressed the intentions of the Administration
at the time, or at all events of prominent members of that Admin
istration. This delay was assented to for the express purpose of
attaining the great end of the mission of the undersigned — to
wit, a pacific solution of existing complications. The inference
deducible from the date of your memorandum, that the under
signed had, of their own volition and without cause, consented'
to this long hiatus in the grave duties with which they were
charged, is therefore not consistent with a just exposition of the
facts of the case. The intervening twenty-three days were em
ployed in active unofficial efforts, the object of which was to
smooth the path to a pacific solution, the distinguished personage
alluded to cooperating with the undersigned; and every step of
that effort is recorded in writing and now in the possession of
the undersigned and of their Government. It was only when all
those anxious efforts for peace had been exhausted, and it be
came clear that Mr. Lincoln had determined to appeal to the sword
to reduce the people of the Confederate States to the will of the
section or party whose President he is, that the undersigned re
sumed the official negotiation temporarily suspended, and sent
their secretary for a reply to their official note of March 12.
It is proper to add that, during these twenty-three days, two
gentlemen, of official distinction as high as that of the personage

Provisional Congress. 93
hitherto alluded to, aided the undersigned as intermediaries in
these unofficial negotiations for peace.
The undersigned, commissioners of the Confederate States of
America, having thus made answer to all they deem material in
the memorandum filed in the Department on the 15th of March
last, have the honor to be
John Forsyth,
Martin J. Crawford,
A. B. Roman.

Mr. Seward in Reply to the Commissioners.
Department of State, Washington, April 10, 1861.
Messrs. Forsyth, Crawford, and Roman, having been apprised
"by a memorandum, which has been delivered to them, that the
Secretary of State is not at liberty to hold official intercourse with
them, will, it is presumed, expect no notice from him of the new
communication which they have addressed to him under date of
the 9th inst., beyond the simple acknowledgment of the receipt
thereof, which he hereby very cheerfully gives.
Judge Campbell to Mr. Seward.
Washington City, April 13, 1861.
Sir: On the 15th of March ult., I left with Judge Crawford, one
¦of the commissioners of the Confederate States, a note in writing
to the effect following :
"I feel entire confidence that Fort Sumter will be evacuated in
the next five days. And this measure is felt as imposing great re
sponsibility on the Administration.
"I feel entire confidence that no measure changing the existing
status, prejudicially to the Southern Confederate States, is at pres
ent contemplated.
"I feel an entire confidence that an immediate demand for an
answer to the communication of the commissioners will be pro
ductive of evil and not of good. I do not believe that it ought, at
this time, to be pressed."
The substance of this statement I communicated to you the same

94 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
evening by letter. Five days elapsed, and I called with a telegram
from General Beauregard to the effect that Sumter was not evac
uated, but that Major Anderson was at work making repairs.
The next day, after conversing with you, I communicated to
Judge Crawford, in writing, that the failure to evacuate Sumter
was not the result of bad faith, but was attributable to causes con
sistent with the intention to fulfill the engagement, and that as re
garded Pickens, I should have notice of any design to alter the
existing status there. Mr. Justice Nelson was present at these
conversations, three in number, and I submitted to him each of
my written communications to Judge Crawford, and informed
Judge C. that they had his (Judge Nelson's) sanction. I gave
you, on the 22d of March, a substantial copy of the statement I
had made on the 15th.
The 30th of March arrived, and at that time a telegram came
from Governor Pickens, . inquiring concerning Colonel Lamon,
whose visit to Charleston he supposed had a connection with the
proposed evacuation of Fort Sumter.
I left that with you, and was to have an answer the following
Monday (1st of April). On the 1st of April I received from you
the statement in writing: "(I am satisfied) the Government will
not undertake to supply Fort Sumter without giving notice to
Governor P." The words "I am satisfied" were for me to use as
expressive of confidence in the remainder of the declaration.
The proposition as originally prepared was, "the President may
desire to supply Sumter, but will not do so," etc., and your verbal
explanation was that you did not believe any such attempt would
be made, and that there was no design to reenforce Sumter.
There was a departure here from the pledges of the previous.
month, but with the verbal explanation, I did not consider it a mat
ter then to complain of. I simply stated to you that I had that
assurance previously.
On the 7th day of April I addressed you a letter on the subject
of the alarm that the preparations by the Government had created,
and asked you if the assurances I had given were well or ill-
founded. In respect to Sumter your reply was, "Faith as to-
Sumter fully kept — wait and see." In the morning's paper I
read, "An authorized messenger from President Lincoln informed

Provisional Congress. 95
Governor Pickens and General Beauregard that provisions will be
sent to Fort Sumter — peaceably, or otherwise by force." This
was the 8th of April, at Charleston, the day following your last as
surance, and is the last evidence of the full faith I was invited to
wait for and see. In the same paper, I read that intercepted dis
patches disclosed the fact that Mr. Fox, who had been allowed to
visit Major Anderson, on the pledge that his purpose was pacific,
employed his opportunity to devise a plan for supplying the Fort
by force, and that this plan had been adopted by the Wash
ington Government, and was in process of execution. My recol
lection of the date of Mr. Fox's visit carries it to a day in March.
1 learn he is a near connection of a member of the Cabinet. My
connection with the commissioners and yourself was superinduced
by a conversation with Justice Nelson. He informed me of your
strong disposition in favor of peace, and that you were oppressed
with a demand of the commissioners of the Confederate States
for a reply to their first letter, and that you desired to avoid it if
possible at that time.
I told him I might perhaps be of some service in arranging the
diffipulty. I came to your office entirely at his request and without
the knowledge of either of the commissioners. Your depression
was obvious to both Judge Nelson and myself. I was gratified at
the character of the counsels you were desirous of pursuing and
much impressed with your observation that a civil war might be
prevented by the success of my mediation. You read a letter of
Mr. Weed to show how irksome and responsible the withdrawal
of troops from Sumter was. A portion of my communication to
Judge Crawford on the 15th of March was founded upon these re
marks, and the pledge to evacuate Sumter is less forcible than
the words you employed. These words were : "Before this letter
reaches you [a proposed letter by me to President Davis], Sumter
will have been evacuated."
The commissioners who received those communications con
clude they have been abused and overreached. The Montgomery
Government hold the same opinion. The commissioners have
supposed that my communications were with you, and upon the
[that] hypothesis were prepared to arraign you before the country
in connection with the President. I placed a peremptory prohibi
tion upon this as being contrary to the terms of my communica-

96 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
tions with them. I pledged myself to them to communicate in
formation upon what I considered as the best authority, and they
were to confide in the ability of myself, aided by Judge Nelson, to
determine upon the credibility of my informant.
I think no candid man who will read over what I have written,
and consider for a moment what is going on at Sumter, but will
agree that the equivocating conduct of the Administration, as
measured and interpreted in connection with these promises," is
the proximate cause of the great calamity.
I have a profound conviction that the telegrams of the 8th of
April of General Beauregard, and of the 10th of April of General
Walker, the Secretary of War, can be referred to nothing else
than their belief that there has been systematic duplicity prac
ticed on them through me. It is under an oppressive sense of the
weight of this responsibility that I submit to you these things for
your explanation. Very respectfully,
[Signed] John A. Campbell,
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, U. S.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

DISPATCHES.
To L. P. Walker, Secretary of War.
An authorized message from President Lincoln just informed
Governor Pickens and myself that provisions will be sent to Fort
Sumter peaceably, or otherwise by force.
Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard.
If you have no doubt as to the authorized character of the agent
who communieated to you the intention of the Washington Gov
ernment to supply Fort Sumter by force, you will at once demand
its evacuation, and, if this is refused, proceed in such manner as
you may determine to reduce it.
Judge Campbell to Mr. Seward.
Washington City, April 20, 1861.
Sir: I enclose you a letter, corresponding very nearly with one
I addressed to you a week ago (13th April), to which I have not

Provisional Congress. 97
had any repiy. The letter is simply one of inquiry in referehce
¦to facts concerning which, I think, I am entitled to an explana
tion. I have not adopted any opinion in reference to them which
may not be modified by explanation, nor have I affirmed in that
letter, nor do I in this, any conclusion of my own unfavorable to
your integrity in the whole transaction.
All that I have said and mean to say is, that an explanation is
due from you to myself. I will not say what I shall do in case
this request is not complied with, but I am justified in saying that
I shall feel at liberty to place these letters before any person who
is entitled to ask an explanation of myself. Very respectfully,
John A. Campbell,
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, U. S.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
No reply has been made to this letter, April 24, 1861.

Judge Campbell to the President of the Confederate States.
Montgomery, Ala., May 7, 1861.
Sir: I submit to you two letters that were addressed by me to
the Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States,
that contain an explanation of the nature and result of an inter
vention by me in the intercourse of the commissioners of the
Confederate States with that officer. I considered that I could
perform no duty in which the entire American people, whether of
the Federal Union or of the Confederate States, were more in-,
terested than that of promoting the counsels and the policy that
had for their object the preservation of peace. This motive dic
tated my intervention. Besides the interview referred to in these
letters, I informed the Assistant Secretary of State of the United
States (not being able to see the Secretary) on the nth April, ult.,
of the existence of a telegram of that date, from General Beaure
gard to the commissioners, in which he informed the commis
sioners that he had demanded the evacuation of Sumter, and if re
fused he would proceed to reduce it. On the same day, I had been
told that President Lincoln had said that none of the vessels sent
to Charleston were war vessels, and that force was not to be used
in the attempt to supply the Fort. I had no means of testing the
7

98 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
accuracy of this information ; but offered that if the information
was accurate I would send a telegram to the authorities at Charles
ton, and it might prevent the disastrous consequences of a collision
at that fort between the opposing forces. It was the last effort
that I would make to avert the calamities of war. The Assistant
Secretary promised to give the matter attention, but I had no other
intercourse with him or any other person on the subject, nor have
j I had any reply to the letters submitted to you.
Very respectfully, John A. Campbell.
General Davis, President of the Confederate States.

Executive Department, Montgomery, May 9, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering the report of operations in the re
duction of Fort Sumter, together with the flag used on that oc
casion. Jefferson Davis.

Montgomery, May 10, 1861,
The Congress of the Confederate States of America.
It is with sincere pleasure that I inform you that the govern
ment of North Carolina has accredited the Hon. Thomas L. Cling-
man as commissioner to represent that Commonwealth near the
Government of the Confederate States. Mr. Clingman presented
to me this day his letters of credence, and I received him in a
manner corresponding to his station and the high purpose of his
mission. It afforded me much gratification to receive from Mr.
Clingman the assurance which he was instructed by his govern
ment to convey to me of the determination of his State "to link
her fortunes with those of the Confederate States, and to draw
the sword in the common defense of our liberties." This proof
of North Carolina's sympathy, and this promise of her early
union with the Confederate States, are the more signal because
conveyed by one of such high station and reputation as Mr. Cling
man. Jeff'n Davis.

Provisional Congress. 99
Montgomery, May 13, 1861.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America,
I lay before Congress, for their consideration and action in re
lation thereto, copies of a convention between the Confederate
States and the State of Tennessee, which was concluded and
signed by the commissioners of both parties at the city of Nash
ville on the 7th day of May, A.D. 1861, and of the ratification and
confirmation of the same by the General Assembly of the State of
Tennessee. Jeff'n Davis.

Executive Department,
Montgomery, Ala., May 14, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress the several estimates
of the Secretary of War for the fiscal year, ending the 18th of
February, 1862. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, May 16, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress additional estimates
of the Secretary of War. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, May 17, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
I herewith transmit to the Congress a communication from the
Postmaster General, covering additional estimates for the service
• of his Department for the year ending February 4, 1862.
Jefferson Davis.

Montgomery, Ala., May 18, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
I herewith transmit to the Congress the estimate of the Sec
retary of War for incidental expenses of officers of the Confed
erate Army assigned to duty among the Indian tribes, for the

ioo Messages and Papers of the Confederacy
fiscal year ending February 18, 1862. The functions which said
officers will be required to perform are generally those of agents
of Indian Affairs. Jeff'n Davis.

Executive Department, May 20, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
I herewith transmit to the Congress certain estimates of the
Secretary of the Navy for the year ending February 18, 1862.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, May 20, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
I herewith transmit to the Congress certain resolutions* of the
Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the city of Memphis. Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES.
Montgomery, Ala., May 17, 1861.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
I have this day received your resolution providing for the ad
journment of Congress "to meet again at Richmond on the twen
tieth day of July next," etc., and have the honor to return it to
you with a statement of my objections.
By the third clause of the sixth article of the Constitution of
the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, it was enacted that "until otherwise provided by the Congress
the city of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, shall be the seat
of government."
There is no provision in the resolution before me to remove the
seat of government, and it hence follows that the office of the
Executive and those of the Executive Departments of the Gov
ernment must remain at the city of Montgomery.
* Inviting the Congress to hold its next session in the city of Memphis,
Tenn.

Provisional Congress. 101
Though there is no specified requirement that the Congress
should assemble at the seat of government, the obvious necessity
for its doing so will require extraordinary circumstances to justi
fy the holding of a session of Congress at a place remote from
that where the Executive Departments are located. Great em
barrassment and probable detriment to the public service must re
sult from a want of co-intelligence between the coordinate
branches of the Government incident to such separation. The
estimates on which appropriations can alone be made not infre
quently require explanation, which, under such circumstances,
could not well be made.
Members of the Cabinet who are also members of the Congress
must of necessity be prevented from performing one duty or the
other. With these views deferentially and most respectfully submitted,
I have the honor to return the resolution for such further action
as the Congress may in its wisdom deem it proper to adopt.
Jefferson Davis.

To the Congress.
Gentlemen: I have the honor to return to you without my ap
proval the act entitled "An act to establish a court of admiralty
and maritime jurisdiction in the State of Mississippi for the coun
ties lying on the Mississippi River in said State."
Although I am unable to perceive the advantage of an addition
al court in Mississippi, as provided (by) the bill, this would not
constitute a sufficient reason for withholding my approval. But
the bill goes farther. It creates a jurisdiction for a certain por
tion of the bank of the Mississippi River, entirely different from
that which exists above, below, and on the opposite bank of the
river. This cannot but lead to conflict of jurisdiction, embarrass
ment, and confusion, and I cannot perceive the necessity for so
exceptional a measure.
I therefore return it to the Congress with my objections.
[Received May 21, 1861.] Jefferson Davis.

102 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, a treaty or convention of alliance, offensive and de
fensive, between the Confederate States of America and the Com
monwealth of Virginia, was concluded and signed at the city of
Richmond on the 24th day of April, A.D. 1861, which treaty or
convention of alliance is, word for word, as follows :*
And whereas, the said treaty or convention of alliance has been
duly ratified on both parts :
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Jefferson Davis, President
of the Confederate States of America, have caused the said treaty
or convention of alliance to be made public, to the end that the
same, and every clause and article thereof, may be observed and
fulfilled with good faith by the Confederate States and the citi
zens thereof.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the
seal of the Confederate States to be affixed at the city of Mont
gomery this 8th day of May, A.D. 1861. Jeff'n Davis.
By the President : R. Toombs, Secretary of State.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
To All Who Shall See These Presents, Greeting.
Know ye, that by virtue of the power vested in me by law I
have commissioned and do hereby commission, have authorized
and do hereby authorize, the schooner or vessel called the Sa
vannah (more particularly described in the schedule hereunto
annexedt), whereof T. Harrison Baker is commander, to act as
*Omitted.tSchedule of description of the vessel: Name, Schooner Savannah;
tonnage, fifty-three and forty-one ninety-fifth tons; armament, one large
pivot gun and small arms ; number of crew, thirty.

Provisional Congress. 103
a private armed vessel in the service of the Confederate States
on the high seas against the United States of America, their ships,
vessels, goods, and effects, and those of their citizens during the
pendency of the war now existing between the said Confederate
States and the said United States.
This commission to continue in force until revoked by the Pres
ident of the Confederate States for the time being.
Given under my hand and seal of the Confederate States at
Montgomery this 18th day of May, A.D. 1861. Jeff'n Davis.
By the President : R. Toombs, Secretary of State.

By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
To the People of the Confederate States.
When a people who recognize their dependence upon God, feel
themselves surrounded by peril and difficulty, it becomes them to
humble themselves under the dispensation of Divine Providence,
to recognize his righteous government, to acknowledge his good
ness in times past, and supplicate his merciful protection for the
future. The manifest proofs of the Divine blessing hitherto extended to
the efforts of the people of the Confederate States of America, to
maintain and perpetuate public liberty, individual rights, and na
tional independence, demand their devout and heartfelt gratitude.
It becomes them to give public manifestation of this gratitude,
and of their dependence upon the Judge of all the earth, and to
invoke the continuance of his favor. Knowing that none but a
just and righteous cause can gain the Divine favor, we would im
plore the Lord of hosts to guide and direct our policy in the paths
of right, duty, justice, and mercy, to unite our hearts and our
efforts for the defense of our dearest rights; to strengthen our
weakness, crown our arms with success, and enable us to secure
a speedy, just, and honorable peace.
To these ends, and in conformity with the request of Congress,
I invite the people of the Confederate States to the observance of

104 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
a day of fasting and prayer by such religious services as may be
suitable for the occasion, and I recommend Thursday, the 13th
day of June next, for that purpose, and that we may all, on that
day, with one accord, join in humble and reverential approach to
him in whose hands we are, invoking him to inspire us with a
proper spirit and temper of heart and mind to bear our evils, to
bless us with his favor and protection, and to bestow his gracious'
benediction upon our Government and country. Jefferson Davis.

By the President :
[May 28, 1861.]

R. Toombs, Secretary of State.

AN ACT
Recognizing the Existence of War Between the United
States and the Confederate States, and Concerning
Letters of Marque, Prizes, and Prize Goods.
Whereas, the earnest efforts made by this Government to estab
lish friendly relations between the Government of the United
States and the Confederate States, and to settle all questions of
disagreement between the two Governments upon principles of
right, justice, equity, and good faith, have proved unavailing by
reason of the refusal of the Government of the United States to
hold any intercourse with the commissioners appointed by this
Government for the purposes aforesaid, or to listen to any pro
posal they had to make for the peaceful solution of all causes of
difficulty between the two Governments; and
Whereas, the President of the United States of America has
issued his proclamation making requisition upon the States of
the American Union for 75,000 men for the purpose, as therein
indicated, of capturing forts and other strongholds within the
jurisdiction of, and belonging to, the Confederate States of Amer
ica, and has detailed naval armaments upon the coasts of the
Confederate States of America, and raised, organized, and
equipped a large military force to execute the purpose afore
said, and has issued his other proclamation announcing his pur-

Provisional Congress. 105
pose to set on foot a blockade of the ports of the Confederate
States; and
Whereas, the State of Virginia has seceded from the Federal
Union and entered into a convention of alliance offensive and
defensive with the Confederate States, and has adopted the Pro
visional Constitution of the said States; and the States of Mary
land, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Mis
souri have refused, and it is believed that the State of Delaware
and the inhabitants of the Territories of Arizona and New Mex
ico, and the Indian Territory south of Kansas, will refuse to co
operate with the Government of the United States in these acts
of hostility and wanton aggression, which are plainly intended
to overawe, oppress, and finally subjugate the people of the Con
federate States; and
Whereas, by the acts and means aforesaid, war exists between
the Confederate States and the Government of the United States
and the States and Territories thereof, except the States of Mary
land, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri,
and Delaware, and the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico,
and the Indian Territory south of Kansas : Therefore,
Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America
do enact, That the President of the Confederate States is hereby
authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the Confed
erate States to meet the war thus commenced, and to issue to
private armed vessels commissions or letters of marque and gen
eral reprisal in such form as he shall think proper, under the seal
of the Confederate States, against the vessels, goods, and effects
of the Government of the United States, and of the citizens or
inhabitants of the States and Territories thereof, except the States
and Territories hereinbefore named: Provided, however, That
property of the enemy (unless it be contraband of war) laden
on board a neutral vessel shall not be subject to seizure under
this act: And provided further, That vessels of the citizens or
inhabitants of the United States now in the ports of the Con
federate States, except such as have been since the 5th of April
last, or may hereafter be, in the service of the Government of the
United States, shall be allowed thirty days after the publication
of this act to leave said ports and reach their destination; and
such vessels and their cargoes, excepting articles contraband of

io6 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy-
war, shall not be subject to capture under this act duririgmay be
period unless they shall have previously reached the destination
for which they were bound on leaving said ports.
Sec. 2. That the President of the Confederate States shall be,
and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to revoke and
annul at pleasure all letters of marque and reprisal which he
may at any time grant pursuant to this act.
Sec. 3. That all persons applying for letters of marque and re
prisal, pursuant to this act, shall state in writing the name and
a suitable description of the tonnage and force of the vessel, and
the name and place of residence of each owner concerned there
in and the intended number of the crew, which statement shall
be signed by the person or persons making such application and
filed with the Secretary of State, or shall be delivered to any
other officer or person who shall be employed to deliver out such
commissions, to be by him transmitted to the Secretary of State.
Sec. 4. That before any commission or letters of marque and
reprisal shall be issued as aforesaid, the owner or owners of the
ship or vessel for which the same shall be requested, and the
commander thereof for the time being, shall give bond to the
Confederate States, with at least two responsible sureties not in
terested in such vessel, in the penal sum of $5,000, or if such ves
sel be provided with more than 150 men, then in the penal sum
of $10,000, with condition that the owners, officers, and crew
who shall be employed on board such commissioned vessel shall
and will observe the laws of the Confederate States and the in
structions which shall be given them according to law for the
regulation of their conduct, and will satisfy all damages and in
juries which shall be done or committed contrary to the tenor
thereof by such vessel during her commission, and to deliver up
the same when revoked by the President of the Confederate
States. Sec. 5. That all captures and prizes of vessels and property
shall be forfeited and shall accrue to the owners, officers, and
crews of the vessels by whom such captures and prizes shall be
made, and on due condemnation had shall be distributed accord
ing to any written agreement which shall be made between them ;
and if there be no such written agreement, then one moiety to the
owners and the other moiety to the officers and crew, as nearly

Provisional Congress. 107
?_ e -;/&e, according to the rules prescribed for the distribution
of prize money by the laws of the Confederate States.
Sec. 6. That all vessels, goods, and effects, the property of any
citizen of the Confederate States, or of persons resident within
and under the protection of the Confederate States, or of per
sons permanently within the territories and under the protection
of any foreign prince, government, or State in amity with the
Confederate States, which shall have been captured by the United
States, and which shall be recaptured by vessels commissioned
as aforesaid, shall be restored to the lawful owners upon payment
by them of a just and reasonable salvage, to be determined by the
mutual agreement of the parties concerned, or by the decree of
any court having jurisdiction, according to the nature of each
case, agreeably to the provisions established by law. And such
salvage shall be distributed among the owners, officers, and crews
of the vessels commissioned as aforesaid and making such cap
tures, according to any written agreement which shall be made
between them ; and in case of no such agreement, then in the same
manner and upon the principles hereinbefore provided in cases of
capture. Sec. 7. That before breaking bulk of any vessel which shall be
captured as aforesaid, or other disposal or conversion thereof,
or of any articles which shall be found on board the same, such
captured vessel, goods, or effects shall be brought into some port
of the Confederate States or of a nation or State in amity with
the Confederate States, and shall be proceeded against before a
competent tribunal ; and after condemnation and forfeiture there
of shall belong to the owners, officers, and crew of the vessel
capturing the same, and be distributed as before provided; and
in the case of all captured vessels, goods, and effects which shall
be brought within the jurisdiction of the Confederate States, the
district courts of the Confederate States shall have exclusive
original cognizance thereof, as in civil causes of admiralty and
maritime jurisdiction; and the said courts, or the courts, being
courts of the Confederate States, into which such cases shall be
removed and in which they shall be finally decided, shall and may
decree restitution in whole or in part when the capture shall have
been made without just cause; and if made without probable
cause, may order and decree damages and costs to the party in-

108 Messages and Papers of the Confederi-Jcy-
jured, for which the owners and commanders of the veaj.nt.may be
ing such captures, and also the vessels, shall be liable.
Sec. 8. That all persons found on board any captured vessels,
or on board any recaptured vessel, shall be reported to the col
lector of the port in the Confederate States in which they shall
first arrive, and shall be delivered into the custody of the marshal
of the district or some court or military officer of the Confed
erate States, or of any State in or near such port, who shall take
charge of their safe-keeping and support, at the expense of the
Confederate States.
Sec. 9. That the President of the Confederate States is hereby
authorized to establish and order suitable instructions for the
better governing and directing the conduct of the vessels so
commissioned, their officers and crews, copies of which shall be
delivered by the collector of the customs to the commanders, whea
they shall give bond as before provided.
Sec. 10. That a bounty shall be paid by the Confederate States
of $20 for each person on board any armed ship or vessel be
longing to the United States at the commencement of an en
gagement, which shall be burnt, sunk, or destroyed by any ves
sel commissioned as aforesaid, which shall be of equal or in
ferior force, the same to be divided as in other cases of prize
money ; and a bounty of $25 shall be paid to the owners, officers,
and crews of the private armed vessels commissioned as afore
said for each and every prisoner by them captured and brought
into port and delivered to an agent authorized to receive them
in any port of the Confederate States ; and the Secretary of the
Treasury is hereby authorized to pay or cause to be paid to the
owners, officers, and crews of such private armed vessels com
missioned as aforesaid, or their agent, the bounties herein pro
vided. Sec. 11. That the commanding officer of every vessel having
a commission or letters of marque and reprisal, during the present
hostilities between the Confederate States and the United States,
shall keep a regular journal, containing a true and exact account
of his daily proceedings and transactions with such vessel and
the crew thereof; the ports and places he shall put into or cast
anchor in; the time of his stay there and the cause thereof; the
prizes he shall take and the nature and probable value thereof ;

Provisional Congress. 109

pose tp

as mav K- and places when and where taken, and in what manner
.«<. shall dispose of the same ; the ships or vessels he shall fall in
with; the times and places when and where he shall meet with
them, and his observations and remarks thereon; also of what
ever else shall occur to him or any of his officers or marines, or
be discovered by examination or conference with any marines
or passengers of or in any other ships or vessels, or by any other
means touching the fleets, vessels, and forces of the United
States, their ports and places of station and destination, strength,
numbers, intents, and designs; and such commanding officer
shall, immediately on his arrival in any port of the Confederate
States, from or during the continuance of any voyage or cruise,
produce his commission for such vessel, and deliver up such
journal so kept as aforesaid, signed with his proper name and
handwriting, to the collector or other chief officer of the customs
at or nearest to such port; the truth of which journal shall be
verified by the oath of the commanding officer for the time be
ing. And such collector or other chief officer of the customs
shall, immediately on the arrival of such vessel, order the proper
officer of the customs to go on board and take an account of the
officers and men, the number and nature of the guns, and what
ever else shall occur to him on examination material to be known ;
and no such vessel shall be permitted to sail out of port again
until such journal shall have been delivered up, and a certificate
obtained under the hand of such collector or other chief officer
of the customs that she is manned and armed according to her
commission; and upon delivery of such certificate any former
certificate of a like nature which shall have been obtained by the
commander of such vessel shall be delivered up.
Sec. 12. That the commanders of vessels having letters of
marque and reprisal as aforesaid, neglecting to keep a journal
as aforesaid, or willfully making fraudulent entries therein, or
obliterating the record of any material transactions contained
therein, where the interest of the Confederate States is con
cerned, or refusing to produce and deliver such journal, com
mission, or certificate, pursuant to the preceding section of this
act, then, and in such cases, the commissions or letters of marque
and reprisal of such vessels shall be liable to be revoked ; and such
commanders, respectively, shall forfeit for every such offense

no Messages and Papers of the Confede-jcy.
the sum of $1,000, one moiety thereof to the use of i. -'n"0may be
erate States, and the other to the informer. '.-
Sec. 13. That the owners or commanders of vessels haying let
ters of marque and reprisal as aforesaid, who shall violate any
of the acts of Congress for the collection of the revenue of the
Confederate States, and for the prevention of smuggling, shall
forfeit the commission or letters of marque and reprisal, and the)'
and the vessels owned or commanded by them shall be liable to
all the penalties and forfeitures attaching to merchant vessels in
like cases.
Sec. 14. That on all goods, wares, and merchandise captured
and made good and lawful prizes of war by any private armed
ship having commission or letters of marque and reprisal under
this act, and brought into the Confederate States, there shall be
allowed a deduction of 33 1-3 per cent on the amount of duties
imposed by law.
Sec. 15. That 5 per centum on the net amount (after deducting
all charges and expenditures) of the prize money arising from
captured vessels and cargoes, and on the net amount of the
salvage of vessels and cargoes recaptured by the private armed
vessels of the Confederate States, shall be secured and paid over
to the collector or other chief officer of the customs, at the port
or place in the Confederate States at which such captured or re
captured vessels may arrive, or to the consul or other public
agent of the Confederate States residing at the port or place not
within the Confederate States at which such captured or recap
tured vessel may arrive. And the moneys arising therefrom shall
be held, and are hereby pledged by the Government of the Con
federate States as a fund for the support and maintenance of the
widows and orphans of such persons as may be slain, and for
the support and maintenance of such persons as may be wounded
and disabled on board of the private armed vessels commissioned
as aforesaid, in any engagement with the enemy, to be assigned
and distributed in such manner as shall hereafter be provided by
'aw- Howell Cobb,
President of the Congress.
Approved May 6, 1861. Jeff'n Davis.

Provisional Congress. in
pose tr x-
n as mav "^rDENT's Instructions to Private Armed Vessels.

i. The tenor of your commission, under the act of Congress
entitled "An Act recognizing the existence of war between the
LTnited States and the Confederate States, and concerning letters
of marque, prizes, and prize goods," a copy of which is hereto
annexed, will be kept constantly in your view. The high seas,
referred to in your commissions, you will understand generally
to refer to low water mark, but with the exception of the space
within one league or three miles from the shore of countries at
peace both with the United States and the Confederate States.
You may, nevertheless, execute your commission within that dis
tance of the shore of a nation at war with the United States, and
even on the waters within the jurisdiction of such nation, if per
mitted to do so.
2. You are to pay the strictest regard to the rights of neutral
powers and the usages of civilized nations; and in all your pro
ceedings toward neutral vessels you are to give them as little
molestation or interruption as will consist with the right of ascer
taining their neutral character and of detaining and bringing
them in for regular adjudication in the proper cases. You are
particularly to avoid even the appearance of using force or se
duction with a view to deprive such vessels of their crews or of
their passengers other than persons in the military service of the
enemy. 3. Toward enemy vessels and their crews you are to proceed,
in exercising the rights of war, with all the justice and humanity
which characterize this Government and its citizens.
4. The master and one or more of the principal persons belong
ing to the captured vessels are to be sent, as soon after the capture
as may be, to the judge or judges of the proper court in the Con
federate States, to be examined upon oath touching the interest
or property of the captured vessel and her lading, and at the same
time are to be delivered to the judge or judges all papers, charter-
parties, bills of lading, letters, and other documents and writings
found on board, the said papers to be proved by affidavit of the
commander of the capturing vessel or some other person present
at the capture, to be produced as they were received, without
fraud, addition, subduction, or embezzlement.

112 Messages and Papers of the Confedt'-.jcy.
5. Property even of the enemy is exempt from seii-.-v^may be
tral vessels, unless it be contraband of war. If goods con.. '•
of war are found on any neutral vessel, and the commander there
of shall offer to deliver them up, the offer shall be accepted and
the vessel left at liberty to pursue its voyage, unless the quantity
of contraband goods be greater than can be conveniently received
on board your vessel, in which case the neutral vessel may be car
ried into port for the delivery of the contraband goods. The fol
lowing articles are deemed by this Government contraband of war
as well as all others that are so declared by the law of nations,
viz. : All arms and implements serving for the purposes of war
by land or sea, such as cannons, mortars, guns, muskets, rifles,
pistols, petards, bombs, grenades, ball, shot, shell, fuses, pikes,
swords, bayonets, javelins, lances, horse furniture, holsters, belts,
and generally all other implements of war. Also, timber for ship
building, pitch, tar, rosin, copper in sheets, sails, hemp, cordage,
and generally whatever may serve directly to the equipment of
vessels, unwrought iron and planks only excepted. Neutral
vessels conveying enemy's dispatches or military persons in the
service of the enemy forfeit their neutral character, and are lia
ble to capture and condemnation. But this rule does not apply
to neutral vessels bearing dispatches from the public ministers
or ambassadors of the enemy residing in neutral countries.
By command of the President of the Confederate States :
Robert Toombs, Secretary of State.

Form of Bond.
Know all men by these presents:
That we {Note 1),  , are bound to the Confed
erate States of America in the full sum of {Note 2)  thou
sand dollars, to the payment whereof, well and truly to be made,
Note i.— This blank must be filled with the name of the commander
for the time being and the owner or owners, and at least two responsible
sureties, not interested in the vessel.
Note 2. — This blank must be filled with a "five" if the vessel be pro
vided only with 150 men or a less number ; if with more than that number,
the blank must be filled with a "ten."

Provisional Congress. 113
PoseJ^g-'d ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, joint-
"\rj. - . -id severally, by these presents.
The condition of this obligation is such that whereas applica
tion has been made to the said Confederate States of America
for the grant of a commission or letter of marque and general
reprisals, authorizing the {Note 3)  or vessel, called the
 , to act as a private armed vessel in the service of the Con
federate States on the high seas against the United States of
America, its ships and vessels, and those of its citizens, during
the pendency of the war now existing between the said Confed
erate States and the said United States.
Now, if the owners, officers, and crew who shall be employed
on board of said vessel when commissioned shall observe the
laws of the Confederate States and the instructions which shall
be given them according to law for the regulation of their con
duct, and shall satisfy all damages and injuries which shall be
done or committed contrary to the tenor thereof by such vessel
during her commission, and shall deliver up said commission
when revoked by the President of the Confederate States, then
this obligation shall be void, but otherwise shall remain in full
force and effect.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of  ,
on this  day of  ,  .
A. B.,
C. D.,
Witnesses. [Seal.]
[Seal.]

AN ACT

[Seal.][Seal.]

To Amend an Act Entitled "An Act Recognizing the
Existence of War Between the United States and
the Confederate States and Concerning Let
ters of Marque, Prizes, and Prize Goods,
Approved May 6„ 1861."
The Congress of the Confederate States [of America] do en
act, That the tenth section of the above entitled act be so amend-
Note 3.— This blank must be filled with the character of the vessel—
"ship," "brig," "schooner," "steamer.'' etc.
8

114 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
ed that, in addition to the bounty therein mentioned, the Govern
ment of the Confederate States will pay to the cruiser or cruisers
of any private armed vessel commissioned under said act 20 per
centum on the value of each and every vessel of war belonging
to the enemy that may be sunk or destroyed by such private
armed vessel or vessels, the value of the armament to be in
cluded in the estimate; the valuation to be made by a board of
naval officers appointed and their award to be approved by the
President, and the amount found to be due to be payable in 8
per cent bonds of the Confederate States.
Sec. 2. That if any person who may have invented or may here
after invent any new kind of armed vessel, or floating battery,
or defense, shall deposit a plan of the same, accompanied by
suitable explanations or specifications, in the Navy Department,
together with an affidavit setting forth that he is the inventor
thereof, such deposit and affidavit (unless the facts set forth
therein shall be disproved) shall entitle such inventor or his as
signs to the sole and exclusive enjoyment of the rights and priv
ileges conferred by this act, reserving, however, to the Govern
ment, in all cases, the right of using such invention.
Approved May 21, 1861.
RESOLUTION OF THANKS.
Be it unanimously resolved by the Congress of the Confederate
States of America, That the thanks of the people of the Confed
erate States are due, and through this Congress are hereby ten
dered, to Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard and the officers,
military and naval, under his command, and to the gallant troops.
of the State of South Carolina for the skill, fortitude, and
courage by which they reduced and caused the surrender of
Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, on the twelfth and
thirteenth days of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one. And1
the commendation of Congress is also hereby declared of the
generosity manifested by their conduct toward a brave and van
quished foe.
Be it further resolved, That a copy of this resolution be com
municated by the President to General Beauregard, and through
him to the army then under his command.
Approved May 4, 1861.

Provisional Congress. nc

LETTER OF PRESIDENT DAVIS TO PRESIDENT
LINCOLN. Richmond, July 6, 1861.
To Abraham Lincoln, President and Commander in Chief of "the Army
and Navy of the United States.
Sir: Having learned that the schooner Savannah, a private
armed vessel in the service, and sailing under a commission is
sued by authority of the Confederate States of America, had been
captured by one of the vessels forming the blockading squadron
off Charleston harbor, I directed a proposition to be made to the
officer commanding that squadron for an exchange of the officers
and crew of the Savannah for prisoners of war held by this Gov
ernment "according to number and rank." To this proposition,
made on the 19th ult., Captain Mercer, the officer in command
of the blockading squadron, made answer on the same day that
"the prisoners (referred to) are not on board of any of the vessels
under my command."
It now appears by statements made without contradiction in
newspapers published in New York, that the prisoners above
mentioned were conveyed to that city, and have there been treat
ed not as prisoners of war, but as criminals ; that they have been
put in irons, confined in jail, brought before the courts of justice
on charges of piracy and treason, and it is even rumored that they
have been actually convicted of the offenses charged, for no
other reason than that they bore arms in defense of the rights
of this Government and under the authority of its commission.
I could not, without grave discourtesy, have made the news
paper statements above referred to the subject of this communica
tion, if the threat of treating as pirates the citizens of this Con
federacy, armed for service on the high seas, had not been con
tained in your proclamation of the  April last. That procla
mation, however, seems to afford a sufficient justification for
considering these published statements as not devoid of proba
bility. It is the desire of this Government so to conduct the war now
existing as to mitigate its horrors as far as may be possible ; and,

n6 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
with this intent, its treatment of the prisoners captured by its
forces has been marked by the greatest humanity and leniency
consistent with public obligations; some have been permitted
to return home on parole, others to remain at large under sim
ilar conditions within this Confederacy, and all have been fur
nished with rations for their subsistence, such as are allowed to
our own troops. It is only since the news has been received of
the treatment of the prisoners taken on the Savannah that I
have been compelled to withdraw these indulgencies, and to hold
the prisoners taken by us in strict confinement.
A just regard to humanity and to the honor of this Govern
ment now requires me to state explicitly that, painful as will be
the necessity, this Government will deal out to the prisoners held
by it the same treatment and the same fate as shall be experi
enced by those captured on the Savannah, and if driven to the
terrible necessity of retaliation by your execution of any of the
officers or the crew of the Savannah, that retaliation will be ex
tended so far as shall be requisite to secure the abandonment of
a practice unknown to the warfare of civilized man, and so bar
barous as to disgrace the nation which shall be guilty of in
augurating it.
With this view, and because it may not have reached you, I
now renew the proposition made to the commander of the block
ading squadron to exchange for the prisoners taken on the Sa
vannah, an equal number of those now held by us, according to
rank. I am yours, etc., Jefferson Davis,
President and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the Con
federate States.

Provisional Congress. 117
THIRD SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., JULY 20, l86l. ADJOURNED
AUGUST 31, l86l.
MESSAGES.
To the Congress of the Confederate States of America.
Gentlemen: My message,* addressed to you at the commence
ment of the session, contained such full information of the
state of the Confederacy as to render it unnecessary that I should
now do more than call your attention to such important facts as
have occurred during the recess, and to matters connected with
the public defense.
I have again to congratulate you on the accession of new mem
bers to our confederation of free, equal, and sovereign States,
Our loved and honored brethren of North Carolina and Ten
nessee have consummated the action, foreseen and provided for at
your last session, and I have had the gratification of announcing;
by proclamation, in conformity with law, that those States were
admitted into the Confederacy.
The people of Virginia also, by a majority previously unknown
in her history, have ratified the action of her Convention, uniting
her fortunes with ours. The States of Arkansas, North Carolina,
and Virginia have likewise adopted the permanent Constitution
of the Confederate States, and no doubt is entertained of its
adoption by Tennessee at the election to be held early next month.
I deemed it advisable to direct the removal of the several Ex
ecutive Departments, with their archives, to this city, to which
you had removed the seat of government, immediately after
your adjournment. The aggressive movements of the enemy re
quired prompt and energetic action. The accumulation of his
forces on the Potomac sufficiently demonstrated that his efforts
were to be directed against. Virginia ; and from no point could
the necessary measures for her defense and protection be so ef
ficiently protected as from her own capital.
The rapid progress of events for the last few weeks has fully
sufficed to strip the veil behind which the true policy and pur-
*Page 63.

n8 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
poses of the Government of the United States had been pre
viously concealed ; their odious features now stand fully revealed ;
the message of their President and the action of their Congress
during the present month confess the intention of subjugating
these States by war, whose folly is equaled by its wickedness; a
war by which it is impossible to attain the proposed result, whilst
its dire calamities, not to be avoided by us, will fall with double
severity on themselves.
Commencing in March last, with an affectation of ignoring the
secession of the seven States which first organized this Govern
ment; persisting in April in the idle and absurd assumption of
the existence of a riot which was to be dispersed by a posse
comitatus; continuing in successive months the false representa
tion that these States intended offensive war, in spite of the con
clusive evidence to the contrary, furnished as well by official
action as by the very basis on which this Government is con
stituted, the President of the United States and his advisers suc
ceeded in deceiving the people of those States into the belief that
the purpose of this Government was not peace at home, but con
quest abroad; not the defense of its own liberties, but the sub
version of those of the people of the United States.
The series of maneuvers by which this impression was cre
ated : the art with which they were devised, and the perfidy with
which they were executed, were already known to you; but you
could scarcely have supposed that they would be openly avowed,
and their success made the subject of boast and self-laudation
in an executive message. Fortunately for the truth of history,
however, the President of the United States details with minute
ness the attempt to reenforce Fort Pickens, in violation of an
armistice of which he confesses to have been informed, but "only
by rumors too vague and uncertain to fix attention ;" the hostile
expedition dispatched to supply Fort Sumter, admitted to have
been undertaken with a knowledge that its success was impossi
ble ; the sending of notice to the Governor of South Carolina of
his intention to use force to accomplish his object; and then,
quoting from his inaugural address the assurance that there
could be no conflict unless these States were the aggressors, he
proceeds to declare that his conduct, as just related by himself,
was a performance of this promise, "so free from the power of

Provisional Congress. 119
ingenious sophistry as that the world should not be able to mis
understand it;" and in defiance of his own statement that he gave
notice of the approach of a hostile fleet, he charges these States
with becoming the assailants of the United States, "without a
gun in sight or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the
few in the fort." He is indeed fully justified in saying that the
case "is so free from the power of ingenious sophistry that the
world will not be able to misunderstand it."
Under cover of this unfounded pretense that the Confederate
States are the assailants, that high functionary, after expressing
his concern that some foreign nations "had so shaped their
action as if they supposed the early destruction of our National
Union was probable," abandons all further disguise, and pro
poses "to make this contest a short and decisive one," by placing
at the control of the Government for the work at least 400,000
men and $400,000,000. The Congress, concurring in the doubt
thus intimated as to the sufficiency of the force demanded, has
increased it to half a million of men. These enormous prepara
tions in men and money, for the conduct of a war on a scale more
gigantic than any which the new world has ever witnessed, is
a distinct avowal, in the eyes of civilized man, that the United
States are engaged in a conflict with a great and powerful na
tion ; they are at last compelled to abandon the pretense of being
engaged in dispersing rioters and suppressing insurrections;
and are driven to the acknowledgment that the ancient Union
has been dissolved. They recognize the separate existence of
these Confederate States, by the interdiction, embargo, and block
ade of all commerce between them and the United States, not
only by sea, but by land ; not only in ships, but in rail cars ; not
only with those who bear arms, but with the entire population of
the Confederate States. Finally, they have repudiated the fool
ish conceit that the inhabitants of this Confederacy are still cit
izens of the United States, for they are waging an indiscriminate
war upon them all, with a savage ferocity unknown to modern
civilization. In this war, rapine is the rule; private residences,
in peaceful rural retreats, are bombarded and burnt ; grain crops
in the field are consumed by the torch ; and when the torch is not
convenient, careful labor is bestowed to render complete the de
struction of every article of use or ornament remaining in private

120 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
dwellings, after their inhabitants have fled from the outrages of
a brutal soldiery.
In 1781 Great Britain, when invading her revolted colonies,
took possession of the very district of country near Fortress Mon
roe, now occupied by troops of the United States. The houses
then inhabited by the people, after being respected and protected
by avowed invaders, are now pillaged and destroyed by men who
pretend that the victims are their fellow-citizens.
Mankind will shudder to hear the tales of outrages committed
on defenseless females by soldiers of the United States now in
vading our homes; yet these outrages are prompted by inflamed
.passions and the madness of intoxication. But who shall depict
the horror with which they will regard the cool and deliberate
malignity which, under pretext of suppressing an insurrection,
said by themselves to be upheld by a minority only of our people,
makes special war on the sick, including the women and the chil
dren, by carefully devised measures to prevent their obtaining the
medicines necessary for their cure. The sacred claims of human
ity, respected even during the fury of actual battle, by careful di
version of attack from the hospitals containing wounded enemies,
are outraged in cold blood by a government and people that pre
tend to desire a continuance of fraternal connections.
All these outrages must remain unavenged, save by the uni
versal reprobation of mankind, in all cases where the actual per
petrators of the wrongs escape capture. They admit of no re
taliation. The humanity of our people would shrink instinctively
from the bare idea of waging a like war upon the sick, the wom
en, and the children of the enemy.
But there are other savage practices which have been resorted to
by the Government of the United States, which do admit of repres
sion by retaliation. I have been driven to the necessity of en
forcing this repression. The prisoners of war taken by the enemy
on board the armed schooner Savannah, sailing under our com
mission, were, as I was credibly advised, treated like common
felons; put in irons; confined in a jail usually appropriated to
criminals of the worst dye, and threatened with punishment as
such. I had made an application for the exchange of these pris
oners, to the commanding officer of the enemy's squadron off
Charleston harbor, but that officer had already sent the prisoners

Provisional Congress. 121
to New York when the application was made. I, therefore, deemed
it my duty to renew the proposal for the exchange, to the con
stitutional Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the
United States, the only officer having control of the prisoners.
To this end I dispatched an officer to him, under a flag of truce ;
and, in making the proposal, I informed President Lincoln of my
resolute purpose to check all barbarities on prisoners of war, by
such severity of retaliation on the prisoners held by us as should
secure the abandonment of the practice.
This communication was received and read by the officer in
command of the Army of the United States, and a message was
brought from him, by the bearer of my communication, that a
reply would be returned by President Lincoln as soon as possible.
I earnestly hope that this promised reply, which has not yet been
received, will convey the assurance that prisoners of war will be
treated, in this unhappy contest, with that regard to humanity
which has made such conspicuous progress in the conduct of
modern warfare. As a measure of precaution, however, and
until the promised reply is received, I still retain in close custody
some officers captured from the enemy, whom it had been my
pleasure previously to enlarge on parole, and whose fate must
necessarily depend on that of the prisoners held by the enemy.
I append a copy of my communication* to the President and
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,
and of the report of the officer charged to deliver it, marked
Doc. A.
, There , are some other passages in the remarkable paper to
which I have directed your attention, having reference to the
peculiar relations which exist between this Government and the
States usually termed the border slave States, which cannot
properly be withheld from notice.
The hearts of our people are animated by sentiments toward
the inhabitants of these States, which found expression in your
enactment refusing to consider them as enemies, or to authorize
hostilities against them. That a very large portion of the people
of those States regard us as brethren ; that if unrestrained by the
actual presence of large armies, the subversion of civil authority

*See page 115.

122 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
and the declaration of martial law, some of them at least would
joyfully unite with us; that they are with almost entire unanimity
opposed to the prosecution of the war waged against us, are facts
of which daily recurring events fully warrant the assertion.
The President of the United States refuses to recognize in
these, our late sister States, the right of refraining from attack
on us; and justifies his refusal by the assertion that the States
have no other power "than that reserved to them in the Union
by the Constitution, no one of them having ever been a State out
of the Union."
This view of the constitutional relations between the States and
the General Government is a fitting introduction to another as
sertion of the message, that the Executive possesses the power of
suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and of delegating that
power to military commanders, at his discretion; and both these
propositions claim a respect equal to that which is felt for the
additional statement of opinion in the same paper, that it is proper,
in order to execute the laws, that "some single law, made in such
extreme tenderness of the' citizen's liberty, that practically it re
lieves more of the guilty than the innocent, should, to a very
limited extent, be violated."
We may well rejoice that we have forever severed our connec
tion with a government that thus tramples on all the principles
of constitutional liberty, and with a people in whose presence such
avowals could be hazarded.
The operations in the field will be greatly extended by reason
of the policy which, heretofore secretly entertained, is now avowed
and acted on by the United States. The forces hitherto raised"
proved ample for the defense of the seven States which originally
organized the Confederacy, as is evinced by the fact that, with
the exception of three fortified islands, whose defense is efficiently
aided by a preponderating naval force, the enemy has been driven
completely out of those States ; and now, at the expiration of five
months from the formation of the Government, not a single
hostile foot presses their soil. These forces, however, must nec
essarily prove inadequate to repel the invasion by half a million
of men, now proposed by the enemy ; and a corresponding increase
in our forces will become necessary. The recommendations for
the raising and efficient equipment of this additional force will

Provisional Congress. 123
be contained in the communication of the Secretary of War, to
which I need scarcely invite your earnest attention.
In my message delivered in April last, I referred to the promise
of abundant crops, with which we were cheered.* The grain
crops, generally, have since been harvested, and the yield has
proven to be the most abundant known in our history. Many
believe the supply adequate to two years' consumption of our pop
ulation. Cotton, sugar, and tobacco, forming the surplus produc
tion of our agriculture, and furnishing the basis of our com
mercial interchanges, present the most cheering promise; and a
kind Providence has smiled on the labor which extracts the teem
ing wealth of our soil in all portions of our Confederacy.
It is the more gratifying to be able to give you this assurance,
because of the need of a large and increased expenditure in the sup
port of our Army. Elevated and purified by the sacred cause they
maintain, our fellow-citizens of every condition of life exhibit the
most self-sacrificing devotion. They manifest a laudable pride in
upholding their independence, unaided by any resources other than
their own ; and the immense wealth which a fertile soil and genial
climate have accumulated in this Confederacy of agriculturists
could not be more strikingly displayed than in the large revenues
which, with eager zeal, they have contributed at the call of their
country. In the single article of cotton the subscriptions to the
loan proposed by the Government cannot fall short of fifty mil
lions of dollars, and will probably largely exceed that amount;
and scarcely an article required for the consumption of the Army,
is provided otherwise than by subscription to the produce loan,
so happily devised by your wisdom. The Secretary of the Treas
ury, in the report submitted to you by him, will give you the
amplest details connected with that branch of the public service.
But it is not alone in their prompt pecuniary contributions that
the noble race of freemen who inhabit these States evince how
worthy they are of the liberties which they so well know how to
defend. In numbers far exceeding those authorized by your laws
they have pressed the tender of their services against the enemy.
Their attitude of calm and sublime devotion to their country ; the
cool and confident courage with which they are already preparing
*See page 81.

124 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
to meet the threatened invasion in whatever proportions it may
assume; the assurance that their sacrifices and their services will
be renewed from year to year with unfaltering purpose, until they
have made good to the uttermost their right to self-government;
the generous and almost unquestioning confidence which they
display in their Government during the pending struggle — all
combine to present a spectacle such as the world has rarely, if
ever, seen.
To speak of subjugating such a people, so united and deter
mined, is to speak a language incomprehensible to them. To re
sist attacks on their rights or their liberties is with them an in
stinct. Whether this war shall last one, or three, or five years,
is a problem they leave to be solved by the enemy alone ; it will
last till the enemy shall have withdrawn from their borders — till
their political rights, their altars, and their homes are freed from
invasion. Then, and then only, will they rest from this struggle
to enjoy in peace the blessings which with the favor of Providence
they have secured by the aid of their own strong hearts and
sturdy arms. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, July 20, 1861.
DISPATCH OF PRESIDENT DAVIS TO THE
CONGRESS.
Soon after prayer in the Confederate Congress, on the morn
ing of the 22d,* the following dispatch was read to that body :
Manassas Junction, Sunday night [July 21, 1861].
Night has closed upon a hard-fought field. Our forces were
victorious. The enemy was routed, and fled precipitately, aban
doning a large amount of arms, ammunition, knapsacks, and
baggage. The ground was strewed for miles with those killed,
and the farmhouses and the ground around were filled with
wounded. Pursuit was continued along several routes toward Lecsburg
and Centerville until darkness covered the fugitives. We have
captured several field batteries, stands of arms, and Union and
State flags. Many prisoners have been taken. Too high praise
?July, 1861.

Provisional Congress. 125
cannot be bestowed, whether for the skill of the principal officers
or for the gallantry of all of our troops. The battle was mainly,
fought on our left. Our force was 15,000; that of the enemy
estimated at 35,000. * Jefferson Davis,

Richmond, July 30, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress, C. S. A.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the resolution of inquiry
of this date in relation to hostile preparations for the descent of the
river Mississippi, and whether preparations for defense against
such threatened attack have been made, with advice as to the
mode of adopting a plan for that purpose, and in reply have to
state that the only information I have in relation to the described
preparations for descent is derived from public newspapers and
rumors ; they had, however, such stamp of credibility as to induce
to measures to repel the attack if attempted. Estimates have
been prepared by the Secretary of the Navy for means described
in the accompanying report, and which, in conjunction with the
land batteries constructed and others devised, will, it is hoped,
be adequate for the need. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, July 31, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: In accordance with a resolution of the Congress adopted
on the 29th inst, I herewith transmit a copy of the report* of
Lieut. Col. James H. Burton, in charge of Va. Ord. to Maj. J.
Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, August 1, 186 1.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of Congress of Confederate States.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the resolution of inquiry
of this date in relation to the commissariat of the Confederate
States, and to reply that its condition is, in my judgment, quite
?Relating to the use of the machinery for the manufacture of muskets,
removed from Harpers Ferry.

126 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
as good as was reasonable to expect. The occupation of the rail
roads in the transportation of troops and munitions of war has
interfered with the collection of the desired supply of bacon, but
no complaint of insufficiency of rations has reached me until within
a few days past. I have been informed of a failure of issues to
troops at Manassas; the chief commissary there has communi
cated to me that the failure was restricted to the articles of hard
bread and bacon. As this, however, was not consistent with the
complaint made, inquiries have been instituted as well to remedy
any existing irregularities as to prevent such occurrence in future.
Jeff'n Davis.

Richmond, August 3, 1861.
To the President of Congress of Confederate States.
Sir: I have reliable information that a considerable force of
Missourians now cooperating with our troops near the northern
frontier of Arkansas are destitute of the supplies necessary to
their efficiency, and that the enemy have such power within the
limits of the State as to deprive its Government of the capacity
to give to said force the necessary relief. Under these circum
stances I recommend the enactment of a law appropriating, say
one million of dollars, to supply the Missourians who are or may
be cooperating with us with such clothing, subsistence, arms, and
ammunition as may be necessary for them, and which it may be
practicable to furnish. The same to be supplied under such regu
lations as Congress may determine. Jeff'n Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, August 8, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress the inclosed commu
nication from the Hon. Secretary of War, recommending certain
appropriations therein mentioned. Jefferson Davis.

Provisional Congress. 127
Executive Department,
Richmond, August 10, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress a communication from
the Hon. Secretary of War, asking for an appropriation, herein
named, for the support of the military hospitals. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, August 15, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress a communication from
the Hon. Secretary of War, asking for an appropriation of one
hundred and thirty thousand dollars to provide for cooks and
nurses to minister to the sick and wounded of the Army.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Confederate States of America,
Richmond, August 17, 1861.
The Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: In reply to the resolution of Congress of the 15th inst.,
calling upon me to furnish that body with the official reports of
the various battles fought by our armies since its last adjourn
ment, I have the honor herewith to submit the report of the Sec
retary of War concerning your resolution. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, August 21, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.*
Sir: In response to the resolution of the Congress of August
17, 1861, I herewith transmit all the official information f whicn
I have in relation to the subject of inquiry. Letters of an un-
*See also message of August 23, 1861, page 128.
t Relative to the hanging of two sentinels of the South Carolina troops
by Federal forces, and treatment of Confederate prisoners by Federal au
thorities.

128 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
official character have been received, and though not entirely ac
cordant in their Statements, the general tenor has shown that the
treatment received by our fellow-citizens, whether prisoners of
war or captives taken from their homes, has not been such as the
usage of the most civilized nations prescribes. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, August 22. 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress the inclosed estimate
of the Hon. Postmaster General for the service of his Department
for the year ending February 18, 1862, with an accompanying
explanation. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, August 23, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress*
Sir: In response to the resolution of the Congress of the 22d
inst., I herewith transmit the inclosed communicationf from the
Hon. Secretary of War. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, August 28, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: I hereby nominate, for the advice and consent of the Con
gress, the Hon. James M. Mason, of Virginia, to be Commission
er to England, and the Hon. John Slidell, of Louisiana, to be
Commissioner to France. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, August 30, 186 1.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: The Congress having passed an act to aid the people of
Kentucky in repelling an invasion or occupation of their soil by
*See also message of August 21, 1861, page 127.
t Relative to the hanging of two sentinels of the South Carolina troops
by Federal forces.

Provisional Congress. 129
the armed forces of the United States I would recommend that
an appropriation of one million of dollars be made for the pur
pose of carrying into effect the object of said act.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, August 31, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
Sir: The resolution of the Congress of this date, calling for all
the information in my possession in relation to the landing of the
Federal troops upon the coast of North Carolina, and inquiring
what steps, if any, have been taken to repel the invasion, and to
put the coast in a state of defense, has just been received ; and I
have to reply that no official report of the occurrence has been re
ceived. I transmit copies of the telegrams* which contain all the
information which has been received by the Executive Depart
ment. Preparations to put the coast of the State of North Carolina
in a proper condition for defense are still in progress, and will
receive such additional attention as this occasion indicates to be
necessary. It is not deemed consistent with the public interest
further to state the movements of troops which, in this connec
tion, have been ordered and are in contemplation. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, August 31, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
I nominate the officers on the accompanying list to be Gen
erals in the Army of the Confederate States, to take rank accord
ing to the dates set opposite to their names, respectively, agree
ably to the recommendation of the Secretary of War.
Jefferson Davis.
Sam'l Cooper, to date from 16th May, 1861.
Albert S. Johnston,! to date from 30th May, 1861.
Robt. E. Lee, to date from 14th June, 1861.
Joseph E. Johnston, to date from 4th July, 1861.
G. T. Beauregard, to date from 21st July, 186 1.
?Relative to the capture of Hatteras Inlet.
tKilled in battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862.
9

130 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
VETO MESSAGE.
To the Congress.
Gentlemen: I have had under consideration the bill entitled
"An Act to authorize the appointment of an additional Assistant
Surgeon to each regiment in the Army of the Confederate States,"
and feel so well convinced that the expenditure which it requires
is unnecessary, and that the means can ill be spared in the pres
ent condition of the Treasury, that I am reluctantly compelled to
return it for your reconsideration.
The medical and surgical force already provided by law, in
cluding the provision recently made for surgeons for hospitals,
will require an expenditure of about two millions and a half of
dollars. Power is already vested in me to employ temporarily
the aid of physicians in hospitals, and you have appropriated
$50,000 for that purpose. Discretion is also given to the Secre
tary of War, by the act of 26th February, 1861, to appoint as
many assistant surgeons as the service may require ; and the leg
islation on the entire subject is on the most liberal scale.
Yet the act now presented leaves me no discretion to limit the
number of the additional assistant surgeons to be appointed. It
orders an additional officer to the medical staff of each regiment,
whether wanted or not; and thus requires an additional annual
expenditure of seven hundred and thirty-two thousand dollars
($732,000). I am aware that there have been causes of complaint in relation
to neglect of our sick and wounded soldiers ; but this, it is believed,
arises not so much from an insufficiency in the number of the
surgeons and assistant surgeons as from inattention or want of
qualification, and I am endeavoring to apply the proper remedy
by organizing a board of examiners, so as to ascertain who are
the officers really to blame, and replace them by others more com
petent and efficient. I feel confident that, by this course, ample
medical assistance would be secured for the troops without further
expenditure. The surgeons and assistant surgeons, heretofore
appointed, have in most instances received their commissions in
consequence of the recommendations of the officers of the regi
ments to which they are attached. This was almost the only
means of making selections in the sudden emergencies of the war,

Provisional Congress. 131
and experience has suggested that many of the officers so ap
pointed are unequal to the duties of their stations.
For these reasons, I hope that when you take the subject into
reconsideration, you will be able to concur with me in the opinion
that this additional expenditure can be avoided, and that there
is no necessity for the passage of the bill. Jefferson Davis.
[Received August 22, 1861.]

PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, the Congress of the Confederate States of America
did by an act approved on the 8th day of August, 1861, entitled
"An Act respecting alien enemies," make provision that procla
mation should be issued by the President in relation to alien ene
mies, and in conformity with the provision of said act :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States of America, do issue this my proclamation ; and I do
hereby warn and require every male citizen of the United States of
the age of fourteen years and upward now within the Confederate
States and adhering to the Government of the United States and
acknowledging the authority of the same, and not being a citizen
of the Confederate States, to depart from the Confederate States
within forty days from the date of this proclamation. And I da
warn all persons above described who shall remain within the
Confederate States after the expiration of said period of forty
days that they will be treated as alien enemies.
Provided, however, That this proclamation shall not be con
sidered as applicable during the existing war to citizens of the
United States residing within *the Confederate States with intent
to become citizens thereof, and who shall make a declaration of
such intention in due form, acknowledging the authority of this
Government ; nor shall this proclamation be considered as extend
ing to the States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri,
the District of Columbia, the Territories of Arizona and New-

132 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Mexico, and the Indian Territory south of Kansas, who shall
not be chargeable with actual hostility or other crime against the
public safety, and who shall acknowledge the authority of the
Government of the Confederate States.
And I do further proclaim and make known that I have estab
lished the rules and regulations hereto annexed in accordance
with the provisions of said law.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States of
America at the city of Richmond on this 14th day of August, A.D.
1 86 1. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary of State.

Regulations Respecting Alien Enemies.
The following regulations are hereby established respecting alien ene
mies, under the provisions of an act approved 8th of August, 1861, entitled
"An Act Respecting Alien Enemies:"
1. Immediately after the expiration of the term of forty days from the
date of the foregoing proclamation, it shall be the duty of the several dis
trict attorneys, marshals, and other officers of the Confederate States to
make complaint against aliens or alien enemies coming within the purview
of the act aforesaid, to the end that the several courts of the Confederate
States and of each State having jurisdiction may order the removal of
such aliens or alien enemies beyond the territory of the Confederate States
or their restraint and confinement, according to the terms of said law.
2. The marshals of the Confederate States are hereby directed to ap
prehend all aliens against whom complaints may be made under said law
and to hold them in strict custody until the final order of the court, taking
special care that such aliens obtain no information that could possibly be
made useful to the enemy.
3. Whenever the removal of any alien beyond the limits of the Confed
erate States is ordered by any competent authority under the provisions of
said law the marshal shall proceed to execute the order in person or by
deputy or other discreet person in such#manner as to prevent the alien so
removed from obtaining any information that could be used to the preju
dice of the Confederate States.
4. Any alien who shall return to these States during the war after hav
ing been removed therefrom under the provisions of said law shall be re
garded and treated as an alien enemy, and if made prisoner shall be at once
delivered over to the nearest military authority to be dealt with as a spy
or as a prisoner of war, as the case may require.

Provisional Congress. 133
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, through accident a bill to authorize the President to
continue the appointments made by him in the military and naval
service during the receSs of Congress or the present session, and
to submit them to Congress at its next session, failed to be de
livered to the President for his signature prior to the adjourn
ment of Congress ; and
Whereas, the failure of said bill to become a law would cause
serious inconvenience to the public service :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States, do issue this my proclamation, convoking the Con
gress of the Confederate States for the transaction of business, at
the Capitol, in the city of Richmond, on the 3d day of September,
at 12 o'clock noon of that day, of which all who shall at that time
be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required to
take notice.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States,
at Richmond, this 2d day of September, A.D. 1861.
[seal.] Jefferson Davis.
By the President : R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary of State.

RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are
hereby cordially given, to General Joseph E. Johnston and Gen
eral Gustave T. Beauregard, and to the officers and troops under
their command, for the great and signal victory obtained by them
over forces of the United States far exceeding them in number,
in the battle of the twenty-first of July, at Manassas; and for
the gallantry, courage, and endurance evinced by them, in a pro
tracted and continuous struggle of more than ten hours; a vic
tory, the great results of which will be realized in the future suc
cesses of the war, and which, in the judgment of Congress, en
titles all who contributed to it to the gratitude of their country.

134 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Resolved, further, That the foregoing resolution be made
known in appropriate general orders, by the Generals in com
mand, to the officers and troops to whom they are addressed.
Approved August 6, 1861.
Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe to the
arms of the Confederate States another glorious and important
victory in a portion of the country where a reverse would have
been disastrous by exposing the families of the good people of
the State of Missouri to the unbridled license of the brutal
soldiery of an unscrupulous enemy : Therefore be it
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States, That
the thanks of Congress are cordially tendered to Brig. Gen. Ben
McCulloch and the officers and soldiers of his brave command
for their gallant conduct in defeating, after a battle of six hours
and a half, a force of the enemy equal in numbers and greatly
superior in all their appointments, thus proving that a right cause
nerves the hearts and strengthens the arms of the Southern peo
ple, fighting, as they are, for their liberty, their' homes, and fire
sides, against an unholy despotism.
Resolved further, That in the opinion of Congress General
McCulloch and his gallant troops are entitled to and will receive
the grateful thanks of our people.
Resolved further, That the foregoing resolutions be communi
cated to that command by the proper Department.
Approved August 22, 1861.

FOURTH SESSION (CALLED).
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., SEPTEMBER 3, l86l. ADJOURNED
SAME DAY.
MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of the Congress.
The bill important to the public service, being one to continue
in office persons who have been appointed and nominated, and
whose nominations had not been acted upon, was, I learned after
your adjournment on the 31st ultimo, enrolled for my signature^

Provisional Congress. 135
but by some accident was not delivered to me, and thus failed to
become a law ; wherefore it has become necessary to convene you.
You may either make the provisions contemplated, or by acting
upon the nominations, or otherwise as in your judgment may
seem best relieve the Government of the embarrassment to which
otherwise it must be subjected. Jefferson Davis.
September 3, 1861.

PROCLAMATION.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God, the Sovereign Dis
poser of events, to protect and defend the Confederate States
hitherto in their conflict with their enemies, and to be unto them
a shield : and
Whereas, with grateful thanks we recognize his hand, and ac
knowledge that not unto us, but unto him, belongeth the victory ;
and in humble dependence upon his almighty strength, and trust
ing in the justness of our cause, we appeal to him, that he may
set at naught the efforts of our enemies, and put them to con
fusion and shame;
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States, in view of the impending conflict, do hereby set
apart Friday, the 15th day of November, as a day of fasting,
humiliation, and prayer; and I do hereby invite the reverend
clergy and people of these Confederate States to repair on that
day to their usual places of public worship, and to implore the
blessings of Almighty God upon our arms, that he may give us
victory over our enemies, preserve our homes and altars from
pollution, and secure to us the restoration of peace and pros
perity. Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate
r , States, at Richmond, this thirty-first day of October, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary of State.

136 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
FIFTH SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., NOVEMBER l8, l86l. ADJOURNED FEBRU
ARY 17, l862.
MESSAGES. Richmond, November 18, 1861.
The Congress of the Confederate States.
The few weeks which have elapsed since your adjournment
have brought us so near the close of the year that we are now able
to sum up its general results. The retrospect is such as should
fill the hearts of our people with gratitude to Providence for
his kind interposition in their behalf. Abundant yields have re
warded the labor of the agriculturist, whilst the manufacturing
industry of the Confederate States was never so prosperous as
now. The necessities of the times have called into existence new
branches of manufactures and given a fresh impulse to the activ
ity of those heretofore in operation. , The means of the Confed
erate States for manufacturing the necessaries and comforts of
life within themselves increase as the conflict continues, and we
are gradually becoming independent of the rest of the world for
the supply of such military stores and munitions as are indis
pensable for war.
The operations of the Army, soon to be partially interrupted
by the approaching winter, have afforded a protection to the coun
try and shed a luster upon its arms through the trying vicissitudes
of more than one arduous campaign which entitle our brave vol
unteers to our praise and our gratitude. From its commencement
to the present period the war has been enlarging its propor
tions and expanding its boundaries so as to include new fields.
The conflict now extends from the shores of, the Chesapeake to
the confines of Missouri and Arizona ; yet sudden calls from the
remotest points for military aid have been met with promptness
enough not only to avert disaster in the face of superior numbers,
but also to roll back the tide of invasion from the border.
When the war commenced the enemy were possessed of cer
tain strategic points and strong places within the Confederate
States. They greatly exceeded us in numbers, in available re-

Provisional Congress. 137
sources, and in the supplies necessary for war. Military estab
lishments had been long organized and were complete ; the Navy,
and for the most part the Army, once common to both, were in
their possession. To meet all this we had to create not only an
Army in the face of war itself, but also the military establish
ments necessary to equip and place it in the field. It ought in
deed to be a subject of gratulation that the spirit of the volun
teers and the patriotism of the people have enabled us, under
Providence, to grapple successfully with these difficulties. A
succession of glorious victories at Bethel, Bull Run, Manassas,
Springfield, Lexington, Leesburg, and Belmont has checked the
wicked invasion which greed of gain and the unhallowed lust of
power brought upon our soil, and has proved that numbers cease
to avail when directed against a people fighting for the sacred
right of self-government and the privileges of freemen. After
more than seven months of war the enemy have not only failed
to extend their occupancy of our soil, but new States and Terri
tories have been added to our Confederacy, while, instead of their
threatened march of unchecked conquest, they have been driven,
at more than one point, to assume the defensive, and, upon a fair
comparison between the two belligerents as to men, military
means, and financial condition, the Confederate States are rela
tively much stronger now than when the struggle commenced.
Since your adjournment the people of Missouri have conducted
the war in the face of almost unparalleled difficulties with a spirit
and success alike worthy of themselves and of the great cause in
which they are struggling. Since that time Kentucky, too, has
become the theater of active hostilities. The Federal forces have
not only refused to acknowledge her right to be neutral, and
have insisted upon making her a party to the war, but have in
vaded her for the purpose of attacking the Confederate States.
Outrages of the most despotic character have been perpetrated
upon her people; some of her most eminent citizens have been
seized and borne away to languish in foreign prisons, without
knowing who were their accusers or the specific charges made
against them, while others have been forced to abandon their
homes, families, and property, and seek a refuge in distant lands.
Finding that the Confederate States were about to be invaded
through Kentucky, and that her people, after being deceived into

138 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
a mistaken security, were unarmed and in danger of being sub
jugated by the Federal forces, our armies were marched into that
State to repel the enemy and prevent their occupation of certain
strategic points which would have given them great advantages
in the contest — a step which was justified not only by the neces
sities of self-defense on the part of the Confederate States, but
also by a desire to aid the people of Kentucky. It was never in-t
tended by the Confederate Government to conquer or coerce the
people of that State ; but, on the contrary, it was declared by our
generals that they would withdraw their troops if the Federal
Government would do likewise. Proclamation was also made
of the desire to respect the neutrality of Kentucky and the inten
tion to abide by the wishes of her people as soon as they were
free to express their opinions. These declarations were approved -
by me, and I should regard it as one of the best effects of the
march, of our troops into Kentucky if it should end in giving to
her people liberty of choice and a free opportunity to decide their
own destiny according to their own will.
The Army has been chiefly instrumental in prosecuting the
great contest in which we are engaged, but the Navy has also
been effective in full proportion to its means. The naval officers,
deprived to a great extent of an opportunity to make their pro
fessional skill available at sea, have served with commendable
zeal and gallantry on shore and upon inland waters, further de
tail of which will be found in the reports of the Secretaries of the
Navy and War. In the transportation of the mails many diffi
culties have arisen, which will be found fully developed in the
report of the Postmaster General. The absorption of the ordi
nary means of transportation for the movements of troops and
military supplies; the insufficiency of the rolling stock of rail
roads for the accumulation of business resulting both from mil
itary operations and the obstruction of water communication by
the presence of the enemy's fleet ; the failure, and even refusal, of
contractors to comply with the terms of their agreements; the
difficulties inherent in inaugurating so vast and complicated a
system as that which requires postal facilities for every town and
village in a territory so extended as ours, have all combined to
impede the best-directed efforts of the Postmaster General, whose
zeal, industry, and ability have been taxed to the utmost extent

Provisional Congress. 139
Some of these difficulties can only be overcome by time and an
improved condition of the country upon the restoration of peace,
but others may be remedied by legislation, and your attention is
invited to the recommendations contained in the report of the
head of that Department.
The condition of the Treasury will doubtless be a subject of
anxious inquiry on your part. I am happy to say that the finan
cial system already adopted has worked well so far, and promises
good results for the future. To the extent that Treasury notes
may be issued the Government is enabled to borrow money with
out interest, and thus facilitate the conduct of the war. This ex
tent is measured by the portion of the field of circulation which
these notes can be made to occupy. The proportion of the field
thus occupied depends again upon the amount of the debts for
which they are receivable; and when dues, not only to the Con
federate and State governments, but also to corporations and in
dividuals, are payable in this medium, a large amount of it may
be circulated at par. There is every reason to believe that the
Confederate Treasury note is fast becoming such a medium. The
provision that these notes shall be convertible into Confederate
stock bearing 8 per cent interest, at the pleasure of the holder,
insures them against a depreciation below the value of that stock,
arid no considerable fall in that value need be feared so long as
the interest shall be punctually paid. The punctual payment of
this interest has been secured by the act passed by you at the last
session, imposing such a rate of taxation as must provide sufficient
means for that purpose.
For the successful prosecution of this war it is indispensable
that the means of transporting troops and military supplies be
furnished, as far as possible, in such manner as not to interrupt
the commercial intercourse between our people nor place a check
on their productive energies. To this end the means of trans
portation from one section of our country to the other must be
carefully guarded and improved. And this should be the object
of anxious care on the part of State and Confederate govern
ments, so far as they may have power over the subject.
We have already two main systems of through transportation
from the north to the south — one from Richmond along the sea
board ; the other through Western Virginia to New Orleans. A

140 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
third might be secured by completing a link of about forty miles
between Danville, in Virginia, and Greensboro, in North Caro
lina. The construction of this comparatively short line would
give us a through route from north to south in the interior of the
Confederate States and give us access to a population and to mil
itary resources from which we are now in great measure debarred.
We should increase greatly the safety and capacity of our means
for transporting men and military supplies. If the construction
of this road should, in the judgment of Congress as it is in mine,
be indispensable for the most successful prosecution of the war,
the action of the Government will not be restrained by the con
stitutional objection which would attach to a work for commer
cial purposes, and attention is invited to the practicability of se
curing its early completion by giving the needful aid to the com
pany organized for its construction and administration.
If we husband our means and make a judicious use of our re
sources, it would be difficult to fix a limit to the period during
which we could conduct a war against the adversary whom we
now encounter. The very efforts which he makes to isolate and
invade us must exhaust his means, whilst they serve to complete
the circle and diversify the productions of our industrial system..
The reconstruction which he seeks to effect by arms becomes-
daily more and more palpably impossible. Not only do the causes.
which induced us to separate still exist in full force, but they
have been strengthened, and whatever doubt may have lingered1
in the minds of any must have, been completely dispelled by sub
sequent events. If instead of being a dissolution of a league it
were indeed a rebellion in which we are engaged, we might find
ample vindication for the course we have adopted in the scenes-
which are now being enacted in the United States. Our people
now look with contemptuous astonishment on those with whom
they had been so recently associated. They shrink with aversion
from the bare idea of renewing such a connection. When they
see a President making war without the assent of Congress;.
when they behold judges threatened because they maintain the
writ of habeas corpus so sacred to freemen ; when they see justice
and law trampled under the armed heel of military authority, and
upright men and innocent women dragged to distant dungeons
upon the mere edict of a despot; when they find all this toler-

Provisional Congress. 141
ated and applauded by a people who had been in the full enjoy
ment of freedom but a few months ago — they believe that there
must be some radical incompatibility between such a people and
themselves. With such a people we may be content to live at
peace, but the separation is final, and for the independence we
have asserted we will accept no alternative.
The nature of the hostilities which they have waged against us
must be characterized as barbarous wherever it is understood.
They have bombarded undefended villages without giving notice
to women and children to enable them to escape, and in one in
stance selected the night as the period when they might surprise
them most effectually whilst asleep and unsuspicious of danger.
Arson and rapine, the destruction of private houses and property,
and injuries of the most wanton character, even upon noncom^
batants, have marked their forays along our borders and upon
our territory. Although we ought to have been admonished by
these things that they were disposed to make war upon us in the
most cruel and relentless spirit, yet we were not prepared to see
them fit out a large naval expedition, with the confessed purpose
not only to pillage, but to incite a servile insurrection in our
midst. If they convert their soldiers into incendiaries and rob
bers, and involve us in a species of war which claims noncom-
batants, women, and children as its victims, they must expect to
be treated as outlaws and enemies of mankind. There are cer
tain rights of humanity which are entitled to respect even in war,
and he who refuses to regard them forfeits his claims, if cap
tured, to be considered as a prisoner of war, but must expect to
be dealt with as an offender against all law, human and divine.
But not content with violating our rights under the law of na
tions at home, they have extended these injuries to us within
other jurisdictions. The distinguished gentleman whom, with
your approval at the last session, I commissioned to represent the
Confederacy at certain foreign courts, have been recently seized
by the captain of a U. S. ship of war on board a British steamer
¦on their voyage from the neutral Spanish port of Havana to
England. The United States have thus claimed a general juris
diction over the high seas, and entering a British ship, sailing
under its country's flag, violated the rights of embassy, for the
most part held sacred even amongst barbarians, by seizing our min-

142 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
isters whilst under the protection and within the dominions of a
neutral nation. These gentlemen were as much under the juris
diction of the British Government upon that ship and beneath
its flag as if they had been on its soil, and a claim on the part of
the United States to seize them in the streets of London would
have been as well founded as that to apprehend them where they
were taken. Had they been malefactors and citizens even of the
United States they could not have been arrested on a British ship-
or on British soil, unless under the express provisions of a treaty
and according to the forms therein provided for the extradition1
of criminals.
But rights the most sacred seem to have lost all respect in their
eyes. When Mr. Faulkner, a former minister of the United
States to France, commissioned before the secession of Virginia,
his native State, returned in good faith to Washington to settle
his accounts and fulfill all the obligations into which he had en
tered, he was perfidiously arrested and imprisoned in New York,
where he now is. The unsuspecting confidence with which he
reported to his Government was abused, and his desire to fulfill
his trust to them was used to his injury. In conducting this war
we have sought no aid and proposed no alliances offensive and de
fensive abroad. We have asked for a recognized place in the
great family of nations, but in doing so we have demanded noth
ing for which we did not offer a fair equivalent. The advantages
of intercourse are mutual amongst nations, and in seeking to
establish diplomatic relations we were only endeavoring to place
that intercourse under the regulation of public law. Perhaps we
had the right, if we had chosen to exercise it, to ask to know
whether the principle that "blockades to be binding must be ef
fectual," so solemnly announced by the great powers of Europe
at Paris, is to be generally enforced or applied only to particular
parties. When the Confederate States, at your last session, be
came a party to the declaration reaffirming this principle of inter
national law, which has been recognized so long by publicists and
governments, we certainly supposed that it was to be universally
enforced. The customary law of nations is made up of their
practice rather than their declarations; and if such declarations
are only to be enforced in particular instances at the pleasure of
those who make them, then the commerce of the world, so far

Provisional Congress. 143
from being placed under the regulation of a general law, will be
come subject to the caprice of those who execute or suspend it at
will. If such is to be the course of nations in regard to this law,
it is plain that it will- thus become a rule for the weak and not for
the strong.
Feeling that such views must be taken by the neutral nations
of the earth, I have caused the evidence to be collected which
proves completely the utter inefficiency of the proclaimed block
ade of our coast, and shall direct it to be laid before such govern
ments as shall afford us the means of being heard. But, although
we should be benefited by the enforcement of this law so solemnly
declared by the great powers of Europe, we are not dependent
on that enforcement for the successful prosecution of the war.
As long as hostilities continue the Confederate States will exhibit
a steadily increasing capacity to furnish their troops with food,
clothing, and arms. If they should be forced to forego many of
the luxuries and some of the comforts of life, they will at least
have the consolation of knowing that they are thus daily becoming
more and more independent of the rest of the world. If in this
process labor in the Confederate States should be gradually di
verted from those great Southern staples which have given life to
so much of the commerce of mankind into other channels, so as
to make them rival producers instead of profitable customers,
they will not be the only or even the chief losers by this change
in the direction of their industry. Although it is true that the
cotton supply from the Southern States could only be totally cut
off by the subversion of our social system, yet it is plain that a
long continuance of this blockade might, by a diversion of labor
and an investment of capital in other employments, so diminish
the supply as to bring ruin upon all those interests of foreign
countries which are dependent on that staple. For every laborer
who is diverted from the culture of cotton in the South, perhaps
four times as many elsewhere, who have found subsistence in the
various employments growing out of its use, will be forced also
to change their occupation.
While the war which is waged to take from us the right of self-
government can never attain that end, it remains to be seen how
far it may work a revolution in the industrial system of the world,
which may carry suffering to other lands as well as to our own.

144 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
In the meantime we shall continue this struggle in humble de
pendence upon Providence, from whose searching scrutiny we
cannot conceal the secrets of our hearts, and to whose rule we con
fidently submit our destinies. For the rest we shall depend upon
ourselves. Liberty is always won where there exists the uncon
querable will to be free, and we have reason to know the strength
that is given by a conscious sense not only of the magnitude but of
the righteousness of our cause. Jeff'n Davis.

Richmond, November 25, 1861.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
I transmit to you for your consideration two acts passed by the
General Assembly of Missouri on the 31st of last October, the
one entitled "An Act declaring the political ties heretofore exist
ing between the State of Missouri and the United States of Amer
ica dissolved ;" the other entitled "An Act ratifying the Constitu
tion of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of
America." Together with these I send a letter from Governor
C. F. Jackson, of Missouri, addressed to myself and dated No
vember 5, 1 86 1.
An act of the Confederate Congress, approved August 20,
1861, in reference to Missouri, provided that when the "Constitu
tion for the Provisional Government of the Confederate States
shall be adopted and ratified by the properly and legally con
stituted authorities of said State, and the Governor of said State
shall transmit to the President of the Confederate States an au
thentic copy of the proceedings touching said adoption and ratifi
cation by said State of said Provisional Constitution, upon the
receipt thereof the President, by proclamation, shall announce
the fact." It was also declared by this act that upon a proclama
tion thus made the admission of the said State into this Confed
eracy shall be complete "without any further proceedings on the
part of Congress." I am thus empowered to judge as to the au
thorities in the State of Missouri which are properly and legally
constituted to adopt and ratify the Constitution for the Provi
sional Government of the Confederate States. I am also author
ized without further consultation with Congress to proclaim the
admission of the State. Had the case been thus presented to me

Provisional Congress. 145
during the recess Of Congress, I should have deemed it my duty
to issue the proclamation tinder this power ; but as these acts are'
transmitted during the session of Congress, I feel it to be due to
you, in a matter of so much importance as the admission of a
new State into the Confederacy, to lay before you the acts to
which I have referred, that you may take such action upon them
as in your judgment may be necessary and proper. I also submit
to you, for your consideration and action in relation thereto, a
copy of a convention between the Confederate States and the
State of Missouri which was concluded and signed by the com
missioners of both parties at the city of Richmond, on the 31st day
of October, 1861. Jeff'n Davis.

November 25, 1861.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Congress.
I have the honor herewith to transmit a communication from
the Provisional Governor of Kentucky informing me of the ap
pointment of commissioners on the part of that State to treat
with the Government of the Confederate States of America for
the recognition of said State and its admission into the Confed
eracy. Also a communication from the president and members"
of the convention which declared the separation of Kentucky from
the United States and adopted the provisional government as
therein recited. Two of the three commissioners thus appointed
have presented their credentials and submitted a proposition to
enter upon negotiations for the admission of the State of Ken
tucky into the Confederacy. Before entering upon such negotia
tion I have deemed it proper to lay the case before Congress and
ask its advice. The history of this controversy involving the
State of Kentucky is so well known to the Congress that it is
deemed unnecessary to enter here into a statement of the various
stages through which it has passed. It may, however, be proper
to advert to the fact that in every form in which the question has
been presented to the people of Kentucky we have sufficient evi
dence to assure us that by a large majority their will has been
manifested to unite their destinies with the Southern States when
ever, despairing of the preservation of the Union, they should be
required to choose between association with the North or the
10

146 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
South. In both the communications presented will be found a
powerful exposition of the misrepresentation of the people by the
government of Kentucky, and it has led me to the conclusion that
the revolution in which they are engaged offered the only remedy
within their reach against usurpation and oppression, to which
it would be a reflection upon that gallant people to suppose that
they would tamely submit. That this proceeding for the admis
sion of Kentucky into the Confederacy is wanting in the formal
ity which characterized that of the States which seceded by the
action of their organized government is manifested — indeed, ad
mitted — by terming it revolutionary. This imposes the necessity
for examining the evidence to establish the fact that the popular
will is in favor of admission of the State into the Confederacy.
To this end I refer the Congress to the commissioners who have
presented to me many facts which (if opportunity be afforded
them) they will no doubt as freely communicate to the Congress,
The conclusion at which I have arrived is that there is enough of
merit in the application to warrant a disregard of its irregularity ;
that it is the people — that is to say, the State — who seek to con
federate with us ; that though embarrassed they cannot rightfully
be controlled by a Government which violates its obligations and
usurps powers in derogation of the liberty which it was insti
tuted to preserve; and that, therefore, we may rightfully recog
nize the provisional government of Kentucky and under its aus
pices admit the State into the Confederacy. In reaching this
conclusion I have endeavored to divest myself of the sentiments
which strongly attract me toward that State, and to regard con
siderations, military and political, subordinate to propriety and
justice in the determination of the question. I now invite the
early attention of Congress that I may be guided by its advice
in my action. Jeff'n Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, November 27, 1861.
To the Hon. President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress a communication
from the Hon. Attorney-General, with the report of the Super
intendent of Public Printing, asking for certain appropriations
therein mentioned. Jefferson Davis.

Provisional Congress. 147
Richmond, Va., November 27, 1861.
To the President of the Congress, Hon. Howell Cobb.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the reso
lution requesting me "to communicate to Congress the reports
of all battles not heretofore communicated to Congress or pub
lished in full to the country," and to reply that copies of all such
reports have been prepared to accompany the report of the Sec
retary of War, to which it was supposed proper to append them
as documents. I hope very soon to be able to transmit the re
port of the Secretary of War with all the documents which
usually and properly attend it, those specially called for, included.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, November 30, 1861.
To the Hon. President of the Congress.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Hon. Secretary
of War, and recommend it to the favorable consideration of the
Congress. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, December 3, 1861.
To the Hon. President of the Congress.
Sir: In response to the resolution of the Congress of the 28th
Nov. ulto., inquiring "whether any restrictions (and if so,
what) have been placed upon vessels leaving the ports of the
Confederate States other than those imposed by law, and if any
such have been imposed, by what authority," I herewith trans
mit copies of letters* furnished by the War Department, marked
"A, B, C, and D,"f which will show all the action taken on the
subject of inquiry and that no restrictions have been imposed
other than those incident to a state of war and which the public
defense, as it was believed, not only justified but demanded. It
will be noted that the instructions were given to an officer com
manding the defensive line of a port threatened by the enemy's
?From Judah P. Benjamin, Acting Secretary of War, and A. T. Bledsoe,
to Brig. Gen. Joseph R. Anderson.
t Omitted.

148 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
fleet and related to articles usually recognized as contraband
of war. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, December 4, 1861.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
The nominations sent to the Congress at the last session not
having been acted on, I respectfully request that they be returned,
that they may be replaced by fuller and more perfect lists pre
pared for submission to your action at the present session.
Jefferson Davis.

To the Congress of the Confederate States.
I herewith communicate to Congress an act of the provisional
government of Kentucky to appoint a commissioner to the Con
federate States of America on the subject of banks ; and also the
commission of John D. Morris, Esq., who has been duly accredited
to me as the commissioner appointed under said act.
It appears from the terms of said act that various banks in
Kentucky have, in violation of the State Constitution, at the dic
tation of foreign military power, contributed large sums of money
to assist in the subjugation of the people of Kentucky. That
the State of Kentucky is a stockholder in said banks, the stock
having been purchased with the funds raised by taxation of all
the people, and is entitled to control the said funds, and to pre
vent their being used for the subjugation of her people.
To prevent such injustice the act authorizes the Governor to
appoint a commissioner to proceed to the Capital of the Confed
erate States to confer with the proper authorities as to the most
practicable manner of securing all moneys and other assets of
said banks; and the Confederate States are requested to co
operate with said commissioner in securing said moneys and as
sets. In pursuance with the request of the provisional government
of Kentucky I submit the matter to your consideration and in
vite such cooperation as you may deem it advisable to afford.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 11, 1861.

Provisional Congress. 149
Executive Department,
Richmond, December 12, 1861.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
I submit for your constitutional action treaties recently made
with the Chickasaw and Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee
tribes of Indians. In pursuance of a resolution passed by Con-:
gress the 5th day of March, 1861, I appointed Albert Pike, a cit
izen of Arkansas, commissioner of this Government to all the
Indian tribes west of Arkansas and south of Kansas. His powers
and duties were not defined in that resolution, but on the 21st of
May, 1861, Congress passed "An Act for the protection of cer
tain Indian tribes," by which the general policy of Congress in
reference to those tribes was more fully declared. Considering
this act as a declaration by Congress of our future policy in rela
tion to those Indians, a copy of that act was transmitted to the
commissioner and he was directed to consider it as his instruc
tions in the contemplated negotiation.
The general policy of that act is the basis of the treaties here
with submitted; but in relation to pecuniary obligations there is
a material departure, which will be more fully referred to in its
appropriate connection. The general provisions of all the treaties
are similar, and in each the Confederate States assume the guard
ianship over the tribe and become responsible for all the obliga
tions to the Indians imposed by former treaties on the Govern
ment of the United States. Important modifications are pro
posed in favor of the - respective local governments of these In
dians, to which your special attention is invited. That their ad
vancement in civilization justified an enlargement of their power
in that regard will scarcely admit of a doubt; but whether the
proposed concessions in favor of their local governments are
within the bounds of a wise policy may well claim your serious
consideration. In this connection your attention is specially in
vited to the clauses giving to certain tribes the unqualified right
of admission as a State into the compact of the Confederacy, and
in the meantime allowing each of these tribes to have a delegate
in Congress. These provisions are regarded not only as impolitic
but unconstitutional, it not being within the limits of the treaty-
making power to admit a State or to control the House of Rep
resentatives in the matter of admission to its privileges. I rec-

150 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
ommend that the former provision be rejected, and that the latter
be so modified as to leave the question to the future action of
Congress; and also do recommend the rejection of those articles
in the treaties which confer upon Indians the right to testify in
the State courts, believing that the States have the power to de
cide that question, each for itself, independently of any action of
the Confederate Government.
The pecuniary obligations of these treaties are of great im
portance. Apart from the annuities secured to them by former
treaties, and which we are to assume by those now submitted,
these tribes have large permanent funds in the hands of the Gov
ernment of the United States as their trustee. These funds may
be divided into three classes: First. Money which the Govern
ment of the United States stipulated to invest in its own stocks
or stocks of the States, and which has been partly invested in its
own stocks and partly uninvested, remains in its Treasury, but
upon which it is bound to pay interest. Second. Funds invested
in the stocks of States not members of this Confederacy. Third.
Money invested in stocks of States now members of this Con
federacy. These three classes include all the important pecun
iary obligations involved in these treaties, except interest col
lected by the Federal Government and not paid over to the In
dians and arrearage of annual payments due under existing
treaties ; to which exceptions a further notice will be given. By
the treaties now submitted to you the first and second classes arc
absolutely assumed by this Government; but this Government
only undertakes as trustee to collect the third class from the
States which owe the money and pay over the amounts to the
Indians when collected. It is fortunate for the Indians and our
selves that the amounts embraced in classes one and two are
relatively small, and the obligations incurred by their assumption
¦cannot be onerous, as the amount due by States of the Confed
eracy on account of investments in the funds of Northern In
dians considerably exceeds the amount to be assumed under this
provision of the treaties. We thereby have the means to compel
the Government of the United States to do justice to the Indians
within the jurisdiction of the Confederate States, or to indemnify
ourselves for its breach of faith.
By the treaty with the Cherokees we undertake to advance

Provisional Congress. 151
$150,000, and the interest of $50,000 for educational purposes
on what are known as the Cherokee neutral lands, lying between
the State of Kansas and the Cherokee Territory, for which the
Indians paid the United States Government $500,000, and which
lands we guarantee to the Indians against the hazard of being
lost by the fortune of war or ceded by treaty of peace. I herewith
submit to you estimates of the entire pecuniary obligations as
sumed by these treaties, irt tabular exhibits A and B. They are
generally stated with great minuteness in the treaties, but I have
caused them to be abstracted and put in tabular form "for more
convenient reference. I also submit to you the report of Albert
Pike, the commissioner, which contains a history of his negotia
tions and submits his reasons for a departure from his instruc
tions in relation to the pecuniary obligations to be incurred. In
view of the circumstances by which we are surrounded, the great
importance of preserving peace with the Indians on the frontier
of Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri, and, not least, because of the
spirit these tribes have manifested in making common cause with
us in the war now existing, I recommend the assumption of the
stipulated pecuniary obligations, and, with the -modifications here
in suggested, that the treaties submitted be ratified. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, December 16, 1861.
To the Hon. President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress the report of the Hon.
Secretary of War, with accompanying papers. Jefferson Davis.

To the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a copy of a communication from Mr. Wil
liam S. Ashe urging the completion of certain railroads as nec
essary for the proper transportation of troops and military stores
in the exigencies of the present war. I also transmit a copy of
a communication from Mr. E. Fontaine, President of the Cen
tral Railroad of Virginia, urging the completion of twenty miles

152 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
of the Covington and ' Ohio Railroad upon consideration of mili
tary necessity.
I communicate to you with these letters a series of resolutions
adopted at a convention of railroad presidents, held in Richmond
on the 6th of December, asking for the assistance of the Confed
erate Government in procuring certain supplies, which are indis
pensable to the railroad system of the country.
That certain appropriations which otherwise could not be con
stitutionally made by the Confederate Government come within
the range of its power, when absolutely necessary for the prose
cution of a war, there is no doubt. It is equally clear that when
this military necessity -ceases, the right to make such appropria
tions no longer exists.
To exercise this power, when it exists, and to confine it within
the proper limits, is a matter for the just discretion of Congress,
and to enable it to act upon the interesting subjects to which they
relate, I transmit the communications and resolutions which ac
company this message.
I have already recommended that the Confederate Government
should assist in making a railroad from Danville, Va., to Greens
boro, N. C.,* upon the ground of a strong military necessity for
completing an interior through line from Virginia to the South
ern Atlantic States. I deem this to be necessary, not only on ac
count of the superior safety of such a line from hostile inroads
and invasions, but because of the great additional facilities which1
its completion would afford for the transportation of troops and
military supplies.
The road from Selma, Ala., to Meridian, Miss., is a link that
has claims similar to the road already recommended to your as
sistance in a previous message.* Whilst the completion of the
twenty miles of the Covington and Ohio Railroad, as proposed by
Mr. Fontaine, might be eminently useful for military purposes,
I cannot, in the present condition of the Treasury, recommend
that you should contribute by direct appropriation.
The resolutions of the convention of the railroad presidents
and superintendents relate to a most important subject.
If the railroads should be generally disabled from transporting
*See page 139.

Provisional Congress. 153
troops and military supplies for the prosecution of the war, the
result would be most disastrous. It is urged that the capital nec
essary to construct the establishments required for re-rolling
rails and the manufacture of locomotives cannot well be had un
less the Confederate Government would make some advance for
the purpose. With the machinery proper for rolling the rails,
there might be connected that which is necessary for rolling plates
which are wanted in the naval service. How far it would
be proper for Congress to authorize advances to be made on con
tracts to furnish these plates or engines it would be for that body
to consider and determine. Some such advance might facilitate
and secure the establishment of works which would at the same
time furnish what is required by the Government, re-rolling the
railroad iron and constructing locomotives for the use of the rail
roads. The exigency is believed to be such as to require the aid of
the Government, and is commended to your favorable considera
tion. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, December 17, 1861.
Executive Department,
Richmond, December 18, 1861.
To the Hon. President of the Congress.
Sir: Herewith I transmit a letter of the Attorney General, cov
ering a communication on the subject of taxes due upon prop
erty sequestered by the Government of the Confederate States,
and for which . it is liable to be sold on account of the several
States. The attention of Congress is called to the necessity of pro
viding for the payment of sums now due as well as those which
will become due on account of the property referred to, and,
which, it is believed, must remain subject to taxation by 'the sev
eral States. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, December 18, 1861.
To the President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress a copy of a joint res
olution of the State of Tennessee, in accordance with the request
of that body. Jefferson Davis.

154 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive Department,
Richmond, December 23, 1861.
To the President of the Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary
of War, inclosing an estimate of appropriations, rendered nec
essary by the ratification of the treaties with certain Indian tribes.
Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, December 30, 1861.
To the President of the Confederate Congress.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the Congress a communication
from the Secretary of War, with the estimate of certain addi
tional appropriations therein mentioned. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, January 6, 1862.
To the Confederate Congress.
I herewith transmit from the War Department a copy of the
official report of the battle on Alleghany Mountain on the 13th
December. I would invite special attention to the suggestions of the Sec
retary of War in his communication accompanying the report,
with which I fully concur. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, January 11, 1862.
President of the Congress.
I herewith transmit to the Congress a communication from the
Secretary of War recommending a certain appropriation* there
in mentioned. Jefferson Davis.
*To pay interest on money borrowed from certain banks in Tennessee.

Provisional Congress. 155
Richmond, January 13, 1862.
To the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States.
I transmit herewith a report and accompanying papers from
the Secretary of State in answer to a resolution* of the Congress
¦of the Confederate States of the 10th instant. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Office,
Richmond, January 23, 1862.
Hon. Howell Cobb, President of the Provisional Congress.
Sir: I return to you an act entitled "An Act to provide for
raising and organizing, in the State of Missouri, additional
troops for the Provisional Army of the Confederate States,"
indorsed "Passed January 9, 1861 [1862]," and delivered to me
probably on the 10th day of January, 1862. After its delivery
I was informed by the clerk that it had been reconsidered and
substituted by an act entitled "An Act to provide for raising and
¦organizing, in the State of Missouri, additional forces for the
Provisional Army of the Confederate States," which was in many
respects similar in its provisions and which was this day returned
with my objections.! Regarding the first act as having been abro
gated by Congress, I took no action upon it. But to-day I am in
formed by the Secretary of Congress that the record of the re
consideration is not to be found on the Journal. Ten days having
now elapsed since the act was sent to me, I am precluded from
doing anything with it except to transmit it to you with a state
ment of the circumstances which caused me to regard the paper
as invalid and not requiring consideration or action on my part.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, January 25, 1862.
To the Hon. President of the Congress.
In response to the resolution of the Congress of the nth inst.
?Requesting the President to communicate to Congress copies of all
¦correspondence with Confederate commissioners abroad.
tSee page 160.

156 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of War
with the report of the Chief of the Commissariat of the Army.
Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, February 15, 1862.
To the Honorable President of the Congress. ,
In response to the resolution of the Congress adopted on the
10th instant, I herewith transmit communications from all the re
spective Departments, except the War Department.
I am informed by the Secretary of War that so great is the press
.of important business on his Department, that he has not had time,
as yet, to prepare the list of officers as desired, but will do so at his
earliest opportunity. Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
Gentlemen: I deem it my duty to return for your reconsidera
tion, with my objections, "An Act regulating furloughs and dis
charges m certain cases." I am unable to sign this act, as my
judgment does not approve it, and I respectfully submit to you
my reasons for withholding my signature.
By the terms of the act any sick or invalid soldier now out of
camp, whether in hospital or not, shall be entitled to furlough or
discharge on the ground of bodily disability, upon the certificate
of any surgeon of the Confederate States, or of any surgeon of a
hospital where the soldier is treated, whether such surgeon be in
the Army or not. My objections to both as to the principles of this.
act and the practical difficulties which will embarrass its execu
tion: 1st. I cannot but regard it as extremely unwise to grant control
over any soldier, to the extent of discharging him from service,.
to any body of men not employed in the service of the Govern
ment, over whom it exercises no control, and who present to it no.

Provisional Congress. 157
guarantee whatever for the faithful discharge of the duties im
posed on them. In the medical, as in all other professions, there
are incompetent as well as unworthy men. This bill proposes to
place the power of discharging from the public service the whole
body of absent soldiers, now amounting to probably not less than
thirty thousand men, at the mercy of any physician who may call
liis office a hospital. The absent soldiers, out of camp, scattered
over the entire Confederacy, are to be allowed to leave the service
at pleasure on producing the certificate of some man who signs
himself a physician in charge of a hospital. No means are pro
vided by the bill, and in the nature of things no means can well
be devised, by which it can be ascertained at the office of the Ad
jutant General whether the signature to the certificate is genuine
or not; whether, if genuine, the signature is that of a physician,
nor whether the signer, if he be a physician, have really a hos
pital in which the sick soldier is treated. I venture to say that
there is not a man now out of camp, whether sick or well, who
•could not readily find means for securing such a certificate as this
bill contemplates at the most trifling cost.
2d. Again, the bill applies to those only who are now out of
¦camp. But if the principle of the bill is right, its application should
be continuous and permanent, and I cannot discover any reason
why it should be confined to those not in camp. If a man out of
camp is to have his discharge on a certificate of a surgeon and
when far removed from the supervision of commanders, why
not give the same right to the soldier in camp, where the presence
of the commander would at least check the issue of fraudulent
¦certificates. And if it be right to adopt this rule at all, why is it
not as well applicable to men who will be absent from camp next
week as to those now absent? The special limitations of the bill
to soldiers out of camp, and to those only now out of camp, indi
cate an intention to provide for some present exceptional emer
gency not defined with sufficient accuracy to prevent great mis
chief in the practical working of the law. If there be such emer
gency, to what class of cases does it extend ? Does it exist every
where, or only at one or more determinate points ? The language
¦of the bill requires to be better guarded to meet what I infer from
its phraseology to be an exceptional case ; and if there be such a

158 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
case, I respectfully submit to Congress that it might be remedied
in a less objectionable manner than is provided for in the bill.
3d. It is obvious that the intent and purpose of this bill was
humane, and directed to ameliorating the condition of the sick
soldier, but in very many cases the opposite effect will be pro
duced. The sick soldier, entitled to either furlough or discharge,.
now obtains it through the regularly appointed officers of the
Government, provided with blank forms to be properly filled up,
by means of which the rights of the soldier to his transportation
and allowances can be readily liquidated. But by the provisions
of the bill it will very frequently occur that owing to irregulari
ties in his papers it will be impossible that his account can be set
tled at the office of the paymaster ; still worse, he may be exposed
to the loss of his cherished honor, to be branded as a deserter by
his failure to secure the proper evidence of his honorable dis
charge. I do not think that Congress can have been aware that some
weeks prior to the passage of this bill the War Department had
issued regulations, relaxing the former rules, dispensing with many
of the formalities, and simplifying the means of obtaining fur
loughs and discharges for the sick. I annex a copy of these reg
ulations, which go as far as, in my opinion, compatible with the
necessities of the service, and which seem to me to render the
legislation now proposed unnecessary. Jefferson Davis.
[Received December 14, 1861.]

Executive Office, January 22, 1862.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
After mature consideration of the bill to encourage the manu
facture of small arms, saltpeter, and of gunpowder within the
Confederate States, I felt constrained to return it with the follow
ing statement of objections : By its provisions the bill deprives the
Executive of the discretionary power to protect the Government
against unnecessary or improvident contracts, and confers upon
individuals who may propose to furnish to the Government any of
the supplies enumerated the right to demand that their proposition
shall be accepted, and that 50 per cent of the amount proposed to

Provisional Congress. 159
be invested shall be paid from the public Treasury without any
other condition than that the person making such proposition shall
have actually expended in the prosecution of the proposed work
one-fourth of the capital to be invested in it, and that his under
taking shall not be, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, vision
ary or impracticable, or at points too remote for the advantage of
the Confederacy. ' As an example of the disadvantageous opera
tion of the bill herewith returned, the attention of Congress is
called to the contemplated case of the manufacture of gunpowder.
Our present necessity is not for an increase of powder mills, but
for a supply of the material for the manufacture of gunpowder.
The mills now in existence, and which could be readily put to
work, far exceed in their capacity to manufacture our ability to
supply the requisite material. Yet under the operation of this
bill it would follow that any one who should- propose to establish
a powder mill upon unobjectionable locality, and that he had in
vested one-fourth the capital to be employed, would be entitled
to claim an advance equal to 50 per cent of that amount for a work
which the Government did not require, and which, as there is no
limitation of time for the fulfillment of his contract, could not be
pronounced visionary or impracticable. The power already exists
to make advances equal to 33 1-3 per cent on contracts for arms
or munitions of war, and experience has not shown that any larger
advance is necessary to stimulate the undertaking of such con
tracts ; on the contrary, it has not yet been found necessary in a
single instance to make advances to the full, amount now per
mitted by law. The requirement of the bill that liberal profits
shall be granted and an extraordinary advance be made, coupled
with the absence of any Executive discretion to refuse any con
tract proposed for the supplies mentioned in the bill, would inev
itably expose the Treasury to heavy drafts from the class of spec
ulating contractors.
I regret that these features of the bill compel its return, as some
of its provisions would be valuable adjuncts to existing legisla
tion in enabling the Government to aid in the establishment of
manufactures of arms and the creation of artificial saltpeter beds.
Jefferson Davis.

160 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive Office, Richmond, January 22, 1862.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
I have considered a bill to authorize the Secretary of War to
receive into the service of the Confederate States a regiment of
volunteers for the protection of the frontier of Texas, and here
with return it to the Congress with a statement of my objections,
which are respectfully submitted for consideration.
The bill provides that a regiment of volunteers is to be raised
by the State of Texas, under the provisions of an act of the Leg
islature of said State, and directs that the Secretary of War shall
receive the regiment to be so raised and incorporate it into the
Provisional Army of the Confederate States.
By reference to the act of the Legislature of Texas, a copy of
which accompanied the bill, it appears that all that discretion and
control, which of necessity is vested in the Executive of the Con
federate States over all troops employed in their service, are with
held by the act, the provisions of which are adopted in your bill,
the posting and movement of the troops being therein confided
to the Governor of the State under the plan of the Legislature.
There are other objections which are mainly important because
they disturb the uniformity and complicate the system of military
administration prescribed by the laws of the Confederate States.
Unity and cooperation by the troops of all the States are indis
pensable to success, and I must view with regret this as all other
indications of a purpose to divide the power of the States by di
viding the means to be employed in efforts to carry on separate
operations ; but, if in any case it be advisable that such separate
action should be taken, it seems to me palpably clear that it should
be a charge against the individual State, rather than upon the com
mon treasury of the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, January 22, 1862.
To the Congress of the Confederate States.
After mature deliberation I have not been able to approve the
bill herewith returned, entitled "An Act to provide for raising and
organizing, in the State of Missouri, additional forces for the
Provisional Army of the Confederate States."
In a message just submitted to the Congress in relation to cer-

Provisional Congress. 161
tain forces to be raised in the State of Texas,* I have stated the
objections entertained to any legislative discrimination for or
against a particular State, thereby disturbing the harmony of the
system adopted for the common defense. In a bill very recently
passed by the Congress a new plan has been established for raising
and organizing troops for the Confederate service. By the pro
visions of this last-mentioned law you have given me authority to
raise and organize troops in all the States by granting commissions
in advance of the actual enlistment of the troops to officers below
the grade of general officers and above that of subalterns. To the
officers thus commissioned you do not give any pay or allowances
until the actual organization of the companies, battalions, or reg
iments that the officers so commissioned were empowered to raise,
and you do not allow pay, but have even prohibited the allowance
of subsistence or transportation to the men enrolled in order to
enable them to reach the rendezvous of their companies. By the
terms of the bill now returned an exception is made in favor of
the State of Missouri alone. By the provisions of the bill it is con
templated that advance commissions shall be granted to officers of
all grades from the highest general officer of the Provisional Army
to the lowest subaltern of a company, and that the officers, whether
of the staff or the line, thus appointed shall receive pay from the
date of their respective appointments without any condition ren
dering this pay dependent on their success in raising the troops.
The general bill which has now become a law applicable to Mis
souri as to all the other States fixes a reasonable term within which
officers commissioned in advance must succeed in raising troops,
under penalty of forfeiting their commissions. The present bill
removes this salutary restriction and vests in the Executive the
dangerous power not only of appointing at his discretion an un
limited number of military officers irrespective of any troops to
be commanded by them, but allows him to retain the officers so
appointed in the public service at the public expense during the
Executive pleasure.
I am not able to perceive in the present condition of public af
fairs in the State of Missouri the necessity which would form the
only possible excuse for a grant of such power to a constitutional
*See page 160.

162 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive. I receive assurances from those whose sources of in
formation are entirely reliable that the raising and organization of
troops in Missouri for service in the Confederate Army are suc
cessfully progressing, and that within a very few days the muster
rolls will be received, thus placing it in my power to organize the
Army in that State on precisely the same footing as in all the oth
ers, and thus avoid any need for exceptional legislation.
In addition to these objections founded on principle there would
be a practical difficulty in the operation of the bill, which appears
insurmountable. All the troops now in service in the State of
Missouri are State troops, commanded by State officers, which
have never been tendered or received in the Confederate service.
In exercising the power of appointment proposed to be vested in
me by the bill the best hope for success in its purpose would be
founded on selecting those officers who had distinguished them
selves in command and had become endeared to the troops. But
this would be to deprive the State troops of their commanding
officers during the whole period necessary for the enrollment and
organization of the troops under Confederate laws. Missouri
would thus be left comparatively defenseless whilst the reorgan
ization was progressing. Therefore regarding this bill as impolitic
and unnecessary, it is submitted for your reconsideration. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, February i, 1862.
To the Confederate Congress.
I return with my objections the bill passed by you entitled "An
Act to provide for granting furloughs in certain cases."
Before proceeding to lay before you the special objections en
tertained to the provisions of this bill it is proper that I should ex
press the firm conviction that it is, from the nature of things, im
practicable to administer an army in the field by statute. The
Constitution vests in the Congress the power "to make rules for
the government and regulation of the land and naval forces."
None can deny the wisdom of this provision, nor the propriety of
the exercise of this power by the Congress in its full extent ; but
there is an obvious distinction between making rules for the gov-

Provisional Congress. 163
ernment of the Army and undertaking to administer the Army by
statute. When rules are established for the regulation of such
matters as are in their nature susceptible of fixed and unvarying
application, there can be no impolicy in providing them by statute.
Thus we have by law fixed guides for organization, for the com
position of the different corps, for the number of officers and their
grades, for the respective duties assigned to the staff in its sev
eral branches, and numerous like provisions that remain in force
in all localities, in the presence as well as the absence of the enemy,
and uninfluenced by the exigencies of any particular occasion.
But there are other matters which are essentially administrative
in their character, and are not susceptible of being determined by
the rigid prescriptions of statutes which executive officers are
bound to obey under all circumstances and without the exercise of
any discretion. Suppose Congress should attempt to fix by law
of what camp equipage should always consist, or the precise kind
and quality of clothing to be furnished, or the exact amount and
kind of transportation to be allowed for each regiment, is it not
obvious that these details depend so entirely on time, place, and
circumstances, and are so essentially variable in their character,
that the uniform compliance with such laws would be practically
impossible? Suppose Congress should establish by law the pre
cise proportion of infantry, cavalry, and artillery to be attached
to each body of troops in service. This would not be a rule for
the government of the Army, but an attempt at a statutory admin
istration of it which could not but be found impolitic, even if it
were practicable.
Now, the act in question presents precisely the same objection
able features. It establishes a rule over which there is no dis
cretionary power under any circumstances whatsoever by which
a commanding general, in the face of superior numbers and with
his capacity for defense taxed to the utmost, may find his forces
still further reduced by the action of his subordinates, not only
against his consent, but without his knowledge, and in ignorance
of his necessities and the purposes of their Government. No more
striking example could be afforded of the impolicy of such a law
than is presented.by our condition at this time. Our armies are in
force inferior to the enemy at the two points most vital to the de
fense of the country. The enlistment of the twelve-months' men

164 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
is soon to expire, and in order to secure their entry for a further
term into service you have directed that furloughs be granted to
them as far as compatible with the safety of the respective com
mands. If the bill in question becomes a law, it will at once be nec
essary to diminish the number of furloughs, which might other
wise be granted as inducement to reenlistments, and to that extent
the attainment of this most desirable object must be obstructed.
From the West and from the South, from many and important
points urgent calls for reenforcement are received by the Depart
ment of War which it is not possible to satisfy. At this crisis, with
out any check or control by commanding generals, 5 per cent of
their effective forces would be withdrawn under the provisions of
this bill. With conflicts impending against an enemy greatly our
superior in numbers, our safety is dependent on keeping in the
field every effective man that can be furnished with a weapon;
this bill, therefore, it seems to me, is most inopportunely pre
sented. If from these general objections we turn to the details of the
bill, other considerations are presented which would alone pre
vent my giving it approval. This may be stated briefly as follows,
viz.: First. The furlough for disability is to be granted upon the
surgeon's certificate, not of the vital necessity for leave of ab
sence, but of the surgeon's opinion that the patient's "health would
be improved by a temporary sojourn at home." It is plain that
every man in the Army, to whose health camp life was thus be
lieved to be detrimental, could at once demand a furlough under
this provision.
Second. The colonel's power to grant a furlough on such a cer
tificate as is above mentioned is without the check or control of
higher authority, and is unlimited as to time and to number of
cases. Third. Any soldier that can get the certificate of any hospital
surgeon can be sent home on furlough or discharged without the
knowledge or consent of any of his officers, either company or
regimental. The surgeon has only to certify that the soldier "is
too remote from his commanding officer to procure his certificate
for a furlough or discharge without inconvenience and delay."
When troops are in the field, it is always true of a soldier in

Provisional Congress. 165
hospital, that the commanding officer's certificate cannot be ob
tained "without inconvenience and delay," so that the soldier, ab
sent from camp, can always get a furlough or discharge without
the knowledge of his commander.
Fourth. The large number of soldiers, that will be constantly
traveling on the railroads on the proposed system of a ten days'
furlough for five per cent of all the effective men, together with
the sick leaves provided for, will form an average of probably not
less than fifteen or twenty thousand men in constant movement.
This would occupy the transportation facilities, already much too
limited, to such an extent as seriously to impair, the movement of
troops and supplies.
In whatever aspect the proposed legislation is contemplated, I
cannot view it otherwise than as dangerous to the public safety,
and I most earnestly recommend that, in taking it again into con
sideration, Congress will weigh any possible advantage that can
result from this measure against the disasters, that are not only
the possible, but, as it appears to me, the probable results of its
adoption. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, February 4, 1862.
To the' Congress of the Confederate States.
Gentlemen: I return, with my objections, the bill entitled "An
Act to repeal so much of the laws of the United States adopted by
the Congress of the Confederate States as authorizes the natural
ization of aliens." My objections are the following, viz. :
First. The bill does not save the rights of aliens who were dom
iciled in the Confederate States at the beginning of this revolution
and had already commenced the proceedings necessary to their
naturalization. It would be manifest injustice to such aliens as
have remained among us and have sympathized with and aided us
in our struggle to cut them off from these rights, at least inchoate,
and deprive them of the boon held out to them by laws to which
we were assenting parties at the time they emigrated to the Con
federacy. Second. While there is perhaps no direct prescription of the
Constitution making it the duty of Congress to establish a rule of
naturalization, I submit that in addition to the grant of that power

166 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
made to Congress the States in the permanent Constitution have
surrendered the power formerly exercised by some of them of per
mitting aliens to vote even in State elections until naturalized as
citizens of the Confederate States — Article I, Section 2. A com
parison of these provisions leads to the conclusion that it was in
contemplation of the States that Congress should exercise the
power vested in it, and it does not appear to me to be a fair com
pliance with the just expectations of the States to repeal in mass
all laws providing for the naturalization of aliens without sub
stituting some other system that may commend itself to the wis
dom of Congress.
These are my special objections to the act as passed, but I beg
permission to say that the general policy indicated by its pro
visions appears to be at least questionable. That there is no pres
ent necessity for such legislation is obvious, for there has not been,
and we cannot expect there will be, immigration, except on the
part of such as are disposed to aid us in our struggle. To the
future, which may well be left to take care of itself on this subject,
it is submitted whether legislation intended to effect entire exclu
sion from citizenship of all who are not born on the soil will be
deemed in accordance with the civilization of the age.
In conclusion, it can scarcely be necessary to point out the evil
effects that may be produced on aliens now serving in our Army
and on those of our fellow-citizens who are of foreign birth, by
what will be considered as a legislative stigma cast on them as a
class. Jefferson Davis.

PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, an act of the Congress of the Confederate States of
America, approved this, the 28th day of November, 1861, pro
vides that, "the State of Missouri be, and is hereby admitted, as
a member of the Confederate States of America, upon an equal
footing with the other States of this Confederacy, under the Con
stitution for the Provisional Government of the same :"

Provisional Congress. 167
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States of America, do issue this, my proclamation, making
known to all whom it may concern that the admission of the said
' State of Missouri into the Confederacy is complete, and that the
laws of the Confederacy are extended over said State as fully and
completely as over the other States composing the same.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my
name and caused the seal of the Confederate States to
[seal. J ke afljxe(j; at Richmond, this 28th day of November,
A.D. 1861. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary of State.

By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Where? s, an act of the Congress of the Confederate States of
America entitled "An Act to organize the Territory of Arizona,"
was approved by me on the 18th day of January, 1862 ; and where
as, it is therein declared that the provisions of the act are suspend
ed until the President of the Confederate States shall issue his
proclamation declaring the act to be in full force and operation,
and shall proceed to appoint the officers therein provided to be
appointed in and for said Territory :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States of America, do issue this my proclamation declaring
said "Act to organize the Territory of Arizona" to be in full force
and operation, and that I have proceeded to appoint the officers
therein provided to be appointed in and for said Territory.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States of
America at Richmond, this fourteenth day of February, A.D. 1862.
[seal.] Jefferson Davis.
By the President : R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary of State.

168 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
Be it resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of
America, That the thanks of the people of the Confederate States
are eminently due, and are hereby tendered, to Major General
Sterling Price, and the Missouri Army under his command, for
the gallant conduct they have displayed throughout their service
in the present war, and especially for the skill, fortitude, and
courage by which they gained the brilliant achievement at Lex
ington, Mo., resulting, on the twentieth day of September last,
in the reduction of that town and the surrender of the entire Fed
eral Army there employed.
Be it resolved further, That a copy of this resolution be com
municated by the President to General Price, and, through him
to the army then under his command.
Approved December 3, 1861.
Whereas, under the providence of God, the valor of the soldiers
of the Confederate States has added another glorious victory,
achieved at Belmont, in the State of Missouri, on the seventh day
of November last, to those which had been so graciously vouch
safed to our arms, whereby the reduction of Columbus, in the
State of Kentucky, has been prevented, and the contemplated de
scent of the enemy down the Mississippi River effectually stayed ;
therefore, Be it resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of
America, That the thanks of Congress are most heartily tendered
to Major General Leonidas Polk, Brigadier General Gideon J.
Pillow, Brigadier General Benjamin F. Cheatham, and the officers
and soldiers of their gallant commands for the desperate courage
they exhibited in sustaining for several hours, and under most
"disadvantageous circumstances, an attack by a force of the enemy
greatly superior to their own, both in numbers and appointments ;
and for the skill and gallantry by which they converted what at
first threatened so much disaster, into a triumphant victory.
Resolved further, That these resolutions are intended to ex
press what is believed to be the grateful and admiring sentiment
of the whole people of the Confederacy.
Resolved further, That they be communicated to the commands

Provisional Congress. 169
of Major General Polk, Brigadier General Pillow, and Brigadier
General Cheatham by the proper Department of the Government.
Approved December 6, 1861.
Be it resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of
America, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby
tendered, to Brigadier General N. G. Evans, and the officers and
soldiers under his command, for the brilliant victory achieved by
them over largely superior forces of the enemy in the battle of
Leesburg. Approved December 18, 1861.
First. Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of
America, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby ten
dered, to Colonel Edward Johnson, and to the officers and men
under his command, for gallant and meritorious services at the
summit of Alleghany Mountain, in Virginia, on the thirteenth day
of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, when for more
than six hours they, with remarkable courage and constancy, sus
tained an assault made upon their position by fourfold their num
ber, and finally drove the enemy in disorder, and with heavy loss,
from the field.
Second. That the foregoing resolution be communicated to said
command, by the Secretary of War, and be made known in general
orders. Approved January 10, 1862.

Alexander H. Stephens.

Alexander H. Stephens.
Alexander Hamilton Stephens was born near Crawfords-
ville, Ga., on February n, 1812. His grandfather, Alexander
Stephens, was an Englishman and an adherent of Prince Charles
Edward, and came to this country in 1746. He settled in the
Penn colony, was in several conflicts with the Indians, and
was a captain in the Revolutionary War. After the war was over
he removed to Georgia. At the age of fifteen Alexander Hamilton
became an orphan and was given a place in the school in Washing
ton, Ga., that was being taught by Rev. Alexander Hamilton
Webster, a Presbyterian minister, from whom he took his middle
name. With the intention of becoming a Presbyterian minister.
himself, he accepted the offer of their educational society to at
tend college. He entered Franklin College (afterwards the State
University) in 1828, and graduated therefrom in 1832 with the
first honors. Having determined not to become a minister, he
subsequently taught school, earned the money, and repaid the in
debtedness for his education. On July 22, 1834, he was admitted
to the bar. In 1836 was elected to the State Legislature, after
bitter opposition because of his fight against nullification. This
opposition was repeated until 1841, when he declined reelection.
As a member, he favored liberal appropriations for railroads in
his State, and, by his advocacy, a charter for the female college
at Macon, Ga., was secured, the first in the world for the regular
graduation of young women in the classics and sciences; was
a delegate to the Charleston Commercial Convention of 1839;
was elected to Congress in 1843, on a general State ticket, but
supported an act requiring the States to be divided into Congres
sional districts. He remained in Congress for sixteen years. In
1838-39 he favored the annexation of Texas by resolution of Con
gress, but opposed President Tyler's treaty of 1844, and also op
posed Mr. Polk's Mexican War policy. In 1848, in a personal
-difficulty with Judge Cone, in Atlanta, growing out of a political
(J73)

174 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
dispute, he was severely cut in the right hand. He supported
General Taylor for President in 1848. In 1850, he opposed seces
sion, and wrote what was called the "Georgia Platform," which
declared "the American Union secondary in importance only to*
the rights and principles it was designed to perpetuate." He de
clined to support General Scott for President in 1852, but, with
a few other prominent Whigs, voted for Mr. Webster after he
was dead. In 1854, he defended "Popular Sovereignty,'' as for
mulated by Mr. Douglas in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He aided
in electing President Buchanan in 1856, although he had formerly
opposed him, and during his term of office he placed himself in
antagonism to his administration. He resigned his seat in Con
gress in 1859, and in i860 supported Mr. Douglas for President.
He did not regard the election of Mr. Lincoln of itself a justi
fication for secession, and on November 14, i860, made a Union
speech which attracted attention throughout the country. He was
elected a member of the Georgia Convention of 1861, and sought
to delay the passage of the Secession Ordinance. His objections
were to the expediency of immediate secession and not at all to the
right of his State to withdraw from the Union. When the State
Convention of Georgia adopted the Ordinance of Secession, how
ever, he at once yielded obedience and was chosen a delegate to
the Provisional Congress which had been appointed to assemble
at Montgomery, Ala., by which he was chosen Vice President of
the Provisional Government of the Confederate States. He was
sent as a commissioner on behalf of the Confederacy to treat with
Virginia on the subject of her union with the Confederacy and to
negotiate and advise with her. He assisted earnestly in framing
the Constitution for the new Government, and believed it was a
great improvement on the Constitution of the United States. He
said of it that "the whole document utterly negatives the idea which
so many have been active in endeavoring to put in the enduring
form of history, that the convention at Montgomery was nothing
but a set of 'conspirators' whose object was the overthrow of the
principles of the Constitution of the United States and the erection
of a great 'Slave Oligarchy' instead of the free institutions there
by secured and guaranteed. This work of the Montgomery Con
vention, with that of the Constitution for a Provisional Govern
ment, will ever remain not only as a monument of the wisdom.

Alexander H. Stephens. 175
foresight, and statesmanship of the men who constituted it, but
an everlasting refutation of the charges which have been brought
against them. These works together show clearly that their only
leading object was to sustain, uphold, and perpetuate the funda
mental principles of the Constitution of the United States." He
favored the "peace policy" which was manifested by the sending
of commissioners by the Confederacy to Washington in 1861, and
said he was astonished at the treatment they received there,
and charged Mr. Seward with duplicity in dealing with them.
At the election in November, 1861, he was chosen by a unani
mous vote Vice President of the Confederate States, on the ticket
with President Davis; was inaugurated on February 22, 1862,
and filled this position throughout the life of the Confederacy.
He was called upon and made numerous addresses to the people
at critical periods during the war, in all of which he characterized
the invasion of the South as an unjust war for conquest and sub
jugation. In a speech delivered during the second year of the war, he said :
"The States south had done nothing but what was their right —
their inalienable right to do, the same as their ancestors did, in
common with the North, when they severed their connection with
the British Government. This war was waged by the North in
denial of this right, and for the purpose of conquest and subjuga
tion. It was, therefore, aggressive, wanton, and unjust. Such
must be the judgment of mankind, let its results be what they may.
The responsibility, therefore, for all its sacrifices of treasure and
blood, heretofore or hereafter to be made in its prosecution, rests
not upon us. What is all this for? Why this array of armies?
Why this fierce meeting in mortal combat ? What is all this car
nage and slaughter for? Why the prolongation of this conflict?
Why this lamentation and mourning going up from almost every
house and family from Maine to the Rio Grande, and from the
Atlantic and Gulf to the Lakes, for friends and dear ones who have
fallen by disease and violence in this unparalleled struggle? The
question, if replied to by the North, can have but one true answer.
What is all this for, on their part, but to overturn the principle
upon which their own Government, as well as ours, is based —
to reverse the doctrine that governments derive 'their just powers
from the consent of the governed ?' What is it for but to overturn

176 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the principles and practice of their own Government from the
beginning? That Government was founded and based Uf>on the
political axiom that all States and peoples have the inalienable right
to change their forms of government at will. This principle was
acted on in the recognition by the United States of the South
American republics. It was the principle acted on in the recogni
tion of Mexico. It was acted on in the struggle of Greece to over
throw the Ottoman rule. On that question, the great constitutional
expounder of the North, Mr. Webster, gained his first laurels as
an American statesman. This principle was acted on in the recog
nition of the Government of Louis Philippe, on the overthrow
of Charles X. of France ; and again in the recognition of the La-
martine Government, on the overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848.
The same principle was again acted upon without dissent in 1852,
in the recognition of the Government of Louis Napoleon ; and in
the recognition of Texas, when she seceded, or withdrew, from
the Government of Mexico. Well may any and every one, North
or South, exclaim, What is all this for ? What have we done to the
North? When have we ever wronged them? We quit them, it
is true, as our ancestors and their ancestors quit the British Gov
ernment. We quit as they quit — upon a question of constitution
al right. That question they determined for themselves, and we
have but done the same. What, therefore, is all this for? Why
this war on their part against the uniform principles and practice
of their own Government? It is a war, in short, on their part
against right, against reason, against justice, against nature. If
asked on our side what is all this for, the reply from every honest
breast is that it is for home, for firesides, for our altars, for our
birthrights, for property, for honor, for life — in a word, for every
thing for which freemen should live, and for which all deserving
to be freemen should be willing, if need be, to die."
He opposed earnestly some of the financial measures of the
administration of Mr. Davis during the war, as he also did the
Conscription Act and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus,
but his friendly intercourse with President Davis and Cabinet was
not broken. He said "these differences, however wide and thor
ough as they were, caused no personal break between us," a state
ment concurred in by Mr. Davis. When Mr. Davis was charged
with being guilty of cruel treatment of Northern prisoners of

Alexander H. Stephens. 177
war, Mr. Stephens vigorously defended him and characterized
all such charges as one of "the boldest and baldest attempted out
rages upon the truths of history which has ever been essayed ;
not less so than the infamous attempt to fix upon him and other
high officials on the Confederate side the guilt of Mr. Lincoln's as
sassination." A final effort was made to secure peace by means of
a Commission, in February, 1865, of which Mr. Stephens was the
head, his associates being John A. Campbell and R. M. T. Hunter.
This Commission met Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward in Hampton
Roads, on February 3, and Mr. Stephens was the chief spokes
man. The effort failed, and with the other Confederate com
missioners he returned to Richmond, and subsequently gave a full
statement of his recollections of all that occurred in the Confer
ence. Soon after returning to Richmond, he left for his home,
where he remained in retirement until his arrest, on May 11, 1865.
He was sent as a prisoner to Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, where
he was kept in confinement for five months. In October, he was
released on his own parole. In February, 1866, he was elected
to the Senate of the United States by the Legislature of Georgia,
but was refused his seat by the Senate. In 1867, he published
the first volume of his "War between the States." He was chosen
Professor of Political Science and History in the University of
Georgia in December, 1868; but declined to accept, on account of
failing health. He published the second volume of his "War be
tween the States" in 1870, and later published "A School History
of the United States." In 1871, he taught a law class and became
the editor and part proprietor of a newspaper in Atlanta. He
was a candidate, in November, 1871, for the United States Senate,
but failed of election. In 1874, he was elected to the House of
Representatives, and remained in Congress until 1882, when fie
resigned. The same year, he was elected Governor of his State,
by a majority of more than 60,000 over Gen. L. J. Gartrell, a law
yer and an ex-Confederate officer. His last speech was made at
the Georgia Sesquicentennial Celebration, in Savannah, on Feb
ruary 12, 1883. In personal appearance Mr. Stephens was slen
der and boyish-looking, and his voice was weak and piping. He
was a chronic sufferer from illness, and weighed less than one
hundred pounds. During his last years of service in Congress
he was crippled by a fall and by rheumatism, was compelled
12

1 78 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
to use crutches, and was moved from place to place in a wheel
chair. Notwithstanding his infirmity and great physical weak
ness, his mind and intellect were perfectly clear and keen, and he
was still a vigorous thinker, participating quite prominently in the
debates. He enjoyed in an unusual degree the confidence of both
sides of the House, and always When he spoke, as he was com
pelled to do from- his Invalid ehaif,* the members of either. side
clustered about him in order that they/migHt catch every word
Which fell from his lips. I A- tribute such' as this from his) polit
ical opponents' on the floor of the House of "Representatives was
the more "marked and noticeable when bestowed upon;Mr..Ste-:
phenV because he had been, next to Mr." Davis, the most eonspicu-:
ous officeholder in the Confederacy; and at that time the bitterness
engendered by the Civil War was still very pronounced; in that
body. He died while still in the office of Governor, on March '4;
1883, and was buried at Atlanta.

First Congress.

First Congress.
FIRST SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., FEBRUARY l8, 1862. ADJOURNED
APRIL 21, l862.
INAUGURATION OF JEFFERSON DAVIS
AT
RICHMOND, VA., FEBRUARY 22, 1862.
Programme.
I. Col. Charles Dimmock to be Chief Marshal, assisted by four
aids. II. The Senate and House of Representatives will meet in their
respective halls at half-past eleven o'clock a.m., and then, with
their respective officers, repair to the hall of the House of Dele
gates of Virginia, which has been kindly tendered by the House
of Delegates.
III. The President and Vice President-elect will be conducted
to the hall by the Joint Committee of Arrangements at a quarter
to twelve o'clock, and be received by the assembly standing.
IV. The President of the Senate will occupy the seat on the
right of the President-elect ; the Vice President-elect that on the
left of the President, and the Speaker of the House that on the
left of the Vice President.
V. Invitations are extended to the following persons and bodies,
to wit: Members of the Cabinet, who will be seated on the right
and left of the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House;
the Governor of Virginia and his staff, the Governors of any other
of the Confederate States who may be in Richmond, and ex-Govl
Lowe, of Maryland ; the Senate and House of Delegates of Vir
ginia, with their respective officers; the Judges of the Supreme
Court of Virginia, and of the Supreme Court of any other of the
Confederate States who may be in Richmond; the Judge of the
(181)

182 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Confederate District Court at Richmond, and any other Judge of
a Confederate Court who may be in Richmond; the members of
the late Provisional Congress, the officers of the Army and Navy
of the Confederate States who may be in Richmond ; the Mayor
and corporate authorities of the city of Richmond; the reverend
clergy and Masonic and other benevolent societies, and the mem
bers of the Press.
VI. At half-past twelve o'clock the procession will move from
the hall by the eastern door of the Capitol to the statue of Wash
ington, on the public square, by such route as the Chief Marshal
may direct, in the following order, to wit :
I. The Chief Marshal.
2. The band.
3. Six members of the Committee of Arrangements, includ
ing their respective Chairmen.
4. The President elect, attended by the President of the Sen
ate. 5. The Vice President elect, attended by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives. .
6. The members of the Cabinet.
7. The officiating clergyman and the Judge of the Confed
erate Court at Richmond.
8. The Senate of the Confederate States, with its officers, in
columns of fours.
9. The House of Representatives, with its officers, in columns
of fours.
10. The Governors of Virginia and other States, and staffs.
11. The members of the Senate and House of Delegates of
Virginia and their officers.
12. The Judges of the Supreme Court of Virginia and other
States, who may be in the city of Richmond.
13. The officers of the Army and Navy.
14. The reverend clergy.
15. The Mayor and corporate authorities of the city of Rich
mond. 16. The Masons and other benevolent societies.
17. Members of the Press.
18. Citizens generally.
Seats will be provided by the Chief Marshal for the Governors

Inaugural Address. 183
of States, the Judges, and, as far as practicable, for the other

guests.

The invited guests are requested to present themselves at the
door of the hall in the order above indicated.
At the statue of Washington the President elect, the Vice Pres
ident elect, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, the officiating clergyman, Confederate Judge,
Governors of States, Judges of the Supreme Courts of States, the
Chief Marshal and his aids, and six of the Committee of Arrange
ments will take position on the platform. Prayer will then be
offered by the Right Rev. Bishop Johns.
The inaugural address will then be delivered, after which the
oath will be administered to the President by the Confederate
Judge, in Richmond, the Hon. J. D. Halyburton, and the result
will be announced by the President of the Senate.
The oath will then be administered to the Vice President by the
President of the Senate, who will also announce the result.
The several legislative bodies will then return to their respec
tive halls, and the President and Vice President will then be es
corted to their respective homes by the Committee of Arrange
ments.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. February 22, 1862.
Fellow-Citizens: On this the birthday of the man most identified
with the establishment of American independence, and beneath
the monument erected to commemorate his heroic virtues and
those of his compatriots, we have assembled to usher into ex
istence the Permanent Government of the Confederate States.
Through this instrumentality, under the favor of Divine Provi
dence, we hope to perpetuate the principles of our revolutionary
fathers. The day, the- memory, and the purpose seem fitly asso
ciated. It is with mingled feelings of humility and pride that I appear
to take, in the presence of the people and. before high Heaven, the

184 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
oath prescribed as a qualification for the exalted station to which
the unanimous voice of the people has called me. Deeply sensible
of all that is implied by this manifestation of the people's con
fidence, I am yet more profoundly impressed by the vast responsi
bility of the office, and humbly feel my own unworthiness.
In return for their kindness I can offer assurances of the grati
tude with which it is received ; and can but pledge a zealous devo
tion of every faculty to the service of those who have chosen me as
their Chief Magistrate.
When a long course of class legislation, directed not to the gen
eral welfare, but to the aggrandizement of the Northern section
of the Union, culminated in a warfare on the domestic institu
tions of the Southern States — when the dogmas of a sectional
party, substituted for the provisions of the constitutional com
pact, threatened to destroy the sovereign "rights of the States, six
of those States, withdrawing from the Union, confederated to
gether to exercise the right and perform the duty of instituting a
Government which would better secure the liberties for the preser
vation of which that Union was established.
Whatever of hope some may have entertained that a returning
sense of justice would remove the danger with which our rights
were threatened, and render it possible to preserve the Union of
the Constitution, must have been dispelled by the malignity and
barbarity of the Northern States in the prosecution of the existing
war. The confidence of the most hopeful among us must have
been destroyed by the disregard they have recently exhibited for
all the time-honored bulwarks of civil and religious liberty. Bas-
tiles filled with prisoners, arrested without civil process or in
dictment duly found ; the writ of habeas corpus suspended by Ex
ecutive mandate ; a State Legislature controlled by the imprison
ment of members whose avowed principles suggested to the Fed
eral Executive that there might be another added to the list of se
ceded States; elections held under threats of a military power;
civil officers, peaceful citizens, and gentlewomen incarcerated for
opinion's sake — proclaimed the incapacity of our late associates to
administer a Government as free, liberal, and humane as that~es-
tablished for our common use.
For proof of the sincerity of our purpose to maintain our an
cient institutions, we may point to the Constitution of the Confed-

Inaugural Address. 185
eracy and the laws enacted under it, as well as to the fact that
through all the necessities of an unequal struggle there has been
no act on our part to impair personal liberty or the freedom of
speech, of thought, or of the press. The courts have been open,
the judicial functions fully executed, and every right of the peace
ful citizen maintained as securely as if a war of invasion had not
disturbed the land.
The people of the States now confederated became convinced
that the Government of the United States had fallen into the
hands of a sectional majority, who would pervert that most sacred
of all trusts to the destruction of the rights which it was pledged
to protect. They believed that to remain longer in the Union
would subject them to a continuance of a disparaging discrimina
tion, submission to which would be inconsistent with their wel
fare, and intolerable to a proud people. They therefore determined
to sever its bonds and establish a new Confederacy for themselves.
The experiment instituted by our revolutionary fathers, of a
voluntary Union of sovereign States for purposes specified in a
solemn compact, had been perverted by those who, feeling power
and forgetting right, were determined to respect no law but their
own will. The Government had ceased to answer the ends for
which it was ordained and established. To save ourselves from
a revolution which, in its silent but rapid progress, was about to
place us under the despotism of numbers, and to preserve in spirit,
as well as in form, a system of government we believed to be pe
culiarly fitted to our condition, and full of promise for mankind,
we determined to make a new association, composed of States
homogeneous in interest, in policy, and in feeling.
True to our traditions of peace and our love of justice, we sent
commissioners to the United States to propose a fair and amicable
settlement of all questions of public debt or property which might
be in dispute. But the Government at Washington, denying our
right to self-government, refused even to listen to any proposals
for a peaceful separation. Nothing was then left to do but to pre
pare for war. j
The first year in our history has been the most eventful in the
annals of this continent. A new Government has been established,
and its machinery put in operation over an area exceeding seven
hundred thousand square miles. The great principles upon which

1 86 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
we have been willing to hazard everything that is dear to man
have made conquests for us which could never have been achieved
by the sword. Our Confederacy has grown from six to thirteen
States ; and Maryland, already united to us by hallowed memories
and material interests, will, I believe, when able to speak with
unstifled voice, connect her destiny with the South. Our people
have rallied with unexampled unanimity to the support of the
great principles of constitutional government, with firm resolve
to perpetuate by arms the right which they could not peacefully
secure. A million of men, it is estimated, are now standing in
hostile array, and waging war along a frontier of- thousands of
miles. Battles have been fought, sieges have been conducted, and,
although the contest is not ended, and the tide for the moment is
againstus, the final result in our favor is not doubtful.
The period is near at hand when our foes must sink under the
immense load of debt which they have incurred, a debt which in
their effort to subjugate us has already attained such fearful di
mensions as will subject them to burdens which must continue to
oppress them for generations to come.
We too have had our trials and difficulties. That we are to
escape them in future is not to be hoped. It was to be expected
when we entered upon this war that it would expose our people to
sacrifices and cost them much, both of money and blood. But we
knew the value of the object for which we struggled, and under
stood the nature of the war in which we were engaged. Nothing
could be so bad as failure, and any sacrifice would be cheap as the
price of success in such a contest.
. But the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. This great
strife has awakened in the people the highest emotions and qual
ities of the human soul. It is cultivating feelings of patriotism,
virtue, and courage. Instances of self-sacrifice and of generous
devotion to the noble cause for which we are contending are rife
throughout the land. Never has a people evinced a more de
termined spirit than that now animating men, women, and chil
dren in every part of our country. Upon the first call the men flew
to arms, and wives and mothers send their husbands and sons to
battle without a murmur of regret.
It was, perhaps, in the ordination of Providence that we were

Inaugural A ddress . 187
to be taught the value of. our liberties by the price which we pay
for them.
The recollections of this great contest, with all its common tra
ditions of glory, of sacrifice and blood, will be the bond of har
mony and enduring affection amongst the people, producing unity
in policy, fraternity in sentiment, and just effort in war.
Nor have the material sacrifices of the past year been made
without some corresponding benefits. If the acquiescence of for
eign nations in a pretended blockade has deprived us of our com
merce with them, it is fast making us a self-supporting and an in
dependent people. The blockade, if effectual and permanent,
could only serve to divert our industry from the production of ar
ticles for export and employ it in supplying commodities for do
mestic use.
It is a satisfaction that we have maintained the war by our un
aided exertions. We have neither asked nor received assistance
from any quarter. Yet the interest involved is not wholly our
own. The world at large is concerned in opening our markets to
its commerce. When the independence of the Confederate States
is recognized by the nations of the earth, and we are free to follow
our interests and inclinations by cultivating foreign trade, the
Southern States will offer to manufacturing nations the most fa
vorable markets which ever invited their commerce. Cotton,
sugar, rice, tobacco, provisions, timber, and naval stores will
furnish attractive exchanges. Nor would the constancy of these
supplies be likely to be disturbed by war. Our confederate
strength will be too great to tempt aggression ; and never was
there a people whose interests and principles committed them so
fully to a peaceful policy as those of the Confederate States. By
the character of their productions they are too deeply interested
in foreign commerce wantonly to disturb it. War of conquest
they cannot wage, because the Constitution of their Confederacy
admits of no coerced association. Civil war there cannot be be
tween Stales held together by their volition only. The rule of
voluntary association, which cannot fail to be conservative, by
securing just and impartial government at home, does not dimin
ish the security of the obligations by which the Confederate States
may be bound to foreign nations. In proof of this, it is to be re
membered that, at the first moment of asserting their right to se-

188 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
cession, these States proposed a settlement on the basis of the com
mon liability for the obligations of the General Government.
Fellow-citizens, after the struggle of ages had consecrated the
right of the Englishman to constitutional representative govern
ment, our colonial ancestors were forced to vindicate that birth
right by an appeal to arms. Success crowned their efforts, and
they provided for their posterity a peaceful remedy against future
aggression. The tyranny of an unbridled majority, the most odious and
least responsible form of despotism, has denied us both the right
and the remedy. Therefore we are in arms to renew such sacri
fices as our fathers made to the holy cause of constitutional lib
erty. At the darkest hour of our struggle the Provisional gives-
place to the Permanent Government. After a series of successes
and victories, which covered our arms with glory, we have re
cently met with serious disasters. But in the heart of a people
resolved to be free these disasters tend but to stimulate to in
creased resistance.
To show ourselves worthy of the inheritance bequeathed to us
by the patriots of the Revolution, we must emulate that heroic de
votion which made reverse to them but the crucible in which their
patriotism was refined.
With confidence in the wisdom and virtue of those who will-
share with me the responsibility and aid me in the conduct of pub
lic affairs ; securely relying on the patriotism and courage of the
people, of which the present war has furnished so many examples,.
I deeply feel the weight of the responsibilities I now, with un
affected diffidence, am about to assume ; and, fully realizing the
inequality of human power to guide and to sustain, my hope is
reverently fixed on Him whose favor is ever vouchsafed to the
cause which is just. With humble gratitude and adoration, ac
knowledging the Providence which has so visibly protected the
Confederacy during its brief but eventful career, to thee, O God,.
I trustingly commit myself, and prayerfully invoke thy blessing on
my country and its cause.

First Congress. 189
MESSAGES. February 25, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
In obedience to the constitutional provision requiring the Pres
ident from time to time to give to the Congress information of the
state of the Confederacy and recommend to their consideration
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient, I have
to communicate that since my message at the last session of the
Provisional Congress events have demonstrated that the Govern
ment had attempted more than it had power successfully to
achieve. Hence, in the effort to protect by our arms the whole
of the territory of the Confederate States, seaboard and inland,
we have been so exposed as recently to encounter serious dis
asters. When the Confederacy was formed the States composing
it were, by the peculiar character of their pursuits and a mis
placed confidence in their former associates, to a great extent
destitute of the means for the prosecution of the war on so gi
gantic a scale as that which it has attained. The workshops and
artisans were mainly to be found in the Northern States, and one
of the first duties which devolved upon this Government was to
establish the necessary manufactories, and in the meantime to ob
tain by purchase from abroad, as far as practicable, whatever was
required for the public defense. No effort has been spared to ef
fect both these ends ; and though the results have not equaled our
liopes, it is believed that an impartial judgment will, upon full
investigation, award to the various Departments of the Govern
ment credit for having done all which human power and fore
sight enabled them to accomplish. The valor and devotion of the
people have not only sustained the efforts of the Government but
have gone far to supply its deficiencies.
The active state of military preparation among the nations of
Europe in April last, the date when our agents first went abroad,
interposed unavoidable delays in the procurement of arms, and
the want of a navy has greatly impeded our efforts to import
military supplies of all sorts. I have hoped for several days to
receive official reports in relation to our discomfiture at Roanoke
Island and the fall of Fort Donelson. They have not yet reached
me, and I am therefore unable to communicate to you such in-

190 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
formation of those events and the consequences resulting from
them as would enable me to make recommendations founded upon
the changed, conditions which they have produced.. Enough is
known "of the" surrender at RoanokeVlsTaM 'to-make-us -feel that
it was-; deeply humiliatirigr. however imperfect -may: have been "the
preparations for defense. '-The hope ¦ is cstill entertained that our
reported losses 'at Fort DonelsOn -have been greatly exaggerated,
inasmuch as Tamnot only unwilling but unable to believe that a
large army of bur'pebple have surrendered withoUta desperate ef
fort to cut their way through- investing -forces j -whatever "may have
been their ' numbers; and to - endeavor to : make "a- - j unet-ion - with
other divisions of the army. But in the absence of that exact
information which can only be afforded by official reports it would
be premature to pass judgment, and my own is reserved, as I
trust yours will be, until that information is received. In the
meantime strenuous efforts have been made to throw forward re-
enforcements to the armies at the positions threatened, and I
cannot' doubt" that the bitter -disappointments- we'have' borne, by
•nerving- the people to- still- greater exertions,- will speedily secure
Tesulfs-more accordant with bur-just expectation' arid- as favor
able to bur cause as those' which marked the earlier pefibaVof the
war.- The reports of the i Secretaries of ;War ami ; the "Navy will
exhibit the mass of resources for the conduct of the war which
"we have beeri- enabled to accumulate 1 -notwithstanding'' the; very
serious- difficulties against w^ich we have contended.; They at-
fordthe' cheering hope that our resources, limited as they were
at the beginning of the contest, will during its progress become
developed to such an extent as fully to meet our future wants.
The policy of enlistment for short terms, against which I have
steadily contended from the commencement of the war, has, in my
judgment, contributed in no 'immaterial; degree to the. "recent re
verses" which 'we have suffered", arid " even ;n'o"w renders" it ' difficult
to furnish you an accurate starementJof the Army. ' ;Wheri the
war first :bfbke out many -of pur people C^uTd" wifh'.'difficulty be
persuaded that it would be long or" Seriotf.s. ; It was not deemed
possible; that anything so' insane as a. persistent attempt' to sub ju
gate these States could be made, Still less that the" delusion. would
so far prevail as to give to the war the vast proportions which it
has assumed. The people, incredulous of a long war, were natu-

First Congress. ,191
rally averse to long enlistments, and the early legislation of Con
gress rendered it impracticable to obtain volunteers for a greater
period than twelve months. , Now- that it has become probable
; that the war will be continued througboa. series of years, our high-
:sf)tritedt- aud -gallant soldiers, ..while generally Eeenlistmg, are,
ir^m^the/fact of haying entered the service for a short term, com-
;pdledjn many instances to .go ;hOrrie to make "the necessary ar
rangements > for their families -.during their -prolonged .absence.
The quotas of new regiments for the war, called for from the
.¦different .States, are in' rapid, progress, .of i organization,: The
-whole.. body, of new levies and 'reenlistectjrnen- will probably be
.ready in the ranks within the next.thirty.;days,,b"ut in the mean
time it is exceedingly difficult to give an accurate, statement of the
number of our forces in the field. They may, in general terms,
¦be stated at 400 regiments of infantry, with a proportionate force
,of cavalry and artillery, the details of .which will be shown -by the
.report of the Secretary of War. I deem it proper to advert to
'the fact that the process, of furloughs and.reehlistment in progress
-for ;the last month had ^o far "^disorganized: and 1 weakened our
forces as to impair. our ability for successful defense,. but I hearti-
<ly. congratulate yen. tha„t -this evil,; which Irhad foreseen, and was
.powerless to prevent,..may now be '.said .to be substantially at an
en'd, a.ndi that .we -..shall not again durirtg:j'he.:wgr;.be exposed to
seeing our strength diminished by this- fruitful cause of disaster-
short enlistments. - ;-.• , -.. _- ':-t ----- .
The people of the Confederate States, being principally en
gaged in agricultural pursuits, were unprovided at the commence
ment of -hostilities with ships, shipyards, materials for ship-
jbrnidin^. or skilled mechanics and seamem in sufficient numbers
-to make the prompt creation of a navy a- practicable task, even if
the required appropriations had been made i or the purpose. Not
withstanding our very limited resources, however, the report of
the Secretary will exhibit to you a satisfactory progress in prepa
ration, and a certainty of early completion of vessels of a number
and- class on which we may confidently ; rely ' for contesting the
"yauhted corftrbl of the erierny over our waters. ^ ; z "/ r'
:'J The'7 financial system' devised by the" wisdom of your prede
cessors has"prbved adequate to supplying ^ all the wants of the
Government, notwithstanding the unexpected and very large in-

192 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
crease of expenditures resulting from the great augmentation in
the necessary means of defense. The report of the Secretary of
the Treasury will exhibit the gratifying fact that we have no float
ing debt; that the credit of the Government is unimpaired, and
that the total expenditure of the Government for the year has
been in round numbers $170,000,000 — less than one-third of the
sum wasted by the enemy in his vain effort to conquer us; less
than the value of a single article of export, the cotton crop, of
the year.
The report of the Postmaster General will show the condition
of that Department to be steadily improving, its revenues in
creasing, and already affording the assurance that it will be self-
sustaining at the date required by the Constitution, while afford
ing ample mail facilities for the people.
In the Department of Justice, which includes the Patent Office
and public printing, some legislative provisions will be required,
which will be specifically stated in the report of the head of that
Department. I invite the attention of Congress to the duty of
organizing a Supreme Court of the Confederate States, in ac
cordance with the mandate of the Constitution.
I refer you to my message* communicated to the Provisional
Congress in November last for such further information touch
ing the condition of public affairs as it might be useful to lay be
fore you, the short interval which has since elapsed not having
produced any material changes in that condition other than those
to which reference has already been made.
In conclusion I cordially welcome Representatives wno, recent
ly chosen by the people, are fully imbued with their views and
feelings, and can so ably advise me as to the needful provisions
for the public service. I assure you of my hearty cooperation in
all your efforts for the common welfare of the country.
Jefferson Davis.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In response to the resolution of the House of Representatives,
requesting the President to furnish the report of Col. Walter H.
Jenifer of the battle of Leesburg, I have to state that a copy of
General Evans's report of that battle, with all the accompanying
*Page 136.

First Congress. 193
papers, including the report of Col. Walter H. Jenifer, was sent
with the report of the Secretary of War in December last to the
Congress, and it is supposed that the notice of this fact will be
accepted by you as a satisfactory compliance with the resolution
above described. Jefferson Davis.
[Received March 1, 1862.]
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In response to the resolution of the House of Representatives
of the 19th inst., asking for "the report of Major General Thomas
J. Jackson respecting the recent operations of the division under
his command in the Valley District of Va. :"
Also, "the report of Col. George Lay, Inspector General of the
Department of Northern Virginia, as to the condition of the com
mand in the Valley District:"
I have to state that upon an examination of the files of the War
Department, it appears that no such report from Major General
Jackson as that called for has reached that Department, and that
the report of Col. Lay was made without actual inspection on his
part of the army at Romney, then under the immediate command
of General Loring, and only gives, in relation to it, such informa
tion as he received from officers at Winchester.
The usual and generally necessary practice is to consider in
spection reports as confidential. It would frequently happen
that the publication of such reports would needlessly wound the
feelings of officers and would promote discord and heartburnings
among the troops.
The present instance forms no exception to the general rule,
and it is believed that the public interest would receive detriment
from the communication of the report which is called for. Justice
to the parties concerned would require that much more should be
communicated than the report, if it were submitted. Jefferson Davis.
[Received March 1, 1862.]
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit the report of the Secretary of the Navy,
which I recommend be considered in secret session.
Jefferson Davis.
. [Received March 1, 1862.]
*3

194 Messages and Pafers of the Confederacy.
Executive Department, March 3, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit the report of the Department of Justice.
Jefferson Davis.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit the report of the Secretary of War, with
'accompanying documents, inviting attention to the facts therein
presented, and commending the recommendation to your favor
able consideration. Jefferson Davis.
[Received March 4, 1862.] Richmond, March 4, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In response to the resolution of the House of yesterday, calling
on the President to communicate "what additional means in
money, men, arms, and munitions of war are in his judgment nec
essary, or may be within the present year, for the public service,
including operations on land and water," I have to reply that the
military forces, whether land or naval, which will be required
must depend upon the operations of the enemy and upon con
tingencies which cannot be foreseen. Taking our present con
dition as the basis of the calculation, it may be stated in general
terms that bur land forces should be increased by the addition of,
say, 300,000 men in the field and those for whom call has already
been made; that the Navy should be increased by a number of
vessels suited to river and harbor defense, say, fifty iron-clad pro
pellers, and a fleet of, say, ten of the most formidable war vessels
to protect our commerce upon the high seas, with the requisite
armaments and crews. For this additional force, land and naval,
there would be required, say, 750,000 small arms of all kinds, and
of siege, and field, and seacoast artillery, say, 5,000 guns; of
powder, say, 5,000 tons in addition to that which can be made
within the limits of the Confederacy. The manufacture of pro
jectiles could, it is believed, be carried to the requisite extent in
our own foundries, at a cost which must be measured by the num
ber of guns actively employed. For further details I refer to the
accompanying reports of the Secretaries of War and Navy. The

First Congress. 195
amount of money which will be required will depend upon the
extent to which the articles needed may be obtained, and as I can
not hope to get more than a small part of that which a reply to the
resolution required me to enumerate, I have not attempted to con
vert the articles into their probable money value. Estimates have
been prepared and will be laid before the Congress showing the
appropriations which it is' deemed proper to ask, in view of the
public wants and the possibility to supply them, as well as of the
condition of the finances of the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit to Congress the report of the Postmaster
General, and invite attention to the recommendation contained
therein. . Jefferson Davis.
March 5, 1862.-
Executive Department, March 6, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, in
answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th
inst., which I referred to the Department for the information
therein contained, or for copies of the reports called for if they
had been received. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, Richmond, March 7, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I transmit herewith a report* from the Secretary of the Navy,
ad interim, in answer to a resolution of the House of Representa
tives of the 6th instant. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, Richmond, March 7, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, ad
interim, in answer to a resolution of the House of Representa
tives of the 6th inst. Jefferson Davis.
*Relating to certain foreign (French) vessels in Chesapeake Bay, and
whether these vessels are probably here for the purpose of exporting cot
ton or tobacco from the Confederate States.

196 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive Department, Richmond, March 8, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I transmit herewith a report and accompanying papers from
the Secretary of State, ad interim, in answer to a resolution* of
the Senate of the 3d instant. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, March 10, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: Annexed I submit a letter from the Secretary of the Navy
indicating a plan for the further defense of the Bay of Mobile
and the Alabama River, asking for an appropriation to carry it
into execution.
The general purpose and means proposed are similar to those
authorized by an act of the Provisional Congress for the better
defense of the Mississippi River.
I commend the proposition to the favorable consideration of
Congress and would suggest, if it be adopted, that the disburse
ment of the money be made in the manner provided for appro
priations for the Navy. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, March 11, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I transmit herewith copies of such official reports as have been
received at the War Department of the defense and fall of Fort
Donelson. They will be found incomplete and unsatisfactory. In
structions have been given to furnish further information upon
the several points not made intelligible by the reports. It is not
stated that reenforcements were at any time asked for; nor is it
demonstrated to have been impossible to have saved the army by
evacuating the position; nor is it known by what means it was
found practicable to withdraw a part of the garrison, leaving the
remainder to surrender; nor upon what authority or principle of
action the senior Generals abandoned responsibility, by trans
ferring the command to a junior officer.
In a former communication to Congress I presented the pro
priety of a suspension of judgment in relation to the disaster at
*Requesting the President to communicate to Congress copies 'of all cor
respondence with Confederate commissioners abroad.

First Congress. 197
Fort Donelson, until official reports could be received. I regret
that the information now furnished is so defective. In the mean
time, hopeful that satisfactory explanation may be made, I have
directed, upon the exhibition of the case as presented by the two
senior Generals,* that they should be relieved from command to
await further orders whenever a reliable judgment can be ren
dered on the merits of the case. Jefferson Davis.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a letterf of the Secretary of the Navy, of
this date, covering the official report of the naval engagement
between the James River squadron and the enemy's fleet, in
Hampton Roads, on the 8th instant.
The officers and men of our Navy, engaged in this brilliant
affair, deserve well of their country, and are commended to the
consideration of the Congress.
The disparity of the forces engaged did not justify the antici
pation of so great a victory; and it is doubly gratifying that it
has been won upon an element where we were supposed to be
least able to compete with our enemy.
Special attention is called to the perfidious conduct of the enemy
in hoisting on the frigate Congress a white flag, and renewing
fire, from that vessel, under the impunity thus obtained.
Jefferson Davis.
March 11, 1862.

Richmond, March it, 1862.
To the President.
Sir: I have the honor to lay before you the official report of the naval
engagement between the James River squadron, under the command of
Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan, and the enemy's fleet, in Hampton Roads,
on the 8th instant.
Flag Officer Buchanan, in the immediate command of the steam sloop
Virginia, was disabled near the close of the engagement by a painful though
not dangerous wound, and the report is made by the Executive Officer,
upon whom the command devolved, Lieutenant Jones.
The steam sloop Virginia, of ten guns, the Patrick Henry, Commander
Tucker, of six guns, the Jamestown, Lieutenant Commanding Barney, of
two guns, the Raleigh, Lieutenant Commanding Alexander, the Beaufort,
* Floyd and Pillow. + See also page 210.

198 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Lieutenant Commanding Parker, and the Teaser, Lieutenant Commanding
Webb, each of one gun, composed our squadron. With this force of twen
ty-one guns, Flag Officer Buchanan engaged the enemy's fleet, consisting of
the frigate Cumberland of twenty-four guns, the Congress of fifty guns,
the St. Lawrence of fifty guns, and the steam frigates Minnesota and
Roanoke each of forty guns, the enemy's batteries at Newport News, and
several small steamers armed with heavy rifled guns.
The engagement commenced at 3 130 p.m., and at 6 o'clock p.m. he had
sunk the Cumberland, captured and burnt the Congress, disabled and driven
the Minnesota ashore, and defeated the St. Lawrence and the Roanoke,
which sought shelter under the guns of Fortress Monroe. Two of the
enemy's small steamers were blown up, and two transport schooners were
captured. The Cumberland went down with all on board, her tops only remaining
above water ; but many of her people were saved by boats from the shore.
The loss of the enemy has not been ascertained. Our loss is very small
but has not been officially communicated.
The flag of the Congress and the sword of the officer commanding at
the time of her surrender are at this Department, together with the flag
and sword of the gunboat Fanny, captured by Flag Officer Lynch, in Oc
tober last; and I submit for your consideration the propriety of providing
for the safe-keeping of these and similar trophies.
To the dashing courage, the patriotism and eminent ability of Flag
Officer Buchanan and the officers and men of his squadron our country is
indebted for this brilliant achievement, which will hold a conspicuous place
among the heroic contests of naval history.
With much respect, your obedient servant, S. R. Mallory,
Secretary of the Navy.

Executive Department, March 12, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I transmit herewith to the Congress the official report of Col.
William B. Taliaferro, of the action at Carrick's Ford, July 13,
1 86 1. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, March 13, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit to the Congress the report* of the Acting
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Jefferson Davis.
*Relating to treaties with Indians.

First Congress. 199
Richmond, March 13, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to the resolution of the 26th ultimo calling for a
statement as to the establishments under contract for the supply
of small arms and of powder, and what means are employed in
furnishing percussion caps, and whether the various manufactur
ing establishments now employed by the Government will be able
to furnish an ample supply of arms, powder, and percussion caps
for the use of our Army, I herewith transmit a report to the Sec
retary of War, which gives such information in relation to the
ability of the establishments employed as, it is hoped, will be sat
isfactory to the Congress. The Government has secured a supply
of sulphur sufficient for any proximate want ; proper charcoal can
be obtained in any requisite quantity, and it only requires an ade
quate supply of saltpeter to insure the manufacture of more
powder than can be profitably used. In addition to the mills now
in active operation a very extensive one has been constructed in
Georgia, which we have not started because the supply of salt
peter did not justify it. Establishments for the manufacture of
small arms are being constructed and developed, but, as was to
have been anticipated, the progress has been slow and the want
of mechanics does not permit us to hope for such extensive re
sults as would satisfy existing necessities. The attention of Con
gress is called to the remarks of the Secretary on the subject of
iron, and a method of increasing its production. For further in
formation reference is made to the tabular statement of the Chief
of Ordnance, which is annexed to the letter of the Secretary of
War. Jeff'n Davis.

Executive Department, March 14, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of
the Treasury with estimates of appropriations required for the
support of the Government from April 1 to November 30, 1862.
The estimates of the various Executive Departments are inclosed,
and it will be seen by the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury
that no estimates for the expenses of the Congress have been re-
ceived Jefferson Davis.

200 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive Department, March 15, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I transmit herewith an official report of the engagement at
Coosaw River,* January 1, 1862. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, March 17, 1862.
To the President of the Senate.
I have appointed Burton N. Harrison, of Mississippi, my Pri
vate Secretary in the place of Robert Josselyn, resigned.
Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, March 18, 1862.
To the Honorable the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary
of War, relative to a resolution of the 14th inst., requesting a copy
of General George B. Crittenden's report of the battle of Fishing
Creek. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, March 18, 1862.
To the Honorable the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, relative to a resolution of the House of Representatives of
the 12th inst., requesting a copy of the report of Major General
Braxton Bragg, of the bombardment of Pensacola on the 22d and
23d of November last. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, March 18, 1862.
To the Honorable the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I herewith inclose a report of the Secretary of War, supple
mentary to a report heretofore made by him to the House of Rep
resentatives, and referred to in that document. Jefferson Davis.
*Port Royal Ferry, S. C.

First Congress. 201
Executive Department, March 19, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of War, supple
mentary to a report heretofore submitted by him, and referred to
in that document. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department,
Richmond, Va., March 20, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Herewith I submit a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, with
an estimate for an appropriation to enable him to purchase or
construct ironclad vessels.
Though it is certainly doubtful whether a change in the present
condition of affairs in Europe will occur which would render it
practicable to effect the object in the manner proposed, it may be
proper to put the Department in a position which will enable it to
take advantage of any opportunity which may be presented for
the rapid increase of that class of vessels which are believed to be
the best suited to coast and harbor defense.
I recommend, therefore, that the appropriation asked for be
granted. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 20, 1862.
To the House of Representatives, Confederate States of America.
In reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
24th ultimo, requesting the President to furnish certain informa
tion in reference to the James River defenses and the defenses of
the city of Richmond, with his own opinion thereon, and to cause
a survey to be made of the Chickahominy and its branches, with
reference to its being occupied as a defensive line, I transmit here
with a communication from the Secretary of War, submitting a
report of Capt. Alfred L. Rives, in charge of the Engineer Bureau,
on the subjects referred to, so far as the information obtained will
admit. The report of Captain Rives states the facts in regard to the
state of the defenses of the James River and the city of Richmond ;
and in the views presented by him I generally concur. It may be

202 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
proper, however, to add something in explanation of the facts
presented, and my own impressions derived from various sources
from time to time. The work at Day's Point possesses but little
value for the defense proper of the James River. It was located
with regard to the protection of Burwell's Bay and the country
above from foraging excursions of the enemy by water, and as a
protection to our own boats in the river. A site somewhat lower
down would have been preferable, according to information ob
tained since the location of the work, but it has thus far fulfilled
its object; and as it has been well constructed, with much labor
and expense, it is probably best not to disturb it except by the ad
dition of a small outwork to command the approaches in its rear,
which, I am told, is being done.
The next position above, defended by the works at Hardy's
Bluff and Mulberry Island, possesses great importance from being
the right flank of General Magruder's chosen defensive line on
the Peninsula, and the lowest point which gives the hope of a
successful protection of the river against the wooden fleets of the
enemy. Ironclad vessels, of which we have not had sufficient ex
perience to form a correct judgment, can pass these works, as the
channel is too wide and deep for obstructions, unless wrought-
iron bolts, now being prepared for trial against the Ericsson bat
tery (Monitor) and others of the same class, prove more effective
than can be reasonably hoped for ; but still the transports necessary
for a formidable expedition ought to be kept back by the batteries
so long as they are held ; and it is thought that they should not be
silenced by a few ironclad vessels operating with a small number
of guns at long range, especially as the battery at Hardy's Bluff
has considerable elevation. Both works are strong against a land
attack. The guns at Jamestown Island will probably be removed
to the position just referred to, as soon as it is fully prepared for
them. The position at Drewry's Bluff, seven or eight miles below Rich
mond, which has intimate relations with the defenses proper of
the city, was chosen to obstruct the river against such vessels as
the Monitor. The work is being rapidly completed. Either Fort
Powhatan or Kennon's Marshes, if found to be the proper po
sitions, will be fortified and obstructed as at Drewry's Bluff to
prevent the ascent of the river by ironclad vessels. Blocking the

First Congress. 203
channel, where sufficiently narrow, by strong lines of obstructions,
filling it with submarine batteries, and flanking the obstructions
by well-protected, batteries of the heaviest guns, seem to offer the
best and speediest chances of protection, with the means at our
disposal, against ironclad floating batteries. The field works for
the defense of Richmond, which are arranged upon the plan of the
detached system, conceded by most military men to be the best,
are completed, with the exception of two on the side of the city,
and one main and two accessory works on the Manchester side.
The unfinished works will be completed as soon as more important
¦ones farther from the city are in a more efficient condition. The
line occupied by these works was chosen to make it as short as
possible, partly from the difficulty of defending a longer line, and
partly from the time, labor, and expense necessary to construct
such a one. It is rather nearer the city than desirable, but the
enemy must remain out of reach of our guns, at least as heavy as
his, until the line is carried, and then the city must fall, whether
the line be near or removed within the limits of a few miles. I
see no advantage in constructing a new line more removed from ¦
the city, unless the Chickahominy be found suited to the system
of dams and overflow, which, I think, from the information in my
possession, is problematical. Should the enemy get near enough
to lay siege to this city, additional works can be thrown up as he
develops his plans and means ; and these, with those already con
structed, can be armed with the guns which would necessarily be
brought back with the troops to defend them. The want of heavy
guns and the requisite carriages has prevented the fortifications
here from being armed with them to any extent, and I do not think
it wise to take them for this purpose from other points where, in
my opinion, they are more needed. Any system of fortification
which could be constructed during the war for the defense of this
city would only serve to gain time. An army which allows itself
to be shut up in a fortified city must finally yield to an enemy su
perior in numbers and munitions of war. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, March 24, 1862.
To the Honorable the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: Inclosed I send for the consideration and action of the
House of Representatives a communication from the Acting Sec-

204 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
retary of War, explaining the appropriations already made of one
{/' million dollars, for the floating defenses of the western waters,
and asking a further appropriation of half a million dollars, to be
used for the same purposes.
I recommend that the money be appropriated as requested.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, March 24, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I herewith transmit for the consideration of the House of
Representatives a communication from the Secretary of the Navy,
with accompanying papers* which afford the information sought
by the resolution of the House of Representatives on the 17th
inst. I also suggest that these papers be regarded confidential and be
considered in secret session. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, Va., March 25, 1862.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
In answer to your resolution of the 21st instant, calling upon-
the. President for information in regard to the protection of our
principal cities from iron-plated vessels by means of obstructions
and submarine batteries, and whether any additional appropria
tions are needed for these objects, I have to state generally that
the channels of approach to our principal cities have been and are
being obstructed according to the means at hand ; that submarine
batteries have been and are being prepared, and that no additional
appropriations for these objects are considered to be needed.
Until recently the character of the enemy's iron-plated vessels
was not well enough known to arrange obstructions specially for
them, but the same principle obtains and the obstructions already
prepared can be strengthened when necessary. For the want of
insulated wire we are deprived of that class of submarine batteries
exploded at will by electricity, which promises the best results.
?Relating to purchase and construction of ships and munitions of war,
and purchase of vessels abroad.

First Congress. 205
Experiments upon several kinds of such as are exploded by im
pact have been in progress since an early period of the war. These
torpedoes can be rendered harmless by the enemy in most cases
by setting adrift floating bodies to explode them, as is said to have
been done on the Mississippi River, and as they cannot be put in
place so long as all the channels are required for use by our own
boats no great degree of importance is attached to them. They
may serve, however, to gain time by making the enemy more cau
tious ; and most of our seacoast defenses have already received, or
wrill as soon as practicable receive, a certain supply of them.
Jeff'n Davis.

Executive Department, March 25, 1862.
To the Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I herewith transmit for the consideration and action of the
House of Representatives a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy covering "an estimate of an additional appropriation
required for the service of the Navy Department from April 1 to
November 30, 1862."
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the sum and for
the purpose specified. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, March 28, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
The operation of the various laws now in force for raising
armies has exhibited the necessity for reform. The frequent
changes and amendments which have been made have rendered
the system so complicated as to make -it often quite difficult to de
termine what the law really is, and to what extent prior enact
ments are modified by more recent legislation. There is also em
barrassment from conflict between State and Confederate legisla
tion. I am happy to assure you of the entire harmony of purpose
and cordiality of feeling which have continued to exist between
myself and the Executives of the several States ; and it is to this
cause that our success in keeping adequate forces in the field is to
be attributed. These reasons would suffice for inviting your
earnest attention to the necessity of some simple and general sys-

206 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
tern for exercising the power of raising armies, which is vested
in the Congress by the Constitution. But there is another and
more important consideration. The vast preparations made by the
enemy for a combined assault at numerous points on our frontier
and seacoast have produced the result that might have been ex
pected. They have animated the people with a spirit of resistance
so general, so resolute, and so self-sacrificing that it requires rather
to be regulated than to be stimulated. The right of the State to
demand, and the duty of each citizen to render, military service,
need only to be stated to be admitted. It is not, however, wise or
judicious policy to place in active service that portion of the force
of a people which experience has shown to be necessary as a re
serve. Youths under the age of eighteen years require further
instruction ; men of matured experience are needed for maintain- _
ing order and good government at home and in supervising prepa
rations for rendering efficient the armies in the field. These two
classes constitute the proper reserve for home defense, ready to
be called out in case of emergency, and to be kept in the field only
while the emergency exists. But in order to maintain this reserve
intact it is necessary that in a great war like that in which we are
now engaged all persons of intermediate age not legally exempt
for good cause should pay their debt of military service to the
country, that the burdens should not fall exclusively on the most
ardent and patriotic. I therefore recommend the passage of a law
declaring that all persons residing within the Confederate States,.
between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years, and rightfully
subject to military duty, shall be held to be in the military service
of the Confederate States, and that some plain and simple method
be adopted for their prompt enrollment and organization, repeal
ing all the legislation heretofore enacted which would conflict with
the system proposed. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Office, Richmond, March 29, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a report and accompanying tabular state
ment from the Secretary of State, in answer to a resolution of the
House of Representatives of the 26th inst. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 207
Executive Department, April 1, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit the report* of the Secretary of the Navy,
which I recommend be considered in secret session. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, April 1, 1862.
To the Hon. Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a com
munication from the Secretary of War, affording, as far as prac
ticable, the information sought by the "resolution of inquiry
adopted by the House of Representatives in regard to the dis
asters at Forts Henry and Donelson," &c, and replying to the "ad
ditional resolution of the House of Representatives," adopted
March 31, 1862, calling for the official response of General A. S.
Johnston to the interrogatories propounded to him in regard to
those subjects; and also for a copy of the supplementary report
of General Pillow in regard to the affair at Fort Donelson, &c.
Jefferson Davis.
To the Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a com
munication from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering addi
tional estimates for clerks to be employed in the offices of the
Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, and Depositaries of the Confed
erate States, and I recommend that the appropriation be made of
the sums and for the purposes specified. Jefferson Davis.
[Received April 1, 1862.]
To the Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a com
munication from the Secretary of War, in reference to a "resolu
tion of the House/' requesting the President to furnish to the
*In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives re
questing a report on the plan and construction of the Virginia, the reasons
for applying the plan to the Merrimac, and what persons rendered es
pecial aid in designing and building the ship.

208 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
House "a copy of the report of Gen. H. A. Wise, touching the
fall of Roanoke Island, which was made by him to the Secretary
of War, under date of the 21st February, 1862, if not inconsistent
with the public interest." Jefferson Davis. -
[Received April 1, 1862.]

Executive Department, April 1, 1862.
To the Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a com
munication of the Secretary of the Navy, covering information
sought by a resolution of the House requesting the President to
communicate to the House what additional sums of money, if any,
are in his judgment necessary to the Departments of War and
Navy, in order to secure a successful prosecution of the war and
effective defense of the Confederate States during the time for
which Congress at its present session should make provision.
Jefferson Davis.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States
of America.
The great importance of the news first received from Tennes
see induces me to depart from established usage, and to make to
you this communication in advance of official reports.
From telegraphic dispatches received from official sources, I
am able to announce to you with entire confidence that it has
pleased Almighty God to crown the Confederate arms with a
glorious and decisive victory over our invaders.
On the morning of the 6th inst., the converging columns of our
army were combined by its commander in chief, Gen. A. S. John
ston, in an assault on the Federal army, then encamped near
Pittsburg, on the Tennessee River. After a hard-fought battle
of ten hours, the enemy was driven in disorder from his position
and pursued to the Tennessee River, where, under cover of his
gunboats, he was, at the last accounts, endeavoring to effect his
retreat by aid of his transports.
The details of this great battle are yet too few and incomplete
to enable me to distinguish with merited praise all of those who
may have conspicuously earned the right to such distinction ; and

First Congress. 209
I prefer to delay my own gratification in recommending them to
your special notice, rather than incur the risk of wounding the
feelings of any by failing to include them in the list. Where such
a victory has been won over troops as numerous, as well dis
ciplined, armed, and appointed as those which have just been so
signally routed, we may well conclude that one common spirit of
unflinching bravery and devotion to our country's cause must have
animated every breast, from that of the Commanding General to
that of the humblest patriot who served in the ranks.
There is enough in the continued presence of invaders on our
soil to chasten our exultation over this brilliant success, and to
remind us of the grave duty of continued exertion until we shall
extort from a proud and vainglorious enemy the reluctant ac
knowledgment of our right to self-government. But an all-wise
Creator has been pleased, while vouchsafing to us his countenance
in battle, to afflict us with a severe dispensation, to which we must
bow in humble submission. The last lingering hope has disap
peared, and it is but too true that General Albert Sidney Johnston
is no more. The tale of his death is simply narrated in a dispatch
first received from Col. William Preston in the following words :
'"General Johnston fell yesterday at half-past two o'clock, while
leading a successful charge, turning the enemy's right and gaining
a brilliant victory. A Minie ball cut the artery of his leg, but he
rode on till, from loss of blood, he fell exhausted, and died without
pain in a few minutes. His body has been intrusted to me by Gen.
Beauregard, to be taken to New Orleans, and remain until direc
tions are received from his family."
My long and close friendship with this departed chieftain and
patriot forbids me to trust myself in giving vent to the feelings
which this sad intelligence has evoked. Without doing injustice
to the living, it may safely be asserted that our loss is irreparable ;
and that among the shining hosts of the great and the good who
now cluster around the banner of our country, there exists no
purer spirit, no more heroic soul than that of the illustrious man
whose death I join you in lamenting.
In his death he has illustrated the character for which, through
life, he was conspicuous; that of singleness of purpose and de
votion to duty. With his whole energies bent on attaining the
victory which he deemed essential to his country's cause, he rode
14

210 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
on to the accomplishment of his object, forgetful of self, while
his very lifeblood was fast ebbing away. His last breath cheered
his comrades to victory. The last sound he heard was their shout
of triumph. His last thought was his country's, and long and
deeply will his country mourn his loss. Jefferson Davis.
April 8, 1862.

Executive Department, April 10, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit to Congress a communication* from the Sec
retary of the Navy, covering a "detailed report of Flag Officer
Buchanan, of the brilliant triumph of his squadron over the vastly
superior forces of the enemy, in Hampton Roads, on the 8th and
9th of March last." Jefferson Davis.
Confederate States of America, Navy Department,
Richmond, April 7, 1862.
To the President.
Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith copy of the detailed reportt of
Flag Officer Buchanan, of the brilliant triumph of his squadron over the
vastly superior forces of the enemy, in Hampton Roads, on the 8th and
9th of March last, a brief report, by Lieut. Jones, of the battle of the 8th,
having been previously made.
The conduct of the officers and men of the squadron, in this contest,
reflects unfading honor upon themselves and upon the navy. The report
will be read with deep interest, and its details will not fail to rouse the
ardor and nerve the arms of our gallant seamen.
It will be remembered that the Virginia was a novelty, in naval archi
tecture, wholly unlike any ship that ever floated; that her heaviest guns
were equal novelties in ordnance; that her motive power and obedience
to her helm were untried, and her officers and crew strangers, compara
tively, to the ship and to each other ; and yet, under all these disadvantages,
the dashing courage and consummate professional ability of Flag Officer
Buchanan and his associates achieved the most remarkable victory which
naval annals record.
When the Flag Officer was disabled, the command of the Virginia de
volved upon her Executive and Ordnance Officer, Lieut. Catesby Ap R.
Jones, and the cool and masterly manner in which he fought the ship in
her encounter with the ironclad Monitor justified the high estimate which
the country places upon his professional merit.
*See also message of March n, 1862, page 197. + Omitted.

First Congress. 211
To his experience, skill, and untiring industry as her Ordnance and
Executive Officer the terrible effect of her fire was greatly due. Her bat
tery was determined in accordance with his suggestions, and in all in
vestigations and tests, which resulted in its thorough efficiency, he was
zealously engaged.
The terms of commendation used by the Flag Officer in characterizing
the conduct of his officers and men meet the cordial indorsement of the
Department, and the concurrent testimony of thousands who witnessed
|he engagement places his own conduct above all praise.
With much respect, your obedient servant,
S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy.

To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Navy,
submitting a proposition for the construction of. ironclad vessels
in Europe, and commend it to the attention of Congress.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 10, 1862.
[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]

Executive Department, April 11, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit to Congress a report of the Postmaster
General, supplementary to a report previously submitted, and
covering certain documents relative to "frauds perpetrated on the
revenues of the Post Office Department by the Southern Express
Company." I recommend that the suggested alteration of the existing laws
receive the careful attention of Congress. Jefferson Davis

Executive Department, Richmond, April 12, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I nominate Braxton Bragg, of Louisiana, to the rank of General
in the Army of the Confederate States, agreeably to the recom
mendation of the Secretary of War, to take rank from the 6th day
of April, 1862. Jefferson Davis.

212 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, conveying information, so far as practicable, in response to
a resolution of the House of Representatives, requesting the Pres
ident to communicate what steps have been taken to carry out the
act for connecting the Richmond and Danville and the North
Carolina railroads, and for the connection of the railroad from
Selma, in Alabama, to Meridian, in Mississippi. Jefferson Davis.
[Received April 14, 1862.]
Executive Department, April 16, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In compliance with your request for information, expressed in
a resolution of the 14th inst., I herewith transmit a communica
tion from the Secretary of War, covering a copy of the report of
General Branch of the battle of Newbern, North Carolina.
Jefferson Davis.
April 17, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I deem it my duty to call your attention to some practical diffi
culties which will occur in the execution of the law just passed
for the conscription of all persons subject to military duty between
the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years, and to point out some
omissions that it seems wise to supply. First. There are a number
of troops in the service of the several States for which no pro
vision is made. They have been organized for State defense,
which is necessarily the public defense, but are not a part of the
armies of the Confederacy. It would not be politic to break up
these organizations for the purpose of taking out of them such of
the men as are subject to conscription for distribution among other
troops. I suggest that power be granted to the Executive to ac
cept a transfer of such regiments, battalions, squadrons, or com
panies now in the service of the respective States as may be ten
dered by the States, according to any organization consistent with
the Confederate laws. Second. In the tenth section of the bill
there is a seeming conflict between two clauses, one of which re-

First Congress. 213
quires that in all cases elections shall be held to fill the lowest
grade, while another gives power to promote from the ranks to
any vacant office a private who may have distinguished himself
conspicuously. I would be glad to have the intent of Congress on
this point stated in an amendment to the bill. Third. Under the
fourth section of the act of the nth of December, 1861, it was de
clared that all troops revolunteering or reenlisting shall, at the
expiration of their present term of service, have the power to
reorganize themselves into companies and elect their company
officers, and that said companies should have the right to reorgan
ize themselves into battalions or regiments, and elect their field
officers, &c. By the second section of the act just passed, 16th
of April, 1862, it is prohibited to include in the organization of
such new companies and regiments as may be completed within
thirty days "any persons now in the service." It is submitted
whether bare justice to the men who first entered the military
service, and who have again voluntarily enrolled themselves to
serve for the war, does not require that the Government should
carry out the understanding under which they reenlisted, by per
mitting them to serve in organizations more acceptable to them
than those in which they are now embraced. I should regret to
see men now for the first time brought into the service under the
stringency of the law vested with the right of choosing their as
sociation, while the same privilege is denied to those who have dis
tinguished themselves by the alacrity with which they have vol
unteered. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, April 17, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for the information of Congress a commu
nication from the Secretary of the Navy, covering estimates for
the amount required by the Navy Department for specified pur
poses. I recommend that an appropriation be made of the sums and
for the objects mentioned. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, April 17, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of

214 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
War, containing an estimate of additional funds required for the
Ordnance Bureau for the period ending December i, 1862.
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the sums and
for the purposes specified. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, April 18, 1862.
Hon. Thos. S. Bocock, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I transmit herewith Lieut. Commanding Robert B. Pe-
gram's report of the cruise of the Nashville, and certain official
correspondence called for by the resolution of the House of Rep
resentatives of the 15th inst. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, April 18, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for the information of Congress a commu
nication from the Secretary of War, covering "a copy of the official
report of Major General Earl Van Dorn of the battle between
his forces and those of Generals Sigel and Curtis in Arkansas."
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, April 21, 1862.
To the Honorable the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Treasury, covering an estimate of an appropriation required to
carry into effect an act therein mentioned.
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the sum and for
the purposes specified. Jefferson Davis.
April 21, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I deem it proper to inform you that a number of acts passed by
the Congress were presented to me at a very late hour on Saturday
night. I have examined them as carefully as the limited time at
my disposal has permitted, and have returned nearly all of them
with my approval. There are, however, three of them to which
I have objections, which it is impossible to communicate to you in

First Congress. 215
writing within the few remaining hours of the session, and which
will therefore fail to become laws. Happily the acts in question
are not of great public importance. Recognizing, as I do, the
right of Congress to receive the fullest information from the Ex
ecutive on all matters of legislation on which his concurrence is
required by the Constitution, I have considered it more respect
ful to Congress to make this statement of the cause which has
prevented my action on these bills than to retain them without as
signing my reason for so doing. Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES.
Executive Department, March 14, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Not being able to approve, I return with my objections, in ac
cordance with the duty imposed by the Constitution, an act entitled
"An Act to create the office of commanding general of the armies
of the Confederate States." The act creates an office which is to
continue during the pleasure of the President, but the tenure of
office of the general to be appointed is without any other limita
tion than that of the office itself. The purpose of the act, so far
as it creates a military bureau, the head of which, at the seat of
government, tinder direction of the President, shall be charged
with the movement of troops, the supply and discipline of the
Army, 1 fully approve; but, by what I cannot regard otherwise
than as an inadvertence on the part of Congress, the officer so ap
pointed is authorized to take the field at his own discretion and
command any army or armies he may choose, not only without the
direction but even against the will of the President, who could
not consistently with this act prevent such conduct of the gen
eral otherwise than by abolishing his office. To show that the
effect of this act would be highly detrimental to the Army, it
might be enough to say that no general would be content to pre
pare troops for battle, conduct their movements, and share their
privations during a whole campaign if he expected to find him
self superseded at the very moment of action. But there is another
ground which to my mind is conclusive. The Constitution vests
in the Executive the command in chief of the armies of the Con-

216 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
federacy ; that command is totally inconsistent with the existence
of an officer authorized, at his own discretion, to take command of
armies assigned by the President to other generals. The Ex
ecutive could in no just sense be said to be Commander in Chief
if without the power to control the discretion of the general cre
ated by this act. As it cannot have been the intention of Congress
to create the office of a general not bound to obey orders of the
, Chief Magistrate, and as this seems to be the effect of the act, I
can but anticipate the concurrence of the Congress in my opinion
that it should not become a law. Jefferson Davis.
Confederate States of America,
Executive Department, April 19, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith return, without my approval, to the Senate, the
"joint resolution directing how prize money shall be paid in cer
tain cases."
This resolution declares that the share of prize money awarded,
or which may be awarded, to any seaman or marine who is or
may be a prisoner in the hands of the enemy, shall, under the di
rection of the Secretary of the Navy, be paid to the wife of such
seaman or marine during his captivity.
However praiseworthy the motive which prompts to provide
for the wives of our seamen or marines now held in captivity by
the enemy, I do not believe that Congress can, constitutionally,
without the consent of the husband, direct the payment to his
wife of any money now due him. The husband's right to the con
trol and disposition of prize money already awarded him is as ab
solute as that to any other property owned by him. Congress
has no greater power over the prize money due him than over
any other property which he owns. Vested rights cannot be dis
turbed or impaired by legislative authority, except in the very
special cases named in the Constitution. Jefferson Davis.
Confederate States of America,
Executive Department,
Richmond, Va., April 19, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I am constrained by the view which I take of the constitutional

First Congress. 217
powers of Congress, to return, without my approval, a bill to be
entitled "An Act relative to the pay and allowances of deceased
soldiers," originating in the Senate.
The bill in express terms declares and enacts that the pay and
allowances now due to any deceased officer, non-commissioned
officer, musician, private, or other person, for services in the Army
of the Confederate States, shall be paid to the widow of the de
ceased, if living, or to others who may be his heirs, if she be not
living. In other words, Congress, by this act, is making a dis
tribution law to affect a portion of the estates of persons already
deceased. To the several States composing the Confederacy prop
erly belongs the power to pass laws for the administration and
distribution of the estates of deceased persons. I doubt very
much the constitutional power of Congress to pass any law on this
subject, even of a prospective character. But this bill operates
on the past as well as the future. Rights already vested and gov
erned by the law of the State in which the deceased soldier had
his domicile are attempted to be disturbed by the provisions of this
bill. In my judgment, Congress has no such power. The laws
of the United States, which the Confederate States adopted, were
in force here when our soldiers enlisted. These laws in reference
to payment of arrears and effects of deceased soldiers may be re
garded as a part of the contract of such deceased soldier. An ex
amination of these laws will show that such arrears and effects
were to be held and paid to the legal representatives of the de
ceased soldier. Jefferson Davis.

PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
To the People of the Confederate States.
The termination of the Provisional Government offers a fitting
occasion again to present ourselves in humiliation, prayer, and
thanksgiving before that God who has safely conducted us through
our first year of national existence. We have been enabled to

218 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
lay anew the foundations of free government and to repel the ef
forts of our enemies to destroy us. Law has everywhere reigned
supreme, and throughout our widespread limits personal liberty
and private right have been duly honored. A tone of earnest
piety has pervaded our people, and the victories which we have
obtained over our enemies have been justly ascribed to Him who
ruleth the universe.
We had hoped that the year would close upon a scene of con
tinued prosperity, but it has pleased the Supreme Disposer of
events to order it otherwise. We are not permitted to furnish an
exception to the rule of Divine government, which has prescribed
affliction as the discipline of nations as well as of individuals. Our
faith and perseverance must be tested, and the chastening which
seemeth grievous will, if rightly received, bring forth its appro
priate fruit.
It is meet and right, therefore, that we should repair to the
only Giver of all victory, and, humbling ourselves before him,
should pray that he may strengthen our confidence in his mighty
power and righteous judgment. Then may we surely trust in him
that he will perform his promise and encompass us as with a shield.
In this trust, and to this end, I, Jefferson Davis, President of
the Confederate States, do hereby set apart Friday, the 28th day
of February, instant, as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer ;
and I do hereby invite the reverend clergy and people of the Con
federate States to repair to their respective places of public wor
ship to humble themselves before Almighty God, and pray for his
protection and favor to our beloved country, and that we may be
saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.
Given under my hand and seal of the Confederate
. [l. s.] States at Richmond, this 20th day of February, A.D.
1862. Jefferson Davis.
By the President :
William M. Browne, Secretary of State, ad in.

First Congress. 219
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas the Congress of the Confederate States has by law
vested in the President the power to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus in cities in danger of attack by the enemy :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate
States of America, do hereby proclaim that martial law is ex
tended over the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth and the sur
rounding country to the distance of 10 miles from said cities, and
all civil jurisdiction and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
are hereby declared to be suspended within the limits aforesaid.
This proclamation will remain in force until otherwise ordered.
In faith whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at the
city of Richmond, on this twenty-seventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Jefferson Davis.
War Department, Richmond, Va., March 5, 1862.
Maj. Gen. B. Huger, Norfolk, Va.
Sir: Martial law having been declared in Norfolk under the President's
proclamation, he desires me to call your attention to the various measures
which he hopes will at once be vigorously executed:
First. Some leading and reliable citizen to be appointed provost marshal
in Norfolk and another in Portsmouth. In the former city he suggests
the mayor, said to be a zealous friend of our cause.
Second. All arms to be required to be given up by the citizens; private
arms to be paid for.
Third. The whole male population to be enrolled for military service;
all stores and shops to be closed at 12 or 1 o'clock and the whole of the
citizens forced to drill and undergo instructions.
Fourth. The citizens so enrolled to be armed with the arms given up
and with those of infantry now in service at batteries.
Fifth. Send away as rapidly as can be done, without exciting panic, all
women and children and reduce your population to such as can aid in
defense. Sixth. Give notice that all merchandise, cotton, tobacco, etc., not wanted
for military use be sent away within the given time, or it will be destroyed.
Seventh. Imprison all persons against whom there is well-groundad
suspicion of disloyalty.
Eighth. Purchase all supplies in the district that can be made useful
for your army, allowing none to be carried away that you might want in
the event that the city is beleaguered.

220 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
In executing these orders you will of course use your own discretion!
so to act as to avoid creating panic as far as possible.
Your obedient servant, J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of War.

General Orders No. 8.
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, March i, 1862.
I. The following proclamation of the President is published
for the information of all concerned :
A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the sus
pension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in cities
threatened with invasion :
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the city
of Richmond and the adjoining and surrounding country to the
distance of ten miles ; and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil
jurisdiction, with the exception of that of the Mayor of the city,
and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
within the said city and surrounding country to the distance afore
said. In faith whereof, I have hereunto signed my name
, , and set my seal at the city of Richmond, on this first day
of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two. Jefferson Davis.
II. Brigadier General J. H. Winder, commanding Department of Hen
rico, is charged with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation.
He will forthwith establish an efficient military police, and will enforce
the following orders:
All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the
distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquors of any
kind is also prohibited, and the establishments for the sale thereof will
be closed.
III. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such pun
ishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial, provided

First Congress. 221
that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be inflicted
by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed in the 67th
Article of War.
By command of the Secretary of War.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.

General Orders No. 1.
Headquarters Department of Henrico,
Richmond, Va., March 2d, 1862.
I. By virtue of the authority conferred by General Orders No. 8, Ad
jutant and Inspector General's Office, March 1, 1862, Captain A. C. Godwin
is appointed Provost Marshal of the city of Richmond and the adjoining
and surrounding country for the distance of ten miles.
II. All distillation and distribution of spirituous liquors is prohibited
by the proclamation of the President. The Provost Marshal will take im
mediate and effective steps to enforce this order, and all persons found
transgressing, either by the distillation, sale, giving away, or in any man
ner disposing of spirituous liquors, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent
of the law.
III. All persons of every degree, except those in the service of the State
or Confederate States, having arms in their possession, will deliver the
same to the Ordnance Department on or before the 5th of March, 1862,
¦otherwise they will be seized and taken possession of by the Provost
Marshal. All public arms not in the public service will be receipted for,
:and all private arms will be paid for.
By order of Brigadier General John H. Winder, Commanding, etc.
L. R. Page, Assistant Adjutant General.

General Orders No. 11.
War Department,
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, March 8, 1862.
I. The following proclamation is published for the informa
tion of all concerned : A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the sus
pension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in cities
-"threatened with invasion :

222 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the city
of Petersburg and the adjoining and surrounding country to the
distance of ten miles ; and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil
jurisdiction (with the exception of that of the Mayor of the city,
and that enabling the courts to take cognizance of the probate of
wills, the administration of the estates of deceased persons, the
qualifications of guardians, to enter decrees and orders for the par
titioning and sale of property, to make orders concerning roads
and bridges, to assess county levies, and to order the payment of
county dues), and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus within the said city and surrounding country to the
distance aforesaid. In faith whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and
[l. s.] set my seal on the 8th day of March, in the year one thou
sand eight hundred and sixty-two. Jefferson Davis.

II. William Pannill is appointed Provost Marshal, and is chaj-ged with
the due execution of the foregoing proclamation. He will forthwith
establish an efficient military police, and will enforce the following orders :
All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the
distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquor of any
kind is also prohibited, and the establishments for the sale thereof will
be closed.
III. All persons infringing, the above prohibition will suffer such pun
ishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial, provided
that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be inflicted
by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed in the 67th Arti
cle of War.
By command of the Secretary of War.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.

General Orders No. 15.
War Department,
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, March 14, 1862.
I. The following proclamation is published for the information
of all concerned :

First Congress. 223
A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the sus
pension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus:
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the coun
ties of Elizabeth City, York, Warwick, Gloucester, and Mathews
(in Virginia), and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil juris
diction (with the exception of that enabling the courts to take
cognizance of the probate of wills, the administration of the es
tates of deceased persons, the qualification of guardians, to enter
decrees and orders for the partition and sale of property, to make
orders concerning roads and bridges, to assess county levies, and
to order the payment of county dues), and the suspension of the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the counties aforesaid.
In faith whereof I have hereunto signed my name and set myr
seal this 14th day of March, in the year 1862. Jefferson Davis.
II. Major General Magruder, commanding the Army of the Peninsula,
is charged with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation. He will
forthwith establish an efficient military police and will enforce the fol
lowing orders :
III. All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and
the distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquors of
any kind is also prohibited, and establishments for the sale thereof will
be closed.
IV. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such pun
ishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial, provided
that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be in
flicted by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed by the
67th Article of War.
By command of the Secretary of War.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.

General Orders No. 18.
War Department,
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, March 29, 1862.
I. The following proclamation is published for the information
of all concerned :

224 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the sus
pension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus:
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the
counties of Greenbrier, Pocahontas, Bath, Alleghany, Monroe,
Mercer, Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, and Randolph (in Virginia),
and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil jurisdiction (with the
exception of that enabling the courts to take cognizance of the pro
bate of wills, the administration of the estates of deceased persons,
the qualifications of guardians, to enter decrees and orders for the
partition and sale of property, to make orders concerning roads
and bridges, to assess county levies, and to order the payment of
county dues), and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus in the counties aforesaid.
In faith whereof I have hereunto signed my name and
[l. s.] set my seal this 29th day of March, in the year one thou
sand eight hundred and sixty-two. Jefferson Davis.
II. Brigadier General Henry Heth is charged with the due execution
of the foregoing proclamation. He will forthwith establish an efficient
military police, and will enforce the following orders :
All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the
distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale, of spirituous liquors of any
kind is also prohibited, and establishments for the sale thereof will be
closed. III. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such pun
ishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial, provided
that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be in
flicted by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed by the
¦67th Article of War.
By command of the Secretary of War.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.
General Orders No. 21.
War Department,
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, April 8, 1862.
I. The following proclamation is published for the information
of all concerned :

First Congress.- 225
A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the sus
pension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus:
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the De
partment of East Tennessee, under command of Maj. Gen. E. K.
Smith; and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil jurisdiction
( with the exception of that enabling the courts to take cognizance
of the probate of wills, the administration of the estates of de
ceased persons, the qualification of guardians, to enter decrees
and orders, for the partition and sale of property, to make orders
concerning roads and bridges, to assess county levies, and to order
the payment of county dues), and the suspension of the writ of
habeas corpus in the department aforesaid.
In faith whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and
[l. s.] set my seal this eighth day of April, in the year one thou
sand eight hundred and sixty-two. Jefferson Davis.
II. Maj. Gen. E. K. Smith, commanding the Department of East Ten
nessee, is charged with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation.
He will forthwith establish an efficient military police, and will enforce
the following orders :
All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the
distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquors of any
kind is also prohibited, and establishments for the sale thereof will be
closed. III. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such pun
ishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial, provided
that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be in
flicted by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed by the
67th Article of War.
By command of the Secretary of War.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.

General Orders No. 33.
War Department,
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, Va., May 1, 1862.
I. The following proclamation is published for the information
of all concerned: *5

226 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me to declare the suspension
of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus:
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over that part
of the State of South Carolina from the Santee River to the
South Edisto River in that State, under the command of Major
'General Pemberton; and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil
jurisdiction (with the exception of that enabling the courts to
take cognizance of the probate of wills, the administration of the
estates of deceased persons, the qualification of guardians, to en
ter decrees and orders for the partition and sale of property, to
make orders concerning roads and bridges, to assess county lev
ies, and to order the payment of county dues) , and the suspen
sion of the writ of habeas corpus in the country aforesaid.
In faith whereof I have hereunto signed my name and set my
seal this first day of May, in the year one thousand eight hun
dred and sixty-two. Jefferson Davis.
II. Maj. Gen. J. C. Pemberton, commanding the Department of South
Carolina and Georgia, is charged with the due execution of the foregoing
proclamation. He will forthwith establish an efficient military police,
and will enforce the following orders :
All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the
distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquors of any
kind is also prohibited, and establishments for the sale thereof will be
closed. III. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such pun
ishment as shall be ordered by the .sentence of a court-martial; provided
that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be in
flicted by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed by the
67th Article of War.
By command of the Secretary of War.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.
General Orders No. 19.
War Department,
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, Va., May 3, 1862.
I. The following proclamation is published for the information
of all concerned :

First Congress. 227
A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the sus
pension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus:
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the
counties of Lee, Wise, Buchanan, McDowell, and Wyoming (in
Virginia), under the command of Brig. Gen. Humphrey Mar
shall; and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil jurisdiction
(wifh the exception of that enabling the courts to take cognizance
of the probate of wills, the administration of estates of deceased
persons, the qualification of guardians, to enter decrees and orders
for the partition and sale of property, to make orders concerning
roads and bridges, to assess county levies, and to order the pay^
ment of county dues), and the suspension of the writ of habeas
corpus in the counties aforesaid.
In faith whereof I have hereunto signed my name and
[l. s.] set my seal this third day of May, in the year one thou
sand eight hundred and sixty-two. Jefferson Davis.
II. Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall is charged with the due execution
of the foregoing proclamation. He will forthwith establish an efficient
police, and will enforce the following orders:
All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the
distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquors of any
kind is also prohibited, and establishments for the sale thereof will be
closed. III. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such pun
ishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial, provided
that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be in
flicted by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed by the
67th Article of War.
By command of the Secretary of War.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.

By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
To the People of the Confederate States of America.
An enemy, waging war in a manner violative of the usage of
civilized nations, has invaded our country. With presumptuous
reliance on superior numbers, he has declared his purpose to re-

228 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
duce us to submission. We struggle to preserve our birthright of
constitutional freedom. Our trust is in the justice of our cause
and the protection of our God.
Recent disaster has spread gloom over the land, and sorrow sits
at the hearthstones of our countrymen ; but a people conscious of
rectitude and faithfully relying on their Father in Heaven may be
cast down, but cannot be dismayed. They may mourn the loss
of the martyrs whose lives have been sacrificed in their defense,
but they receive this dispensation of Divine Providence with Hum
ble submission and reverend faith. And now that our hosts are
again going forth to battle, and loving hearts at home are filled
with anxious solicitude for their safety, it is meet that the whole
people should turn imploringly to their Almighty Father and be
seech his all-powerful protection.
To this end, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Con
federate States of America, do issue my proclamation, inviting all
the people to unite at their several places of worship, on Friday,
the sixteenth day of the present month of May, in humble suppli
cation to Almighty God that he will vouchsafe his blessings on
our beloved country; that he will strengthen and protect our
armies ; that he will watch over and protect our people from the
machinations of their enemies ; and that he will, in his own good
time, restore to us the blessing of peace and security under his
sheltering care.
Given tinder my hand and the seal of the Confederate States,
at Richmond, on the third da}- of May, A.D. 1862. Jefferson Davis.

ADDRESSES. ADDRESS. Executive Office, June 2, 1862.
To the Army of Richmond.
I render to you my grateful acknowledgments for the gallantry
and good conduct you displayed in the battles of the 31st of May
and 1st instant, and with pride and pleasure recognize the steadi
ness and intrepidity with which you attacked the enemy in posi-

First Congress. 229
tion, captured his advanced intrenchments, several batteries of
artillery, and many standards, and everywhere drove him from the
open field. At a part of your operations it was my fortune to be
present. On no other occasion have I witnessed more of calmness
and good order than you exhibited while advancing into the very
jaws of death, and nothing could exceed the prowess with which
you closed upon the enemy when a sheet of fire was blazing in
your faces. In the renewed struggle in which you are on the eve
of engaging I ask, and can desire, but a continuance of the same
conduct which now attracts the admiration and pride of the loved
ones you have left at home. You are fighting for all that is dear
est to men ; and, though opposed to a foe who disregards many of
the usages of civilized war, your humanity to the wounded and the
prisoners was the fit and crowning glory to your valor. Defenders
of a just cause, may God have you in his holy keeping !
Jefferson Davis.
The general will cause the above to be read to the troops under
his command.

ADDRESS. Richmond, July 5, 1862.
To the Army of Eastern Virginia.
Soldiers: I congratulate you on the series of brilliant victories
which, under the favor of Divine Providence, you have lately won,
and, as the President of the Confederate States, do heartily ten
der to you the -thanks of the country whose just cause you have so
skillfully and heroically served. Ten days ago an invading army,
vastly superior to you in numbers and in the material of war,
closely beleaguered your capital, and vauntingly proclaimed its
speedy conquest. You marched to attack the enemy in his in
trenchments with well-directed movements and death-defying
valor. You charged upon him in his strong positions, drove him
from field to field over a distance of more than 35 miles, and, de
spite his reenforcements, compelled him to seek safety under cov
er of his gunboats, where he now lies cowering before the army
so lately derided and threatened with entire subjugation. The
fortitude with which you have borne toil and privation, the gal-

230 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
lantry with which you have entered into each successive battle,
must have been witnessed to be fully appreciated, but a grateful
people will not fail to recognize your deeds and to bear you in
loved remembrance. Well may it be said of you that you have
"done enough for glory," but duty to a suffering country and to
the cause of constitutional liberty claims from you yet further ef
fort. Let it be your pride to relax in nothing which can promote
your future efficiency, your one great object being to drive the in
vader from your soil and carry your standards beyond the outer
boundaries of the Confederacy, to wring from an unscrupulous
foe the recognition of your birthright, community independence.
Jefferson Davis.

RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby cordially
tendered, to Captain Buchanan and all under his command for
their unsurpassed gallantry, as displayed in the recent successful
attack upon the naval forces of the enemy in Hampton Roads.
Approved March 12, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby ten
dered, to Major General Thomas J. Jackson and the officers and
men under his command for gallant and meritorious services in
a successful engagement with a greatly superior force of the en
emy near Kernstown, Frederick County, Virginia, on the twenty-
third day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-two.
Resolved, That these resolutions be communicated by the Sec
retary of War to Major General Jackson, and by him to his
command. Approved April 9, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the thanks of the Congress of the Confederate States
are eminently due, and are hereby tendered, to the patriotic women
of the Confederacy for the energy, zeal, and untiring devotion

First Congress. 231
which they have manifested in furnishing voluntary contribu
tions to our soldiers in the field, and in the various military hos
pitals throughout the country.
Approved April 11, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That Congress has learned with gratitude to the Divine Rul
er of nations the intelligence of the recent complete and brilliant
victory which has been gained by the Army of the Confederate
States under the command of Gen. A. S. Johnston over the Fed
eral forces in Tennessee, on the battlefield of Shiloh.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to
Gen. G. T. Beauregard and' the other surviving officers and pri
vates of that Army for the signal exhibition of skill and gallantry
displayed by them on that memorable occasion ; and all who con
tributed to that signal triumph, in the judgment of Congress,
are entitled to the gratitude of their country.
Resolved, That the intelligence of the death of General Albert
Sidney Johnston, Commander in Chief, when leading the Con
federate forces to victory on the sixth of April, in Tennessee,
while it affects Congress with profound sorrow, at the same time
obscures our joy with a shade of sadness at the loss of an officer
so able, skillful, and gallant.
Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be made known, by
appropriate general orders by the Generals in command, to the
officers and troops to whom they are addressed, and that they
also be communicated to the family of General Johnston.
Approved April 15, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to Brig.
Gen. H. H. Sibley, and to the officers and men under his com
mand, for the complete and brilliant victories achieved over our
enemies in New Mexico.
Approved April 16, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby ten
dered, to the officers and crews of the Patrick Henry, Jamestown,

232 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Teaser, and other vessels engaged, for their gallant conduct and
bearing in the naval combat and brilliant victory on the waters of
James River, on the 8th and 9th of March, 1862.
Approved April 16, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby, given to
Major Generals Van Dorn and Price, and the officers and soldiers
under their command, for their valor, skill, and good conduct in
the battle of Elkhorn, in the State of Arkansas.
Resolved, further, That the Congress has heard with profound
grief of the deaths of Generals McCulloch and Mcintosh, who
fell in the midst of the battle, gloriously leading their commands
against the enemy.
Approved April 21, i852.

SECOND SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., AUGUST l8, 1862. ADJOURNED OCTOBER
13, 1862.
MESSAGES. Richmond, August 18, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
It is again our fortune to meet for devising measures necessary
to the public welfare whilst our country is involved in a desola
ting war. The sufferings endured by some portions of the people
excite the deep solicitude of the Government, and the sympathy
thus evoked has been heightened by the patriotic devotion with
which these sufferings have been borne. The gallantry and good
conduct of our troops, always claiming the gratitude of the coun
try, have been further illustrated on hard-fought fields, marked
by exhibitions of individual prowess which can find but few paral
lels in ancient or modern history. Our Army has not faltered in
any of the various trials to which it has been subjected, and the
great body of the people has continued to rhanifest a zeal and una
nimity which not only cheer the battle-stained soldier, but give

First Congress. 233
assurance to the friends of constitutional liberty of our final tri
umph in the pending struggle against despotic usurpation.
The vast army which threatened the capital of the Confederacy
has been defeated and driven from the lines of investment, and the
enemy, repeatedly foiled in his efforts for its capture, is now
seeking to raise new armies on a scale such as modern history
does not record, to effect that subjugation of the South so often
proclaimed as on the eve of accomplishment.
The perfidy which disregarded rights secured by compact, the
madness which trampled on obligations made sacred by every con
sideration of honor, have been intensified by the malignity engen
dered by defeat. These passions have changed the character of
the hostilities waged by our enemies, who are becoming daily less
regardful of the usages of civilized war and the dictates of human
ity. Rapine and wanton destruction of private property, war upon
noncombatants, murder of captives, bloody threats to avenge the
death of an invading soldiery by the slaughter of unarmed cit
izens, orders of banishment against peaceful farmers engaged
in the cultivation of the soil, are some of the means used by our
ruthless invaders to enforce the submission of a free people to
foreign sway. Confiscation bills of a character so atrocious as
to insure, if executed, the utter ruin of the entire population of
these States, are passed by their Congress and approved by their
Executive. The moneyed obligations of the Confederate Gov
ernment are forged by citizens of the United States, and pub
licly advertised for sale in their cities with a notoriety that suf
ficiently attests the knowledge of their Government, and its com
plicity in the crime is further evinced by the fact that the soldiers
of the invading armies are found supplied with large quantities
of these forged notes as a means of despoiling the country peo
ple, by fraud, out of such portions of their property as armed vi
olence may fail to reach. Two at least of the generals of the
United States are engaged, unchecked by their Government, in
exciting servile insurrection, and in arming and training slaves
for warfare against their masters, citizens of the Confederacy.
Another has been found of instincts so brutal as to invite the vi
olence of his soldiery against the women of a captured city. Yet
the rebuke of civilized man has failed to evoke from the authori
ties of the United States one mark of disapprobation of his acts,

234 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
nor is there any reason to suppose that the conduct of Benjamin
F. Butler has failed to secure from his Government the sanction
and applause with which it is known to have been greeted by
public meetings and portions of the press of the United States.
To inquiries made of the Commander in Chief of the armies of
the United States whether the atrocious conduct of some of their
military commanders met the sanction of that Government, an
swer has been evaded on the pretext that the inquiry was insulting,
and no method remains for the repression of these enormities but
such retributive justice as it may be found possible to execute.
Retaliation in kind for many of them is impracticable, for I have
had occasion to remark in a former message that under no ex
cess of provocation could our noble-hearted defenders be driven
to wreak vengeance on unarmed men, on women, or on children.
But stern and exemplary punishment can and must be meted out
to the murderers and felons who, disgracing the profession of
arms, seek to make of public war the occasion for the commission
of the most monstrous crimes. Deeply as we may regret the
character of the contest into which we are about to be forced, we
must accept it as an alternative which recent manifestations give
us little reason to hope can be avoided. The exasperation of
failure has aroused the worst passions of our enemies. A large
portion of their people, even of their clergymen, now engage in
urging an excited populace to the extreme of ferocity, and noth
ing remains but to vindicate our rights and to maintain our ex
istence by employing against our foe every energy and every
resource at our disposal.
I append for your information a copy of the papers exhibiting
the action of the Government up to the present time for the
repression of the outrages committed on our people. Other meas
ures now in progress will be submitted hereafter.
In inviting your attention to the legislation which the necessi
ties of our condition require, those connected with the prosecu
tion of the war command almost undivided attention. The acts
passed at your last session intended to secure the public defense
by general enrollment, and to render uniform the rules govern
ing troops in the service, have led to some unexpected criticism
that is much to be regretted. The efficiency of the law has been
thus somewhat impaired, though it is not believed that in any of

First Congress. 235
the States the popular mind has withheld its sanction from either
the necessity or propriety of your legislation. It is only by har
monious as well as zealous action that a government as new as
ours, ushered into existence on the very eve of a great war, and
unprovided with the material for conducting hostilities on so
vast a scale, can fulfill its duties. Upon you who are fully in
formed of the acts and purposes of the Government, and thor
oughly imbued with the feelings and sentiments of the people,
must reliance be placed to secure this great object. You can best
devise the means for establishing that entire cooperation of the
State and Confederate governments which is essential to the
well-being of both at all times, but which is now indispensable
to their very existence. And if any legislation shall seem to you
appropriate for adjusting differences of opinion, it will be my
pleasure as well as duty to cooperate in any measure that may
be. devised for reconciling a just care for the public defense with
a proper deference for the most scrupulous susceptibilities of the
State authorities.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit in de
tail the operations of that Department. It will be seen with sat
isfaction that the credit of the Government securities remains un
impaired, and that this credit is fully justified by the comparative
ly small amount of accumulated debt, notwithstanding the mag
nitude of our military operations. The legislation of the last
-session provided for the purchase of supplies with the bonds of
the Government, but the preference of the people for Treasury
notes has been so marked that legislation is recommended to au
thorize an increase in the issue of Treasury notes, which the pub
lic service seems to require. No grave inconvenience need be ap
prehended irom this increased issue, as the provision of law by
which these notes are convertible into 8 per cent bonds forms
an efficient and permanent safeguard against any serious depre
ciation of the currency. Your attention is invited also to the
means proposed by the Secretary for facilitating the preparation
of these notes and for guarding them against forgery. It is due
to our people to state that no manufacture of counterfeit notes
exists within our limits, and that they are all imported from the
Northern States.
The report of the Secretary of War, which is submitted, con-

236 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
tains numerous suggestions for the legislation deemed desirable
in order to add to the efficiency of the service. I invite your fa
vorable consideration especially to those recommendations which
are intended to secure the proper execution of the conscript law,
and the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments
when so reduced in strength as to impair that uniformity of or
ganization which is necessary in the Army, while an undue bur
den is imposed on the Treasury. The necessity for some legisla
tion for controlling military transportation on the railroads and
improving their present defective condition forces itself upon the
attention of the Government, and I trust you will be able to de
vise satisfactory measures for attaining this purpose. The legis
lation on the subject of general officers involves the service" in
some difficulties, which are pointed out by the Secretary, and for
which the remedy suggested by him seems appropriate.
In connection with this subject, I am of opinion that prudence
dictates some provision for the increase of the Army in the event
of emergencies not now anticipated. The very large increase of
forces recently called into the field by the President of the United
States may render it necessary hereafter to extend the provi
sions of the conscript law so as to embrace persons between the
ages of thirty-five and forty-five years. The vigor and efficiency
of our present forces, their condition, and the skill and ability which
distinguish their leaders inspire the belief that no further enroll
ment will be necessary, but a wise foresight requires that if a
necessity should be suddenly developed during the recess of
Congress requiring increased forces for our defense, means
should exist for calling such forces into the field without await
ing the reassembling of the legislative department of the Gov
ernment. In the election and appointment of officers for the Provisional
Army it was to be anticipated that mistakes would be made and
incompetent officers of all grades introduced into the service. In
the absence of experience, and with no reliable guide for selec
tion, executive appointments as well as elections have been some
times unfortunate. The good of the service, the interests of our
country, require that some means be devised for withdrawing
the commissions of officers who are incompetent for the duties
required by their position, and I trust you will find means for re-

First Congress. 237
lieving the Army of such officers by some mode more prompt .and
less wounding to their sensibility than the judgment of a court-
martial. Within a recent period we have effected the object so long de
sired of an arrangement for the exchange of prisoners, which is
now being executed by delivery at the points agreed upon, and
which will, it is hoped, speedily restore our brave and unfortunate
countrymen to their places in the ranks of the Army, from which
by the fortune of war they have for a time been separated. The
details of this arrangement will be communicated to you in a spe
cial report when further progress has been made in their execu
tion. Of other particulars concerning the operations of the War De
partment you will be informed by the Secretary in his report and
the accompanying documents.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy embraces a statement
of the operations and present condition of this branch of the pub
lic service, both afloat and ashore; the construction and equip
ment of armed vessels both at home and abroad; the manufac
ture of ordnance and ordnance stores ; and the establishment of
workshops and the development of our resources of coal and iron.
Some legislation seems essential for securing crews for vessels.
The difficulties now experienced on this point are fully stated in
the Secretary's report, and I invite your attention to providing
a remedy. The report of the Postmaster General discloses the embarrass
ments which resulted in the postal service from the occupation
by the enemy of the Mississippi River and portions of the ter
ritory of the different States. The measures taken by the De
partment for relieving these embarrassments as far as practicable
are detailed in the report. It is a subject of congratulation that
¦during the ten months which ended on the 31st March last the
expenses of the Department were largely decreased, whilst its
revenue was augmented, as compared with a corresponding period
ending on the 30th June, i860, when the postal service for these
States was conducted under the authority delegated to the United
States. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to determine whether
the measures heretofore devised by Congress will accomplish the
end of bringing the expenditures of the Department within the

238 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
limit of its own revenues by the 1st of March next, as required by
the Constitution.
I am happy to inform you that in spite of both blandishments
and threats, used in profusion by the agents of the Government
of the United States, the Indian nations within the Confederacy
have remained firm in their loyalty and steadfast in the observ
ance of their treaty engagements with this Government. Nor
has their fidelity been shaken by the fact that, owing to the
vacancies in some of the offices of agents and superintendents,
delay has occurred in the payments of the annuities and allow
ances to which they are entitled. I would advise some provi
sion authorizing payments to be made by other officers, in the ab
sence of those specially charged by law with this duty.
We have never-ceasing cause to be grateful for the favor with
which God has protected our infant Confederacy. And it be
comes us reverently to return our thanks and humbly to ask of
his bounteousness that wisdom which is needful for the per
formance of the high trusts with which we are charged.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., August 19, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury and accompanying estimates, to which
reference was made in my message* of yesterday, and invite your
careful attention to the statements and recommendations con
tained in them. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Aug. 22, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of the Navy, supplementary to his report ap-
, pended to my message to Congress of the 18th inst., and covering
the report of Lieutenant John W. Dunnington, C. S. Navy, of the
engagement at St. Charles, on the White River, in the State of
Arkansas. Jefferson Davis.
*See page 235.

First Congress. 230
Richmond, Va., August 22, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Navy, covering estimates of the amount required to meet a cer
tain contract, to which I invite your careful consideration. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Aug. 26, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Treasury, submitting an estimate of the amount required for
a purpose specified, and covering a copy of a letter from the
Hon. Howell Cobb in reference to the matter.
I recommend an appropriation of the sum, and for the object
mentioned. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Aug. 27, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Treasury, submitting estimates "of the amount required to de
fray expenses incurred "in detecting forgers of Treasury notes of
the Confederate States, and bringing them to justice."
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the sum and for
the purpose specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Aug. 28, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Treasury, submitting an estimate of the "amount required to re
fund to the State of North Carolina the excess over her quota paid
into the Treasury on account of the war tax of the Confederate
States." I recommend that an appropriation be made of the
sum and for the purpose specified. Jefferson Davis.

240 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., Aug. 29, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Surgeon Gen
eral, containing the information sought by your resolution of the
25th inst., in reference to the Medical Board of Examiners for
granting furloughs, its organization and duties. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Sept. 1, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy, containing the information sought by your resolution
of the 26th tilt., asking for a statement of the number of com
missioned officers of every grade now in the naval service of the
Confederate States; also the number of those appointed from
civil life, and those who were heretofore in the naval service of
the United States ; also the number of such officers now on leave
of absence or furlough ; and the number now actually engaged in
the naval service of the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Navy, containing the information sought by your resolutions of
the 25th and 26th ult., asking respectively for "copies of the in
structions given to naval officers in reference to the evacuation
of Norfolk and New Orleans," and for information upon certain
matters pertaining to the construction of the war steamers
"Louisiana" and "Mississippi." Jefferson Davis.
[Received September 1, 1862.]
Executive Office,
Richmond, Va., Sept. 2, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I have the gratification of presenting to Congress two dis
patches from General Robert E. Lee, commanding the Army of
Northern Virginia, communicating the result of the operations
north of the Rappahannock. From these dispatches it will be

First Congress. 241
seen that God has again extended his shield over our patriotic
Army, and has blessed the cause of the Confederacy with a second
signal victory on the field already memorable by the gallant
achievements of our troops.
Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the skill and daring
of the commanding General who conceived, or the valor and
hardihood of the troops who executed, the brilliant movement,
whose result is now communicated. After having driven from
their intrenchments an enemy superior in numbers, and relieved
from siege the city of Richmond, as heretofore communicated,*
our toil-worn troops advanced to meet another invading army,
reenforced not only by the defeated army of General McClellan,
but by the fresh corps of Generals Burnside and Hunter. After
forced marches, with inadequate transportation, and across streams
swollen to unusual height, by repeated combats they turned the
position of the enemy, and, forming a junction of their columns,
in the face of greatly superior forces, they fought the decisive
battlef of the 30th, the crowning triumph of their toil and valor.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Sept. 2, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I have the honor to request you to return to me the nominations
for appointment in the Army of the Confederate States, sub
mitted on the 25th tilt. Jefferson Davis.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit communications from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolutions of the 21st and 29th ult.,
asking, the one, for a copy of the cartel for the exchange of pris
oners recently agreed upon with the enemy, and for informa
tion as to the manner in which the enemy has observed it.
The other, for copies of the official reports of all the battles and
engagements with the enemy which have occurred since the ad
journment of Congress. Jefferson Davis.
[Received September 3, 1862.]
*See page 233. tSecond battle of Manassas.
16

242 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive Department,
September 4, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit to your honorable body an estimate of ap
propriation* called for by the Secretary of War.

Executive Office,
Richmond, September 4, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit a communication from the
Secretary of the Treasury, inclosing two statements, marked A
and B, in reply to a resolution of the House of Representatives,
requesting information concerning the amount of funds sent
abroad to officers or agents of the Government for military and
naval purposes, with certain particulars regarding the same.
Very respectfully your obt. servant, Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office,
Richmond, Sept. 4, 1862.
To the President of the Senate.
I have the honor to transmit the accompanying communication
from the Secretary of War in reply to a resolution of the Senate
requesting certain information concerning the appointment and
pay of provost marshals. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office,
Richmond, September 6, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of War
in response to resolutions of your body requesting information
concerning the prosecution of the work on the railroad for con
necting the Richmond and Danville with the North Carolina
railroad, and also concerning certain orders said to have been is
sued by Major General Thomas C. Hindman in the trans-Missis
sippi Department. Jefferson Davis.
*For Indian affairs.

First Congress. 243
Executive Office,
Richmond, September 6, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, in re
sponse to a resolution of the House of Representatives, requesting
information relative to arrests, by military authority, of citizens
of the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Office,
Richmond, September 6, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, in
closing a communication from the Quartermaster General in
response to a resolution of the House of Representatives re
questing information relative to the payment of troops. The or
ganization of the Army of the Confederate States gives a pay
master to each regiment, by devolving the payment of troops on
the regimental quartermasters, a system by which we avoid at the
same time all danger from delay in payment by the absence of the
proper officer, as well as the hazard of transporting large sums of
money from camp to camp, as would be the case if a corps of
officers were employed for the sole purpose of paying the troops:
The failures to pay regularly, as required by Regulations, should
disappear with the prompt and regular supply of funds to the
quartermasters of the different regiments. The ability of the
Government to do this it is hoped will increase with the further
development of the means of the Treasury Department. Jefferson Davis.

To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit to your honorable body an estimate of ap
propriation called for by the Secretary of War. Iefferson Davis.
[Received September 6, 1862.

244 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive Office,
Richmond, Sept. 9, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit to your honorable body letters from the
Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy in response to the
resolution requesting information as to whether the requisitions
of the Heads of Bureaus on the Treasury have been promptly
met, and if not, the reasons for the delay. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., September 11, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
The circumstances necessarily surrounding an army operating
in the presence of an enemy render it inexpedient — next to impos
sible — to assemble frequent courts-martial, and to detail for them
the best officers of the Army. The ordinary attendant of the cir
cumstances referred to is frequent offenses against military dis
cipline and trespass upon the property of individuals inhabiting
the country.
To correct these evils, it is believed to be desirable that Congress
should give authority to institute a commission to attend each
army in the field, to be composed of men whose character and
knowledge of the modes of administering justice would give the
best assurance for the punishment of crime, the protection of
private rights, and the security of the citizens of the country oc
cupied by the enemy. Could courts-martial be assembled as fre
quently as occasion required, their functions under existing laws
being limited to the consideration of offenses defined by the Rules
and Articles of War, it will be perceived that a great variety of
outrages against private rights might be committed of which a
court-martial could not directly take cognizance. Under ordinary
circumstances offenders in such cases would be turned over to the
civil courts for trial. In a foreign country, or where the courts
cannot hold their sessions, this is impossible, and in the case of a
marching army would, for obvious reasons, be ineffectual. The
witnesses whose testimony is indispensable to conviction would
generally follow the march of the army and be out of the reach
of the courts.
The powers delegated by the Constitution "to make rules for

First Congress. 245
the government and regulation of the land and naval forces,"
and "to ordain and establish from time to time inferior courts,"
would seem ample to justify such legislation as is herein recom
mended, especially as the necessity for the ordinary forms of in
dictment and trial "for capital and otherwise infamous crimes" is
expressly dispensable with by the Constitution "in cases arising
in the land or naval forces or in the militia when in actual service
in time of war." Jefferson Davi3.
Executive Office,
Richmond, September 11, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
In compliance with the resolutions of your honorable body of
the 20th ult., requesting me to transmit the official reports of all
the battles and engagements which have occurred since the ad
journment of Congress, including the reports of major generals
and brigadier generals engaged, I herewith transmit the report of
General Braxton Bragg, of the battle of Shiloh, accompanied
by the reports of Generals Withers and Ruggles, and the report of
Colonel J. W. Head, commanding a brigade at Fort Donelson;
also the report of Brigadier General H. Marshall, of the attack
upon the command of General Cox ; the report of Major General
Huger, of the affair at South Mills; the report of General Led-
better, of operations on Tennessee River, and at Bridgeport ; the
report of Brigadier General T. M. Jones, of the evacuation of
Pensacola Navy Yard, forts, etc.; the report of Colonel N. B.
Forrest, of the evacuation and removal of public property from
Nashville; and th report of Major General J. C. Pemberton, of
the engagements on James Island. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office,
Richmond, Sept. 11, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In reply to the resolution of your honorable body of the 8th in
stant, requesting information concerning the detention at cer
tain points of the great Southwestern Mail, I herewith transmit
a communication from the Postmaster General. Jefferson Davis.

246 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive Office,
Richmond, September 12, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
Under the first clause of the sixth article of the Constitution,
I entertain doubt whether it is intended that the officers either of
the Regular or Provisional Army or of the Navy, appointed
during the existence of the Provisional Government and con
firmed by the Congress, require to be renominated and confirmed
by the Senate, and I respectfully request your advice on this point,
Jefferson Davis.

Executive Office,
Richmond, September 15, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In reply to the inquiry of the Senate, presented in the follow
ing resolution of the 13th instant —
"Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate to
the Senate whether any soldiers in the Army of the Confederate
States have been shot by order of any general officer without
trial, according to the rules and regulations for the government
of the land forces, and if so, that he will lay before the Senate all
the information he has upon the subject, and whether any steps
have been taken by the Executive in the matter" —
I have to say that I have received no authentic information in
relation to any such transaction as is therein described, and upon
inquiry have learned that if any such fact exists it has not been
communicated either to the Adjutant General or to the Secretary
of War. . Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., September 15, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In compliance with the request expressed in your resolution of
the 12th inst., I herewith return your resolution of the 8th inst.,
asking information as to the number of troops furnished by each
State to the Confederate Army since the commencement of the
war. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 247
Executive Chamber,
Richmond, September 16th, 1862.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I transmit herewith for the information of the House, in secret
session, the report prepared by the Secretary of State, in response
to the resolution of the House, adopted on the 1st inst.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., September 19th, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information several communica
tions from the Secretary of War, in answer to your resolution
of the 2 1 st August, asking copies of the official reports of all the
battles fought since the adjournment of Congress. Jefferson Davis.
ITo the House of Representatives.]
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Postmaster General in answer to your resolution of the
13th inst., asking "the reasons which have thus far prevented the
carrying of the mails from the States east of the Mississippi to
the State of Louisiana, west of that river." Jefferson Davis.
[Received September 20, 1862.]
[To the House of Representatives.]
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Commissary General in answer to your resolution of the
6th inst., relative to the supply of provisions furnished to the Army
of the Peninsula, from the 4th of April to the 3d of May, 1862.
Jefferson Davis.
[Received September 20, 1862.]
[To the House of Representatives.]
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of the Navy, in response to your resolution
of the 16th inst., asking the amount required to meet claims upon
the Government for vessels and other property seized by the naval

248 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
and military authorities for the use of the Government. I recom
mend an appropriation of the amount and for the purpose specified.
Jefferson Davis.
[Received September 22, 1862.]

Richmond, Virginia, Sept. 22, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering certain estimates.
I recommend an appropriation of the amounts, and for the pur
poses specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Virginia, Sept. 23, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate "to supply the
deficiencies in the Engineer appropriations for engineering pur
poses." I recommend an appropriation of the amount, and for the pur
poses specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Sept. 23, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War in answer to your resolution of the
17th inst., asking what disposition is made of negroes captured
by the enemy. Jefferson Davis.
? Richmond, Virginia, September 23d, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in further answer to your resolution
of the 2 1st August, requesting copies of all the reports of en
gagements with the enemy received since the adjournment of
Congress. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 249
Executive Office,
Richmond, September 24, 1862.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for a deficiency
in the appropriation for ordnance.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount, artd for the pur
pose specified'. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., September 24, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate "of the Com
missary General of the sum necessary to purchase the supply
of flour for the Army for the ensuing season."
I recommend an appropriation of the amount, and for the pur
pose specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Sept. 24, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Navy, covering an estimate for "an ad
ditional appropriation for the construction and equipment of
ironclad, and other vessels abroad."
I recommend an appropriation of the amount, and for the pur
pose specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Sept. 24, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of the
22d August, in reference to regiments disbanded and consolidated.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., September 24th, 1862.
[To the House of Representatives.]
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, in reference to the proposed railroad

250 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
from Blue Mountain, Alabama, to Rome, Ga., and to which I in
vite your special attention, because of the importance of this link
in our system of railroads in the transportation needful for the
public defense. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., September 25th, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in further answer to your resolution
of the 21st August, asking copies of all reports of all battles re
ceived since the adjournment of Congress. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Sept. 25th, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, submitting "estimates to supply de
ficiencies ih the appropriation for the Medical Department of the
Army." I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Sept. 26, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, replying to your resolution of the 16th instant, in reference
to the enforcement of the conscript act in the State of Georgia,
and stating the action of the Department with regard to the com
mand of the conscript camp in that State. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., September 26, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War in reference to the defense of west
ern and southern rivers, to which I invite your attention.
Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 251
fTo the House of Representatives.]
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
Ihe Secretary of War, in further response to your resolution of the
2 1 st August, asking for copies of the official reports of all en
gagements with the enemy received since the adjournment of
Congress. Jefferson Davis.
[Received September 26, 1862.]

Richmond, Va., September 27, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of the
10th of April, requesting "a list of the commissioned officers in
the Regular and Provisional Armies." This reply is communi
cated to you as an Executive document, it being deemed im
prudent at this time to make it public, because of the information
it would give to the enemy if it should chance to reach them.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., September 27, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a report from the
Secretary of War, upon the case of Charles K. Hyde, in response
to your resolution of the 20th inst. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Sept. 29, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of State, in response to your resolution of
the 22d inst., submitting "estimates for the necessary expenses'
of the Department of State for the month of January, 1863."
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.

252 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration communications
from the Secretary of the Navy, submitting estimates in response
to your resolutions of the 22d and 23d inst. I recommend ap
propriations of the sums for the purposes specified. Jefferson Davis.
[Received September 29, 1862.

Executive Office,
Richmond, Va., September 30, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Postmaster
General, to which I respectfully call your attention.
The seventh clause of the eighth section of the Constitution di
rects that after the first of March, 1863, the expenses of the
postal service shall be paid out of its revenues.
The interruption of commerce and communication, resulting
from the war and the occupation of a portion of our territory by
the enemy, have necessarily curtailed, to a considerable extent, the
revenues of the Department, and rendered it impossible, while the
war continues and these causes exist, to make its revenues cover
its expenses without such a reduction of the service as would seri
ously affect the interests of the people of the Confederate States.
If, in your opinion, the clause of the Constitution above re
ferred to merely directs that Congress shall pass such laws as
may be best calculated to make the postal service self-sustaining,
and does not prohibit the appropriation of money to meet defici
encies, the question is one of easy solution. But if, on the con
trary, you should consider that the constitutional provision is a
positive and unqualified prohibition against any appropriation
from the Treasury to aid the operations of the Post Office Depart
ment, it is for you to determine whether the difficulty can be over
come by a further increase of the rates of postage or by other
'constitutional means.
Doubtful as to the true intent of the Constitution, I submit the
question to the Congress, and ask for it the deliberation which its-
importance may claim. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 253
Richmond, Va., Sept. 30, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, submitting estimates of the Quarter
master General.
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the amount for
the purpose specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Sept. 30, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Treasury, relative to the war tax of the State of Louisiana,
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
The resolution passed by the House in secret session on the
30th of last month has been communicated to me by the clerk of
the House, and it is in the following words :
"Resolved, That the President be requested to cause the De
partment of State to ask for and transmit to this House estimates
of the expenses incident to the sending of a diplomatic agent (sup
plied with such instructions as he shall deem most wise and prop
er) to the Court of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil and such
other South American States as he shall suppose to be judicious to
¦ open diplomatic intercourse with."
I deeply regret that, according to my views of constitutional
duty, it is not in my power to comply with the request of the
House. The Constitution expressly vests in the Executive De
partment the discretion of asking for such supplies as are deemed
necessary to carry on the Government, and this discretion can
not, with a due regard to the provisions of that instrument, be
controlled by the request of the Congress, still less by that of one
branch of the Legislative Department.
The 9th paragraph of section 9, article one, of the Constitu
tion, declares that "Congress shall appropriate no money from
¦the Treasury, except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses, taken

254 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
by yeas and nays, unless it be asked and estimated for by some one
of the Heads of Departments, and submitted to Congress by the
President." It seems too clear for argument that this clause of the Con
stitution would be completely without effect if the Executive
should yield to the request of either House or of both Houses
combined, "to cause a Department to ask for and transmit" an
estimate for any purpose whatever. The design of the framers
of the Constitution in inserting this new clause (not to be found
in the Constitution under which the Confederate States were
formerly united) is well known. It was determined that on the
Executive Department of the Government should rest the respon
sibility of unwise and extravagant expenditures, while the Legis
lative Department not only retained the control over the grant
of the appropriation, but was vested with power to compel the
expenditure of money for purposes not recommended" by the
Executive, provided a vote of the two Houses, equal to that which
is necessary for overruling an Executive veto, could be obtained.
If I should yield my consent to the request of the House now
under consideration, the plain effect would be to concur in the es
tablishment of a precedent by which the House might require
the expenditure of a sum not asked for by the Head of a Depart
ment nor submitted by the President, by a vote of a bare majority
instead of the vote of two-thirds by yeas and nays.
While thus unable to comply with the request of the House, so*
far as to cause the Department of State to ask for and transmit
the estimate desired, a statement is submitted herewith for your
information of the annual cost of each diplomatic mission sent
abroad. It is also proper to add that the number of commissioners
already authorized by law, and the amount of appropriations asked
for by the Department of State, are sufficient for all the purposes
suggested in the resolution without any further legislation on
the subject. Jefferson Davis.
October ist, 1862. Richmond, Va. Richmond, Va., Oct. 1, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for vour consideration several communica-

First Congress. 255
tions from the Secretary of War, submitting estimates for the
month of January, 1863.
I recommend appropriation of the sums for the purposes spec
ified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Oct. 1, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, in reference to a loan by the Branch
Bank of Tennessee to Genl. Hindman.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Office,
Richmond, October 2, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, submitting "the report of the Ad
jutant General of the proceedings of courts-martial, in cases of
drunkenness." Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Oct. 2, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, submitting a report of the Commis
sary General, to which I invite your attention. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., October 2d, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in further answer to your resolution
of the 2 1st August, requesting copies of reports of engagements
with the enemy received since the adjournment of Congress.
Jefferson 'Davis.

256 ' Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., Oct. 2, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Postmaster
General, submitting estimates to which I invite your attention.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Oct. 3, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Attorney Gen
eral, submitting certain estimates.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Oct. 3, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, submitting the estimates of the Commissary General for the
month of January, 1863.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., October 3, 1862.
To the Senate.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War in response to your resolution of the
26th ultimo, in reference to "the construction of a certain line
of railroad in the States of Louisiana and Texas." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond,- Va., Oct. 4, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the • Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of the 9th
ult., in reference to the enrollment of persons as conscripts who
are physically disabled from discharging the duties of soldiers.
Jefferson Davis.

First Congress^ 257
Richmond, Va., Oct. 4, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Treasury, submitting estimates of the appropriations required
for the service of the Treasury Department, and for miscella
neous objects for the month of January, 1863.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Oct. 6, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Postmaster General, submitting certain estimates.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purposes
specified. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office,
Richmond, October 8, 1862.
The Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of
America.The near approach of the day fixed for your adjournment in
duces me to renew certain recommendations made at the com
mencement of the session, and for which legislation has not yet
provided. The subject of the efficiency of the Army is one of
paramount importance, and the letter of the Secretary of War
herewith submitted has been elicited by correspondence with the
generals of our armies in the field, whose practical experience
of the evils resulting from the defects in our present system en
titles their opinion to great weight.
An army without discipline and instruction cannot be relied on
for purposes of defense, still less for operations in an enemy's
country. It is in vain to add men and munitions, unless we can at
the same time give to the aggregated mass the character and
capacity of soldiers. The discipline and instruction required for
its efficiency cannot be imparted without competent officers. N9
power now exists by law for securing such officers to fill vacancies
when elections and promotions fail to accomplish the object.
i7

258 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Extreme cases ought not to furnish a rule, yet some provision
should be made to meet evils, even exceptional, in a matter so
vitally affecting the safety of our troops. Tender consideration
for worthless and incompetent officers is but another name for
cruelty toward the brave men who fall sacrifices to these defects
of their leaders. It is not difficult to devise a proper mode of
obviating this evil. The law authorizes the refusal to promote
officers who are found incompetent to fill vacancies, and the pro
motion of their juniors in their stead ; but instances occur in which
no officer remaining in a regiment is fit to be promoted to the
grade of colonel, and no officer remaining in a company is com
petent to command it as captain. ' Legislation providing for the
selection in such cases of competent officers from other regiments
of the same State affords a ready remedy for this evil, as well as
for the case when officers elected are found unfit for the positions
to "which they may. be chosen. This selection can be made in
such manner as may seem to Congress most advisable; but this
or some other remedy is indispensable for filling numerous va
cancies now existing.
While this deficiency of competent officers exists in some cases,
there is a large excess in others. Numerous regiments and com
panies have been so reduced by the casualties of war, by sickness,
and other causes as to be comparatively useless under the present
organization. There are companies in the Army in which the
number of officers exceeds that of privates present for duty, and
regiments in which the number of such privates does not exceed
that which is required for a single effective company. The cost
of supporting the Army, already a very heavy burdeh on the
resources of the country, is thus increased to an extravagant ex
tent!. But this is of secondary importance compared with the
inefficiency which results from this condition of things. Some
legislation which shall provide for the consolidation of companies
and regiments when thus reduced in numbers, and where : con
scripts cannot be obtained from a State in sufficient numbers for
filling the ranks, is of pressing necessity, and a deep sense of duty
impels me to repeat that no consideration for the officers who
may be unfortunately deprived of commands ought or can safely"
be permitted to obstruct this salutary reform.
It may be proper to remark that the necessity for this corisoll-

First Congress. 259
dation, and the consequent discharging of tried and meritorious
officers, will obviously be increased by all legislative action per
mitting new organizations to be formed of men who, by tfie provi
sions of the conscript law, were directed to be incorporated into
existing companies and regiments. Jefferson Davis.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a letter from the Secretary of the' Treas
ury in relation to the fiscal affairs of our Government, and invite
for its statements your attention.
The propriety of providing for the payment of every loan or use
of Government credit by an adequate tax is too obvious to require
argument. Though the day of payment may be postponed, as, to some ex
tent, in the conduct of great wars, it must, still there must be
such assurance of future payment as to maintain the credit of the
Government or there will be a consequent depreciation of its cur
rency and a proportionate increase of the burthen which the peo
ple must have hereafter to bear.
I trust it will be possible for the wisdom of Congress in some
manner to secure the result sought for in the propositions sub
mitted by the Secretary of the Treasury. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, Richmond, October 8th, 1862.

Richmond, Va., October 8, 1862.
To the Senate.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, correcting mistakes in certain nominations recently sent
in, to which I invite your special attention. Jefferson Da viS.

Richmond, Va., Oct. 8, 1862.
To the Senate.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the 1st instant, submitting
copies of all orders which have been issued from the War De
partment suspending the writ of habeas corpus.
It will be observed that in some cases, in addition to the sus-

260 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
pension of the writ of habeas corpus, all civil jurisdiction (with
the exceptions specified) was also suspended.
But the criminal jurisdiction of the ordinary courts has been in
no instance interfered with ; their action in all such cases being re
garded as an assistance, and not an obstacle, to the military au
thorities in accomplishing the purposes of the proclamations.
The authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus having ex
pired by the limitation set in the act approved April 19, 1862, I
have only to add that the writ is now nowhere suspended by
action of the Executive Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Oct. 10, 1862.
Tp the Senate and House of Representatives,
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, relative to offices created and vacancies occurring during the
session of Congress.
It is probable that some of the offices mentioned will be filled be
fore the Congress adjourns. With regard to others, the alterna
tive presented is an executive session of the Senate after the
time now fixed for the adjournment of Congress, or the passage
of an act such as that suggested by the Secretary of War.
I invite your special attention to the subject. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office,
Richmond, October 10, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States
of America.
The importance, it might properly be said neeessity, of a meas
ure which has heretofore been recommended induces me at this
time to renew the request for your attention to the want of some
provision by which brigadier and major generals may be ap
pointed when, by the casualties of service, commanders of bri
gades and divisions have become temporarily disabled.
Under the law as it now stands, if a brigadier be wounded the
command of a brigade devolves upon the senior colonel, who
may or may not be competent for such command, but whose

First Congress. 261
presence is required with his regiment, and most of all under the
circumstances usually existing where casualties like that referred
to occur.
To illustrate this necessity I will cite an instance of an army
corps from which seven brigadiers are now absent, six of whom
have been recently wounded. There is an obvious objection to
multiplying the number of general officers, but it may be readily
removed by providing for the subsequent reduction whenever
there are supernumeraries present for duty ; and I would suggest
that the determination as to who should be discharged might be
made to depend upon the inquiry and report of an Army Board,
to be organized according to established law and usage.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., October 11, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information communications
from the Heads of the several Departments, submitting lists of
their clerks and employees, in response to your resolution of the
5th April, asking for the same. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., October 11, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Sec. of War, in
response to your resolution of the 9th inst., in reference to the
disbanding of Wheat's Battalion of Louisiana. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Oct. 11, 1862.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Heads of the several Departments, in response to your
resolution of the 21st April, asking the amount of funds which has
been sent abroad, to officers or agents of the Government, for
military or naval purposes. Jefferson Davis.

262 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., Oct. 13, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration communications
from the Heads of the several Departments, submitting certain
estimates. I recommend appropriations of the sums for the purposes spec
ified. Jefferson Davis.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War in response to a resolution of your honorable body inquiring
by what authority military officers along the several railroad lines
are seizing produce and provisions, the property of private in
dividuals, and prohibiting the transportation of produce and pro
visions from one State to another. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, Richmond, Va., Oct. 13, 1862.
Richmond, Va., Oct. 13, 1862.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting certain estimates.
I recommend an appropriation for the purposes of the amount
designated. Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES. Executive Office,
Richmond, October 6, 1862.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
I return, without my approval, the bill which originated in
your body, entitled "An Act to amend an act for the estab
lishment and organization of a general staff for the Army of the
Confederate States of America," approved February 26th, 1861.
By this act it is provided that "hereafter, the Quartermaster
General shall have the rank, pay, and allowances of a brigadier
general." As Congress has passed another act (since the one now under

First Congress. 16%
consideration was submitted to me), whereby the increased rank
assigned to the Quartermaster General is restricted to the Provi
sional Army only, I infer that the act, now returned to you, no
longer expresses the legislative will, and that it is, therefore, un
necessary to specify the objections which it would, otherwise,
have been my duty to submit as the reasons which prevented my
approval of the bill. Jefferson Davis.

To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
I return herewith, without my approval, ah act which originated
in your body, entitled "An Act to amend an act for the estab
lishment and organization of the Provisional Army of the Con
federate States of America," approved March 6th, 1861.
The act requires revision, as an error exists in the title, there
being no such act on the statute book as that recited in the title.
There is also an inconsistency between the first and second secJ
tions, which is probably the result of inadvertence or haste. The
first section seems to refer to the Permanent Army, and the second
to the Provisional Army.
I therefore return the act for such action as you may deem prop
er to take in relation to the errors above mentioned. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, Richmond, Oct. 6th, 1862. October 13, 1862.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
I regret to find myself compelled to return, without my sig
nature, an act which originated in your body entitled "An Act to
reorganize and promote the efficiency of the Medical Department
of the Provisional Army." I entirely concur in the desire to ac
complish the objects contemplated in the act, and have delayed its
return in the hope that some additional legislation might obviate
the difficulties that would embarrass the operation of the act in its
present form.
The act seems to be based on the assumption that there exists
a "Medical Department of the Provisional Army," and this fact
is not only set forth in the title, but some of the provisions are so
worded as to be inoperative -by reason of this assumption. Thus

264 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the first section provides "that the rank, pay, and allowances of
a brigadier general in the Provisional Army of the Confederate
States be, and the same are hereby, conferred on the Surgeon
General of the same." There exists no such officer as the Sur
geon General of the Provisional Army. The plain intent, there
fore, of Congress to confer the rank of brigadier general in the
Provisional Army on the Surgeon General of the Permanent
Army would be defeated unless the language of this section be
changed. According to the provisions of the law as it now stands there
is a Medical Department organized for the Permanent Army under
the act of the 26th of February, 1861, entitled "An Act for the
establishment and organization of a general staff for the Army
of the Confederate States of America," the chief of which is
styled the Surgeon General. The only legislation providing for
medical officers for provisional troops is the ninth section of the act
of the 6th of March, 1861, which enacts that when volunteers or
militia are called into service of the Confederate States in such
numbers that the "officers of the Medical Department, which may
be authorized by law for the regular service, are not sufficient for
. . . furnishing them with the requisite medical attendance,
it shall be lawful for the President to appoint, with the advice
and consent of the Congress, as many additional officers of the
said Department as the service may require, not exceeding .
one surgeon and one assistant surgeon for each regiment, ... to
continue in service only so long as their services may be required
in connection with the militia or volunteers."
There is an act of 14th of August, 1861, on the same subject,
but it confines the appointments authorized by it to such surgeons
and assistant surgeons as may be necessary for the various hos
pitals. The third and fourth sections of the act now returned to you
permit and require the assignment of a number of surgeons and
assistant surgeons to military departments, to divisions, to bri
gades, and to infantry and cavalry regiments largely in excess of
the number allowed by the law just quoted, but no authority is
given for the appointment of the increased number of medical
officers, and it would be impracticable to execute the law unless
by adopting the inadmissible construction that an authority to

First Congress. 265
assign officers to duty implies an authority to appoint new officers.
Such construction would be the less justifiable in the present
instance, because in the second section, in which new officers are
authorized, the language of the act directs appointments to be
made, but in the third and fourth sections the language is changed
and assignments only are permitted.
There is another omission in the act which may give rise to
pretension prejudicial to the service. In declaring the rank to
which the several medical officers shall be entitled in the Provi
sional Army, including those of brigadier general, colonels, and
lieutenant colonels, no express exclusion is made of their right
to command troops, as has wisely been done in the law which
regulates their rank in the Regular or Permanent Army. The of
ficers of the medical corps have long evinced the desire to have
some right of command of troops in certain contingencies, and'
this command ought either to be expressly forbidden or the cases
in which it may be exercised ought to be distinctly defined.
The chief objection to the bill, however, remains to be stated.
The fifth section is designed to effect a most humane and desirable
object, but its provisions are inadequate to the end proposed. The
purpose of Congress is evidently to provide some additional means
for the care of the sick and wounded of armies in the field. At
present after each battle the wounded are necessarily left in
such temporary quarters as can be procured in the vicinity, but
on the movement of the army most of the medical officers attached
to it are compelled to follow, and the wounded are thus left with
medical aid and attendance entirely insufficient for their relief.
, The fifth section of the act provides for an infirmary corps of
fifty men for each brigade, officered with one first and one second
lieutenant, two sergeants, and two corporals, but no provision
whatever is made for any additional medical officers, nor does
the act provide for any control by medical officers over these in
firmary corps, nor assign to these corps any fixed duties. Unless
some provision be made on these points, the present deficiency of
surgical aid will continue to exist, and the infirmary corps will
necessarily follow the army to which they are attached when it
moves after a battle, or, if left behind, will be subject to the or
ders only of their own officers, who are not medical men — or
conflicts will arise between these officers and the medical officers.

266 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Entertaining the conviction, therefore, that this act in its pres
ent form, while entailing heavy expense, will fail in the bene
ficial effects contemplated by Congress, I deem it my duty to re
turn it, without my approval, but 'with the hope that some ad
ditional legislation may be devised to accomplish the purpose
contemplated by its passage. Jefferson Davis.

To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I return herewith, unsigned, an act for the building of a vessel
of war, which originated in your body.
This act authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to build, arm,
and equip, with the least possible delay, if practicable, by con
tract with the inventor, otherwise directly by the Government,
one vessel of war, on the plan of Robert Cruizebearr, for ocean
and river service, drawings of which, with suitable explanations,
are deposited in said Department.
On a fair construction of the terms of this act, no discretion is
allowed the Secretary to decline building the vessel described, and
it will be his duty, if the act becomes a law, to proceed in the con
struction. The plan proposed by the inventor has been three
times examined by different officers of the Navy Department,
deemed fully competent to decide on such subjects, none of whom
have recommended the construction, but have reported "that it is
inexpedient to build such vessels at the present time, when the
whole available force and materials at the command of the De
partment should be applied to the construction of vessels of ac
knowledged efficiency."
In a report by a number of eminent naval officers, it is further
stated "that nothing has been done to prove the alleged claim to
the speed, invulnerability, and efficiency of the vessel, in either or
all of which we have no confidence."
As it is not probable that Congress was aware of the facts
above stated, I deem it my duty to return the bill, in order that
you may take such further action on the subject as is deemed by
you advisable, and with a full knowledge that the plan proposed
is not approved by the Executive Department, charged with the
supervision of such subjects. Jefferson Davis.
[Received October 13, 1862.]

First Congress. 267
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I return herewith, without approval, an act which originated
in your body entitled "An Act for the relief of the Bible Society
of the Confederate States of America."
My objections to this act are of a grave character, and I re
gret that the very short time allowed to me for its consideration
deprives me of any opportunity of stating them as fully as is
desirable. The act was presented to me only yesterday. I con
fine myself, therefore, to a simple enumeration of the objections
without attempting to enforce them by argument.
1st. If the sequestration fund is the property of the Govern
ment, Congress has no power under the Constitution to bestow
it, or any part of it, as a gift.
2nd. If the fund be not the property of the Government, but
is held merely as a trust fund, Congress has not the power to di
vert it from the beneficiaries and grant it to others.
3d. The faith of the Government is expressly and solemnly
pledged by the 2nd section of the act of the 15th of Febru
ary, 1862, that the fund, after being placed in the Treasury,
"shall be refunded as required for the purposes aforesaid;" these
purposes being the "equal indemnity of all persons loyal citizens
of the Confederate States, or persons aiding the same in the
present war who have suffered or may hereafter suffer loss or
damage by confiscation by the Government of the United
States, or by any State Government or pretended Government
acknowledging and aiding the Government of the United
States in this war, or by such acts of the enemy or other causes
incident to the war, as by further act of Congress may be de
scribed or defined as affording under the circumstances proper
cases for indemnity," etc.
4th. By the act of the 17th of March, 1862, Congress has
conferred a title to indemnity out of the sequestration fund of
all persons who may voluntarily destroy their property, or whose
property may be destroyed by the military authorities to prevent
the same from falling into the hands of the enemy ; and it is not
in the power of Congress to divert or impair this vested right.
5th. The act provides for the carrying out, by the Confederate
Bible Society, of the purposes of any bequest that may have been
made to the American Bible Society. These purposes are un-

268 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
known, and may be of a character hostile to the interests and
reprobated by the policy of our Government. Jefferson Davis.
October 13, 1862.

PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
To the People of the Confederate States.
Once more upon the plains of Manassas have our armies been
blessed by the Lord of Hosts with a triumph over our enemies.
It is my privilege to invite you once more to his footstool, ¦ not
now in the garb of fasting and sorrow, but with joy and gladness,
to render thanks for the great mercies received at his hand. A
few months since, and our enemies poured forth their invading
legions upon our soil. They laid waste our fields, polluted our
altars, and violated the sanctity of our homes. Around our cap
ital they gathered their forces, and, with boastful threats,
claimed it as already their prize. The brave troops which rallied
to its defense have extinguished these vain hopes, and, under
the guidance of the same Almighty hand, have scattered our
enemies and driven them back in dismay. Uniting these defeated
forces and the various armies which had been ravaging our
coasts with the army of invasion in Northern Virginia, our en
emies have renewed their attempt to subjugate us at the very
place where their first effort was defeated, and the vengeance
of retributive justice has overtaken the entire host in a second
and complete overthrow.
To this signal success accorded to our arms in the East has
been graciously added another equally brilliant in the West. On
the very day on which our forces were led to victory on the
plains of Manassas, in Virginia, the same Almighty arm as
sisted us to overcome our enemies at Richmond, in Kentucky.
Thus, at one and the same time, have the two great hostile
armies been stricken down and the wicked designs of our enemies
set at naught.

First Congress. 269
In such circumstances it is meet and right that as a people
we should bow down in adoring thankfulness to that gracious
God who has been our bulwark and defense, and to offer unto
him the tribute of thanksgiving and praise. In his hand is the
issue of all events, and to him should we in an especial manner
ascribe the honor of this great deliverance.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States, do issue this my proclamation setting apart Thurs
day, the 18th day of September instant, as a day of prayer and
thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the great mercies vouch
safed to our people, and more especially for the triumph of our
arms at Richmond and Manassas, in Virginia, and at Richmond,
in Kentucky; and I do hereby invite the people of the Confed
erate States to meet on that day at their respective places of public
worship, and to unite in rendering thanks and praise to God for
these great mercies, and to implore him to conduct our country
safely through the perils which surround us, to the final attain
ment of the blessings of peace and security.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate
.[seal.] States, at Richmond, this fourth day of September,
A.D. 1862. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.
General Orders No. 111.
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, December 24, 1862.
I. The following proclamation of the President is published
for the information and guidance of all concerned therein :
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas a communication was addressed on the 6th day of
July last (1862) by General Robert E. Lee, acting under the in
structions of the Secretary of War of the Confederate States of
America, to Gen. H. W. Halleck, General in Chief of the United
^States Army, informing the latter that a report had reached this

270 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Government that William B. Mumford, a citizen of the Confed
erate States, had been executed by the United States authorities at
New Orleans for having pulled down the United States flag in
that city before its occupation by the forces of the United States,
and calling for a statement of the facts with a view to retaliation
if such an outrage had really been committed under sanction of
the authorities of the United States ;
And whereas (no answer having been received to said letter),
another letter was, on the 2d of August last (1862), addressed
by Gen. Lee under my instructions to Gen. Halleck, renewing, the
inquiry in relation to the said execution of said Mumford, with
the information that in the event of not receiving a reply within
fifteen days it would be assumed that the fact alleged was true
and was sanctioned by the Government of the United States ;
And whereas, an answer, dated on the 7th August last (1862),
was addressed to General Lee by General H. W. Halleck, the
said General in Chief of the Armies of the United States, alleg
ing sufficient cause for failure to make early reply to said letter
of 6th of July, asserting that "no authentic information has been
received in relation to the execution of Mumford, but measures
will be immediately taken to ascertain the facts of the alleged
execution," and promising that General Lee should be duly in
formed thereof;
And whereas, on the 29th of November last (1862) another
letter was addressed under my instructions by Robert Ould, Con
federate agent for the exchange of prisoners under the cartel
between the two Governments, to Lieut. Col. W. H. Ludlow,
agent of the United States under said cartel, informing him that
the explanations promised in the said letter of General Halleck
of 7th of August last had not yet been received, and that if no
answer was sent to the Government within fifteen days from the
delivery of this last communication it would be considered that
an answer is declined;
And whereas, by letter dated on the 3d day of the present
month of December the said Lieutenant Colonel Ludlow ap
prised the said Robert Ould that the above-recited communica
tion of 29th of November had been received and forwarded to
the Secretary of War of the United States ;

First Congress. 271
And whereas, this last delay of fifteen days allowed for an
swer has elapsed and no answer has been received ;
And whereas, in addition to the tacit admission resulting from
the above refusal to answer I have received evidence fully estab
lishing the truth of the fact that the said William B. Mumford,
a citizen of this Confederacy, was actually and publicly executed
in cold blood by hanging, after the occupation of the city of New
Orleans by the forces under the command of General Benjamin
F. Butler, when said Mumford was an unresisting and noncom-
batant captive, and for no offense even alleged to have been com
mitted by him subsequent to the date of the capture . of the said
city; And whereas, the silence of the Government of the United
States and its maintaining of said Butler in high office under
its authority for many months after his commission of an act
that can be viewed in no other light than as a deliberate murder,
as well as of numerous other outrages and atrocities hereafter
to be mentioned, afford evidence only too conclusive that the
said Government sanctions the conduct of said Butler and is de
termined that he shall remain unpunished for his crimes :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate
States of America, and in their name, do pronounce and declare
the said Benjamin F. Butler to be a felon deserving of capital
punishment. I do order that be be no longer considered or treat
ed simply as a public enemy of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, but as an outlaw and common enemy of mankind, and that
in the event of his capture the officer in command of the captur
ing force do cause him to be immediately executed by hanging ;
and I do further order that no commissioned officer of the
United States taken captive shall be released on parole before
exchange until the said Butler shall have met with due punish
ment for his crimes.
And whereas, the hostilities waged against this Confederacy
by the forces of the United States under the command of said
Benjamin F. Butler have borne no resemblance to such war
fare as is alone permissible by the rules of international law or
the usages of civilization, but have been characterized by repeat
ed atrocities and outrages, among the large number of which the
following may be cited as examples :

272 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Peaceful and aged citizens, unresisting captives and noncom-
batants, have been confined at hard labor with balls and chains
attached to their limbs, and are still so held in dungeons and
fortresses. Others have been subjected to a like degrading pun
ishment for selling medicines to the sick soldiers of the Confed
eracy. The soldiers of the United States have been invited and en
couraged by general orders to insult and outrage the wives, the
mothers, and the sisters of our citizens.
Helpless women have been torn from their homes and sub
jected to solitary confinement, some in fortresses and prisons
and one especially on an island of barren sand under a tropical
sun; have been fed with loathsome rations that had been con
demned as unfit for soldiers, and have been exposed to the vilest
insults. Prisoners of war who surrendered to the naval forces of the
United States on agreement that they should be released on pa
role have been seized and kept in close confinement.
Repeated pretexts have been sought or invented for plundering
the inhabitants of the captured city by fines levied and exacted
under threat of imprisoning recusants at hard labor with ball
and chain.
The entire population of the city of New Orleans have been
forced to elect between starvation, by the confiscation of all
their property, and taking an oath against conscience to bear al
legiance to the invaders of their country.
Egress from the city has been refused to those whose forti
tude withstood the test, even to lone and aged women and to help
less children; and, after being ejected from their homes and
robbed of their property, they have been left to starve in the
streets or subsist on charity.
The slaves have been driven from the plantations in the neigh
borhood of New Orleans till their owners would consent to share (.
the crops with the commanding general, his brother Andrew J.
Butler, and other officers; and when such consent had been ex
torted the slaves have been restored to the plantations and there
compelled to work under the bayonets of guards of U. S. soldiers.
Where this partnership was refused armed expeditions, have
been sent to the plantations to rob them of everything that was

First Congress. 273
susceptible of removal, and even slaves too aged or infirm for
work have in spite of their entreaties been forced from the homes
provided by the owners and driven to wander helplessly on the
highway. By a recent general order (No. 91) the entire property in that
part of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi River has been
sequestrated for confiscation, and officers have been assigned to
duty with orders to "gather up and collect the personal prop
erty and turn over to the proper officers upon their receipts such
of said property as may be required for the use of the U. S.
Army; to collect together all the other personal property and
bring the same to New Orleans and cause it to be sold at public
auction to the highest bidders" — an order which if executed
condemns to punishment by starvation at least a quarter of a mil
lion human beings of all ages, sexes, and conditions ; and of which
the execution, although forbidden to military officers by the or
ders of President Lincoln, is in accordance with the confiscation
law of our enemies which he has directed to be enforced through
the agency of civil officials. And finally the African slaves have
not only been excited to insurrection by every license and encour
agement, but numbers of them have actually been armed for a
servile war — a war in its nature far exceeding in horrors the most
merciless atrocities of the savages.
And whereas, the officers under the command of the said Butler
have been in many instances active and zealous agents in the
commission of these crimes, and no instance is known of the re
fusal of any one of them to participate in the outrages above
narrated ;
And whereas, the President of the United States has by pub
lic and official declaration signified not only his approval of the
effort to excite servile war within the Confederacy, but his inten
tion to give aid and encouragement thereto if these independent
States shall continue to refuse submission to a foreign power
after the 1st day of January next, and has thus made known
that all appeals to the laws of nations, the dictates of reason, and
the instincts of humanity would be addressed in vain to our
enemies, and that they can be deterred from the commission of
these crimes only by the terms of just retribution :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confeder-
18

274 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
ate States of America, and acting by their authority, appealing to
the Divine Judge in attestation that their conduct is not guided
by the passion of revenge, but that they reluctantly yield to the
solemn duty of repressing by necessary severity crimes of which
their citizens are the victims, do issue this my proclamation, and
by virtue of my authority as Commander in Chief of the Armies
of the Confederate States do order —
i. That all commissioned officers in the command of said
Benjamin F. Butler be declared not entitled to be considered
as soldiers engaged in honorable warfare, but as robbers and
criminals deserving death, and that they and each of them be,
whenever captured, reserved for execution.
2. That the private soldiers and noncommissioned officers
in the army of said Butler be considered as only the instruments
used for the commission of the crimes perpetrated by his orders
and not as free agents; that they therefore be treated, when cap
tured, as prisoners of war with kindness and humanity and be
sent home on the usual parole that they will in no manner aid
or serve the United States in any capacity during the continuance
of this war unless duly exchanged.
3. That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered
over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which
they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States.
4. That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect
to all commissioned officers of the United States when found
serving in company with armed slaves in insurrection against the
authorities of the different States of this Confederacy.
In testimony whereof I have signed these presents and
caused the seal of the Confederate States of America to
[l. s.] be affixed thereto at the city of Richmond on this 23d day
of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-two. Jeff'n Davis.
By the President: J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.
II. Officers of the Army are charged with the observance and
enforcement of the foregoing orders of the President. Where
the evidence is not full or the case is for any reason of a doubtful
character it will be referred through this office for the decision of
the War Department.
By order: S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.

First Congress. 275
RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby presented,
to Captain Raphael Semmes, and the officers and crew of the
steamer Sumter, under his command, for gallant and merito
rious services rendered by them in seriously injuring the enemy's
commerce upon the high seas, thereby setting an example reflect
ing honor upon our infant Navy which cannot be too highly
appreciated by Congress and the people of the Confederate
States. Approved September 9, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress' of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
most cordially tendered, to Commander E. Farrand, senior of
ficer in command of the combined naval and military forces en
gaged, and Captain A. Drewry, senior military officer, and the
officers and men under their command, for the great and signal
victory achieved over the naval forces of the United States in
the engagement on the fifteenth day of May, eighteen hundred
and sixty-two, at Drewry's Bluff; and the gallantry, courage, and
endurance in that protracted fight, which achieved a victory over
the fleet of iron-clad gunboats of the enemy, entitle all who con
tributed thereto to the gratitude of the country.
Resolved further, That the President be requested, in appro
priate general orders, to communicate the foregoing resolution
to the officers and men to whom it is addressed.
Approved Sept. 16, 1862.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are hereby cordially tendered to
Lieutenant Isaac N. Brown, and all under his command, for
their signal exhibition of skill and gallantry on the fourteenth
day of July last, on the Mississippi River, near Vicksburg, in
the brilliant and successful engagement of the sloop of war Ar
kansas with the enemy's fleet.
Approved Oct. 2, 1862.

276 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
THIRD SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., JANUARY 12, 1S63. ADJOURNED MAY
I, 1863.
MESSAGES. Richmond, January 12, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
At the date of your last adjournment the preparations of the
enemy for further hostilities had assumed so menacing an as
pect as to excite in some minds apprehension of our ability to
meet them with sufficient promptness to avoid serious reverses.
These preparations were completed shortly after your departure
from the seat of government, and the armies of the United States .
made simultaneous advance on our frontiers on the western
rivers, and on the Atlantic Coast, in masses so great as to evince
their hope of overbearing all resistance by mere weight of num
bers. This hope, however, like those previously entertained by
our foes, has vanished. In Virginia their fourth attempt at
invasion by armies whose assured success was confidently pre
dicted has met with decisive repulse. Our noble defenders,
under the consummate leadership of their general, have again,
at Fredericksburg, inflicted on the forces under General Burn-
side the like disastrous overthrow as had been previously suf
fered by the successive invading armies commanded by Generals
McDowell, McClellan, and Pope.
In the West obstinate battles have been fought with varying
fortunes, marked by frightful carnage on both sides; but the
enemy's hopes of decisive results have again been baffled, while
at Vicksburg another formidable expedition has been repulsed
with considerable loss on our side and severe damage to the as
sailing forces. On the Atlantic Coast the enemy has been un
able to gain a footing beyond the protecting shelter of fiis fleets,
and the city of Galveston has just been recovered by our forces,
which succeeded not only in the capture of the garrison, but of
one of the enemy's vessels of war, which was carried by board
ing parties from merchant river steamers. Our fortified posi
tions have everywhere been much strengthened and improved,

First Congress. 277
affording assurance of our ability to meet with success the ut
most efforts of our enemies, in spite of the magnitude of their
preparations for attack.
A review of our history during the two years of our national
existence affords ample cause for congratulation and demands
the most fervent expression of our thankfulness to the Almighty
Father, who has blessed our cause. We are justified in assert
ing, with a pride surely not unbecoming, that these Confederate
States have added another to the lessons taught by history for
the instruction of man ; that they have afforded another example
of the impossibility of subjugating a people determined to be
free; and have demonstrated that no superiority of numbers or
available resources can overcome the resistance offered by such
valor in combat, such constancy under suffering, and such cheer
ful endurance of privation as have been conspicuously displayed
by this people in the defense of their rights and liberties. The
anticipations with which we entered into the contest have now
ripened into a conviction which is not only shared with us by the
common opinion of neutral nations, but is evidently forcing itself
upon our enemies themselves. If we but mark the history of the
present year, by resolute perseverance in the path we have hither
to pursued, by vigorous effort in the development of all our re
sources for defense, and by the continued exhibition of the same
unfaltering courage in our soldiers and able conduct in their lead
ers as have distinguished the past, we have every reason to expect
that this will be the closing year of the war. The war, which in
its inception was waged for forcing us back into the Union,
having failed to accomplish that purpose, passed into a second
stage, in which it was attempted to conquer and rule these States
as dependent provinces. Defeated in this second design, our
enemies have evidently entered upon another, which 'can have no
other purpose than revenge and thirst for blood and plunder of
private property. But, however implacable they may be, they can
have neither the spirit nor the resources required for a fourth
year of a struggle uncheered by any hope of success, kept alive
solely for the indulgence of mercenary and wicked passions, and
demanding so exhaustive an expenditure of blood and money as
has hitherto been imposed on their people. The advent of peace
will be hailed with joy. Our desire for it has never been con-

278 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
cealed. Our efforts to avoid the war, forced on us as it was by
the lust of conquest and the insane passions of our foes, are
known to mankind. But, earnest as has been our wish for peace
and great as have been our sacrifices and sufferings during the
war, the determination of this people has with each succeeding
month become more unalterably fixed to endure any sufferings
and continue any sacrifices, however prolonged, until their right
to self-government and the sovereignty and independence of these
States shall have been triumphantly vindicated and firmly estab
lished. In this connection the occasion seems not unsuitable for some
reference to the relations between the Confederacy and the neu
tral powers of Europe since the separation of these States from
the former Union. Four of the States now members of the Con
federacy were recognized by name as independent sovereignties
in a treaty of peace concluded in the year 1783 with one of the two
great maritime powers of Western Europe, and had been, prior
to that period, allies in war of one another. In the year 1778 they
formed a Union with nine other States under Articles of Con
federation. Dissatisfied with that Union, three of them, Vir
ginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, together with eight of the
States now members of the United States, seceded from it in
1789, and these eleven seceding States formed a second Union,
although by the terms of the Articles of Confederation express
provision was made that the first Union should be perpetual.
Their right to secede, notwithstanding this provision, was neither
contested by the States from which they separated nor made the
subject of discussion with any third power. When at a later
period North Carolina acceded to that second Union, and when,
still later, the other sovereign* States, now members of this Con
federacy, became also members of the same Union, it was upon
the recognized footing of equal and independent sovereignties;
nor had it then entered into the minds of men that sovereign
States could be compelled by force to remain members of a con
federation into which they had entered of their own free will,
if at a subsequent period the defense of their safety and honor
should, in their judgment, justify withdrawal. The experience
of the past had evinced the futility of any renunciation of such
*Originally written "seven;" see page 299.

First Congress. 279
inherent rights, and accordingly the provision for perpetuity
contained in the Articles of Confederation of 1778 was omitted
in the Constitution of 1789. When, therefore, in 1861, eleven
of the States again thought proper, for reasons satisfactory to
themselves, to se~ede from the second Union and to form a third
one under an amended constitution, they exercised a right which,
being inherent, required no justification to foreign nations, and
which international law did not permit them to question. The
usages of intercourse between nations do, however, require that
official communication be made to friendly powers of all organic
changes-wa^che constitution of States, and there was obvious pro
priety in giving prompt assurance of our desire to continue ami
cable relations with all mankind. It was under the influence of
these considerations that your predecessors, the Provisional Gov
ernment, took early measures for sending to Europe commis
sioners charged with the duty of visiting the capitals of the dif
ferent powers and making arrangements for the opening of more
formal diplomatic intercourse. Prior, however, to the arrival
abroad of those commissioners the United States had com
menced hostilities against the Confederacy by dispatching a se
cret expedition for the reinforcement of Fort Sumter, after an
express promise to the contrary, and with a duplicity which has
been fully unveiled in a former message.* They had also ad
dressed communications to the different Cabinets of Europe
in which they assumed the attitude of being sovereign over
this Confederacy, alleging that these independent States were in
rebellion against the remaining States of the Union, and threat
ening Europe with manifestations of their displeasure if it should
treat the Confederate States as having an independent existence.
It soon became known that these pretensions were not consid
ered abroad to be as absurd as they were known to be at home,
nor had Europe yet learned what reliance was to be placed on
the official statements of the Cabinet at Washington.
The delegation of power granted by these States to the Feder
al Government to represent them in foreign intercourse had led
Europe into the grave error of supposing that their separate sov
ereignty and independence had been merged into one common
sovereignty, and had ceased to have a distinct existence. Under
*See page 71.

280 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy-
the influence of this error, which all appeals to reasoi/i and histor
ical fact were vainly used to dispel, our commissioners were met
by the declaration that foreign governments cou'id not assume
to judge between the conflicting representations of the two parties
as to the true nature of their previous mutual relations. The
Governments of Great Britain and France accordingly signified
their determination to confine themselves to re/cognizing the self-
evident fact of the existence of a war, and to maintaining a strict
neutrality during its progress. Some of the other powers of Eu
rope pursued the same course of policy, and it became apparent
that by some understanding, express or tacit, Europe had decided
to leave the initiative in all action touching the contest on this
continent to the two powers just named, who were recognized
to have the largest interests involved, both by reason of proximity
and of the extent and intimacy of their commercial relations with
the States engaged in war. It is manifest that the course of ac
tion adopted by Europe, while based on an apparent refusal to
determine the question, or to side with either party, was in point
of fact an actual decision against our rights and in favor of the
groundless pretensions of the United States. It was a refusal
to treat us as an independent Government. If we were inde
pendent States, the refusal to entertain with us the same inter
national intercourse as was maintained with our enemy was un
just, and was injurious in its effects, whatever may have been
the motive which prompted it. Neither was it in accordance with
the high moral obligations of that international code whose chief
sanction is the conscience of sovereigns and the public opinion
of mankind, that those eminent powers should decline the per
formance of a duty peculiarly incumbent on them from any ap
prehension of the consequences to themselves. One immediate
and necessary result of their declining the responsibility of a de
cision which must have been adverse to the extravagant preten
sions of the United States was the prolongation of hostilities to
which our enemies were thereby encouraged, and which have re
sulted in nothing but scenes of carnage and devastation on this
continent, and of misery and suffering on the other, such as have
scarcely a parallel in history. Had those powers promptly ad
mitted our right to be treated as all other independent nations,
none can doubt that the moral effect of such action would have

First Congress. 281
been to dispel the delusion under which the United States have
persisted in their efforts to accomplish our subjugation. To the
continued hesitation of the same powers in rendering this act
of simple justice toward this Confederacy is still due the contin
uance .of the calamities which mankind suffers from the inter
ruption of its peaceful pursuits, both in the Old and the New
World. There are other matters in which less than justice has been
rendered to this people by neutral Europe, and undue advantage
conferred on the aggressors in a wicked war. At the inception
of hostilities the inhabitants of the Confederacy were almost
exclusively agriculturists ; those of the United States, to a great
extent, mechanics and merchants. We had no commercial ma
rine, while their merchant vessels covered the ocean. We were
without a navy, while they had powerful fleets. The advantage
which they possessed for inflicting injury on our coasts and har
bors was thus counterbalanced in some measure by the exposure
of their commerce to attack by private armed vessels. It was
known to Europe that within a very few years past the United
States had peremptorily refused to accede to proposals for abol
ishing privateering, on the ground, as alleged by them, that na
tions owning powerful fleets would thereby obtain undue advan
tage over those possessing inferior naval forces. Yet no sooner
was war flagrant between the Confederacy and the United States
than the maritime powers of Europe issued orders prohibiting
either party from bringing prizes into their ports. This prohibi
tion, directed with apparent impartiality against both belliger
ents, was in reality effective against the Confederate States alone,
for they alone could find a hostile commerce on the ocean. Mere
ly nominal against the United States, the prohibition operated
with intense severity on the Confederacy, by depriving it of the
only means of maintaining with some approach to equality its
struggle on the ocean against the crushing superiority of naval
force possessed by its enemies. The value and efficiency of the
weapon which was thus wrested from our grasp by the combined
action of neutral European powers in favor of a nation which
professes openly its intention of ravaging their commerce by
privateers in any future war is strikingly illustrated by the ter
ror inspired among the commercial classes of the United States

,282 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
by a single cruiser of the Confederacy. One national steamer,
commanded by officers and manned by a crew who are debarred,
by the closure of neutral ports, from the opportunity of causing
captured vessels to be condemned in their favor as prizes, has
sufficed to double the rates of marine insurance in Northern
ports and consign to forced inaction numbers of Northern ves
sels, in addition to the direct damage inflicted by captures at
sea. How difficult, then, to overestimate the effects that must
have been produced by the hundreds of private armed vessels
that would have swept the seas in pursuit of the commerce of
our enemy if the means of disposing of their prizes had not been
withheld by the action of neutral Europe.
But it is especially in relation to the so-called blockade of our
coast that the policy of European powers has been so shaped as
to cause the greatest injury to the Confederacy and to confer sig
nal advantages on the United States. The importance of this
subject requires some development. Prior to the year 1856 the
principles regulating this subject were to be gathered from the
writings of eminent publicists, the decisions of admiralty courts,
international treaties, and the usages of nations. The uncer
tainty and doubt which prevailed in reference to the true rules of
maritime law in time of war, resulting from the discordant and
often conflicting principles announced from such varied and inde
pendent sources, had become a grievous evil to mankind. Wheth
er a blockade was allowable against a port not invested by land
as well as by sea; whether a blockade was valid by sea if the
investing fleet was merely sufficient to render ingress to the
blockaded port "evidently dangerous," or whether it was further
required for its legality that it should be sufficient "really to
prevent access," and numerous other similar questions had re
mained doubtful and undecided.
Animated by the highly honorable desire to put an end "to dif-'
ferences of opinion between neutrals and belligerents, which may
occasion serious difficulties and even conflicts" (I quote the of
ficial language), the five great powers of Europe, together with
Sardinia and Turkey, adopted in 1856 the following "solemn
declaration" of principles:
1. Privateering is, and remains, abolished.

First Congress. 283
2. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods with the exception
of contraband of war.
3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war,
are not liable to capture under enemy's flag.
4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective; that
is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access
to the coast of the enemy.
Not only did this solemn declaration announce to the world
the principles to which the signing powers agreed to conform in
future wars, but it contained a clause to which those powers
gave immediate effect, and which provided that the States not
parties to the Congress of Paris should be invited to accede to
the declaration. Under this invitation every independent State
in Europe yielded its assent — at least, no instance is known to
me of refusal; and the United States, while declining to assent
to the proposition which prohibited privateering, declared that
the three remaining principles were in entire accordance with
their own views of international law. No instance is known in
history of the adoption of rules of public law under circumstances
of like solemnity, with like unanimity, and pledging the faith
of nations with a sanctity so peculiar.
When, therefore, this Confederacy was formed, and when neu
tral powers, while deferring action on its demand for admission
into the family of nation's, recognized it as a belligerent power,
Great Britain and France made informal proposals about the same
time that their own rights as neutrals should be guaranteed by our
acceding as belligerents to the declaration of principles made
by the Congress of Paris. The request was addressed to our
sense of justice, and therefore met immediate favorable response
in the resolutions of the Provisional Congress of the 13th of Au
gust, 1861, by which all the principles announced by the Congress
of Paris were adopted as the guide of our conduct during the
war, with the sole exception of that relative to privateering. As
the right to make use of privateers was one in which neutral
nations had, as to the present war, no interest ; as it was a right
which the United States had refused to abandon, and which they
remained at liberty to employ against us ; as it was a right of
which we were already in actual enjoyment, and which we could
not be expected to renounce flagrante bello against an adversary

284 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
possessing an overwhelming superiority of naval forces, it was
reserved with entire confidence that neutral nations could not
fail to perceive that just reason existed for the reservation. Nor
was this confidence misplaced, for the official documents pub
lished by the British Government, usually called "Blue Books,"
contained the expression of the satisfaction of that Government
with the conduct of the officials who conducted successfully the
delicate business confided to their charge.
These solemn declarations of principle — this implied agree
ment between the Confederacy and the two powers just named —
have been suffered to remain inoperative against the menaces.
and outrages on neutral rights committed by the United States
with unceasing and progressive arrogance during the whole pe
riod of the war. Neutral Europe remained passive when the
United States, with a naval force insufficient to blockade effect
ively the coast of a single State, proclaimed a paper blockade of
thousands of miles of coast, extending from the capes of the
Chesapeake to those of Florida, and encircling the Gulf of Mex
ico from Key West to the mouth of the Rio Grande. Compared
with this monstrous pretension of the United States, the block
ades known in history under the names of the Berlin and Milan
decrees and the British orders in council, in the years 1806
and 1807, sink into insignificance. Yet those blockades were
justified by the powers that declared them on the sole ground
that they were retaliatory ; yet those blockades have since been
condemned by the publicists of those very powers as violations of
international law ; yet those blockades evoked angry remonstrances
from neutral powers, among which the United States were the
most conspicuous ; yet those blockades became the chief cause
of the war between Great Britain and the United States in 1812;
yet those blockades were one of the principal motives that led
to the declaration of the Congress of Paris, in 1856, in the fond
hope of imposing an enduring check on the very abuse of mari
time power which is now renewed by the United States in 1861
and 1862, under circumstances and with features of aggravated
wrong without precedent in history.
The records of our State Department contain the evidence of
the repeated and formal remonstrances made by this Government
to neutral powers against the recognition of this blockade. It

First Congress. 285
has been shown by evidence not -capable of contradiction, and
which has been furnished in part by the officials of neutral na
tions, that the few ports of this Confederacy, before which any
naval forces at all have been stationed, have been invested so
inefficiently that hundreds of entries have been effected into them
since the declaration of the blockade ; that our enemies have them
selves admitted the inefficiency of their blockade in the most
forcible manner by repeated official complaints of the sale to us
of goods contraband of war, a sale which could not possibly af
fect their interests if their pretended blockade was sufficient
"really to prevent access to our coast;" that they have gone
farther and have alleged their inability to render their pcper
blockade effective as the excuse for the odious barbarity of de
stroying the entrance to one of our harbors by sinking vessels
loaded with stone in the channel; that our commerce with for
eign nations has been intercepted, not by effective investment of
our ports, nor by the seizure of ships in the attempt to enter them,
but by the capture on the high seas of neutral vessels by the cruis
ers of our enemies whenever supposed to be bound to any point
on our extensive coast, without inquiry whether a single block
ading vessel was to be found at such point; that blockading
vessels have left the ports at which they were stationed for dis
tant expeditions, have been absent for many days, and have re
turned without notice either of the cessation or renewal of the
blockade; in a word, that every prescription of maritime law and
every right of neutral nations to trade with a belligerent, under
the sanction of principles heretofore universally respected, have
been systematically and persistently violated by the United States.
Neutral Europe has received our remonstrances and has sub
mitted in almost unbroken silence to all the wrongs that the
United States have chosen to inflict on its commerce. The Cab
inet of Great Britain, however, has not confined itself to such
implied acquiescence in these breaches of international law as
results from simple inaction, but has, in a published dispatch of
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, assumed to make a
change in the principle enunciated by the Congress of Paris, to
which the faith of the British Government was considered to be
pledged; a change too important and too prejudicial to the inter
ests of the Confederacy to be overlooked, and against which I

286 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
have directed solemn protest to be made, after a vain attempt to
obtain satisfactory explanations from the British Government.
In a published dispatch from Her Majesty's Foreign Office to her
Minister at Washington, under the date of nth of February,
1862, occurs the following passage :
Her Majesty's Government, however, are of opinion that, assuming
that the blockade was duly notified, and also that a number of ships are
stationed and remain at the entrance of a port sufficient really to prevent
access to it, or to create an evident danger on entering it or leaving it, and
that these ships do not voluntarily permit ingress or egress, the fact that
various ships may have successfully escaped through it (as in the particular
instance here referred to) will not of itself prevent the blockade from
being an effectual one by international law.
The words which I have italicized are an addition made by
the British Government of its own authority to a principle the
exact terms of which were settled with deliberation by the common
consent of civilized nations and by implied convention with this
Government, as already explained, and their effect is clearly to
reopen to the prejudice of the Confederacy one of the very dis
puted questions on the law of blockade which the Congress of
Paris professed to settle. The importance of this change is read
ily illustrated by taking one of our ports as an example. There
is "evident danger" in entering the port of Wilmington from
the presence of a blockading force, and by this test the blockade is
effective. "Access is not really prevented" by the blockading
fleet to the same port, for steamers are continually arriving and
departing, so that tried by this test the blockade is ineffective
and invalid. The justice of our complaint on this point is so
manifest as to leave little room for doubt that further reflection
will induce the British Government to give us such assurances
as will efface the painful impressions that would result from its
language if left unexplained.
From the foregoing remarks you will perceive that during
nearly two years of struggle, in which every energy of our coun
try has been evoked for maintaining its very existence, the neu
tral nations of Europe have pursued a policy which, nominally
impartial, has been practically most favorable to our enemies and
most detrimental to us. The exercise of the neutral right of re
fusing entry into their ports to prizes taken by both belligerents

First Congress. 287
was eminently hurtful to the Confederacy. It was sternly as
serted and maintained. The exercise of the neutral right of
commerce with a belligerent whose ports are not blockaded by
fleets sufficient really to prevent access to them would have been
eminently hurtful to the United States. It was complacently
abandoned. The duty of neutral States to receive with cordiality
and recognize with respect any new confederation that independ
ent States may think proper to form was. too clear to admit of
denial, but its postponement was eminently beneficial to the
United States and detrimental to the Confederacy. It was post
poned. In this review of our relations with the neutral nations of
Europe it has been my purpose to point out distinctly that this
Government has no complaint to make that those nations declared
their neutrality. It could neither expect nor desire more. The
complaint is that the neutrality has been rather nominal than
real, and that recognized neutral rights have been alternately
asserted and Waived in such manner as to bear with great sever
ity on us, and to confer signal advantages on our enemy.
I have hitherto refrained from calling to your attention this
condition of our relations with foreign powers for various rea
sons. The chief of these was the fear that a statement of our
just grounds of complaint against a course of policy so injurious
to our interests might be misconstrued into an appeal for aid.
Unequal as we were in mere numbers and available resources
to our enemies, we were conscious of powers of resistance, in
relation to which Europe was incredulous, and our remonstrances
were therefore peculiarly liable to be misunderstood. Proudly
self-reliant, the Confederacy, knowing full well the character of
the contest into which it was forced, with full trust in the supe
rior qualities of its population, the superior valor of its soldiers,
the superior skill of its generals, and above all in the justice
of its cause, felt no need to appeal for the maintenance of its rights
to other earthly aids, and it began and has continued this struggle
with the calm confidence ever inspired in those who, with con
sciousness of right, can invoke the Divine blessing on their
cause. This confidence has been so assured that. we have never
yielded to despondency under defeat, nor do we feel undue
elation at the present brighter prospect of successful issue to

288 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
our contest. It is, therefore, because our just grounds of com
plaint can no longer be misinterpreted that I lay them clearly
before you. It seems to me now proper to give you the infor
mation, and, although no immediate results may be attained, it
is well that truth should be preserved and recorded. It is well
that those who are to follow us should understand the full na
ture and character of the tremendous conflict in which the blood
of our people has been poured out like water, and in which they
have resisted, unaided, the shock of hosts which would have
sufficed to overthrow many of the powers which, by their hesi
tation in according our rights as an independent nation, imply
doubt of our ability to maintain our national existence. It may
be, too, that if in future times unfriendly discussions not now
anticipated shall unfortunately arise between this Confederacy
and some European power, the recollection of our forbearance
under the grievances which I have enumerated may be evoked
with happy influence in preventing any serious disturbance of
peaceful relations.
It would not be proper to close my remarks on the subject of
our foreign relations without adverting to the fact that the cor
respondence between the Cabinets of France, Great Britain, and
Russia, recently published, indicate a gratifying advance in the
appreciation by those Governments of the true interest of man
kind as involved in the war on this continent. It is to the en
lightened ruler of the French nation that the public feeling of
Europe is indebted for the first official exhibition of its sympathy
for the sufferings endured by this people with so much heroism,
of its horror at the awful carnage with which the progress of the
war has been marked, and of its desire for a speedy peace. The
clear and direct intimation contained in the language of the
French note, that our ability to maintain our independence has
been fully established, was not controverted by the answer of
either of the Cabinets to which it was addressed. It is indeed
difficult to conceive a just ground for a longer delay on this
subject after reading the following statement of facts contained
in the letter emanating from the Minister of His Imperial Maj
esty :
There has been established, from the very beginning of this war, an
equilibrium of forces between the belligerents, which has since been al-

First Congress'. 289
most constantly maintained, and after the spilling of so much blood they
are to-day in this respect in a situation which has not sensibly changed.
Nothing authorizes the prevision that more decisive military operations
will shortly occur. According to the last advices received in Europe, the
two armies were, on the contrary, in a condition which permitted neither
to hope within a short delay advantages sufficiently marked to turn the.
balance definitely and to accelerate the conclusion of peace.
As this Government has never professed the intention of con
quering the United States, but has simply asserted its ability to'
defend itself against being conquered by that power, we may
safely conclude that the claims of this Confederacy to its just
place in the family of nations cannot long be withheld, after so
frank and formal an admission of its capacity to cope on equal
terms with its aggressive foes, and to maintain itself against their
attempts to obtain decisive results by arms.
It is my painful duty again to inform you of the renewed ex
amples of every conceivable atrocity committed by the armed
forces of the United States at different points within the Con
federacy, and which must stamp indelible infamy not only on the
perpetrators but on their superiors, who, having the power to
check these outrages on humanity, numerous and well-authen
ticated as they have been, have not yet in a single instance of
which I am aware inflicted punishment on the wrongdoers.
Since my last communication to you one General McNeil mur
dered seven prisoners of war in cold blood, and the demand for
his punishment has remained unsatisfied. The Government of
the United States, after promising examination and explanaj
tion in relation to the charges made against General Benjamin
F. Butler, has by its subsequent silence, after repeated efforts on
my part to obtain some answer on the subject, not only admitted
his guilt but sanctioned it by acquiescence, and I have according
ly branded this criminal as an outlaw,* and directed his execution
in expiation of his crimes if he should fall into the hands of any
of our forces. Recently I have received apparently authentic
intelligence of another general by the name of Milroy who has
issued orders in Western Virginia for the payment of money
to him by the inhabitants, accompanied by the most savage threats
of shooting every recusant, besides burning his house, and threat
en *See page 269.

290 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
ening similar atrocities against any of our citizens who shall
fail to betray their country by giving him prompt notice of the
approach of any of our forces, and this subject has also been
submitted to the superior military authorities of the United States
with but faint hope that they will evince any disapprobation of
the act. Humanity shudders at the appalling atrocities which
are being daily multiplied under the sanction of those who have
obtained temporary possession of power in the United States,
and who are fast making its once fair name a byword of re
proach among civilized men. Not even the natural indignation
inspired by this conduct should make us, however, so unjust as
to attribute to the whole mass of the people who are subjected.
to the despotism that now reigns with unbridled license in the
city of Washington a willing acquiescence in its conduct of the
war. There must necessarily exist among our enemies very
many, perhaps a majority, whose humanity recoils from all par
ticipation in such atrocities, but who cannot be held wholly guilt
less while permitting their continuance without an effort at re
pression. The public journals of the North have been received, contain
ing a proclamation, dated on the 1st day of the present month,
signed by the President of the United States, in which he orders
and declares all slaves within ten of the States of the Confeder
acy to be free, except such as are found within certain districts
now occupied in part by the armed forces of the enemy. We
may well leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which
a beneficent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellow-
men of all countries to pass judgment on a measure by which
several millions of human beings of an inferior race, peaceful
and contented laborers in their sphere, are doomed to extermi
nation, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general
assassination of their masters by the insidious recommendation
"to abstain from violence unless in necessary self-defense."
Our own detestation of those who have attempted the most exe
crable measure recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered
by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it discloses.
So far as regards the action of this Government on such criminals
as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to informing you
that I shall, unless in your wisdom you deem some other course

First Congress

a'

291

more expedient, deliver to the several State authorities all com
missioned officers of the United States that may hereafter be
captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in the
proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with
the laws of those States providing for the punishment of crim
inals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted
soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the
commission of these crimes, and shall direct their discharge and
return to their homes on the proper and usual parole.
In its political aspect this measure possesses great significance,
and to it in this light I invite your attention. It affords to our
whole people the complete and crowning proof of the true nature
of the designs of the party which elevated to power the present
occupant of the Presidential chair at Washington and which
sought to conceal its purpose by every variety of artful device
and by the perfidious use of the most solemn and repeated pledges
on every possible occasion. I extract in this connection as a sin
gle example the following declaration, made by President Lin
coln under the solemnity of his oath as Chief Magistrate of the
United States, on the 4th of March, 1861 :
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States
that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and
their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never
been any reasonable cause for such apprehension, Indeed, the most
ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open
to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of
him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches
when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to inter
fere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I be
lieve I have no lawful right to do so; and I have no inclination to do so.
Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I
had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted
them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance
and as a law to themselves and to me the clear and emphatic resolution
which I now read :
"Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States,
and especially the right of each State to order and control Its own domes
tic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential
to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our po
litical fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed
force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pre
text, as among the gravest of crimes.''

292 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Nor was this declaration of .the want' of power or disposition
to interfere -with our social system confined to a state of peace.
Both before and after the actual commencement of hostilities
the President of the United 'States : repeated in formal official
communication to the Cabinets of Great Britain and France that
he was utterly without constitutional power to do the act which .
he has just committed, and that in no possible event, whether the
secession of these States resulted in the establishment of a sepa
rate Confederacy or in the restoration of the Union, was there
any authority by virtue of which he could either restore a disaf
fected State to the Union by force of arms or make any change
in any of its institutions. I refer especially for verification of
this assertion to the dispatches addressed by the Secretary of
State of the United States, under direction of the President, to
the Ministers of the United States at London and Paris, under
date of 10th and 22d of April, 1861.
The people of this Confederacy, then, cannot fail to receive
this proclamation as the fullest vindication of their own sagacity
in foreseeing the uses to which the dominant party in the United
States intended from the beginning to apply their power, nor
can they cease to remember with devout thankfulness that it is
to their own vigilance in resisting the first stealthy progress of
approaching despotism that they owe their escape from conse
quences now apparent to the most skeptical. This proclamation
will have another salutary effect in calming the fears of those
who have constantly evinced the apprehension that this war might
end by some reconstruction of the old Union or some renewal of
close political relations with the United States. These fears
have never been shared by me, nor have I ever been able to per
ceive on what basis they could rest. But the proclamation af
fords the fullest guarantee of the impossibility of such a result;
it has established a state of things which can lead to but one of
three possible consequences — the extermination of the slaves,
the exile of the whole white population from the Confederacy,
or absolute and total separation of these States from the United
States. This proclamation is also an authentic statement by the Gov
ernment of the United States of its inability to subjugate the
South by force of arms, and as such must be accepted by neutral

First Congress. 293
nations, which can no longer find any justification in withholding
our just claims to formal recognition. It is also in effect an inti
mation to the people of the North that they must prepare to sub
mit to a separation, now become inevitable, for. that people are
too acute not to understand a restoration of the Union has been
rendered forever impossible by the adoption of a measure which
from its very nature neither admits of retraction nor can coexist
with union.
Among the subjects to which your attention will be specially
devoted during the present session you will no doubt deem the
adoption of some comprehensive system of finance as being of
paramount importance. The increasing public debt, the great
augmentation in the volume of the currency, with its necessary con
comitant of extravagant prices for all articles of consumption,
the want of revenue from a taxation adequate to support the pub
lic credit, all unite in admonishing us that energetic and wise
legislation alone can prevent serious embarrassment in our mon
etary affairs. It is my conviction that the people of the Confed
eracy will freely meet taxation on a "scale adequate to the main
tenance of the public credit and the support of their Govern
ment. When each family is sending forth its most precious ones
to meet exposure in camp and death in battle, what ground can
there be to doubt the disposition to devote a tithe of its income,
and more, if more be necessary, to provide the Government with
means for insuring the comfort of its defenders ? If our enemies
submit to an excise on every commodity they produce and to the
daily presence of the taxgatherer, with no higher motive than
the hope of success in their wicked designs against us, the sug
gestion of an unwillingness on the part of this people to submit
to the taxation necessary for the success of their defense is an
imputation on their patriotism that few will be disposed to make
and that none can justify.
The legislation of your last session, intended to hasten the
funding of outstanding Treasury notes, has proved beneficial, as
shown by the returns annexed to the report of the Secretary of
the Treasury. But it was neither sufficiently prompt nor far-
- reaching to meet the full extent of the evil. The passage of some
enactment carrying still further the policy of that law by fixing
a limitation not later than the 1st of July next to the delay- al-

294 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
lowed for funding the notes issued prior to the ist of December,
1862, will, in the opinion of the Secretary, have the effect to
withdraw from circulation nearly the entire sum issued previous
to the last-named date. If to this be added a revenue from ade
quate taxation, and a negotiation of bonds guaranteed propor
tionately by the several States, as has already been generally
proposed by some of them in enactments spontaneously adopted,
there is little doubt that we shall see our finances restored to a
sound and satisfactory condition, our circulation relieved of the
redundancy now productive of so many mischiefs, and our credit
placed on such a basis as to relieve us from further anxiety rel
ative to our resources for the prosecution of the war.
It is true that at its close our debt will be large; but it will
be due to our own people, and neither the interest nor the capi
tal will be exported to distant countries, impoverishing ours for
their benefit. On the return of peace the untold wealth which
will spring from our soil will render the burden of taxation far
less onerous than is now supposed, especially if we take into
consideration that we shall then be free from the large and steady
drain of our substance to which we were subjected in the late
Union through, the instrumentality of sectional legislation and
protective tariffs.
I recommend to your earnest attention the whole report of the
Secretary of the Treasury on this important subject, and trust
that your legislation on it will be delayed no longer than may be
required to enable your wisdom to devise the proper measures
for insuring the accomplishment of the objects proposed.
The operations of the War Department have been in the main
satisfactory. In the report of the Secretary, herewith submitted,
will be found a summary of many memorable successes. They
are with justice :.scribed in large measure to the reorganization
and reinforcement of our armies under the operation of the
enactments for conscription. The wisdom and efficacy of these
acts have been approved by results, and the like spirit of unity,
endurance, and self-devotion in the people, which has hitherto
sustained their action, must be relied on to assure their enforce
ment under the continuing necessities of our situation. The rec
ommendations of the Secretary to this effect are tempered by sug
gestions for their amelioration, and the subject deserves the

First Congress. 295
consideration of Congress. For the perfection of our military
organization no appropriate means should be rejected, and on
this subject the opinions of the Secretary merit early attention.
It is gratifying to perceive that under all the efforts and sacrifices
of war the power, means, and resources of the Confederacy for
its successful prosecution are increasing. Dependence on for
eign supplies is to be deplored, and should, as far as practicable,
be obviated by the development and employment of internal re
sources. The peculiar circumstances of the country, however,
render this difficult and require extraordinary encouragements
and facilities to be granted by the Government. The embarrass
ments resulting from the limited capacity of the railroads to af
ford transportation and the impossibility of otherwise com
manding and distributing the necessary supplies for the armies
render the control of the roads under some general supervision
and resort to the power of impressment military exigencies.
While such powers have to be exercised, they should be guarded
by judicious provisions against perversion or abuse and be, as
recommended by the Secretary, under due regulation of law.
I specially recommend in this connection some revision of the
exemption law of last session. Serious complaints have reached
me of the inequality of its operation from eminent and patriotic
citizens whose opinions merit great consideration, and I trust
that some means will be devised for leaving at home a sufficient
local police without making discriminations, always to be depre
cated, between different classes of our citizens.
Our relations with the Indians generally continue to be friend
ly. A portion of the Cherokee people have assumed an attitude
hostile to the Confederate Government, but it is gratifying to be
able to state that the mass of intelligence and worth in that nation
have remained true and loyal to their treaty engagements. With
this exception there have been no important instances of disaf
fection among any of the friendly nations and tribes. Dissatis
faction recently manifested itself among certain portions of
them, but this resulted from a misapprehension of the intentions
of the Government in their behalf. This has been removed, and
no further difficulty is anticipated.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy, herewith transmitted,
exhibits the progress made in this branch of the public service

296 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
since your adjournment, as well as its present condition. The de
tails embraced in it are of such a nature as to render it, in my
Opinion, incompatible with the public interests that they should
be published with this message. I therefore confine myself to in
viting your attention to the information therein contained.
' The report of the Postmaster General shows that during the
first postal year under our Government, terminating on the 30th
Of June last, our revenues were in excess of those received by
the former Government in its last postal year, while the expenses
were greatly decreased. There is still, however, a considerable
deficit in the revenues of the Department as compared with its
expenses, and although the grants already made from the gen
eral Treasury will suffice to cover all liabilities to the close of
the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June next, I recommend some
legislation, if any can be constitutionally devised, for aiding the
revenues of that Department during the ensuing fiscal year, in
order to avoid too great a reduction of postal facilities. Your
attention is also invited to numerous other improvements in the
service recommended in the report, and for which legislation is
required. I recommend to the Congress to devise a proper mode of re
lief to those of our citizens whose property has been destroyed
by order of the Government, in pursuance of a policy adopted
as a means of national defense. It is true that full indemnity
cannot now be made, but some measure of relief is due to those
patriotic citizens who have borne private loss for the public good,
whose property in effect has been taken for public use, though
not directly appropriated. Our Government, born of the spirit
of freedom and of the equality and independence of the States,
could not have survived a selfish or jealous disposition, making
each only careful of its own interest or safety. The fate of the
Confederacy, under the blessing of Divine Providence, depends
upon the harmony, energy,. and unity of the States. It especially
devolves on you, their representatives, as far as practicable, to
reform abuses, to correct errors, to cultivate fraternity, and to
sustain in the people a just confidence in the Government of their
choice. To that confidence and to the unity and self-sacrificing
patriotism hitherto displayed is due the success which has marked
the unequal contest, and has brought our country into a condi-

First Congress. 297
tion at the present time such as the most sanguine would not
have ventured to predict at the commencement of our struggle.
Our armies are larger, better disciplined, and more thoroughly
armed and equipped than at any previous period of the war.
The energies of a whole nation devoted to the single object of
success in this war have accomplished marvels, and many of
our trials have, by a beneficent Providence, been converted into
blessings. The magnitude of the perils which we encountered
has developed the true qualities and illustrated the heroic charac
ter of our people, thus gaining for the Confederacy from its
birth a just appreciation from the other nations of the earth.
The injuries respiting from the interruption of foreign commerce
have received compensation by the development of our internal
resources. Cannon crown our fortresses that were cast from
the products of mines opened and furnaces built during the war.
Our mountain caves yield much of the niter for the manufac
ture of powder, and promise increase of product. From our
own foundries and laboratories, from our own armories and
workshops, we derive in a great measure the warlike material,
the ordnance and ordnance stores which are expended so pro
fusely in the numerous and desperate engagements that rapidly
succeed each other. Cotton and woolen fabrics, shoes and har
ness, wagons and gun carriages are produced in daily increasing
quantities by the factories springing into existence. Our fields,
no longer whitened by cotton that cannot be exported, are devoted
to the production of cereals and the growth of stock formerly
purchased with the proceeds of cotton. In the homes of our
noble and devoted women, without whose sublime sacrifices our
success would have been impossible, the noise of the loom and
of the spinning wheel may be heard throughout the land. With
hearts swelling with gratitude let us, then, join in returning
thanks to God, and in beseeching the continuance of his pro
tecting care over our cause and the restoration of peace with its
manifold blessings to our beloved country. Jefferson Davis.

298 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., January 15, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication, from the Secretary of
the Treasury, covering certain estimates.*
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the amount
and for the purpose specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jany. 15, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Treasury in reference to a matter which I commend to your
special attention and early decision, in secret session.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., January 17, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering a copy of an official reportf recently made by Colo
nel Imboden, asked for in a resolution of the House of Represent
atives, on the 15th instant. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jany. 19, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering copies of the reports of Major General G. W.
Smith and his subordinates, of recent military operations in
North Carolina, in response to a resolution of the Senate of the
14th instant. Jefferson Davis.
*Of amount required for telegraphic service for six months ending
lune 30, 1863.
tRelating to outrages perpetrated by General Milroy upon people in
Northwestern and Valley districts of Virginia; see also page 289.

First Congress. 299
Executive Office,
Richmond, January 20, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I have the honor to request that my message* sent to the Sen
ate at the opening of the session may be returned to me, to change
a word which is an error. . Jefferson Davis.
[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]
Richmond, Va., Jan. 21, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith return my message* sent to you on the 14th [12th]
instant, calling your attention to the 12th line on the 7th page,
where I have substituted the word "sovereign"! for "seven," as it
previously stood, incorrectly written. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 24th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, forwarding for your information copies of certain reports
of military operations, being a response in part to your resolution
of the 22d inst. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 27, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering an estimate of funds required by the Ordnance
Bureau. I recommend an appropriation of the amount specified for the
purpose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 30, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit, for your information, a communication
from the Secretary of War, forwarding copies of "orders of im
pressment," in reply to your resolution of the 15th inst.
Jefferson Davis.
*Page 276. tSee page 278.

300 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., February 3d, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communicRtion*
from the Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of. the
27th ult. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 3d, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in reference to the examination and appointment of ord
nance officers, being a response to your resolution asking for in
formation on the subject. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 3, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communicationf
from the Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of the
27th ult. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 4, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering a report of the Quarter
master General, in response to your resolution relative to commu
nication, etc., of officers serving in cities. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 4, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, submitting estimates for the Indian Service to June 30, 1863.
?Relating to the enforcement of the conscript law, etc.
tRelating to findings of general court-martial held at Richmond for
month of January; and which of the rules and regulations for the gov
ernment of the Army of the Confederate States, private L. B. Seymour,
Company E, 50th N. C. Regiment, was sentenced for desertion to receive
thirty-nine lashes on bare back.

First Congress. 301
I recommend an appropriation of the amount and for the pur
pose indicated. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 4, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering reports from the Surgeon
General and the Chief of Engineers, in response to your resolu
tion of the 22d ultimo. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 4th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, forwarding the report of. the Chief of Ordnance, in partial
response to your resolution of the 10th of September, 1862.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office,
Richmond, February 7, 1863.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I have this day received the following resolution—
Resolved, That the President be requested to inform this House whether
private property of citizens not in the Army has been seized and confiscated
by his order or not*; and if it has been, for what offense and under what law
such Seizure and confiscation have been ordered —
and reply that no private property of citizens, either in or not
in the Army, has been seized and confiscated by my order.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 7, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration, in secret session,
a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting
an estimate of the amount required to carry into effect the act
entitled "An Act to authorize a foreign loan."
I recommend an appropriation of the amount and for the pur
pose specified. Jefferson Davis.

302 , Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
In reply to your resolution of the 28th ult., I herewith trans
mit a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, in which will be
found a partial answer to the inquiries submitted. It contains
full information in relation to the number of vessels, their cost,
and mode of payment, with a reference to laws conferring au
thority for what has been done.
I have not deemed it proper to communicate the names of
officers employed abroad, and still less the names of contractors
in foreign countries, for the obvious reason that to do so would
endanger the execution of the work undertaken and for the
paramount consideration that to reveal the names of parties who
have contracted abroad with us would subject them to the penal
ties imposed by the laws of their own country, and to violate
the faith at least impliedly given to them when they entered into
contracts with the officers of our Government.
From such considerations, while the reports of the Secretary
of the Navy made to this and previous sessions of Congress en
deavored to give the fullest information in relation to the opera
tions of the Department, executed or to be executed within the
limits of our country, those in foreign countries were stated,
with the reservation that whatever might be injurious to the
public interest, or to persons who encountered hazards to render
us service, should be considered in secret session.
The laws and resolutions to which reference is made as giv
ing authority for the construction of vessels abroad, of necessi
ty contemplated their execution in places where the laws would
forbid any subject or citizen being a party to the transaction,
and therefore implied so much of secrecy as would be inconsistent
with the exhibition of contracts and the exposure of the names
of contractors, at least until time should have removed them from
the danger of prosecution or damages.
Although these considerations do not apply so strongly to a
communication made in secret session, the objections still remain
that the danger of the parties is increased by the multiplication
of authentic papers, any one of which would furnish conclusive
proof against them, a hazard which it is fair to presume they
would be unwilling to incur, and which if known to them might.
have prevented their consent to the contract.

First Congress. 303
I trust that the House will find in the above stated reasons a
justification for withholding fuller information than is contained
in the message and the accompanying letter of the Secretary of
the Navy. Jefferson Davis.
[Received February 7, 1863.] Richmond, Va., February 7, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering an estimate of the amount required for the remu
neration of additional clerks in the War Department.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount, and for the pur
pose specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 11, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in reference to the case of Colonel
Richard Thomas, in response to your resolution of the 24th inst.
Jefferson: Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 11, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, inclosing copies of the findings of a general court-martial,
in the cases of persons charged with desertion and absence with
out leave, being a response to your resolution of the 27th ult.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 13, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for the inci
dental and contingent expenses of the Army, and of the Depart
ment of War, until the 30th of June next.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount, and for the pur
pose specified. Jefferson Davis.

304 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 16, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering a list of all the civilians now in custody, under,
authority of the War Department, in the city of Richmond, being
a response in part to your resolution of the 5th instant.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 16, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the 19th ult., in reference
to impressments of flour, &c, in Petersburg and Lynchburg.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a report of the Postmaster General, sup
plemental to his report submitted to Congress at the opening
of the present session, to which I invite your special attention.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 17, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of
the 30th ult., with regard to Lieut. Colonel Broadwell. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, asking for an appropriation to meet a claim of the State of
North Carolina for reimbursement of sums expended upon
clothing, etc., for troops of that State in the Confederate service.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. . . 305
¦ • Richmond, Va., Feb. 19, 1863.
To the ¦ House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Treasury, in reference to the settlement of the claims of de
ceased soldiers, in response to your resolution of the 12th inst.
Jefferson Davis.
. . ¦¦. ...¦¦ .,,...: . Richmond, Va., Feb. 19, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the 18th instant, in regard
to the number of quartermasters on duty in the city of Richmond.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 19th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
1 herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy, in response to your resolution of the 10th inst., asking
for information "in regard to the quality and abundance of iron
and coal to be obtained in the place in Alabama at which it is con
templated to establish a cannon foundry, &c." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 19th, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Navy in regard to the destruction of the enemy's sloop "Hat-
teras," by the Confederate States steam sloop "Alabama," to
which I invite your attention.
The conduct of the commander, officers, and crew is commend
ed to your favorable notice. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 20th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering a report from the Commis
sioner of Indian Affairs, in response to your resolution of the 6th
20

306 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
inst., in regard to sums invested or funded for the Cherokee In
dians, under the treaty of New Echota. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 20, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, submitting an estimate for an additional appropriation re
quired by the Engineer Bureau for the period ending June 30,
1863. I recommend an appropriation for the purpose specified.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 20, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Postmaster
General, submitting an estimate of the sum required for the com
pensation of certain officers and employees of the Post Office De
partment, from July ist to October 12th, 1863.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 20, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, submitting an estimate for the contingent expenses of the
Adjutant and Inspector General's office for the period ending
June 30, 1863.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department,
Richmond, Feb. 21, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
Agreeably to the recommendation of the Secretary of War, I
nominate the officers on the accompanying list to the rank affixed
to their names respectively. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 307
Generals —
Samuel Cooper, Virginia, to take rank May 16, '61.
Robert E. Lee, Virginia, to take rank June 14, '61.
Joseph E. Johnston, Virginia, to take rank July 4, '61.
P. G. T. Beauregard, Louisiana, to take rank July 21, '61.
Note. — The fifth General* has been nominated and confirmed
by the Senate, to rank from the date affixed, being that of the
happening of the vacancy to which he succeeded. J. D.

Executive Office,
Richmond, Va., Feb. 23, 1863.
"To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Postmaster
General, with accompanying papers, in reply to the resolution of
your body, of October 13th, 1862, asking information relative to
the telegraphic companies in the Confederate States ; the expendi
tures of the Government in that connection, and "such other in
formation as may be deemed useful in determining the policy
and practicability of merging the telegraph in the postal system
of the Confederate States."
The documents presented contain all the information that it
is practicable at present to furnish. As to the propriety of mer
ging the telegraph in the postal system, it may well be doubted
whether the development of the art of telegraphing would be bet
ter promoted by withdrawing the management of the lines from
private companies, and placing it in the hands of the Government,
and it is also doubted whether the present is an opportune time
so largely to increase the administrative labors of the Executive
Departments. The extension of Executive patronage involving the political ef
fect of giving the Government control of the transmission of the
first intelligence, as well as the question of constitutional power,
were, it is to be supposed, considered by the House before trans
mitting the resolution, and are therefore not regarded as proper
subjects for remark on this occasion. Jefferson Davis.
*Braxton Bragg; see page 211.

308 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., February 24th, 1863.
To the Senate.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Attorney Gen
eral, in reference to the shares held by alien enemies in the Wash
ington and New Orleans Telegraph Company, in response to your
resolution of the 10th inst. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 25, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information communications from
the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, in re
gard to the sequestration of real estate belonging to alien enemies,
in response to your resolution of the 12th inst. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 25th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, in reference to the amount of
funds paid into the Treasury under the operation of the sequestra
tion act, in response to your resolution of the 21st inst.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 2j, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering a list of the civilian prisoners now in custody at
the military prison at Salisbury, N. C, in further response to
your resolution of the 5th instant, and invite attention to the rec
ommendation in regard to a class of officers to be charged with
the special duty of inquiring into the cases of prisoners arrested
by military authority. I think such officers would be useful, they
being selected for special qualifications, and invested with specific
powers. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 27, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information communications

First Congress. . 309
from the Secretaries of the Treasury, of War, and of the Navy,
in reference to claims for vessels seized for public use, in response
to your resolution of the 5th inst. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 27, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Attorney General in relation to the marshalship of Louisiana,
in response to your resolution of the 19th inst.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 27th, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In further response to your resolution of the 10th inst., in ref-
erence to the shares held by alien enemies in the Washington and
New Orleans Telegraph Company, I herewith transmit a com
munication from the Postmaster General. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 3rd, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering copies of the reports of Generals Polk, Hardee, and
Cheatham of the part borne by their commands in the battle of
Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, 1862. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 4, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering an estimate of additional funds required for the
service of the Ordnance Bureau, for the period ending June 30,
1863. I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
.specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 5, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith inclose for your information a copy of an act of

310 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the Legislature of South Carolina, offering a guaranty by that
State of the bonds of the Confederate States, to w'hich I invite
your special attention. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 10, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy, in further response to your resolution of the 5th ult.,
in regard to the number and amount of claims for vessels seized
for public use. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 10, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering an estimate of additional funds required for the
subsistence of the Army for the period ending June 30, 1863.
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the amount, for
the purpose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 10, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, submitting an estimate of the amount required for the ful
fillment of contracts made by the Medical Purveyors.
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the amount for
the purpose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 11, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 3d ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a copy of my correspondence, to
gether with that of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, with
the Governor of Louisiana and Major General Lovell, during the
period beginning October 25, 1861, and ending with the date of
the capture of the city of New Orleans, in reference to the de
fenses of that city. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 311
Richmond, Va., March 11, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering several reports of engage
ments with the enemy. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 12, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in further response to your resolution of the 5th instant, in
reference to claims for vessels seized for public use.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 12, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 28th ultimo, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury,
relative to cotton purchased for the Government in the State of
Louisiana. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 16, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
Agreeably to the recommendation of the Secretary of State, I
hereby nominate Lucius Q. C. Lamar to be Commissioner to
Russia, and Walker Fearn to be Secretary of the Commission.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Session.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I deem it proper to inform the Senate that I have given com
missions to James M. Mason, John Slidell, and Lucius Q. C. La
mar, investing them with the powers of Envoys Extraordinary
and Ministers Plenipotentiary of this Government near the re
spective courts of London, Paris, and St. Petersburg.
As these commissions were to take effect only upon the con
tingency of the recognition of the Confederacy by those courts
respectively, and are held in abeyance till that event, I consid-

312 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
ered that it would not be proper to submit the nominations for
these appointments to the Senate for its advice and consent until
the time arrived when the commissions are to take effect.
It has occurred to me, however, that the Senate may be of opin^-
ion that these nominations should be submitted to it at the pres
ent session. If such should be the judgment of the Senate, the
nominations will be submitted before its adjournment. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 17, 1863.

Richmond, Va., March 18, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
Herewith is transmitted a communication from the Postmaster
General, calling attention to the serious embarrassments in which
the postal service is becoming involved under the operation of
the act of nth of October last, which rendered all postmasters,
except those appointed by the President and confirmed by the Sen
ate, and all contractors for carrying the mails, their riders and
drivers, between the ages of 18 and 45, liable to military duty.
In the opinion of the Postmaster General, it will be impractica
ble to continue the postal service in large districts of our country,
without some modification of this legislation.
Under present military necessities, I am very reluctant to in
crease the list of exemptions, and, were this a case which did not
involve a great public interest, would decline to communicate the
recommendation to you. In view of the vital importance of main
taining mail communications throughout our country, and the
small number of persons who appear to be necessary to the con
tinuance of the postal service, I present the communication of
the Postmaster General, and commend it to your attention.
Should you concur with me in the propriety of allowing some
exemptions for the purpose proposed, I would suggest that it
be confined to contractors, to the exclusion of subcontractors, and
that the number of drivers be limited so as not to exceed one for,
say, every 25 miles of service in coaches, and that the whole
number of exemptions shall not exceed, say, 1,500.
With these or similar restrictions, I am of the opinion that the
rule' of subjecting all citizens alike to the performance of their

First Congress. 313,
duty in defense of the country might be relaxed in the present
case as being for the interest both of the people at large and their
defenders in the field. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 25, 1863.
To the House of Representatives. ; ,
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the 21st ult., inquiring
whether official notice has been given to the proper officers of the
provisions of "An Act to protect the rights of owners of slaves
taken by or employed in the Army." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 2d, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
¦ I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
State, to be read in secret session, in partial response to your res
olution of February 28th, asking for copies of such portions of the
correspondence between the State Department and our commis
sioners abroad as can be communicated without detriment to the
public interest. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 6, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy, to be read in secret session.
I invite your especial attention to the subject he presents.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 10th, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of General Braxton Bragg's
report? of several battles. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va,, . April, 1 1,. 1863,;
To" the Senate and House of Representatives. .„ .¦. ¦.. ..•:.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary. , of

314 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the Treasury, covering estimates for the support of the Govern
ment from July ist to December 31st, 1863, in compliance with
resolutions adopted respectively by the Senate and House of Rep
resentatives. I recommend that appropriation be made of the amounts for
the purposes specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., April 16, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
Having approved and signed a bill, which originated in your
body, entitled, "An Act to allow minors to hold commissions in
the Army," I deem it due to many meritorious officers in the serv
ice to make a short explanation.
The bill, in my opinion, is only declaratory of the preexisting
law. No prohibition existed, prior to its passage, against the issue
of commissions either in the Permanent or Provisional Army to
persons under twenty-one years of age. Many of the commis
sioned officers of the Provisional Army have attained high rank
by election and promotion before attaining the age of twenty-one
years. The only objection, therefore, that I could entertain to
signing the bill in question, was based on the apprehension that
the approval of an act allowing commissions to be issued to minors
"from and after the passage of the act," might imply that the
commissions heretofore issued to minors are invalid.
It seemed, however, more proper to sign the act which in itself
was unobjectionable, and to address to you this explanation, which
will obviate, it is believed, the only ill consequence that could flow
from the passage of the law. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., April 18, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering an estimate of the amount required to liquidate
claims to be paid for river defense service.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 315
Richmond, Va., April 18, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I hereby transmit for your information, in executive session, a
communication from the Secretary of State, in response to your
resolution of the 13th inst., and setting forth generally the rea
sons upon which I have deemed it expedient to send a commis
sioner to Russia. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 18, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering an estimate of the amount required for the use of
the Surgeon General before the close of the current fiscal year.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 18th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the 4th inst., relative to the
case of Surgeon J. E. Dixon, a prisoner of Johnson's Island.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 18, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information, in secret session,
.a communication from the Secretary of State, in further response
to your resolution of February 28th, asking for copies of such
portions of the correspondence between the State Department and
our commissioners abroad as can be communicated without det
riment to the public service. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 18, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of the 2d

316 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
instant, and stating that no orders have been issued for the arrest
and confinement of soldiers in Richmond whose furloughs have
not expired. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., April 20, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of the official reports of
several engagements with the enemy. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 20th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the first and fourth inst.,
calling for copies of the official reports of certain battles.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 20, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, in response to your resolution of
January 24th, in reference to the exchange or release "of persons
who, taken from civil life, have been transported and confined
beyond the limits of the Confederacy." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 21, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information communications from
the Secretary of War and the Attorney General, in response
to your resolution of February 21st, inquiring "whether the Gov
ernment holds, or has at any time held, itself liable for the value
of slaves impressed by its authority and escaping to the enemy
while so impressed, and whether the owners of such slaves have
been paid."
Whether the liability of the Government shall be extended to
such cases, is a question to be determined, not by the Executive,
but by Congress. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress .'  • "¦"-. 3:17
Richmond, Va., April 21, 1863^,
To the Senate of the Confederate States. - -, ,,
I herewith transmit for your information, in secret session, a
communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, in response to
your resolution of the nth instant, inquiring as to the terms on
which cotton has been sold in foreign markets under cover of
certificates referred to in his report dated January 10th, 1862.
From the report it appears that cotton has not been thus sold.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 21, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information, in secret session, a
communication from the Secretary of War, in response to your
resolution of the nth instant, in reference to the revocation of
restrictions upon commerce across the Rio Grande. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 23, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering copies of certain reports of
the battle of Murfreesboro. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 23, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration, in secret session, a
communication from the Secretary of the Navy, submitting an
estimate of the amount required to meet the charges upon ex
change for the sum recently appropriated for the use of the Navy
Department abroad.
I recommend an additional appropriation of the amount for
the purpose specified, or such provision as will secure to the De
partment the use of the appropriation in funds current at the
place where required. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 24, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication

318 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering additional esti
mates of the sum required for the support of the Government from
July ist to December 31st, 1863. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Virginia, April 24th, 1863.
To the" House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the 2d inst., asking for
certain information relative to hospitals, and the provision for
the sick and wounded of the Army in them. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Virginia, April 25th, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for the contin
gent expenses of the Adjutant and Inspector General's office, for
the six months ending December 31st, 1863. I recommend an
appropriation of the amount for the purpose specified.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Virginia, April 25th, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Postmaster General, submitting an estimate of the
amount required to prepare a building for the post office for the
city of Richmond. I recommend an appropriation of the sum for
the purpose specified. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., April 25, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Postmaster General, relative to the removal of certain
postmasters from office. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 319
Richmond, Va., April 29th, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of the Navy, in reference to your resolution
of the 25th instant, asking for a copy of the finding of the court
of inquiry in the case of John H. Mitchell, C. S. N.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., April 30, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information, in secret session,
communications from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of
War, in response to your resolution of the 7th inst., of inquiry
relative "to the sale or hypothecation of cotton, or cotton certifi
cates or bonds, in Europe." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 30, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy in reference to a recent act of Congress establishing a
"Volunteer Navy."
I concur with him in the opinion that the injunction of secrecy
should be removed from the law. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., April 30th, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, submitting an estimate of the sum
needed to pay for a submarine telegraph cable at Charleston,
S. C.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount for the purpose
specified. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., May ist, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 29th January and the

32O Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
28th February, I herewith transmit a communication from the
Secretary of War, covering a report of the Commissary General
and copies of other papers relative to Lt. Col. W. A. Broadwell.
r In addition to the information furnished by the Secretary .of
War, I may state that, before his appointment to his present corn-
mission, Mr. Broadwell was an agent of the Government to pay
and purchase certain supplies for the troops of the State of Mis
souri in the year 1861. His accounts were adjusted to the satis
faction of the accounting officers of the Government. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., May ist,' 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of the reports of the battle
of McDowell, in response to your resolution of the 25th ult.
Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I regret that a sense of duty compels me to return to you, with
my objections, an act which originated in the Senate, entitled
"An Act to increase the strength and efficiency of heavy artillery
for seacoast defense."
This act selects from the Provisional Army a particular regi
ment, known as the First Regiment of South Carolina Infantry,
and directs that it shall hereafter be known as the Second Regi
ment of South Carolina Artillery, and shall have the same organi
zation as is now allowed by law to the First Regiment of South
Carolina Artillery.
It next directs that the First and Second Regiments of South
Carolina Artillery shall be increased to twelve companies each,
and that the complement of a company shall be one hundred and
twenty-five enlisted men.
The objections entertained to these provisions are grave, and I
submit them as succinctly as possible.

First Congress. 321
1. The organization of artillery into regiments is subject to great
inconvenience and impairs the efficiency of that important arm of
the service.
Both in the Regular and in the Provisional Army, the organi
zation of the artillery is a corps composed of batteries, the com
mander of a battery being a captain, and the men being formed
into companies. This organization applies to both heavy or siege
and field artillery, and experience has shown it to be more efficient
than the organization into regiments.
Under the law, as it now exists, the exact number of batteries
required at any point can be ordered there, and an officer of such
rank as is appropriate to the number of guns is assigned to their
command: It is thus in the power of commanders to assign offi
cers to the duties for which they are most competent, some having
greater merit in heavy, and others in light artillery. The system
has worked exceedingly well, and I should greatly regret to see
it changed or impaired by exceptions. If the organization by regi
ments be better, it ought to be adopted for the whole artillery
service. • If not, why should the exceptions to a good system be in
creased in number?
Where the organization is uniform throughout the service, the
troops are better satisfied, and the administration of the Army
is much more easy and efficient. Where there are exceptions,
there is constant effort on the part of the men to change from
one organization to another, discontent is engendered, and em
barrassments arise in administration.
It rarely occurs that the service of artillery is required at one
point to the number of ten or twelve companies. The exigencies
of the service will require that these regiments (if organized as
contemplated in the bill now returned to you) shall be broken into
detachments, and the field officers, in such event, would be in com
mand of fractions not proportional to their rank.
The First Regiment of South Carolina Artillery was organized
by the State before the formation of the Confederacy, and, when
it was transferred to this Government, it was necessarily accepted
with the existing organization ; but that organization was excep
tional and objectionable for the reasons already stated. It has
been retained in Fort Sumter, which is one of the points where
such an organization is least detrimental to the service, but no
21

322 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
satisfactory reason is perceived for augmenting the number of
companies of which it is composed, or for the organization of
another regiment.
The First Regiment of South Carolina Infantry, or a part of it,
I am informed, has been assigned to duty and has received in
struction in the artillery service, and can be so employed without
the passage of the act in question, as long as the exigencies of the
service may require. It still remains, however, infantry, and
could, in case of necessity, be used as such in the field. If the
act should become a law, this advantage would be lost, without
any apparent compensating benefit.
2. The act seems to me objectionable as being special legisla
tion. It is well known that the artillery service is very generally pre
ferred by our troops to infantry service. It is believed that there
would be little difficulty now in raising a regiment of artillerists
from citizens exempt from conscription, while such is not the
case with infantry. If the example be once set of converting reg
iments into artillery, it needs little foresight to predict that Con
gress will be beset with applications for such change from regi
ments now serving as infantry, and claims will be sent forward
for equal favors in each of the States. Wherever siege artillery
is required, the delegations of the different States will naturally
expect and apply for a grant of the same favor to some infantry
regiment from their State, and this result would be far from con
ducive to the discipline of the Army and the good of the service.
There are now numbers of our citizens who, after having vol
unteered in the infantry, have been found too feeble in constitu
tion to withstand the fatigue and exhaustion of the rapid move
ments on which the success of our military operations depends.
Such soldiers would deem it a great favor to be transferred to
the service of heavy artillery, for which they would be well fitted;
and their claims for this favorite service appear to be better
founded than those of the enlisted men of the infantry regiment
designated in the act.
If the purpose of the act be, as it apparently is, to provide for
twenty-four companies of artillerists to serve together, the com
mand of these companies would be of sufficient importance to re
quire the appointment of a brigadier general to command them,

First Congress. 323
and it is feared that such special legislation, without apparent
necessity for one State, would be made the precedent for similar
demands from other States, thus leading to consequences which
did not, perhaps, suggest themselves to Congress when the bill
received its assent.
3. It is finally suggested, for the consideration of Congress
whether some of the provisions of this bill are not equivalent to
the exercise of the Executive functions by the legislative depart
ment of the Government, and therefore an infringement of the
principles of the Constitution which so carefully separate the
duties of these different Departments.
Congress has power to "make rules for the government and
regulation of the land and naval forces" as well as to "raise
armies." Under these powers Congress could undoubtedly order the rais
ing of regiments of artillery for seacoast defense, and by
change of organization direct that a certain number of regiments
of infantry be converted into artillery. But such is not the bill
under discussion. Congress, in that bill, orders a specified regi
ment to be employed for seacoast defense.
If this be a legitimate exercise of legislative power, Congress
can, of course, select other regiments and order them to the
defense of the Indian country, and select again other regiments
and order them to be sent to the Tennessee, the Virginia, or the
Texan frontier.
Such orders seem to me purely Executive. They have hither
to been made through the Adjutant General of the Army, and it
requires but little reflection to perceive that the exercise of such
powers by Congress withdraws from the Executive the authority
indispensable to the fulfillment of his functions as Commander
in Chief.
These reasons have appeared to my mind decisive of the ques
tion, and I therefore respectfully return them to the Senate as
those which have prevented my approval of the act, which is also
herewith returned. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 31, 1863.

324 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
To the Honorable House of Representatives, Confederate States of
America.
I herewith return to the House the act to provide for holding
elections for Representatives in the Congress of the Confederate
States in the State of Tennessee, with a statement of the objec
tions which have caused me to withhold my approval of the
same. The first clause of the fourth section of the first article of the
Constitution authorizes Congress to legislate as to the time, place,
and manner of holding elections for Representatives.
I have grave doubts whether this extends to the proposed
change from the district to the. general ticket system of represen
tation, which seems to me to be rather to change the mode of
representation than to alter the manner of holding elections.
The fifth section of the bill is, in my judgment, unconstitutional
in this, that it assumes that a citizen may forfeit his right of
citizenship by adhering to the enemy, and recognizes the right of
a citizen to elect to be a citizen, not of his own State, but of the
United States, a foreign nation. This directly repudiates State
sovereignty and admits that a citizen's allegiance to his State may
be renounced while resident therein.
This section is subject also to the objection that it exercises the
power of prescribing the qualifications of voters, which belongs
exclusively to the States. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., May 1st, 1863.
PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
It is meet that, as a people who acknowledge the supremacy of
the living God, we should be ever mindful of our dependence on
him; should remember that to him alone can we trust for our
¦deliverance; that to him is due devout thankfulness for signal
victories bestowed on us, and that by prayer alone can we hope to
•secure the continued manifestation of that protecting care which
has hitherto shielded us in the midst of trials and danger. In
•obedience to his precepts, we have from time to time been

First Congress. 325
gathered together with prayers and thanksgiving, and he has been
graciously pleased to hear our supplications and to grant abundant
exhibitions of his favor to our armies and our people; through
many conflicts we have now attained a place among the nations
which commands their respect, and to the enemy who encompass
us around, and seek our destruction, the Lord of hosts has again
taught the lesson of his inspired word, that "the battle is not to
the strong, but to whomsoever he willeth to exalt." Again our
enemy, with loud boasting of the power of their armed men and
mailed ships, threaten us with subjugation and with evil machina
tions; seek even in our own homes and at our own firesides to
pervert menservants and our maidservants into accomplices in
their wicked designs. Under these circumstances, it is my priv
ilege to invite you once more to meet together and to prostrate
yourselves in humble supplications to Him who has been our
constant and never-failing support in the past, and to whose pro
tection and guidance we trust for the future. To this end, I,
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America,
do issue this, my proclamation, setting apart Friday, the 27th
day of March, as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer; and
I do invite the people of the said States to repair, on that day,
to their usual places of public worship, and to join in prayer to Al
mighty God that he will continue his merciful protection over our
cause, that he will scatter our enemies, set at naught their evil de
signs, and that he will graciously restore to our beloved country
the blessings of peace and security. In faith whereof, I have here
unto set my hand, at the city of Richmond, on the 27th day of
February, In the year of our Lord 1863. Jefferson Davis.
By the Prestdeht:- J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Letters Patent Revoking Exequatur of George Moore, Her
Britannic Majesty's Consul at Richmond
To All Whom It May Concern: Whereas, George Moore, Esq.,
Her Britannic Majesty's Consul for the port of Richmond and
State of Virginia (duly recognized by the exequatur issued by a

326 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
former Government, which was, at the time of the issue, the duly
authorized agent for that purpose of the State of Virginia), did
recently assume to act as consul for a place other than the city of
Richmond, and a State other than the State of Virginia, and was,
thereupon, on the twentieth clay of February last, 1863, requested
by the Secretary of State to submit to the Department of State
his consular commission, as well as any other authority he may
have received to act in behalf of the Government of Her Britannic
Majesty, before further correspondence could be held with him
as Her Majesty's Consul at the port of Richmond; and whereas,
the said George Moore has lately, without acceding to said re
quest, entered into correspondence, as Her Majesty's Consul, with
the Secretary of War of these Confederate States, thereby disre
garding the legitimate authority of this Government :
These, therefore, are to declare that I do no longer recognize
the said George Moore as Her Britannic Majesty's Consul in any
part of these Confederate States, nor permit him to exercise or
enjoy any of the functions, powers, or privileges allowed to the
consuls of Great Britain. And I do wholly revoke and annul any
exequatur heretofore given to the said George Moore by the Gov
ernment which was formerly authorized to grant such exequatur
as agent of the State of Virginia, and do declare the said exe
quatur to be absolutely null and void from this day forward.
In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made
patent, and the seal of the Confederate States of America to be
herewith affixed. Given under my hand this fifth day of June, in the
[seal.] year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
three. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, it is provided by an act of Congress entitled "An Act
to further provide for the public defense," approved on the 16th
day of April, 1862, and by another act of Congress approved on
27th of September, 1862, entitled "An Act to amend an act en
titled 'An Act to provide further for the public defense,' approved

First Congress. 327
16th of April, 1862," that the President be authorized to call out
and place in the military service of the Confederate States for
three years, unless the war shall have been sooner ended, all white
men who are residents of the Confederate States between the ages
of eighteen and forty-five years at the time the call may be made,
and who are not at such time legally exempted from military
service, or such part thereof as in his judgment may be necessary
to the public defense ;
And whereas, in my judgment the necessities of the public de
fense require that every man capable of bearing arms between the
ages aforesaid should now be called out to do his duty in the de
fense of his country, and in driving back the invaders now within
the limits of the Confederacy :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confeder
ate States of America, do, by virtue of the powers vested in me
as aforesaid, call out and place in the military service of the Con
federate States all white men residents of said States between the
ages of eighteen and forty-five years, not legally exempted from
military service, and I do hereby order and direct that all persons
subject to this call and not now in the military service do, upon
being enrolled, forthwith repair to the conscript camps estab
lished in the respective States of which they may be residents,
under pain of being held and punished as deserters in the event
of their failure to obey this call, as provided in said laws. And I
do further order and direct that the enrolling officers of the sev
eral States proceed at once to enroll all persons embraced within
the terms of this proclamation not heretofore enrolled. And I
do further order that it shall be lawful for any person embraced
within this call to volunteer for service before enrollment, and
.that persons so volunteering be allowed to select the arm of serv
ice and the company which they desire to join, provided such
company be deficient in the full number of men allowed by law
for its organization. Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate
r , States of America, at the city of Richmond, this fifteenth
1 SEAL I
"J day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.

328 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Again do I call upon the people of the Confederacy — a people
who believe that the Lord reigneth and that his overruling prov
idence ordereth all things — to unite in prayer and humble sub
mission under his chastening hand, and to beseech his favor on our
suffering country.
It is meet that when trials and reverses befall us we should
seek to take home to our hearts and consciences the lessons which
they teach, and profit by the self-examination for which they pre
pare us. Had not our successes on land and sea made us self-
confident and forgetful of our reliance on him; had not love of
lucre eaten like a gangrene into the very heart of the land, con
certing too many among us into worshipers of gain and rendering
them unmindful of their duty to their country, to their fellow-
men, and to their God — who, then, will presume to complain that
we have been chastened or to despair of our just cause and the pro
tection of our Heavenly Father ?
Let us rather receive in humble thankfulness the lesson which
he has taught in our recent reverses, devoutly acknowledging
that to him, and not to our own feeble arms, are due the honor and
glory of victory ; that from him, in his paternal providence, come
the anguish and sufferings of defeat, and that, whether in victory
or defeat, our humble supplications are due at his footstool.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of these Confed
erate States, do issue this, my proclamation, setting apart Friday, .
the twenty-first day of August ensuing, as a day of fasting, humil
iation, and prayer ; and I do hereby invite the people of the Con
federate States to repair on that day to. their, respective places of
public worship, and to unite in supplication for the favor and pro^
tection of that God who has hitherto conducted us safeljg through
all the dangers that environed us.
In faith whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and the
p ¦, seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this twenty-
fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three. Jefferson Davis.
By the President: J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.

First Congress. 329
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
The Soldiers of the Confederate States.
After more than two years of warfare scarcely equaled in the
number, magnitude, and fearful carnage of its battles, a warfare
in which your courage and fortitude have illustrated your coun
try and attracted not only gratitude at home, but admiration
abroad, your enemies continue a struggle in which our final tri
umph must be inevitable. Unduly elated with their recent suc
cesses, they imagine that temporary reverses can quell your spirit
or shake your determination, and they are now gathering heavy
masses for a general invasion in the vain hope that by a desperate
effort success may at length be reached.
You know too well, my countrymen, what they mean by success.
Their malignant rage aims at nothing less than the extermination
of yourselves, your wives, and children. They seek to destroy
what they cannot plunder. They purpose as the spoils of victory
that your homes shall be partitioned among the wretches whose
atrocious cruelties have stamped infamy on . their Government.
They design to incite servile insurrection and light the fires of
incendiarism wherever they can reach your homes, and they de
bauch the inferior race, hitherto docile and contented, by prom
ising indulgence of the vilest passions as the price of treachery.
Conscious of their inability to prevail by legitimate warfare, not
daring to make peace lest they should be hurled from their seats
of power, the men who now rule in Washington refuse even to
confer on the subject of putting an end to outrages which disgrace
our age, or to listen to a suggestion for conducting the war ac
cording to the usages of civilization.
Fellow-citizens, no alternative is left you but victory or sub-.
jugation, slavery, and the utter ruin of yourselves, your families,
and your country. The victory is within your reach. You need
but stretch forth your hands to grasp it. For this end all that is
necessary is that those who are called to the field by every motive
that can move the' human heart should promptly repair to the
post of duty, should stand by their comrades now in front of the
foe, and thus so strengthen the armies of the Confederacy as to

330 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
insure success. The men now absent from their posts would,
if present in the field, suffice to create numerical equality between
our force and that of the invaders ; and when with any approach
to such equality have we failed to be victorious? I believe that
but few of those absent are actuated by unwillingness to serve their
country, but that many have found it difficult to resist the tempta
tion of a visit to their homes and the loved ones from whom they
have been so long separated; that others have left for temporary
attention to their affairs with the intention of returning, and
then have shrunk from the consequence of the violation of duty;
that others again have left their posts from mere restlessness
and desire of change, each quieting the upbraidings of his con
science by persuading himself that his individual services could
have no influence on the general result. These and other causes
(although far less disgraceful than the desire to avoid danger
or to escape from the sacrifices required by patriotism) are, nev
ertheless, grievous faults, and place the cause of our beloved
country and of everything we hold dear in imminent peril.
I repeat that the men who now owe duty to their country, who
have been called out and have not yet reported for duty, or who
have absented themselves from their posts are sufficient in num
ber to secure us victory in the struggle now impending. I call on
you, then, my countrymen, to hasten to your camps in obedience
to the dictates of honor and of duty, and I summon those who have
absented themselves without leave, or who have remained ab
sent beyond the period allowed by their furloughs, to repair with
out delay to their respective commands ; and I do hereby declare
that I grant a general pardon and amnesty to all officers and men
within the Confederacy now absent without leave who shall with
the least possible delay return to their proper posts of duty ; but
no excuse will be received for any delay beyond twenty days after
the first publication of this proclamation in the State in which the
absentee may be at the date of publication. This amnesty and par
don shall extend to all who have been accused, or who have been
convicted and are undergoing sentence for absence without leave
or desertion, excepting only those who have been twice convicted
of desertion.
Finally, I conjure my countrywomen, the wives, mothers, sisters,
and daughters of the Confederacy, to use their all-powerful in-

First Congress. 331
fluence in aid of this call, to add one crowning sacrifice to those
which their patriotism has so freely and constantly offered on
their country's altar, and to take care that none who owe service
in the field shall be sheltered at home from the disgrace of
having deserted their duty to their families, to their country, and
to their God. Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate
[seal.] States, at Richmond, this first day of August, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Jefferson Davis.
By the President : J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.
ADDRESSES. ADDRESS.
To the People of the Confederate States.
In compliance with the request of Congress, contained in reso
lutions passed on the 4th day of the current month, I invoke your
attention to the present condition and future prospects of our
country and to the duties which patriotism imposes on us all
during this great struggle for our homes and our liberties. These
resolutions are in the following language :
Whereas a strong impression prevails through the country that the
war now being waged against the people of the Confederate States may
terminate during the present year; and whereas, this impression is lead
ing many patriotic citizens to engage largely in the production of cotton
and tobacco, which they would not otherwise do ; and whereas, in the
opinion of Congress, it is of the utmost importance, not only with a view
to the proper subsistence of our armies, but the interest and welfare
of all the people, that the agricultural labor of the country should be
employed chiefly in the production of a supply of food to meet every con
tingency : Therefore,
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That it
is the deliberate judgment of Congress that the people of these States,
while hoping for peace, should look to prolonged war as the only con
dition proffered by the enemy short of subjugation; that every prepara
tion necessary to encounter such a war should be persisted in; and that
the amplest supply of provisions for armies and people should be the first
object of all agriculturists; wherefore, it is earnestly recommended that
the people, instead of planting cotton and tobacco, shall direct their agri-

332 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
cultural labor mainly to the production of such crops as will insure a suf
ficiency of food for all classes and for every emergency, thereby with true
patriotism subordinating the hope of gain to the certain good of the coun
try. Sec. 2. That the President is hereby requested to issue a proclamation
to the people of these States urging upon them the necessity of guarding
against the great perils of a short crop of provisions and setting forth
such reasons therefor as his judgment may dictate.
Fully concurring in the views thus expressed by the Congress,
I confidently appeal to your love of country for aid in carrying
into effect the recommendations of your Senators and Repre
sentatives. We have reached the close of the second year of the
war, and may point with just pride to the history of our young
Confederacy. Alone, unaided, we have met and overthrown the
most formidable combination of naval and military armaments
that the lust of conquest ever gathered together for the subjuga
tion of a free people. We began this struggle without a single
gun afloat, while the resources of our enemy enabled them to
gather fleets which, according to their official list published in
August last, consisted of 427 vessels, measuring 340,036 tons and.
carrying 3,268 guns. Yet we have captured, sunk, or destroyed
a number of these vessels, including two large frigates and one
steam sloop of war, while four of their captured steam gunboats
are now in our possession, adding to the strength of our little
Navy, which is rapidly gaining in numbers and efficiency. To
oppose invading forces composed of levies which have already
exceeded 1,300,000 men, we had no resources but the unconquer
able valor of a people determined to be free, and we were so des
titute of military supplies that tens of thousands of our citizens
were reluctantly refused admission into the service from our in
ability to provide them with arms, while for many months some
of our important strongholds owed their safety chiefly to a care
ful concealment of the fact that we were without a supply of
powder for our cannon. Your devotion and patriotism have tri
umphed over all these obstacles and called into existence the mu
nitions of war, the clothing, and the subsistence which have en
abled our soldiers to illustrate their valor on numerous battle
fields, and to inflict crushing defeats on successive armies, each
of which an arrogant foe fondly imagined to be invincible.

First Congress. 333
The contrast between our past and present condition is well cal
culated to inspire full confidence in the triumph of our arms. At
no previous period of the war have our forces been so numerous,
so well organized, and so thoroughly disciplined, armed, and
equipped as at present. The season of high water, on which our
enemies relied to enable their fleets of gunboats to penetrate into
our country and devastate our homes, is fast passing away; yet
our strongholds on the Mississippi still bid defiance to the foe,
and months of costly preparations for their reduction have been
spent in vain. Disaster has been the result of their every effort to
turn or to storm Vicksburg and Port Hudson, as well as of every
attack on our batteries on the Red River, the Tallahatchie, and
other navigable streams. Within a few weeks the falling waters
and the increasing heat of summer will complete their discom
fiture and compel their baffled and defeated forces to the aban
donment of expeditions on which was based their chief hope of
success in effecting our subjugation. We must not forget, how
ever, that the war is not yet ended, and that we are still confronted
by powerful armies and threatened by numerous fleets ; and that
the Government which controls these fleets and armies is driven
to the most desperate efforts to effect the unholy purposes in
which it has thus far been defeated. It will use its utmost energy
to arrest the impending doom, so fully merited by the atrocities
it has committed, the savage barbarities which it has encouraged,
and the crowning infamy of its attempt to excite a servile popula
tion to the massacre of our wives, our daughters, and our helpless
children. With such a contest before us there is but one danger
which the Government of your choice regards with apprehension,
and to avert this danger it appeals to the never-failing patriotism
and spirit of self-sacrifice which you have exhibited since the be
ginning of the war. The very unfavorable season, the protracted
droughts of last year, reduced the harvests on which we depended
far below an average yield, and the deficiency was unfortunately
still more marked in the northern portion of the Confederacy,
where supplies were specially needed for the Army. If through
a confidence in early peace, which may prove delusive, our fields
should be now devoted to the production of cotton and tobacco
instead of grain and live stock, and other articles necessary for
the subsistence of the people and the Army, the consequences may

334 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
prove serious, if not disastrous, especially should the present
season prove as unfavorable as the last.
Your country, therefore, appeals to you to lay aside all thought
of gain, and to devote yourselves to securing your liberties, with
out which those gains would be valueless. It is true that the
wheat harvest in the more southern States, which will be gathered
next month, promises an abundant yield ; but even if this promise
be fulfilled, the difficulty of transportation, enhanced as it has been
by an unusually rainy winter, will cause embarrassments in mili
tary operations and suffering among the people, should the crops,
in the middle and northern portions of the Confederacy prove de
ficient. But no uneasiness need be felt in regard to a mere supply
of bread for man. It is for the large amount of corn and forage
required for the raising of live stock and for the supply of the
animals used in military operations that your aid is specially re
quired. These articles are too bulky for distant transportation,
and in them the deficiency in the last harvest was most felt. Let
fields be devoted exclusively to the production of corn, oats,
beans, peas, potatoes, and other food for man and beast ; let corn
be sown broadcast for fodder in immediate proximity to railroads,
rivers, and canals, and let all your efforts be directed to the
prompt supply of these articles in the districts where our armies
are operating. You will thus add greatly to their efficiency and
furnish the means without which it is impracticable to make
those prompt and active movements which have hitherto stricken
terror into our enemies and secured our most brilliant triumphs.
Having thus placed before you, my countrymen, the reasons
for the call made on you for aid in supplying the wants of the
coming year, I add a few words of appeal in behalf of the brave
soldiers now confronting your enemies, and to whom your Gov
ernment is unable to furnish all the comforts they so richly merit.
The supply of meat foi the Army is deficient. This deficiency is
only temporary, for measures have been adopted which will, it is
believed, soon enable us to restore the full ration. But that ration
is now reduced at times to one-half the usual quantity in some of
our armies. It is known that the supply of meat throughout the
country is sufficient for the support of all, but the distances are so
great, the condition of the roads has been so bad during the five
months of winter weather through which we have just passed,

First Congress. 335
and the attempt of groveling speculators to forestall the market
and make money out of the lifeblood of our defenders have so
much influenced the withdrawal from sale of the surplus in the
hands of the producers that the Government has been unable to
gather full supplies.
The Secretary of War has prepared a plan, which is appended
to this address, by the aid of which, or some similar means to be
adopted by yourselves, you can assist the officers of the Govern
ment in the purchase of the bacon, the pork, and the beef known
to exist in large quantities in different parts of the country.
Even if the surplus be less than is believed, is it not a bitter and
humiliating reflection that those who remain at home, secure from
hardship and protected from danger, should be in the enjoyment
of abundance, and that their slaves also should have a full supply
of food, while their sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers are
stinted in the rations on which their health and efficiency depend ?
Entertaining no fear that you will either misconstrue the mo
tives of this address or fail to respond to the call of patriotism, I
have placed the facts fully and frankly before you. Let us all
unite in the performance of our duty, each in his sphere, and with
concerted, persistent, and well-directed effort there seems little
reason to doubt that under the blessing of Him to whom we look
for guidance, and who has been to us our shield and our strength,
we shall maintain the sovereignty and independence of these Con
federate States, and transmit to our posterity the heritage be
queathed to us by our fathers. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, Richmond, April 10, 1863.
ADDRESS.
Head-quarters Army of Tennessee,
October 14, 1863.
Soldiers: A grateful country has recognized your arduous serv
ice, and rejoiced over your glorious victory on the field of Chicka-
mauga. When your countrymen shall more fully learn the ad
verse circumstances under which you attacked the enemy — though
they cannot be more thankful — they may admire more the gal
lantry and patriotic devotion which secured your success. Repre
sentatives of every State of the Confederacy, your steps have been

336 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
followed with affectionate solicitude by friends in every portion of
the country. Defenders of the heart of our territory, your move
ments have been the object of intensest anxiety. The hopes of our
cause greatly depend upon you, and happy it is that all can se
curely rely upon your achieving whatever, under the blessing of
Providence, human power can effect.
Though you have done much, very much yet remains to be
done. Behind you is a people providing for your support and
depending on you for protection. Before you is a country dev
astated by your ruthless invader, where gentle women, feeble
age, and helpless Infancy have been subjected to outrages without
parallel in the warfare of civilized nations. With eager eyes they
watch for your coming to their deliverance, and the homeless
refugee pines for the hour when your victorious arms shall re
store his family to the shelter from which they have been driven.
Forced to take up arms to vindicate the political rights, the free
dom, equality, and State sovereignty which were the heritage pur
chased by the blood of your revolutionary sires, you have but the
alternative of slavish submission to despotic usurpation, or the
independence which vigorous, united, persistent effort will secure.
All which fires the manly breast, nerves the patriot, and exalts the
hero, is present to stimulate and sustain you.
Nobly have you redeemed the pledges given in the name of
freedom to the memory of your ancestors and the rights of your
posterity. That you may complete the mission to which you are
devoted, will require of you such exertion in the future as you
have made in the past — continuance in the patient endurance of
toil and danger, and that self-denial which rejects every consider
ation at variance with the public service as unworthy of the holy
cause in which you are engaged.
When the war shall have ended, the highest meed of praise will
be due, and probably given, to him who has claimed least for
himself in proportion to the service he has rendered, and the bit
terest self-reproach which may hereafter haunt the memory of
any one will be to him who has allowed selfish aspiration to
prevail over a desire for the public good. United as you are in
a common destiny, obedience and cordial cooperation are essen
tially necessary, and there is no higher duty than that which re
quires each to render to all what is due to their station. He who

First Congress. 337
sows the seeds of discontent and distrust prepares for the harvest
of slaughter and defeat. To zeal you have added gallantry; to
gallantry, energy; to energy, fortitude. Crown these with har
mony, due subordination, and cheerful support of lawful au
thority, that the measure of your duty may be full.
I fervently hope that the ferocious war, so unjustly waged
against our country, may be soon ended, that, with the blessing
of peace, you may be restored to your homes and the useful pur
suits ; and I pray that our Heavenly Father may cover you with
the shield of his protection in the hours of battle, and endow you
with the virtues which will close your trials in victory complete.
Jefferson Davis.
RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
1. Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of Amer
ica, That the bold, intrepid, and gallant conduct of Major General
J. Bankhead Magruder, Colonel Thomas Green, Major Leon
Smith, and other officers, and of the -Texan Rangers and soldiers
engaged in the attack on, and victory achieved over, the land and
naval forces of the enemy at Galveston, on the first of January,
1863, eminently entitle them to the thanks of Congress and the
country. 2. Resolved, That this brilliant achievement, resulting, under
the providence of God, in the capture of the war steamer "Harriet
Lane" and the defeat and ignominious flight of the hostile fleet
from the harbor, the recapture of the city, and the raising of the
blockade of the port of Galveston, signally evinces that superior
force may be overcome by skillful conception and daring courage.
3. Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be communicated
by the Secretary of War to Major General Magruder, and by him
to his command.
Approved February 25, 1863.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
cordially given, to Brigadier General N. B. Forrest, and the of
ficers and men under his command, for gallantry and successful
enterprise during the present war, and especially for the daring
22

338 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
and skill exhibited in the capture of Murfreesboro, on the 13th
of July last, and in subsequent brilliant achievements.
Approved May 1, 1863.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
General John PI. Morgan, and the officers and men of his com
mand, for their varied, heroic, and invaluable services in Tennessee
and Kentucky immediately preceding the battles before Murfrees
boro, services which have conferred upon their officers fame as en
during as the records of the struggle which they have so brilliantly
illustrated. Approved May 1, 1863.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
most cordially tendered, to General G. T. Beauregard, and the
officers and men of his command, engaged in the affair, for their
brilliant and signal defeat of the ironclad fleet of the enemy, in
the harbor of Charleston, on the seventh of April, one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate this
resolution to General Beauregard and his command.
Approved May 1, 1863.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are clue, and are hereby tendered, to
Major Oscar M. Watkins, and the officers and men under his
command, for the signal victory achieved over the naval forces of
the United States at Sabine Pass, on the twenty-first of January,
eighteen hundred and sixty-three, resulting in the dispersion of
the blockading squadron of the enemy, and the capture of two of
his gunboats.
Approved May 1, 1863.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby
tendered, to Brigadier General Wheeler, and the officers and men
of his command, for their daring and successful attacks upon the
enemy's gunboats and transports in the Cumberland River.
Approved May 1, 1863.

First Congress. 339
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do resolve,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
the officers and soldiers engaged in the defense of Fort McAl
lister, Georgia, on the first of February and third of March last,
for the gallantry and endurance with which they successfully re
sisted the attacks of the ironclad vessels of the enemy.
Resolved further, .That the foregoing resolution be communi
cated by the Secretary of War to the General commanding the
Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and by him
to be made known in appropriate general orders to the officers
and troops to whom it is addressed.
Approved May 1, 1863.

APPOINTMENT OF VICE PRESIDENT STEPHENS AS
MILITARY COMMISSIONER TO UNITED STATES.
TENDER OF SERVICES BY MR. STEPHENS TO MR. DAVIS.
Liberty Hall, Ga., June 12, 1863.
Hon. lefferson Davis, Richmond, Va.
Dear Sir: I have just seen what purports to be a letter ad
dressed to you by Major General D. Hunter, commanding the
Federal forces at Port Royal, S. C, bearing date the 23d of
April last. Of the extraordinary character of this paper, its tone,
temper, and import, whether genuine or not, it is not my purpose
to speak. It may be a forgery.* All I know of it is from its
publication, as we have it in our newspapers. But it has occurred
to me if it be genuine, this, together with other matters of con
troversy I see likewise in the papers, in relation to the future
exchange of certain classes of prisoners of war, may necessarily
lead to a further conference with the authorities at Washington
upon the whole subject. In that event I wish to say to you briefly,
that if you think my services in such a mission would be of any
avail in effecting a correct understanding and agreement between
the two Governments upon those questions involving such serious
consequences, they are at your command.
*Mr. Stephens states that "it was genuine, and of a character not much
short of savage."

340 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
You will remember while we were at Montgomery, when the
first commissioners were sent to Washington with a view to
settle and adjust all matters of difference between us and the
United States, without a resort to arms, you desired me to be
one of those clothed with this high and responsible trust. I then
declined, because I saw no prospect of success — did not think,
upon a survey of the whole field, that I cpuld effect anything
good or useful in any effort I could then make on that line. You
will allow me now to say that at this time I think possibly I might
be able to do some good not only on the immediate subject in
hand, but were I in conference with the authorities at Washington
on any point in relation to the conduct of the war, I am not without
hopes that indirectly I could now turn attention to a general ad
justment upon such basis as might ultimately be acceptable to
both parties and stop the further effusion of blood in a contest
so irrational, unchristian, and so inconsistent with all recognized
American principles.
The undertaking, I know, would be a great one. Its magnitude
and responsibility I fully realize. I might signally fail. This I
also fully comprehend; but still, be assured, I am not without
some hopes of success, and whenever or wherever I see any pros
pect of the possibility of being useful or of doing good I am pre
pared for any risk, any hazards, and all responsibilities commen
surate with the object. Of course, I entertain but one idea of the
basis of final settlement or adjustment; that is, the recognition of
the sovereignty of the States and the right of each in its sov
ereign capacity to determine its own destiny. This principle lies
at the foundation of the American system. It was what was
achieved in the first war of Independence, and must be vindicated
in the second. The full recognition of this principle covers all
that is. really involved in the present issue. That the Federal
Government is yet ripe for such acknowledgment I, by no means,
believe, but that the time has come for a proper presentation of
the question to the authorities at Washington I do believe — such
presentation as can be made only in a diplomatic way. While,
therefore, a mission might be dispatched on a minor point, the
greater one could possibly, with prudence, discretion, and skill, be
opened to view and brought in discussion in a way that would lead
eventually to successful results. This would depend upon many

First Congress. 341
circumstances, but no little upon the character and efficiency of
the agent. It so occurs to me, and so feeling I have been
prompted to address you these lines. My object is, solely, to
inform you that I am ready and willing to undertake such a mis
sion with a view to such ulterior ends, if any fit opportunity offers
in the present state of our affairs in relation to the exchange of
prisoners, or any other matter of controversy growing out of the
conduct of the war, and if also you should be of opinion that I
could be useful in such position. I am at your service, heart and
soul, at any post you may assign mfe where I see any prospect of
aiding, assisting, or advancing the great cause we are engaged
in and of securing with its success the blessings of permanent
peace, prosperity, and constitutional liberty.
Should the present position of affairs in your opinion be suitable,
of which I am not so well informed as you are, and this sugges
tion so far meet your approval as to cause you to wish to advise
further with me on the subject, you have but to let me know;
otherwise no reply is necessary, and none will be expected.
With best wishes for you personally and our common country
in this day of her trial, I remain yours, etc.,
Alexander H. Stephens.

REPLY OF MR. DAVIS. Richmond, July 2, 1863.
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Richmond, Va.
Sir: Having accepted your patriotic offer to proceed as a mili
tary commissioner under flag of truce to Washington, you will
receive herewith your letter of authority to the Commander in
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. The letter is
signed by me, as Commander in Chief of the Confederate land
and naval forces.
You will perceive from the terms of the letter that it is so
worded as to avoid any political difficulties in its reception. In
tended exclusively as one of those communications between bel
ligerents which public law recognizes as necessary and proper
between hostile forces, care has been taken to give no pretext for
refusing to receive it on the ground that it would involve a tacit

342 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
recognition of the independence of the Confederacy. Your mis
sion is simply one of humanity, and has no political aspect.
If objection is made to receiving your letter on the ground
that it is not addressed to Abraham Lincoln as President, instead
of Commander in Chief, etc., then you will present the duplicate
letter which is addressed to him as President and signed by me as
President. To this letter objection may be made on the ground
that I am not recognized to be President of the Confederacy. In
this event you will decline any further attempt to confer on the
subject of your mission, as such conference is admissible only on
the footing of perfect equality.
My recent interviews with you have put you so fully in pos
session of my views that it is scarcely necessary to give you any
detailed instructions, even were I at this moment well enough to
attempt it. My whole purpose is in one word, to place this war
on the footing of such as are waged by civilized people in modern
times, and to divest it of the savage character which has been im
pressed on it by our enemies, in spite of all our efforts and pro
tests. War is full enough of unavoidable horrors under all its
aspects to justify and even to demand of any Christian rulers who
may be unhappily engaged in carrying it on to seek to restrict its
calamities and to divest it of all unnecessary severities. You will
endeavor to establish the cartel for the exchange of prisoners on
such a basis as to avoid the constant difficulties and complaints
which arise, and to prevent for the future what we deem the un
fair conduct of our enemies in evading the delivery of the prison
ers who fall into their hands ; in retarding it by sending them on
circuitous routes, and by detaining them sometimes for months in
camps and prisons; and in persisting in taking captive noncom-
batants. Your attention is called also to the unheard-of conduct of
Federal officers in driving from their homes entire communities of
women and children, as well as of men, whom they find in districts
occupied by their troops, for no other reason than because these
unfortunates are faithful to the allegiance due to their States,
and refuse to take an oath of fidelity to their enemies.
The putting to death of unarmed prisoners has been a ground
of just complaint in more than one instance; and the recent exe
cution of officers of our army in Kentucky, for the sole cause that

First Congress. 343
they were engaged in recruiting service in a State which is claimed
as still one of the United States, but is also claimed by us as one
of the Confederate States, must be repressed by retaliation if not
unconditionally abandoned, because it would justify the like exe
cution in every other "State of the Confederacy; and the practice
is barbarous, uselessly cruel, and can only lead to the slaughter of
prisoners on both sides — a result too horrible to be contemplated
Without making every effort to avoid it.
On these and all kindred subjects you will consider your au
thority full and ample to make such arrangements as will temper
the present cruel character of the contest, and full confidence is
placed in your judgment, patriotism, and discretion that, while
carrying out the objects of your mission, you will take care that
the equal rights of the Confederacy be always preserved.
Very respectfully, Jefferson Davis.
LETTER OF PRESIDENT DAVIS TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
Headquarters, Richmond, July 2, 1863.
Sir: As Commander in Chief of the land and naval forces now waging
war against the United States, I have the honor to address this communi
cation to you, as Commander in Chief of their land and naval forces.
Numerous difficulties and disputes have arisen in relation to the execu
tion of the cartel of exchange heretofore agreed on by the belligerents, and
the commissioners for the exchange of prisoners have been unable to ad
just their differences. Their action on the subject of these differences is
delayed and embarrassed by the necessity of referring each subject as it
arises to superior authority for decision. I believe that I have just grounds
of complaint against the officers and forces under your command for
breach of the terms of the cartel, and, being myself ready to execute it at
all times in good faith, I am not justified in doubting the existence of the
same disposition on your part.
In addition to this matter, I have to complain of the conduct of your
officers and troops in many parts of the country, who violate all the rules
of war by carrying on hostilities not only against armed foes but against
noncombatants, aged men, women, and children ; while others not only
seize such property as is required for the use of your forces, but destroy
all private property within their reach, even agricultural implements ; and
openly avow the purpose of seeking to subdue the population of the dis
tricts where they are operating by the starvation that must result from the
destruction of standing crops and agricultural tools.
Still, again, others of your officers in different districts have recently
taken the lives of prisoners who fell into their power, and justify their
act by asserting a right to treat as spies the military officers and enlisted

344 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
men under my command, who may penetrate for hostile " purposes into
States claimed by me to be engaged in the warfare now waged against
the United States, and claimed by the latter as having refused to engage
in such warfare.
I have heretofore, on different occasions, been forced to make complaint
of these outrages, and to ask from you that you should either avow or
disclaim having authorized them, and have failed to obtain such answer as
the usages of civilized warfare require to be given in such cases.
These usages justify, and indeed require, redress by retaliation as the
^proper means of repressing such cruelties as are not permitted in warfare
between Christian peoples. I have, notwithstanding, refrained from the
exercise of such retaliation, because of its obvious tendency to lead to a
war of indiscriminate massacre on both sides, which would be a spectacle
so shocking to humanity and so disgraceful to the age in which we live and
the religion we profess that I cannot contemplate it without a feeling of
horror that I am disinclined to doubt you would share.
With the view, then, of making one last solemn attempt to avert such
calamities, and to attest my earnest desire to prevent them, if it be pos
sible, I have selected the bearer of this letter, the Hon. Alexander H.
Stephens, as a military commissioner to proceed to your headquarters under
flag of truce, there to confer and agree on the subjects above mentioned;
and I do hereby authorize the said Alexander H. Stephens to arrange and
settle all differences and disputes which may have arisen or may arise in
the execution of the cartel for exchange of prisoners of war, heretofore
agreed on between our respective land and naval forces ; also to agree to any
just modification that may be found necessary to prevent further misunder
standings as to the terms of said cartel; and finally to enter into such
arrangement or understanding about the mode of carrying on hostilities
between the belligerents as shall confine the severities of the war within
such limits as are rightfully imposed not only by modern civilization but
by our common Christianity.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Jefferson Davis,
Commander in Chief of the land and naval
forces of the Confederate States.
To Abraham Lincoln,
Commander in Chief of the land and naval forces of the United States.

REPLY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
The request is inadmissible. The customary agents and chan
nels are adequate for all needful military communications and
conference between the United States forces and the insurgents.

First Congress. 345
FOURTH SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., DECEMBER 7, 1863. ADJOURNED FEB
RUARY 17, 1864.
MESSAGES. Richmond, Va., December 7, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
The necessity for legislative action arising out of the important
events that have marked the interval since your adjournment, and
my desire to have the aid of your counsel on other matters of grave
public interest, render your presence at this time more than ordi
narily welcome. Indeed, but for serious obstacles for convoking
you in extraordinary session and the necessity for my own tempo
rary absence from the seat of government, I would have invited
you to an earlier meeting than that fixed at the date of your ad
journment. Grave reverses befell our arms soon after your departure from
Richmond. Early in June [July] our strongholds at Vicksburg
and Port Hudson, together with their entire garrisons, capitulated
to the combined land and naval forces of the enemy. The impor
tant interior position of Jackson next fell into their temporary
possession. Our unsuccessful assault upon the post at Helena was
followed at a later period by the invasion of Arkansas, and the
retreat of our army from Little Rock gave to the enemy the con
trol of the important valley in which it is situated.
The resolute spirit of the people soon rose superior to the tem
porary despondency naturally resulting from these reverses. The
gallant troops, so ably commanded in the States beyond the Mis
sissippi, inflicted repeated defeats on the invading armies in Loui
siana and on the coast of Texas. Detachments of troops and ac
tive bodies of partisans kept up so effective a war on the Missis
sippi River as practically to destroy its value as an avenue of com
merce. The determined and successful defense of Charleston against
the joint land and naval operations of the enemy afforded an in
spiring example of our ability to repel the attacks even of the iron
clad fleet on which they chiefly rely, while on the northern frontier
our success was still more marked.

346 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
The able commander* who conducted the campaign in Virginia
determined to meet the threatened advance on Richmond, for
which the enemy had made long and costly preparations, by for
cing their armies to cross the Potomac and fight in defense of their
own capital and homes. Transferring the battlefield to their own
soil, he succeeded in compelling their rapid retreat from Virginia,
and in the hard-fought battle of Gettysburg inflicted such severity
of punishment as disabled them from early renewal of the cam
paign as originally projected. Unfortunately the communications
dn which our general relied for receiving his supplies of muni
tions were interrupted by extraordinary floods, which so swelled
the Potomac as to render impassable the fords by which his ad
vance had been made, and he was thus forced to a withdrawal,
which was conducted with deliberation after securing large trains
of captured supplies, and with a constant and unaccepted tender
of battle. On more than one occasion the enemy has since made
demonstrations of a purpose to advance, invariably followed by
a precipitate retreat to intrenched lines on the approach of our
forces. The effective check thus offered to the advance of the invaders
at all points was such as to afford hope of their early expulsion
from portions of the territory previously occupied by them, when
the country was painfully surprised by the intelligence that the
officerf in command of Cumberland Gap had surrendered that im
portant and easily defensible pass without firing a shot, upon the
summons of a force still believed to have been inadequate to its
reduction, and when reenforcements were in supporting distance
and had been ordered to his aid. The entire garrison, including
the commander, being still held prisoners by the enemy, I am
unable to suggest any explanation of this disaster, which laid open
Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia to hostile opera
tions and broke the line of communication between the seat of
government and Middle Tennessee. This easy success of the
enemy was followed by an advance of General Rosecrans into
Georgia ; and our army evacuated Chattanooga and availed itself
of the opportunity thus afforded of winning, on the field of
Chickamauga, one of the most brilliant and decisive victories of
?Robert E. Lee. tjohn W. Frazer.

First Congress. 347
the war. This signal defeat of General Rosecrans was followed
by his retreat into Chattanooga, where his imperiled position had
the immediate effect of relieving the pressure of the invasion at
other points, forcing the concentration for his relief of large
ibodies of troops withdrawn from the armies in the Mississippi
Valley and in Northern Virginia. The combined forces thus ac
cumulated against us irt Tennessee so greatly outnumbered our
army as to encourage the enemy to attack. After a long and se
vere battle, in which great carnage was inflicted on him, some of
our troops inexplicably abandoned a position of great strength,
and by a disorderly retreat compelled the commander* to withdraw
the forces elsewhere successful, and finally to retreat with his
whole army to a position some twenty or thirty miles to the rear.
It is believed that if the troops who yielded to the assault had
fought with the valor which they had displayed on previous occa
sions, and which was manifested in this battle on the other parts of
the line, the enemy would have been repulsed with very great
slaughter, and our country would have escaped the misfortune
and the Army the mortification of the first defeat that has resulted
from misconduct by the troops. In the meantime the army of
General Burnside was driven from all its field positions in East
ern Tennessee and forced to retreat into its intrenchments at
Knoxville, where for some weeks it was threatened with capture
by the forces under General Longstreet. No information has
reached me of the final result of the operations of our commander,
though intelligence has arrived of his withdrawal from that place.
While, therefore, our success in driving the enemy from our
soil has not equaled the expectations confidently entertained at
the commencement of the campaign, his progress has been
checked. If we are forced to regret losses in Tennessee and
Arkansas, we are not without ground for congratulation on suc
cesses in Louisiana and Texas. On the seacoast he is exhausted
by vain efforts to capture our ports, While on the northern frontier
he has in turn felt the pressure and dreads the renewal of in
vasion. The indomitable courage and perseverance of the people
in the defense of their homes have been nobly attested by the
unanimity with which the Legislatures of Virginia, North Caro-
?Braxton Bragg.

348 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
lina, and Georgia have recently given expression to the popular
sentiment, and like manifestations may be anticipated from all the
States. Whatever obstinacy may be displayed by the enemy in
his desperate sacrifices of money, life, and liberty in the hope of
enslaving us, the experience of mankind has too conclusively
shown the superior endurance of those who fight for home,
liberty, and independence to permit any doubt of the result.
Foreign Relations.
I regret to inform you that there has been no improvement in
the state of our relations with foreign countries since my mes
sage* in January last. On the contrary, there has been a still
greater divergence in the conduct of European nations from that
practical impartiality which alone deserves the name of neutrality,
and their action in some cases has assumed a character positively
unfriendly. You have heretofore been informed that by common under
standing the initiative in all action touching the contest on this
continent had been left by foreign powers to the two great mari
time nations of Western Europe, and that the Governments of
these two nations had agreed to take no measures without previous
concert. The result of these arrangements has, therefore, placed
it in the power of either France or England to obstruct at pleasure
the recognition to which the Confederacy is justly entitled, or
even to prolong the continuance of hostilities on this side of the
Atlantic, if the policy of either could be promoted by the post
ponement of peace. Each, too, thus became possessed of great
influence in so shaping the general exercise of neutral rights in
Europe as to render them subservient to the purpose of aiding
one of the belligerents to the detriment of the other. I referred
at your last session to some of the leading points in the course
pursued by professed neutrals which betrayed a partisan leaning
to the side of our enemies, but events have since occurred which
induce me to renew the subject in greater detail than was then
deemed necessary. In calling to your attention the action of those
Governments, I shall refer to the documents appended to Presi
dent Lincoln's messages, and to their own correspondence, as
*Page 276.

First Congress. 340
disclosing the true nature of their policy and the motives which
guided it. To this course no exception can be taken, inasmuch
as our attention has been invited to those sources of information
by their official publication.
In May, 1861, the Government of Her Britannic Majesty in
formed our enemies that it had not "allowed any other than an
intermediate position on the part of the Southern States," and
assured them "that the sympathies of this country [Great Britain]
were rather with the North than with the South."
On the ist day of June, 1861, the British Government inter
dicted the use of its ports "to armed ships and privateers, both
of the United States and the so-called Confederate States," with
their prizes. The Secretary of State of the United States fully
appreciated the character and motive of this interdiction when he
observed to Lord Lyons, who communicated it, "that this measure
and that of the same character which had been adopted by France
would probably prove a deathblow to Southern privateering."
On the 12th of June, 1861, the United States Minister in Lon
don informed Her Majesty's Secretary for Foreign Affairs that
the fact of his having held interviews with the Commissioners of
this Government had given "great dissatisfaction," and that a
protraction of this relation would be viewed by the United States
"as hostile in spirit, and to require some corresponding action
accordingly." In response to this intimation Her Majesty's Sec
retary assured the Minister that "he had no expectation of seeing
them any more."
By proclamation issued on the 19th and 27th of April, 1861,
President Lincoln proclaimed the blockade of the entire coast of
the Confederacy, extending from the Potomac to the Rio Grande,
embracing, according to the returns of the United States Coast
Survey, a coast line of 3,549 statute miles, on which the number
of rivers, bays, harbors, inlets, sounds, and passes is 189. The
navy possessed by the United States for enforcing this blockade
was stated in the reports communicated by President Lincoln to
the Congress of the United States to consist of twenty-four ves
sels of all classes in commission, of which half were in distant
seas. The absurdity of the pretension of such a blockade in face
of the authoritative declaration of the maritime rights of neutrals
made at Paris in 1856 was so glaring that the attempt was re-

350 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
garded as an experiment on the forbearance of neutral powers
which they would promptly resist. This conclusion was justified
by the facts that the Governments of France and Great Britain
determined that it was necessary for their interests to obtain from
both belligerents "securities concerning the proper treatment of
neutrals." In the instructions which "confided the negotiations
on this matter" to the British Consul in Charleston, he was in
formed that "the most perfect accord on this question exists be
tween Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the
Emperor of the French," and these instructions were accompanied
by a copy of the dispatch of the British Foreign Office of the
18th May, 1861, stating that there was no difference of opinion
between Great Britain and the United States as to the validity
of the principles enunciated in the fouith article of the declara
tion of Paris in reference to blockades. Your predecessors of the
Provisional Congress had, therefore, no difficulty in proclaiming,
nor I in approving, the resolutions which abandoned in favor of
Great Britain and France our right to capture enemy's property
when covered by the flags of those powers. The "securities"
desired by these Governments were understood by us to be re
quired from both belligerents. Neutrals were exposed on our
part to the exercise of the belligerent right of capturing their
vessels when conveying the property of our enemies. They were
exposed on the part of the United States to interruption in their
unquestioned right of trading with us by the declaration of the
paper blockade above referred to. We had no reason to doubt
the good faith of the proposal made to us, nor to suspect that
we were to be the only parties bound by its acceptance. It is true
that the instructions of the neutral powers informed their agents
that it was "essential under present circumstances that they should
act with great caution in order to avoid raising the question of
the recognition of the new Confederation," and that the under
standing on the subject did not assume, for that reason, the shape
of a formal convention. But it was not deemed just by us to
decline the arrangement on this ground, as little more than ninety
days had then elapsed since the arrival of our Commissioners in
Europe, and neutral nations were fairly entitled to a reasonable
delay in acting on a subject of so much importance, and which
from their point of view presented difficulties that we, perhaps,

First Congress. 351
did not fully appreciate. Certain it is that the action of this Gov
ernment on the occasion and its faithful performance of its own
engagements have been such as to entitle it to expect on the part
of those who sought in their own interests a mutual understand
ing the most scrupulous adherence to their own promises. I feel
constrained to inform you that in this expectation we have been
disappointed, and that not only have the governments which
entered into these arrangements yielded to the prohibition against
commerce with us which has been dictated by the United States in
defiance of the law of nations, but that this concession of their
neutral rights to our detriment has on more than one occasion
been claimed in intercourse with our enemies as an evidence of
friendly feeling toward them. A few extracts from the cor
respondence of Her -Majesty's Chief Secretary of State for For
eign Affairs will suffice to show marked encouragement to the
United States to persevere in its paper blockade, and unmistakable
intimations that Her Majesty's Government would not contest
its validity.
On the 21st of May, 1861, Earl Russell pointed out to the
United States Minister in London that "the blockade might no
doubt be made effective, considering the small number of harbors
on the Southern coast, even though the extent of 3,000 miles
were comprehended in terms of that blockade." On the 14th of
January, 1862, Her Majesty's Minister in Washington communi
cated to his Government that, in extenuation of the barbarous
attempt to destroy the port of Charleston by sinking a stone fleet
in the harbor, Mr. Seward had explained "that the Government
of the United States had last spring, with a navy very little pre
pared for so extensive an operation, undertaken to blockade up
ward of 3,000 miles of coast. The Secretary of the Navy had re
ported that he could stop up the 'large holes' by means of his ships,
but that he could not stop up the 'small ones.' It had been found
necessary, therefore, to close some of the numerous small inlets
by sinking vessels in the channel."
On the 6th of May, 1862, so far from claiming the rights of
British subjects as neutrals to trade with us as belligerents, and
to disregard the blockade on the ground of this explicit confession
by our enemy of his inability to render it effective, Her Majesty's
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs claimed credit with the

35 2 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
United States for friendly action in respecting it. His Lordship
stated that "the United States Government, on the allegation of
a rebellion pervading from nine to eleven States of the Union,
have now for more than twelve months endeavored to maintain a
blockade of 3,000 miles of coast. This blockade, kept up irregu
larly, but when enforced, enforced severely, has seriously injured
the trade and manufactures of the United Kingdom. Thousands
are now obliged to resort to the poor rates for subsistence, owing
to this blockade. Yet Her Majesty's Government have never
sought to take advantage of the obvious imperfections of this
blockade in order to declare it ineffective. They have, to the loss
and detriment of the British nation, scrupulously observed the
duties of Great Britain toward a friendly State."
Again, on the 22d of September, 1862, the same noble earl as
serted that the United States were "very far indeed" from being
in "a condition to ask other nations to assume that every port of
the coasts of the so-styled Confederate States is effectively block
aded." When, in view of these facts, of the obligation of the British
nation to adhere to the pledge made by their Government at Paris
in 1856, and renewed to this Confederacy in 1861, and of these
repeated and explicit avowals of the imperfection, irregularity,
and inefficiency of the pretended blockade of our coast, I directed
our commissioner at London to call upon the British Government
to redeem its promise and to withhold its moral aid and sanction
from the flagrant violation of public law committed by our ene
mies, we were informed that Her Majesty's Government could
not regard the blockade of the Southern ports as having been
otherwise than "practically effective" in February, 1862, and that
"the manner in which it has since been enforced gives to neutral
governments no excuse for asserting that the blockade has not
been efficiently maintained." We were further informed, when
we insisted that by the terms of our agreement no blockade was to
be considered effective unless "sufficient really to prevent access
to our coast," "that the declaration of Paris was, in truth, direct
ed against the blockades not sustained by any actual force, or
sustained by a notoriously inadequate force, such as the occa
sional appearance of a man-of-war in the offing, or the like."
It was impossible that this mode of construing an agreement

First Congress. 353
so as to make its terms mean almost the reverse of what they
plainly conveyed could be considered otherwise than as a noti
fication of the refusal of the British Government to remain bound
by its agreement or longer to respect those articles of the declara
tion of Paris which had been repeatedly denounced by British
statesmen and had been characterized by Earl Russell as "very
imprudent" and "most unsatisfactory."
If any doubt remained of the motives by which the British
ministry have been actuated in their conduct, it would be com
pletely dissipated by the distinct avowals and explanations con
tained in the published speech recently made by Her Majesty's
Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In commenting on the remon
strances of this Government against the countenance given to
an ineffective blockade, the following language is used :
It is said we have, contrary to the declaration of Paris, contrary to inter
national law, permitted the blockade of 3,000 miles of American coast. It
is quite true we did so, and the presumable cause of complaint is quite
true, that although the blockade is kept up by a sufficient number of ships,
yet these ships were sent into the U. S. Navy in a hurry, and are ill-
fitted for the purpose, and did not keep up so completely and effectively
as was required, an effective blockade.
This unequivocal confession of violation, both of agreement
with us and of international law, is defended on grounds the valid
ity of which we submit with confidence to the candid judgment
of mankind.
These grounds are thus stated:
Still, looking at the law of nations, it was a blockade we, as a great
belligerent power in former times, should have acknowledged. We our
selves had a blockade of upward of 2,000 miles, and it did seem to me that
we were bound in justice to the Federal States of America to acknowledge
that blockade. But there was another reason which weighed with me.
Our people were suffering severely for the want of that material which was
the main staff of their industry, and it was a question of self-interest
whether we should not break the blockade. But in my opinion the men of
England would have been forever infamous if, for the sake of their own
interest, they had violated the law of nations and made war, in conjunction
with these slaveholding States^ of America, against the Federal States.
In the second of these reasons our rights are not involved, al
though it may be permitted to observe that the conduct of gov
ernments has not heretofore to my knowledge been guided by
the principle that it is infamous to assert their rights whenever
23

354 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the invasion of those rights creates severe suffering among their
people and injuriously affects great interests. But the intimation
that relations with these States would be discreditable because they
are slaveholding would probably have been omitted if the official
personage who has published it to the world had remembered
that these States were, when colonies, made slaveholding by the
direct exercise of the power of Great Britain, whose dependencies
they were, and whose interests in the slave trade were then sup
posed to require that her colonies should be made slaveholding.
But the other ground stated is of a very grave character. It
asserts that a violation of the law of nations by Great Britain in
1807, when that Government declared a paper blockade of 2,000
miles of coast (a violation then defended by her courts and jurists
on the sole ground that her action was retaliatory), affords a jus
tification for a similar outrage on neutral rights by the United
States in 1861, for which no palliation can be suggested; and that
Great Britain "is bound, in justice to the Federal States," to
make return for the war waged against her by the United States
in resistance of her illegal blockade of 1807, by an acquiescence
in the Federal illegal blockade of 1861. The most alarming fea
ture in this statement is its admission of a just claim- on the part
of the United States to require of Great Britain during this war
a disregard of the recognized principles of modern public law
and of her own compacts, whenever any questionable conduct of
Great Britain, "in former times," can be cited as a precedent.
It is not inconsistent with respect and admiration for the great
people whose Government have given us this warning, to suggest
that their history, like that of mankind in general, offers excep
tional instances of indefensible conduct "in former times," and
we may well deny the morality of violating recent engagements
through deference to the evil precedents of the past.
After defending, in the manner just stated, the course of the
British Government on the subject of the blockade, Her Maj
esty's Foreign Secretary takes care to leave no doubt of the further
purpose of the British Government to prevent our purchase of
vessels in Great Britain, while supplying our enemies with rifles
and other munitions of war, and states the intention to apply to
Parliament for the furtherance of this design. He gives to the
United States the assurance that he will do in their favor not only

First Congress. 355
"everything that the law of nations requires, everything that the
present foreign enlistment act requires," but that he will ask the
sanction of Parliament "to further measures that Her Majesty's
ministers may still add." This language is so unmistakably an
official exposition of the policy adopted by the British Government
in relation to our affairs that the duty imposed on me by the Con
stitution of giving, you, from time to time, "information of the
state of the Confederacy," would not have been performed if I
had failed to place it distinctly before you.
I refer you for fuller details on this whole subject to the corre
spondence of the State Department which accompanies this mes
sage. The facts which I have briefly narrated are, I trust, suffi
cient to enable you to appreciate the true nature of the neutrality
professed in this war. It is not in my power to apprise you to
what extent the Government of France shares the views so unre
servedly avowed by that of Great Britain, no published correspond
ence of the French' Government on the subject having been re
ceived. No public protest nor opposition, however, has been
made by His Imperial Majesty against the prohibition to trade
with us imposed on French citizens by the paper blockade of the
United States, although I have reason to believe that an unsuc
cessful attempt was made on his part to secure the assent of the
British Government to a course of action more consonant with
the dictates of public law and with the demands of justice toward
us. The partiality of Her Majesty's Government in favor of our
enemies has been further evinced in the marked difference of its
conduct on the subject of the purchase of supplies by the two
belligerents. This difference has been conspicuous since the
very commencement of the war. As early as the ist of May,
1861, the British Minister in Washington was informed by the
Secretary of State of the United States that he had sent agents
to England, and that others would go to France to purchase arms ;
and this fact was communicated to the British Foreign Office,
which interposed no objection. Yet in October of the same year
Earl Russell entertained the complaint of the United States Min
ister in London that the Confederate States were importing con
traband of war from the island of Nassau, directed inquiry into
the matter, and obtained a report from the authorities of the island

356 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
denying the allegations, which report was inclosed to Mr. Adams
and received by him as satisfactory evidence to dissipate "the
suspicion naturally thrown upon the authorities of Nassau by
that unwarrantable act." So, too, when the Confederate Govern
ment purchased in Great Britain, as a neutral country (and with
strict observance both of the law of nations and the municipal
law of Great Britain), vessels which were subsequently armed
and commissioned as vessels of war, after they had been far re
moved from English waters, the British Government, in violation
of its own laws and in deference to the importunate demands
of the United States, made an ineffectual attempt to seize one
vessel, and did actually seize and detain another which touched
at the island of Nassau on her way to a Confederate port, and
subjected her to an unfounded prosecution at the very time when
cargoes of munitions of war were being openly shipped from
British ports to New York, to be used in warfare against us.
Even now the public journals bring intelligence that the British
Government has ordered the seizure in a British port of two ves
sels, on the suspicion that they may have been sold to this Govern
ment and may be hereafter armed and equipped in our service,
while British subjects are engaged in Ireland by<tens of thousands
to proceed to the United States for warfare against the Confed
eracy, in defiance both of the law of nations and of the express
terms of the British statutes, and are transported in British ships,
without an effort at concealment, to the ports of the United States,
there to be armed with rifles imported from Great Britain and to
be employed against our people in a war for conquest. No royal
prerogative is invoked, no executive interference is interposed
against this flagrant breach of municipal and international law
on the part of our enemies, while strained constructions are placed
on existing statutes, new enactments proposed, and questionable
expedients devised for precluding the possibility of purchase by
this Government of vessels that are useless for belligerent pur
poses, unless hereafter armed and equipped outside of the neu
tral jurisdiction of Great Britain.
For nearly three years this Government has exercised un
questioned jurisdiction over many millions of willing and united
people. It has met and defeated vast armies of invaders, who
have in vain sought its subversion. Supported by the confidence

First Congress. 357
and affection of its citizens, the Confederacy has lacked no ele
ment which distinguishes an independent nation according to the
principles of public law. Its legislative, executive, and judicial
Departments, each in its sphere, have performed their appro
priate functions with a regularity as undisturbed as in a time of
profound peace, and the whole energies of the people have been
developed in the organization of vast armies, while their rights
and liberties have rested secure under the protection of courts
of justice. This Confederacy is either independent or it is a de
pendency of the United States ; for no other earthly power claims
the right to govern it. Without one historic fact on which the
pretension can rest, without one line or word of treaty or cove
nant which can give color to title, the United States have asserted,
and the British Government has chosen to concede, that these
sovereign States are dependencies of the Government which is
administered at Washington. Great Britain has accordingly
entertained with that Government the closest and most intimate
relations, while refusing, on its demands, ordinary amicable in
tercourse with us, and has, under arrangements made with the
other nations of Europe, not only denied our just claim of admis
sion into the family of nations, but interposed a passive though
effectual bar to the knowledge of our rights by other powers. So
soon as it had become apparent by the declarations of the British
Ministers in the debates of the British Parliament in July last
that Her Majesty's Government was determined to persist in
definitely in a course of policy which under professions of neu
trality had become subservient to the designs of our enemy, I
felt it my duty to recall the Commissioner formerly accredited
to that Court, and the correspondence on the subject is submitted
to you.
It is due to you and to our country that this full statement
should be made of the just grounds which exist for dissatisfac
tion with the conduct of the British Government. I am well aware
that we are unfortunately without adequate remedy for the injus
tice under which we have suffered at the hands of a powerful na
tion, at a juncture when our entire resources are absorbed in the
defense of our lives, liberties, and independence, against an enemy
possessed of greatly superior numbers and material resources.
Claiming no favor, desiring no aid, conscious of our own ability

358 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
to defend our own rights against the utmost efforts of an infuri
ate foe, we had thought it not extravagant to expect that assist
ance would be withheld from our enemies, and that the conduct
of foreign nations would be marked by a genuine impartiality
between the belligerents. It was not supposed that a professed
neutrality would be so conducted as to justify the Foreign Secre
tary of the British nation in explaining, in correspondence with
our enemies, how "the impartial observance of neutral obligations
by Her Majesty's Government has thus been. exceedingly advan
tageous to the cause of the more powerful of the two contending
parties." The British Government may deem this war a favorable
occasion for establishing, by the temporary sacrifice of their neu
tral rights, a precedent which will justify the future exercise
of those extreme belligerent pretensions that their naval power
renders so formidable. The opportunity for obtaining the tacit
assent of European governments to a line of conduct which ig
nores the obligations of the declaration of Paris, and treats that
instrument rather as a theoretical exposition of principle than a
binding agreement, may be considered by the British ministry as
justifying them in seeking a great advantage for their own coun
try at the expense of ours. But we cannot permit, without pro
test, the assertion that international law or morals regard as "im
partial neutrality" the conduct avowed to be "exceedingly advan
tageous" to one of the belligerents.
I have stated that we are without adequate remedy against
the injustice under which we suffer. There are but two measures
that seem applicable to the present condition of our relations with
neutral powers. One is to imitate the wrong of which we com
plain, to retaliate by the declaration of a paper blockade of the
coast of the United States, and to capture all neutral vessels
trading with their ports that our cruisers can intercept on the
high seas. This measure I cannot recommend. It is true that
in so doing we should but follow the precedents set by Great
Britain and France in the Berlin and Milan decrees, and the
British orders in council at the beginning of the present century.
But it must be remembered that we ourselves protested against
those very measures as signal violations of the law of nations,
and declared the attempts to excuse them on the ground of their
being retaliatory utterly insufficient. Those blockades are now

First Congress. 359
quoted by writers on public law as a standing reproach on the
good name of the nations who were betrayed by temporary exas
peration into wrongdoing, and ought to be regarded rather as
errors to be avoided than as examples to be followed.
The other measure is not open to this objection. The second
article of the declaration of Paris,, which provides "that the neu
tral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband
of war," was a new concession by belligerents in favor of neutrals,
and not simply the enunciation of an acknowledged preexisting
rule like the fourth article, which referred to blockades. To this
concession we bound ourselves by the convention with Great
Britain and France, which took the shape of the resolutions
adopted by your predecessors on the 13th of August, 1861. The
consideration tendered us for that concession has been withheld.
We have therefore the undeniable right to refuse longer to re
main bound by a compact which the other party refuses to ful
fill. But we should not forget that war is but temporary, and that
we desire that peace shall be permanent. The future policy of the
Confederacy must ever be to uphold neutral rights to their full
extent. The principles of the declaration of Paris commend them
selves to our judgment as more just, more humane, and more
consonant with modern civilization than those belligerent preten
sions which great naval powers have heretofore sought to intro
duce into the maritime code. To forego our undeniable right to
the exercise of those pretensions is a policy higher, worthier of us
and our cause, than to revoke our adherence to principles that we
approve. Let our hope for redress rest rather on a returning
sense of justice which cannot fail to awaken a great people to
the consciousness that the war in which we are engaged ought
rather to be made a reason for forbearance of advantage than an
occasion for the unfriendly conduct of which we make just com
plaint. The events of the last year have produced important changes in
the condition of our Southern neighbor. The occupation of the
capital of Mexico by the French army, and the establishment of a
provisional government, followed by a radical change in the con
stitution of the country, have excited lively interest. Although
preferring our own Government and institutions to those of other
countries, we can have no disposition to contest the exercise by

360 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
them of the same right of self-government which we assert for
ourselves. If the Mexican people prefer a monarchy to a republic,
it is our plain duty cheerfully to acquiesce in their decision and to
evince a sincere and friendly interest in their prosperity. If, how
ever, the Mexicans prefer maintaining their former institutions,
we have no reason to apprehend any obstacle to the free exercise
of their choice. The Emperor of the French has solemnly dis
claimed any purpose to impose on Mexico a form of government
not acceptable to the nation ; and the eminent personage to whom
the throne has been tendered declines its acceptance unless the
offer be sanctioned by the suffrages of the people. In either event,
therefore, we may confidently expect the continuance of those
peaceful relations which have been maintained on the frontier,
and even a large development of the commerce already existing
to the mutual advantage of the two countries.
It has been found necessary since your adjournment to take
action on the subject of certain foreign Consuls within the Con
federacy. The nature of this action and the reasons on which it
was based are so fully exhibited in the correspondence of the State
Department, which is transmitted to you, that no additional com
ment is required.
In connection with this subject of our relations with foreign
countries, it is deemed opportune to communicate my views in
reference to the treaties made by the Government of the United
States at a date anterior to our separation, and which were conse
quently binding on us as well as on foreign powers when the sep
aration took effect. It was partly with a view to entering into
such arrangements as the change in our Government had made
necessary that we felt it our duty to send commissioners abroad
for the purpose of entering into the negotiations proper to fix the
relative rights and obligations of the parties to those treaties. As
this tender on our part has been declined, as foreign nations have
refused us the benefit of the treaties to which we were parties, they
certainly have ceased to be binding on us, and in my opinion our
relations with European nations are therefore now controlled ex
clusively by the general rules of the law of nations. It is proper
to add that these remarks are intended to apply solely to treaty
obligations toward foreign governments, and have no reference
to rights of individuals.

First Congress. 361
FINANCES.
The state of the public finances is such as to demand your
earliest and most earnest attention. I need hardly say that a
prompt and efficacious remedy for the present condition of the
currency is necessary for the successful performance of the func
tions of government. Fortunately the resources of our country
are so ample and the spirit of our people so devoted to its cause
that they are ready to make any necessary contribution. Relief
is thus entirely within our reach if we have the wisdom to legis
late in such manner as to render available the means at our dis
posal. At the commencement of the war we were far from anticipating
the magnitude and duration of the struggle in which we were en
gaged. The most sagacious foresight could not have predicted
that the passions of the Northern people would lead them blindly
to the sacrifice of life, .treasure, and liberty in so vain a hope as that
of subjugating thirteen independent States inhabited by many
millions of people whose birthright of freedom is dearer to them
than life. A long exemption from direct taxation by the General
Government had created an aversion to its raising revenue by any
other means than by duties on imports, and it was supposed that
these duties would be ample for current peace expenditure, while
the means for conducting the war could be raised almost exclu
sively by the use of the public credit.
The first action of the Provisional Congress was therefore con
fined to passing a tariff law, and to raising a sum of $15,000,000
by loan, with a pledge of a small export duty on cotton to provide
for the redemption of the debt. At its second session war was
declared to exist between the Confederacy and the United States,
and provision was made for the issue of $20,000,000 in Treasury
notes, and for borrowing $30,000,000 on bonds. The tariff was
revised and preparatory measures taken to enable Congress to
levy internal taxation at its succeeding session. These laws were
passed in May, and the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Ten
nessee, and Arkansas having joined the Confederacy, the Con
gress adjourned to meet in the city of Richmond in the following
month of July.
Prior to the assembling of your predecessors in Richmond at
their third session, near the end of July, 1861, the President of the

362 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
United States had developed in his message the purpose "to make
the contest a short and a decisive one," and had called on Congress
for 400,000 men and $400,000,000. The Congress had exceeded
the Executive recommendation, and had authorized the levy of
half a million of volunteers, besides largely increasing the regular
land and naval forces of the United States. The necessity thus
first became urgent that a financial scheme should be devised on
a basis sufficiently large for the vast proportions of the contest
with which we were threatened. Knowing that the struggle, in
stead of being "short and decisive," would be indefinite in dura
tion, and could end only when the United States should awaken
from their delusion of conquest, a permanent system was required
fully adapted to the great exigencies before us.
The plan devised by Congress at that time was based on the the
ory of issuing Treasury notes convertible at the pleasure of the
holder into 8 per cent bonds, the interest of which was to be paya
ble in coin, and it was correctly assumed that any tendency to de
preciation that might arise from overissue of the currency would
be checked by the constant exercise of the holder's right to fund
the notes at a liberal interest, payable in specie. This system de
pended for success on the continued ability of the Government to
pay the interest in specie, and means were therefore provided for
that purpose in the law authorizing the issues. An internal tax,
termed a war tax, was levied, the proceeds of which, together with
the revenue from imports, were deemed sufficient for the object
designed. This scheme required for its operation that our com
merce with foreign nations should not be suspended. It was not
to be anticipated that such suspension would be permitted other
wise than by an effective blockade ; and it was absurd to suppose
that a blockade "sufficient really to prevent access" to our entire
coast could be maintained.
We had the means, therefore (if neutral nations had not com
bined to aid our enemies by the sanction of an illegal prohibition
on their commerce) , to secure the receipt into the Treasury of coin
sufficient to pay the interest on the bonds, and thus maintain the
Treasury notes at rates nearly equal to par in specie. So long as
the interest continued to be thus paid with the reserve of coin pre
existing in our country, experience sustained the expectations of
those who devised the system. Thus, on the ist of the following

First Congress. 363
December coin had reached a premium of only about 20 per cent,
although it had already become apparent that the commerce of the
country was threatened with permanent suspension by reason of
the conduct of neutral nations, and that the necessary result must
be the exhaustion of our specie reserve. Wheat, in the beginning
of the year 1862, was selling at $1.30 per bushel, not exceeding,
therefore, its average price in time of peace. The other agricul
tural products of the country were at similar moderate rates, thus
indicating that there was no excess of circulation, and that the
rate of premium on specie was heightened by the exceptional
causes which tended to its exhaustion without the possibility of
renewing the supply.
This review of the policy of your predecessors is given in justice
to them, and it exhibits the condition of the finances at the date
when the permanent Government was organized.
In the meantime the popular aversion to internal taxation by the
General Government had influenced the legislation of the several
States, and in only three of them, South Carolina, Mississippi, and
Texas, were the taxes actually collected from the people. The
quotas devolving upon the remaining States had been raised by
the issue of bonds and State Treasury notes, and the public debt
of the country was thus actually increased instead of being dimin
ished by the taxation imposed by Congress.
Neither at the first nor second session of the present Congress
were means provided by taxation for maintaining the Govern
ment, the legislation being confined to authorizing further sales
of bonds and issues of Treasury notes. Although repeated efforts
were made to frame a proper system of taxation, you were con
fronted with an obstacle which did not exist for your predecessors,
and which created grave embarrassment in devising any scheme
of taxation. About two-thirds of the entire taxable property of
the Confederate States consists of lands and slaves. The general
power of taxation vested in Congress by the Provisional Constitu
tion (which was to be only temporary in its operation) was not
restricted by any other condition than that "all duties, imposts,
and excises should be uniform throughout the States of the Con
federacy." But the permanent Constitution, sanctioning the prin
ciple that taxation and representation ought to rest on the same
basis, specially provides that "representatives and direct taxes

364 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
shall be apportioned among the several States according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the
whole number of free persons, including those bound to service
for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths
of all slaves."
It was further ordered that a census should be made within
three years after the first meeting of Congress, and that "no capi
tation or other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the
census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken."
It is plain that under these provisions capitation and direct taxes
must be levied in proportion to the census when made. It is also
plain that the duty is imposed on Congress to provide for making
a census prior to the 22d of February, 1865. It may further be
stated that according to the received construction of the Constitu
tion of the United States (a construction acquiesced in for upward
of sixty years) taxes on lands and slaves are direct taxes, and the
conclusion seems necessarily to be that, in repeating without mod
ification in our Constitution this language of the Constitution of
1787, our convention intended to attach to it the meaning which
had been sanctioned by long and uninterrupted acquiescence.
So long as there seemed to be a probability of being able to carry
out these provisions of the Constitution in their entirety and in
conformity with the intentions of its authors there was an obvious
difficulty in framing any system of taxation. A law which should
exempt from the burden two-thirds of the property of the country
would be as unfair to the owners of the remaining third as it
would be inadequate to meet the requirements of the public
service. The urgency of the need was such, however, that after very
great embarrassment and more than three months of assiduous
labor you succeeded in framing the law of the 24th April, 1863,
by which you sought to reach, so far as was practicable, every re
source of the country except the capital invested in real estate and
slaves, and by means of an income tax and a tax in kind on the
produce of the soil, as well as by licenses on business occupations
and professions, to command resources sufficient for the wants of
the country. But a very large proportion of these resources could
be made available only at the close of the present and the com
mencement of the ensuing year, while the intervening exigencies

First Congress. 365
permitted no delay. In this state of affairs, superinduced almost
unavoidably by the fortunes of the war in which we are engaged,
the issues of Treasury notes have been increased until the cur
rency in circulation amounts to more than $600,000,000, or more
than threefold the amount required by the business of the coun-
-try. I need not enlarge upon the evil effects of this condition of
things. They are unfortunately but too apparent. In addition to
the difficulty presented to the necessary operations of the Gov?
ernment and the efficient conduct of the war, the most deplorable
of all its results is undoubtedly its corrupting influence on the
morals of the people. The possession of large amounts of Treas
ury notes has naturally led to a desire for investment, and with a
constantly increasing volume of currency there has been an equal
ly constant increase of price in all objects of investment. This
effect has stimulated purchase by the apparent certainty of profit,
and a spirit of speculation has thus been fostered which has so
debasing an influence and such ruinous consequences that it is our
highest duty to remove the cause, and no measures directed to
that end can be too prompt or too stringent.
Reverting to the constitutional provisions already cited, the
question recurs whether it be possible to execute the duty of ap
portioning taxation in accordance with the census ordered to be
made as a basis. So long as this appeared to be practicable, none
can deny the propriety of your course in abstaining from the im
position of direct taxes till you could exercise the power in the pre
cise mode pointed out by the terms of the fundamental law. But
it is obvious that there are many duties imposed by the Constitu
tion which depend for their fulfillment on the undisturbed pos
session of the territory within which they are to be performed.
The same instrument which orders a census to be made in all the
States imposes the duty on the Confederacy "to guarantee to ev
ery State a republican form of government." It enjoins on us
"to protect each State "from invasion;" and while declaring that its
great objects and purposes are "to establish justice, insure domes
tic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity," it confers the means and thereby imposes on
us the paramount duty of effecting its intent by "laying and col
lecting taxes, imposts, and excises necessary to pay the debts, pro-

366 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
vide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the
Confederate States."
None would pretend that the Constitution is violated because,
by reason of the presence of hostile armies, we are unable to guar
antee a republican form of government to these States or portions
of States now temporarily held by the enemy, and as little justice
would there be in imputing blame for the failure to make the cen
sus when that failure is attributable to causes not foreseen by the
authors of the Constitution and beyond our control. The general
intent of our constitutional charter is unquestionably that the
property of the country is to be taxed in order to raise revenue
for the common defense, and the special mode provided for levy
ing this tax is impracticable from unforeseen causes. It is in my
judgment our primary duty to execute the general intent ex
pressed by the terms of the instrument which we have sworn to
obey, and we cannot excuse ourselves for the failure to fulfill this
obligation on the ground that we are unable to perform it in the
precise mode pointed out. Whenever it shall be possible to ex-'
ecute our duty in all its parts we must do so in exact compliance
with the whole letter and spirit of the Constitution. Until that
period shall arrive we must execute so much of it as our condition
renders practicable. Whenever the withdrawal of the enemy shall
place it in our power to make a census and apportionment of di
rect taxes, any other mode of levying them will be contrary to the
will of the lawgiver, and incompatible with our obligation to obey
that will ; until that period, the alternative left is to obey the para
mount precept and to execute it according to the only other rule
provided, which is to "make the tax uniform throughout the Con
federate States."
The considerations just presented are greatly enforced by the
reflection that any attempt to apportion taxes amongst States,
some of which are wholly or partially in the occupation of hostile
forces, would subvert the whole intention of the framers of the
Constitution, and be productive of the most revolting injustice
instead of that just correlation between taxation and representa
tion which it was their purpose to secure. With large portions of
some of the States occupied by the enemy, what justice would
there be in imposing on the remainder the whole amount of the
taxation of the entire State in proportion to its representation?1

First Congress. 367
What else would this be in effect than to increase the burthen of
those who are the heaviest sufferers by the war, and to make our
own inability to protect them from invasion, as we are required to
do by the Constitution, the ground for adding to their losses by
an attempted adherence to the letter, in violation of the spirit of
that instrument? No such purpose could have been entertained
and no such result contemplated by the framers of the Constitu
tion. It may add weight to these considerations if we reflect that,
although the Constitution provided that it should go into operation
with a representation temporarily distributed among the States,
it expressly ordains, after providing for a census within three
years, that this temporary distribution of representative power is
to endure "until such enumeration shall be made." Would any
one argue that because the census cannot be made within the fixed
period the Government must at the expiration of that period perish
for want of a representative body? In any aspect in which the
subject can be viewed I am led to the conclusion already an
nounced, and which 'is understood to be in accordance with a vote
taken in one or both Houses at your last session. I shall, there
fore, until we are able to pursue the precise mode required by the
Constitution, deem it my duty to approve any law levying the
taxation which you are bound to impose for the defense of the
country in any other practicable mode which shall distribute the
burthen uniformly and impartially on the whole property of the
people. In your former legislation you have sought to avoid the increase
in the volume of notes in circulation by offering inducements to
voluntary funding. The measures adopted for that purpose have
been but partially successful, and the evil has now reached such
a magnitude as to permit no other remedy than the compulsory
reduction of the currency to the amount required by the business
of the country. This reduction should be accompanied by a pledge
that under no stress of circumstances will that amount be exceeded.
No possible mode of using the credit of the Government can be so
disastrous as one which disturbs the basis of all exchanges, ren
ders impossible aircalculations of future values, augments, in con
stantly increasing proportions, the price of all commodities, and so
depreciates all fixed wages, salaries, and incomes as to render them
inadequate to bare subsistence. If to these be added the still more

368 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
fatal influence on the morals and character of the people, to which
I have already adverted, I am persuaded you will concur in the
conclusion that an inflexible adherence to a limitation of the cur
rency at a fixed sum is an indispensable element of any system of
finance now to be adopted.
The holders of the currency now outstanding can be protected
in the recovery of their just claims only by substituting for their
notes some other security. If the currency is not greatly and
promptly reduced, the present scale of inflated prices will not only
continue to exist, but by the very fact of the large amounts thus
made requisite in the conduct of the war those prices will reach
rates still more extravagant, and the whole system will fall under
its own weight, thus rendering the redemption of the debt im
possible, and destroying its whole value in the hands of the holder.
If, on the contrary, a funded debt, with interest secured by ade
quate taxation, can be substituted for the outstanding currency,
its entire amount will be made available to the holder, and the
Government will be in a condition enabling it, beyond the reach
of any probable contingency, to prosecute the war to a successful
issue. It is therefore demanded, as well by the interest of the
creditor as of the country at large, that the evidences of the pub
lic debt now outstanding in the shape of Treasury notes be con
verted into bonds bearing adequate interest, with a provision for
taxation sufficient to insure punctual payment and final redemp
tion of the whole debt.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury presents the out
lines of a system which, in conjunction with existing legislation,
is intended to secure the several objects of a reduction of the cir
culation within fixed, reasonable limits; of providing for the fu
ture wants of the Government; of furnishing security for the
punctual payment of interest and final extinction of the principal
of the public debt, and of placing the whole business of the coun
try on a basis as near a specie standard as is possible during the
continuance of the war. I earnestly recommend it to your con
sideration, and that no delay be permitted to intervene before your
action on this vital subject. I trust that it will be suffered io
engross your attention until you shall have disposed of it in the
manner best adapted to attain the important results which your
country anticipates from your legislation.

First Congress. 369
It may be added that in . considering this subject the people
ought steadily to keep in view that the Government in contract
ing debt is but their agent; that its debt is their debt. As the
currency is held exclusively by ourselves, it is obvious that, if
each person held Treasury notes in exact proportion to the value of
his means, each would in fact owe himself the amount of the notes
held by him ; and were it possible to distribute the currency among
the people in this exact proportion, a tax levied on the currency
alone to the amount sufficient to reduce it to proper limits would
afford the best of all remedies. Under such circumstances the
notes remaining in the hands of each holder after the payment of
his tax would be worth quite as much as the whole sum previously
held, for it would purchase at least an equal amount of commodi
ties. This result cannot be perfectly attained by any device of
legislation, but it can be approximated by taxation. A tax on
all values has for its effect not only to impose a due share of the
burden on the note holder, but to force those who have few or
none of the notes to part with a share of their possessions to those
who hold the notes in excess in order to obtain the means of satis
fying the demands of the taxgatherer. This is the only mode
by which it is practicable to make all contribute as equally as pos
sible in the burden which all are bound to share, and it is for this
reason that taxation adequate to the public exigencies, under
our present circumstances, must be the basis of any funding sys
tem or other remedy for restoring stability to our finances.
THE army.
To the report of the Secretary of War you are referred for de
tails relative to the condition of the Army and the measures of
legislation required for maintaining its efficiency, recruiting its
numbers, and furnishing the supplies necessary for its support.
Though we have lost many of the best of our soldiers and
most patriotic of our citizens (the sad but unavoidable result of
the battles and toils of such a campaign as that which will render
the year 1863 ever memorable in our annals), the Army is be
lieved to be in all respects in better condition than at any previous
period of the war. Our gallant defenders, now veterans, familiar
with danger, hardened by exposure, and confident in themselves
and their officers, endure privations with cheerful fortitude and
24

370 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
welcome battle with alacrity. The officers, by experience in field
service and the action of examining boards in relieving the incom
petent, are now greatly more efficient than at the commencement
of the war. The assertion is believed to be fully justified that, re
garded as a whole, for character, valor, efficiency, and patriotic
devotion, our Army has not been equaled by any like number of
troops in the history of war.
In view of the large conscription recently ordered by the enemy
and their subsequent call for volunteers, to be followed if ineffec
tual by a still further draft, we are admonished that no effort must
be spared to add largely to our effective force as promptly as pos
sible. The sources of supply are to be found by restoring to the
Army all who are improperly absent, putting an end to substi
tution, modifying the exemption law, restricting details, and
placing in the ranks such of the able-bodied men now employed
as wagoners, nurses, cooks, and other employees as are doing
service for which the negroes may be found competent.
The act of 16th of April, 1862, provides "that persons not liable
for duty may be received as substitutes for those who are, under
such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of War."
The policy of granting this privilege has not been sustained by
experience. Not only has the numerical strength of the Army
been seriously impaired by the frequent desertions for which
substitutes have become notorious, but dissatisfaction has been
excited among those who have been unable or unwilling to avail
themselves of the opportunity thus afforded of avoiding the mili
tary service of their country.
I fully concur in the opinion expressed by the Secretary that
there is no ground for the objection that a new provision to in
clude those who furnished substitutes under the former call would
be a breach of contract. To accept a substitute was to confer a
privilege, not to enter into a contract, and whenever the substi
tute is rendered liable to conscription, it would seem to follow
that the principal, whose place he had taken, should respond for
him, as the Government had received no consideration for his ex
emption. Where, however, the new provision of law would fail
to embrace a substitute now in the ranks, there appears, if the
principal should again be conscribed, to be an equitable ground for

First Congress. 371
compensation to the conscript, who then would have added to the
service a soldier not otherwise liable to enrollment.
On the subject of exemptions, it is believed that abuses cannot
be checked unless the system is placed on a basis entirely different
from that now provided by law. The object of your legislation has
been not to confer privileges on classes, but to exonerate from mili
tary duty such number of persons skilled in the various trades,
professions, and mechanical pursuits as could render more valuable
service to their country by laboring in their present occupation
than by going into the ranks of the Army. The policy is unques
tionable, but the result would, it is thought, be better obtained by
enrolling all such persons and allowing details to be made of the
number necessary to meet the wants of the country. Considerable
numbers are believed to be now exempted from the military serv
ice who are not needful to the public in their civil vocation.
Certain duties are now performed throughout the country by
details from the Army which could be as well executed by per
sons above the present conscript age. An extension of the limit
so as to embrace persons over forty-five years and physically
fit for service in guarding posts, railroads, and bridges, in appre
hending deserters, and, where practicable, assuming the place of
younger men detailed for duty with the Niter, Ordnance, Com
missary, and Quartermaster's Bureaus of the War Department,
would, it is hoped, add largely to the effective force in the field
without an undue burden on the population.
If to the above measures be added a law to enlarge the policy
of the act of the 21st of April, 1862, so as to enable the Department
to replace not only enlisted cooks, but wagoners and other employ
ees in the Army, by negroes, it is hoped that the ranks of the
Army will be so strengthened for the ensuing campaign as to put
to defiance the utmost efforts of the enemy.
In order to maintain unimpaired the existing organization of
the Army until the close of the war, your legislation contemplated
a frequent supply of recruits,_ and it was expected that before the
expiration of the three years for which the men were enrolled -
under act of 16th of April, 1862, the majority of men in each com
pany would consist of those who joined it at different dates sub
sequent to the original muster of the company into service, and
that the discharge of those who had completed their term would at

372 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
no time be sufficient to leave the company with a less number
than is required to enable it to retain its organization. The diffi
culty of obtaining recruits from certain localities and the large
number of exemptions from military service granted by different
laws have prevented sufficient accessions in many of the compa
nies to preserve their organizations after the discharge of the
original members. The advantage of retaining tried and well-ap
proved officers and of mingling recruits with experienced soldiers
is so obvious and the policy of such a course is so clearly indicated
that it is not deemed necessary to point out the evil consequences
which would result from the destruction of the old organizations,
or to dwell upon the benefits to be secured from filling up the vet
eran companies as long before the discharge of the earlier mem
bers as may be possible. In the cases where it may be found im
practicable to maintain regiments in sufficient strength as to justi
fy the retention of the present organization, economy and efficien
cy would be promoted by consolidation and reorganization. This
would involve the necessity of disbanding a part of the officers
and making regulations for securing the most judicious selection
of those who are retained, while least wounding the feelings of
those who are discharged.
Experience has shown the necessity for further legislation in
relation to the horses of the cavalry. Many men lose their horses
by casualties of service which are not included in the provisions
made to compensate the owner for the loss, and it may thus not
unfrequently happen that the most efficient troopers, without
fault of their own — indeed, it may be because of their zeal and
activity — are lost to the cavalry service.
It would also seem proper that the Government should have
complete control over every horse mustered into service, with
the limitation that the owner should not be deprived of his horse
except upon due compensation being made therefor. Otherwise
mounted men may not keep horses fit for the service, and the
question whether they should serve mounted or on foot would
depend not upon the qualifications of the men, but upon the fact
of their having horses.
Some provision is deemed requisite to correct the evils arising
from the long - continued absence of commissioned officers.
Where it is without sufficient cause, it would seem but just that

First Congress. 373
the commission should be thereby vacated. Where it results
from capture by the enemy, which under their barbarous refusal to
exchange prisoners of war may be regarded as absence for an
indefinite time, there is a necessity to supply their places in their
respective commands. This might be done by temporary appoint
ments to endure only until the return of the officers regularly
commissioned. Where it results from permanent disability in
curred in the line of their duty, it would be proper to retire thenx
and fill the vacancies according to established mode. I would
also suggest the organization of an invalid corps, and that the
retired officers be transferred to it. Such a corps, it is thought,
could be made useful in various employments for which efficient
officers and troops are now detached.
An organization of the general staff of the Army would be
highly conducive to the efficiency of that most important branch
of the service. The plan adopted for the military establishment
furnishes a model for the staff of the Provisional Army, if it be
deemed advisable to retain the distinction; but I recommend to
your consideration the propriety of abolishing it and providing
for the organization of the several staff corps in such number and
with such rank as will meet all the wants of the service. To se
cure the requisite ability for the more important positions, it will
be necessary to provide for officers of higher rank than is now au
thorized for these corps. -To give to officers the proper relation
and cointelligence in their respective corps, and to preserve in the
chief of each the influence and control over his subordinates, there
should be no gradation on the basis of the rank of the general with
whom they might be serving by appointment. To the personal
staff of a general it would seem proper to give a grade corre
sponding with his rank, and the number might be fixed to cor
respond with his command. To avoid the consequence of dis
charge upon a change of duty the variable portion of the personal
staff might be taken from the line of the Army and allowed to re
tain their line commissions.
The disordered condition of the currency, to which I have al
ready alluded, has imposed on the Government a system of sup
plying the wants of die Army which is so unequal in its operation,
vexatious to the producer, injurious to the industrial interest,
and productive of such discontent among the people as only to*

374 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
be justified by the existence of an absolute necessity. The report
of the Secretary on this point establishes conclusively that the
necessity which has forced the bureaus of supply to provide for
the Army by impressment has resulted from the impossibility of
purchase by contract or in the open market, except at such rapidly
increased rates as would have rendered the appropriations inade
quate to the wants of the Army. Indeed, it is believed that the
temptation to hoard supplies for the higher prices which could be
anticipated with certainty has been checked mainly by fear of the
operation of the impressment law, and that commodities have
been offered in the markets principally to escape impressment and
obtain higher rates than those fixed by appraisement. The com
plaints against this vicious system have been well founded, but
the true cause of the evil has been misapprehended. The remedy
is to be found not in a change of the impressment law, but in the
restoration of the currency to such a basis as will enable the De
partment to purchase necessary supplies in the open market, and
thus render impressment a rare and exceptionable process.
The same remedy will effect the result, universally desired, of
an augmentation of the pay of the Army. The proposals made
at your previous sessions to increase the pay of the soldier by an
additional amount of Treasury notes would have conferred little
benefit on him, but a radical reform of the currency will restore
the pay to a value approximating that which it originally had, and
materially improve his condition.
The reports from the Ordnance and Mining Bureaus are very
gratifying, and the extension of our means of supply of arms and
munitions of war from our home resources has been such as to
insure our ability soon to become mainly, if not entirely, independ
ent of supplies from foreign countries. The establishments for
the casting of guns and projectiles, for the manufacture of small
arms and of gunpowder, for the supply of niter from artificial
niter beds, and mining operations generally, have been so dis
tributed through the country as to place our resources beyond the
reach of partial disasters.
The recommendations of the Secretary of War on other points
are minutely detailed in his report, which is submitted to you,
and, extending as they do to almost every branch of the service,
merit careful consideration.

First Congress. 375
EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.
I regret to inform you that the enemy has returned to the bar
barous policy with which they inaugurated the war, and that the
exchange of prisoners has been for some time suspended.* The
correspondence of the commissioners of exchange is submitted to
you by the Secretary of War, and it has already been published
for the information of all now suffering useless imprisonment.
The conduct of the authorities of the United States has been con
sistently perfidious on this subject. An agreement for exchange
in the incipiency of the war had just been concluded when the
fall of Fort Donelson reversed the previous state of things and
gave them an excess of prisoners. This agreement was immedi
ately repudiated by them, and so remained until the fortune of war
again placed us in possession of the larger number. A new cartel
was then made; and under it, for many months, we restored to
them many thousands of prisoners in excess of those whom they
¦held for exchange, and encampments of the surplus paroled pris
oners delivered up by us were established in the United States,
where the men were able to receive the comforts and solace of
constant communication with their homes and families. In July
last the fortune of war again favored the enemy, and they were
enabled to exchange for duty the men previously delivered to
them against those captured and paroled at Vicksburg and Port
Hudson. The prisoners taken at Gettysburg, however, remained
in their hands, and should have been at once returned to our
lines on parole, to await exchange. Instead of executing a
duty imposed by the plainest dictates of justice and good faith,
pretexts were instantly sought for holding them in permanent
captivity. General orders rapidly succeeded each other from the
bureaus at Washington, placing new constructions on an agree
ment which had given rise to no dispute while we retained the
advantage in the number of prisoners. With a disregard of hon
orable obligations almost unexampled, the enemy did not hesitate,
in addition to retaining the prisoners captured by them, to de-
*See page 339 for correspondence which resulted in the appointment
of Vice President Stephens as military commissioner to United States for
purpose of settling differences arising in the execution of the cartel for
exchange of prisoners of war.

376 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
clare null the paroles given by the prisoners captured by us in
the same series of engagements and liberated on condition of not
again serving until exchanged. They have since openly insisted
on treating the paroles given by their own soldiers as invalid, and
those of our soldiers, given under precisely similar circumstances,
as binding. A succession of similar unjust pretensions has been
set up in a correspondence tediously prolonged, and every device
employed to cover the disregard of an obligation which, between
belligerent nations, is to be enforced only by a sense of honor.
No further comment is needed on this- subject, but it may be
permitted to direct your special attention to the close of the cor
respondence submitted to you, from which you will perceive
that the final proposal made by the enemy, in settlement of all
disputes under the cartel, is that we should liberate all prisoners
held by us without the offer to release from captivity any of those
held by them.
In the meantime a systematic and concerted effort has been
made to quiet the complaints in the United States of those rela
tives and friends of the prisoners in our hands, who are unable to
understand why the cartel is not executed in their favor, by the
groundless assertion that we are the parties who refuse compli
ance. Attempts are also made to shield themselves from the
execration excited by their own odious treatment of our officers
and soldiers, now captive in their hands, by misstatements, such as
that the prisoners held by us are deprived of food. To this last ac
cusation the conclusive answer has been made that, in accordance
with our law and the general orders of the Department, the rations
of the prisoners are precisely the same, in quantity and quality, as
those served out to our own gallant soldiers in the field, and which
have been found sufficient to support them in their arduous cam
paigns, while it is not pretended by the enemy that they treat
prisoners by the same generous rule. By an .indulgence, perhaps
unprecedented, we have even allowed the prisoners in our hands
to be supplied by their friends at home with comforts not enjoyed
by the men who captured them in battle. In contrast to this treat
ment the most revolting inhumanity has characterized the conduct
of the United States toward prisoners held by them. One promi
nent fact, which admits no denial or palliation, must suffice as a
test. The officers of our Army, natives of southern and semi-

First Congress. yj*I
tropical climates, and unprepared for the cold of a northern winter,
have been conveyed for imprisonment during the rigors of the
present season to the most northern and exposed situation that
could be selected by the enemy. There, beyond the reach of com
forts, and often even of news from home and family, exposed to
the piercing cold of the northern lakes, they are held by men who
cannot be ignorant of, even if they do not design, the probable
result. How many of our unfortunate friends, and comrades,
who have passed unscathed through numerous battles, will perish
on Johnson's Island, under the cruel trial to which they are sub
jected, none but the Omniscient can foretell. That they will
endure this barbarous treatment with the same stern fortitude
that they have ever evinced in their country's service, we cannot
doubt. But who can be found to believe the assertion that it is
our refusal to execute the cartel, and not the malignity of the foe,
which has caused the infliction of such intolerable cruelty on our
loved and honored defenders?
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI department.
Regular and punctual communication with the Trans-Missis
sippi is so obstructed as to render difficult a compliance with much
of the legislation vesting authority in the Executive branch of the
Government. To supply vacancies in office ; to exercise discretion
on certain matters connected with the military organizations; to
control the distribution of the funds collected from taxation or re
mitted from the Treasury ; to carry on the operations of. the Post
Office Department, and other like duties, require, under the Con
stitution and existing laws, the action of the President and Heads
of Departments. The necessities of the military service frequently
forbid delay, and some legislation is required providing for the
exercise of temporary authority until regular action can be had
at the seat of government. I would suggest, especially in the
Post Office Department, that an assistant be. provided for the
States beyond the Mississippi, with authority in the Head of that
Department to vest in this assistant all such powers now exercised
by the Postmaster General as may be requisite for provisional con
trol of the funds of the Department in those States and their appli
cation to the payment of mail contractors ; for superintendents of
the local post offices and the contracts for carrying. the. mail; for

378 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the temporary employment of proper persons to fulfill the duties
of postmasters and contractors in urgent cases, until appointments
can be made, and for other like purposes. Without some legisla
tive provision on the subject, there is serious risk of the destruc
tion of the mail service by reason of the delays and hardships
suffered by contractors under the present system, which requires
constant reference to Richmond of their accounts, as well as of
the returns of the local postmasters, before they can receive pay
ment for services rendered. Like provision is also necessary in
the Treasury Department, while for military affairs it would seem
to be sufficient to authorize the President and Secretary of War
to delegate to the commanding general so much of the discretion
ary powers vested in them by law as the exigencies of the service
shall require.
navy.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy gives in detail the oper
ations of that Department since January last, embracing informa
tion of the disposition and employment of the vessels, officers, and
men, and the construction of vessels at Richmond, Wilmington,
Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, Selma, and on the rivers Roanoke,
Neuse, Pedee, Chattahoochee, and Tombigbee; the accumulation
of ship timber and supplies, and the manufacture of ordnance,
ordnance stores, and equipments. The foundries and workshops
have been greatly improved, and their capacity to supply all de
mands for heavy ordnance for coast and harbor defenses is limit
ed only by our deficiency in the requisite skilled labor. The want
of such labor and of seamen seriously affects the operations of the
Department. The skill, courage, and activity of our cruisers at sea cannot be
too highly commended. They have inflicted heavy losses on the
enemy without suffering a single disaster, and have seriously dam
aged the shipping interests of the United States by compelling
their foreign commerce to seek the protection of neutral flags.
Your attention is invited to the suggestions of the report on the
subject of supplying seamen for the service, and of the provisions
of the law in relation to the Volunteer Navy.
post off'ice.
The Postmaster General reports the receipts of that Department

First Congress. 379
for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June last to have been $3,-
337,853.01, and the expenditures for the same period $2,662,804.-
67. The statement thus exhibits an excess of receipts amounting
to $675,048.34, instead of a deficiency of more than $1,000,000, as
was the case in the preceding fiscal year. It is gratifying to per
ceive that the Department has thus been made self-sustaining in
accordance with sound principle, and with the express require
ment of the Constitution that its expenses should be paid out of
its own revenues after the ist of March, 1863.
The report gives a full and satisfactory account of the opera
tions of the Post Office Department for the last year, and explains
the measures adopted for giving more certainty and regularity to
the service in the States beyond the Mississippi, and on which re
liance is placed for obviating the difficulties heretofore encountered
in that service.
The settlement of the accounts of the Department is greatly de
layed by reason of the inability of the First Auditor to perform all
the duties now imposed on him by law. The accounts of the De
partment of State, of the Treasury, of the Navy, and of Justice,
are all supervised by that officer, and more than suffice to occupy
his whole time. The necessity for a third auditor to examine and
settle the accounts of a Department so extensive as that of the Post
Office appears urgent, and his recommendation on that subject
meets my concurrence.
conduct of enemy.
I cannot close this message without again adverting to the sav
age ferocity which still marks the conduct of the enemy in the
prosecution of the war. After their repulse from the defenses be
fore Charleston they first sought revenge by an abortive attempt
to destroy the city with an incendiary composition thrown by im
proved artillery from a distance of four miles. Failing in this,
they changed their missiles, but fortunately have thus far succeed
ed in killing only two women in the city. Their commanders, But
ler, McNeil, and Turchin, whose terrible barbarities have made
their names widely notorious and everywhere execrable, are still
honored and cherished by the authorities at Washington. The
first-named, after having been withdrawn from the scenes of his
cruelties against women and prisoners of war, in reluctant con-

380 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
cession to the demands of outraged humanity in Europe, has just
been put in a new command at Norfolk, where helpless women and
children are again placed at his mercy.
Nor has less unrelenting warfare been waged by these pretended
friends of human rights and liberties against the unfortunate ne
groes. Wherever the enemy have been able to gain access they
have forced into the ranks of their army every able-bodied man
that they could seize, and have either left the aged, the women,
and the children to perish by starvation, or have gathered them into
camps where they have been wasted by a frightful mortality. With
out clothing or shelter, often without food, incapable without su
pervision of taking the most ordinary precautions against disease,
these helpless dependents, accustomed to have their wants supplied
by the foresight of their masters, are being rapidly exterminated
wherever brought in contact with the invaders. By the Northern
man, on whose deep-rooted prejudices no kindly restraining in
fluence is exercised, they are treated with aversion and neglect.
There is little hazard in predicting that in all localities where the
enemy have gained a temporary foothold the negroes, who under
our care increased sixfold in number since their importation into
the colonies by Great Britain, will have been reduced by mortality
during the war to no more than one-half their previous number.
Information on this subject is derived not only from our own
observation and from the reports of the negroes who succeed in
escaping from the enemy, but full confirmation is afforded by
statements published in the Northern journals by humane persons
engaged in making appeals to the charitable for aid in preventing
the ravages of disease, exposure, and starvation among the negro
women and children who are crowded into encampments.
The frontier of our country bears witness to the alacrity and
efficiency with which the general orders of the enemy have been
executed in the devastation of. farms, the destruction of the agri
cultural implements, the burning of the houses, and the plunder
of everything movable. Its whole aspect is a comment on the
ethics of the general order issued by the United States on the 24th
of April, 1863, comprising "Instructions for the Government of
Armies of the United States in the Field," and of which the fol
lowing is an example :
Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb of
armed enemies, and of other persons whose destruction is incidentally

First Congress. 181
¦unavoidable in the armed contests of the war; it allows of the capturing
of every armed enemy, and every enemy of importance to the hostile
Government, or of peculiar danger to the captor ; it allows of all destruc
tion of property, and obstructions of the ways and channels of traffic,
travel, or communication, and of all withholding of sustenance of means
of life from the enemy; of the appropriation of whatever an enemy's
country affords necessary for the subsistence and safety of the Army,
and of such deception as does not involve the breaking of good faith,
either positively pledged regarding agreements entered into during the
war or supposed by the modern law of war to exist. Men who take
up arms against one another in public war do not cease on this account
to be moral beings, responsible to one another and to God.
The striking contrast to these teachings and practices presented
by our army when invading Pennsylvania illustrates the moral
character of our people. Though their forbearance may have been
unmerited and unappreciated by the enemy, it was imposed by
their own self-respect which forbade their degenerating from
Christian warriors into plundering ruffians, assailing the property,
lives, and honor of helpless noncombatants. If their conduct,
when thus contrasted with the inhuman practices of our foe, fail
to command the respect and sympathy of civilized nations in our
day, it cannot fail to be recognized by their less deceived pos
terity. The hope last year entertained of an early termination of the
war has not been realized. Could carnage have satisfied the ap
petite of our enemy for the destruction of human life, or grief
have appeased their wanton desire to inflict human suffering, there
has been bloodshed enough on both sides, and two lands have been
sufficiently darkened by the weeds of mourning to induce a dispo
sition for peace.
If unanimity in a people could dispel delusion, it has been dis
played too unmistakably not to have silenced the pretense that tha
Southern States were merely disturbed by a factious insurrection,
and it must long since have been admitted that they were but ex
ercising their reserved right to modify their own Government in
such manner as would best secure their own happiness. But these
considerations have been powerless to allay the unchristian hate
of those who, long accustomed to draw large profits from a union
with us, cannot control the rage excited by the conviction that they
have by their own folly destroyed the richest sources of their pros
perity. They refuse even to listen to proposals for the only peace

382 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
possible between us — a peace which, recognizing the impassable
gulf which divides us, may leave the two peoples separately to
recover from the injuries inflicted on both by the causeless war
now waged against us. Having begun the war in direct violation
of their Constitution, which forbade the attempt to coerce a State,
they have been hardened by crime until they no longer attempt to
veil their purpose to destroy the institutions and subvert the sov
ereignty and independence of these States. We now know that
the only reliable hope for peace is in the vigor of our resistance,
while the cessation of their hostility is only to be expected from
the pressure of their necessities.
The patriotism of the people has proved equal to every sacrifice
demanded by their country's need. We have been united as a peo
ple never were united under like circumstances before. God has
blessed us with success disproportionate to our means, and under
his divine favor our labors must at last be crowned with the reward
due to men who have given all they possessed to the righteous de
fense of their inalienable rights, their homes, and their altars.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 9th, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
State, covering copies of his correspondence referred to in my
message delivered yesterday; and I invite your attention to the
reason he gives for withholding them until to-day. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 11, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering estimates of sums
needed for the public service among the Indian tribes.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount specified for the
purpose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 15, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 10th inst., asking to be
furnished with "copies of the several reports of Major General

First Congress. 383
Whiting in relation to running the blockade of Wilmington, North
Carolina," I herewith transmit a communication from the Sec
retary of War, covering copies of the reports referred to.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 16, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 10th instant, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War relative to the exemption of mail contractors "under
the act of April 14, 1863," and to the action of the Department
upon the subject. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 16, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Attorney General ad interim, submitting additional esti
mates for the expenditures of the Department of Justice.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount specified for the
purpose designated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 16, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives*
I herewith transmit for your consideration, in secret session, a
communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering a re
port in relation to foreign cotton loans.
I recommend the ratification by Congress of the accompanying
contractf for a second foreign loan, and of the issue of the cotton
certificates made for the use of the Navy Department. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 17, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In partial response to your resolution of the 1 ith instant, I here
with transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, cov-
*A duplicate of this message was transmitted to Congress later in
the day, inclosing additional papers.
tWith Emile Erlanger & Co., Paris.

384 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
ering a bjs^f, .exempts in the States of Virginia, North Carolina,
South Qaro^na;, and. Georgia.
Further .in^qrmation on this subject will be communicated when
received. . . , Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Dec. 19, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of several reports of mil
itary operations. Jefferson Davis.
[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]
Richmond, Va., Dec. 21, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 10th instant, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secretary
of War relative to the Quartermaster General. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 22, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 10th inst., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering "a list of the officers of artillery in the Provisional
Army, for the performance of ordnance duty, appointed since the
16th day of September, 1862," and the "roll of merit" reported
by the Board of Examiners. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Dec. 23, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering "General Lee's report of the oper
ations of the Army of Northern Virginia, from the date of his as
sumption of command to and including the battle of Fredericks
burg, December 13, 1863," and the subordinate reports appertain
ing thereto. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 385
Richmond, Va., December 28, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
State, covering a copy of that portion of his correspondence re
ferred to in my message of the 7th instant, which has not been
previously submitted. Jefferson Davis.
[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]
Richmond, Va., December 28, 1863.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering copies of additional reports of military operations
of the year 1862 which should have accompanied the report of
Gen. R. E. Lee, submitted for your information on the 24th [23d]
instant. ' Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 29, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the nth inst., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering a copy of the report of Gen. J. E. Johnston of his
operations in Mississippi during the months of May, June, and
July, 1863, together with a copy of the report of Lieut. Gen. J. C.
Pemberton of his operations during the same time.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 31, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of several reports of mil
itary operations. Jefferson Davis.
[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]
Richmond, Va., Dec. 31st, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 18th inst., I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, covering
25

386 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
a copy of the report of Brig. Gen. Echols, relative to the battle of
Droop Mountain. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., December 31, 1863.
To the House of Representatives.
In further response to your resolution of the nth inst., I here
with transmit for your information a communication from the
Secretary of War, covering copies of several reports of military
operations. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 7, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting an estimate of the
amount "necessary for the payment of interest on the Removal
and Subsistence Fund due the Cherokee Indians in North Caro
lina," I recommend an appropriation of the sum specified for the pur
pose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va,, January 7, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering copies of several additional
reports of military operations. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 7, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives. »
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering a copy of the report of Brig.
Gen. R. S. Ripley of operations from August 21 to September 10,
1863. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 8, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of the "report of Gen. J. E.

First Congress. 387
Johnston of his operations in the Department of Mississippi and
East Louisiana," and of the report of Lieut. Gen. J. C. Pember
ton of the battles of Port Gibson, Baker's Creek, and the siege of
Vicksburg, to which is appended a copy of the correspondence
of the Department with him relative to some points of the re
port which were thought to require explanation. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. n, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith submit for your consideration a communication from
the Attorney General, containing an estimate of an additional sum
required by the Department of Justice.
I recommend that an appropriation be made of the amount spec
ified for the purpose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January n, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In partial response to your resolution of the nth ult., I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, showing "the number of officers and men, including
the police and mounted guard, employed in executing the con
script law" in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Car
olina, and Georgia. Further information on the subject will be
furnished when received. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 12, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting "the condensed
estimates of appropriations required for the support of the Gov
ernment for the period from January 1 to June 30, 1864, inclu
sive." It was intended that these estimates should accompany my mes
sage* of the 7th ultimo, but they seem to have failed to reach the
committees. I recommend that appropriations be made of the sums specified
for the purposes indicated. Jefferson Davis.
?Page 345.

388 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 13, 1864.
To the House of Representatives. ,
In response to your resolution of the 12th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Sec
retary of War, covering a list of those persons who have been
specially noticed and promoted from the ranks for gallantry in the
field. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 13, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 17th ult., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary
of War, relative to the steps taken in reference to "An Act to pre
vent the absence of officers and soldiers without leave," approved
the 16th of April, 1863. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, January 13, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering a copy of Maj. Gen. Hind-
man's report of his operations while in command of the Trans-
Mississippi District. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 15, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
I have received from your honorable body, through the hands
of your secretary, a copy of the report and resolution adopted by
you in executive session on the 9th instant.
The resolution is in the following words :
Resolved, That the Senate do advise and consent to the appointment
of the military officers nominated in the four several messages of the
President dated on the 8bh instant, all of whom are from States west of
the Mississippi River, for the reasons stated in the foregoing report;
and that the action of the Senate herein is not to be construed as sanc
tioning or recognizing the right of the Executive, in nominating officers
to the Senate, to fix the time at which they shall take rank anterior to
the preceding session of Congress, or at any time during sudh session.
By the first four lines of the resolution I am informed that the
Senate acknowledge the legality and concur in the propriety of my

First Congress. 389
action in regard to these nominations, by their advising and con
senting to the appointments as proposed. This is the whole action
usually taken on nominations, and seems to exhaust the authority
over appointments vested in the Senate by the Constitution.
The reservation, however, in the present instance, that the Sen
ate is not to be considered as sanctioning or recognizing the right
of the Executive to do in the future what the Senate have approved
of his doing in the cases before them, as explained in the report
to which the resolution refers, imposes on me the necessity of this
communication. On referring to that report I confess to my surprise at finding
myself apparently charged with a violation of the Constitution,
although no foundation exists for the implication conveyed in the
report. I feel sure, therefore, that neither the committee nor the
Senate could have intended or sanctioned such a charge; but I
could not in justice to myself fail to call your attention to the lan
guage employed. It is as follows :
. . . The only difficulty presented to the committee is, that the
date at which the officers nominated are to take rank is anterior to the
last session of Congress.
The committee are of opinion that the Constitution contemplates that
all officers appointed in the recess of Congress shall hold under such
appointment only to the close of the next session of Congress, and that
they should be renominated, if it is intended to retain them in their of
fices, to the Senate at its first session after their appointment. This has
not been done in this case.
The Senate cannot but agree with me that the plain inference
from these passages is that the Constitution has been violated by
my having appointed these officers during the recess and retained
them in office without nominating them to the Senate at its next
session. It has thus become incumbent on me (while satisfied that
neither the committee nor the Senate could have intended to make
such an accusation) to repel any inference that might hereafter be
drawn from my silence on the subject, by stating that not only had
no appointments of these officers been made prior to the nomina
tions on which the Senate has just acted, but that the fact of the
necessity for the appointments reached the Executive only since
the commencement of your present session, by communication re
ceived last month from the Trans-Mississippi Department.
Upon the point suggested in the close of the resolution, that the

390 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Executive is without the right to make a nomination to a military-
grade, coupled with rank from a date prior to a former session of
the Senate, it is not deemed proper to anticipate any future disa
greement with the Senate by presenting the reasons for the oppo
site conclusion as being the only one consistent with the laws for
the regulation of the Army, as well as with long-settled usage and
the necessities of the service.
When the occasion shall arise I cannot doubt that the Senate
will, notwithstanding this resolution, refuse to abandon its own
constitutional power to act on nominations at its pleasure, accord
ing to the merits of each case and the good of the service. I am
confirmed in this conclusion by observing that the resolution was
passed without a call for the yeas and nays, and therefore with
probably less than the usual consideration, as well as by the further
reflection that as Executive nominations which meet the disap
proval of the Senate on any ground are always subject to rejection
without assignment of reasons, experience will show that no ad
vantage can arise from the Senate's curtailing its own discretion in
future cases by binding its own judgment in advance. Jefferson Davis.
Confederate States of America, Executive Department,
Richmond, Va., Jan. 15, 1864.
Hon. E. S. Dargan, M. C. from Alabama.
Sir: In further response to your letter to the President of the
22d ult., and by his direction, I have the honor to inclose to you
the reports* of the Secretary of the Navy and of the Secretary of
War upon the subject to which it relates. Very respectfully,
Yr. obt. Sert. Burton N. Harrison, Private Secretary.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 18, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 30th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, covering copies of regulations and orders relative to
the payment of assessments of damages made by commanding of-
*Relative to the Erlanger loan, and cotton accumulated by the Treas
ury Department.

First Congress. 391
ficers in the field, "without intervention of courts-martial or boards
of survey.'' Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jan. 19, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the nth instant, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secretary
of War, relative to "the collection and distribution of the 'tax in
kind,' under the act approved April 24, 1863." Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., January 19, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of several additional reports
of military operations during the last year. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jan. 25, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the nth ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, showing, as far
as the records of the Department enable him to do, the number of
men liable to conscription who have been removed from the Com
missary and Quartermaster's Departments, to give place to dis
abled soldiers, as directed by law. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., January 26, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering a copy of an additional report
of military operations during the last year. Jefferson Davis.

392 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., January 26, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 16th instant, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, covering
information relative to the officers appointed under the act to
raise troops, approved October 11, 1862. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, January 27, 1864.
To the Senate.
I submit to the Senate herewith the nomination of A. R. Lawton,
cf Georgia, to be Quartermaster General, with the rank of briga
dier general, to take rank from the 13th day of April, 1861, and
deem it proper to communicate the reasons which induce this
course. On the passage of the act of the 20th of March last, entitled "An
Act to amend an act for the establishment and organization of the
general staff for the Army of the Confederate States of America,"
inquiry was made to aid in the selection of the most competent
person then made eligible, and the office of Quartermaster Gen
eral was tendered to General Lawton, who was averse to accepting
it if it involved a nomination and new appointment, for the rea
sons that it withdrew him from service in the field, interfered with
his chances for promotion, and that, as he was then the oldest
brigadier in the service, he would, by acceptance of a new com
mission, be deprived of his relative rank as compared with other
brigadiers. There were two other officers recommended to me
as specially fitted to discharge the duties of Quartermaster Gen
eral, who could be spared from service in the field, and they were
both major generals and could not therefore be expected to accept
a lower grade in the staff than that which they held in the line.
The name of the officer then performing the duties of Quarter
master General was also presented to me with recommendations
entitled to carry great respect, but my own observation of the man
ner in which those duties had been discharged had previously sat
isfied me that the public interests required an officer of greater
ability and one better qualified to meet the pressing emergencies
of the service during the war.
On examination of the law above referred to; its language, al
though not free from doubt, was held, after consultation and ad-

First Congress. 393
vice, to justify the conclusion that the intention of Congress would
be fulfilled by assigning to the performance of the duties of Quar
termaster General an officer already confirmed as brigadier general
in the Provisional Army, without again submitting his nomina
tion to the Senate. The grounds for this conclusion were that the
eighth section of the act of 6th of March, 1861, organizing the
Regular Army, expressly authorized the Executive to assign the
brigadier generals to any duties he might specially direct, and
when the five brigadier generals were raised to the rank of gen
erals by the act of 16th of May, 1861, the President was again
empowered to assign them to such commands and "duties" as he
might specially direct. As it had, therefore, been permitted by
Congress that any one of the generals of the Regular Army might
be assigned to staff or any other duty at Executive discretion, it
seemed a fair inference that when by the law of last session pro
vision was made that the rank, pay, and allowances of Quarter
master General should be those of a brigadier in the Provisional
Army the will of the Legislature was as well fulfilled by assigning
to the duties of that office one who was already a brigadier gen
eral of the Provisional Army as by nominating a new officer.
This view of the question was fortified by the fact that the law
last referred to did not create an office, but only provided that
during the war the officer discharging the duties of Quartermaster
General should have the rank of brigadier general, and by the
further fact that the original act of 26th of February, 1861, for the
establishment and organization of the general staff, contained a
provision still in force, that officers of the Quartermaster General
and other staff departments might by order of the President be as
signed to the command of troops, according to their rank in the
Army, thus indicating that positions in the quartermaster's and
other staff departments were not distinct offices, but were posts
of duty to which officers of the Army were appointed, and from
which they might be withdrawn and assigned to other duties at
Executive discretion. This is a provision of our law that did not
exist in the former service of the United States, in which when an
officer of the Army entered the Quartermaster's Department he
surrendered his commission in the line and his right to command
troops. I am advised, however, that such is not the construction given to

394 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the law by many Senators, and I so far conform to their views as
to give the Senate an opportunity to advise the Executive in rela
tion to the appointment of this officer.
This statement was also necessary in explanation of the proposal
that General Lawton's rank should date from the 13th of April,
1861, that being the date of his present commission of brigadier
general in the Provisional Army.
Since the foregoing message was written I observe by the pub
lished proceedings of the Senate that it has adopted the following
resolutions :
Resolved, That, in the opinion of the Senate, A. C. Myers is now Quar
termaster General of the C. S. Army, and is by law authorized and re
quired to discharge the duties thereof.
Resolved, That A. R. Lawton is not authorized by law to discharge
the duties of said office.
Refraining from any further remark on these resolutions than
the expression of my conviction that they are not sustained by the
Constitution or the law, their passage enforces the propriety of
submitting to you the nomination which accompanies this message.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jan. 27, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 20th inst., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, con
veying information relative to the Chief Collector of Taxes for
the State of Louisiana. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 29, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the nth ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a copy of my correspondence, to
gether with that of the Secretary of War and of the Adjutant and
Inspector General, with General Joseph E. Johnston during the
months of May, June, and July, 1863, concerning his command
and the operations in his department.
As the resolution fixes definitely the dates within which the cor-

First Congress. 395
respondence is desired, I have not deemed it proper to add any
thing which was prior or subsequent to those dates. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., January 29, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration, in secret session, a
communication from the Secretary of the Treastnj\^£Famich I
invite your special attention.
I recommend an appropriation of the sum specified for the pur
pose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., January 30, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 21st inst., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, showing the
present state of the question pending between the two Govern
ments, of the Confederate States and the United States, relative
to the exchange of prisoners. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 30, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate* of an additional
sum needed by the Engineer Bureau.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount specified for the
purpose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
February 3, 1864.
The Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
The present state of the Confederacy, in my judgment, requires
that I should call your attention to a condition of things existing
in the country which has already been productive of serious evil,
and which threatens still graver consequences unless an adequate
*Of amount required to pay claims for the loss of slaves by impress
ment, etc.

396 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
remedy shall be speedily applied by the legislation of Congress.
It has been our cherished hope — and hitherto justified by the gen
erous self-devotion of our citizens — that when the great struggle
in which we are engaged was passed we might exhibit to the world
the proud spectacle of a people unanimous in the assertion and
defense of their rights and achieving their liberty and independ
ence after the bloodiest war of modern times without the necessity
of a sino-W^ crifice of civil right to military necessity. But it
can no longer be doubted that the zeal with which the people
sprang to arms at the beginning of the contest has, in some parts
of the Confederacy, been impaired by the long continuance and
magnitude of the struggle.
While brigade after brigade of our brave soldiers who have en
dured the trials of the camp and battlefield are testifying their
spirit and patriotism by voluntary reenlistment for the war, dis
content, disaffection, and disloyalty are manifested among those
who, through the sacrifices of others, have enjoyed quiet and safe
ty at home. Public meetings have been held, in some of which a
treasonable design is masked by a pretense of devotion to State
sovereignty, and in others is openly avowed. Conventions are
advocated with the pretended object of redressing grievances,
which, if they existed, could as well be remedied by ordinary leg;
islative action, but with the real design of accomplishing treason
under the form of law. To this end a strong suspicion is enter
tained that secret leagues and associations are being formed. In
certain localities men of no mean position do not hesitate to avow
their disloyalty and hostility to our cause, and their advocacy of
peace on the terms of submission and the abolition of slavery. In
districts overrun by the enemy or liable to their encroachments,
citizens of well-known disloyalty are holding frequent communi
cation with them, and furnishing valuable information to our in
jury, even to the frustration of important military movements.
And yet must they, through too strict regard to the technicalities
of the law, be permitted to go at large till they have perfected their
treason by the commission of an overt act? After the commission
of the act the evidence is often unattainable, because within the
enemy's lines. Again and again such persons have been arrested,
and as often they have been discharged by the civil authorities,
because the Government could not procure the testimony from.

First Congress. 397
within the lines of the enemy. On one occasion, when a party of
officers were laying a torpedo in James River, persons on shore
were detected communicating with the enemy, and were known
to pilot them to a convenient point for observing the nature of the
service in which the party were engaged. They were arrested and
were discharged on habeas corpus, because, although there was
moral certainty of their guilt, it could not be proved by competent
testimony. Twice the Government has received secret and con
fidential information of plots to release the prisoners confined in
Richmond. This information was sufficiently definite to enable
preventive measures to be adopted with success ; but as it pointed
out the guilty conspirators by strong suspicion only, and not by
competent testimony, they could not be arrested, and are still at
large, ready to plot again. A citizen possessing the means and
opportunity of doing much injury to the service was arrested for
disloyalty. He was twice tried before different commissioners.
Upon each examination he avowed his hostility to our cause and
his desire to join the enemy. Both commissioners decided that it
would be dangerous to suffer him to go at large. Yet, upon the
demand of the civil authorities, he had to be released for want of
competent legal testimony.
The Capital of the Government is the object of peculiar attention
to the enemy. I have satisfactory reasons for believing that spies
are continually coming and going in our midst. Information has
been repeatedly received from friendly parties at the North that
particular individuals then in Richmond were sent as spies by the
enemy. Yet, however accurate and reliable such information
might be, it was not competent testimony ; and it was idle to arrest
them only to be discharged by the civil authorities. Important in
formation of secret movements among the negroes fomented by
base white men has been received from faithful servants, but no
arrests of instigators could be made because there was no com
petent testimony. Apprehensions have more than once been en
tertained of a servile insurrection in Richmond. The Northern
papers inform us that Butler is perfecting some deep-laid scheme
to punish us for our refusal to hold intercourse with him. If, as
is not improbable, his designs should point to servile insurrection
in Richmond, incendiarism, and the destruction of public works
so necessary to our defense, and so impossible to be replaced, how

398 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
can we hope to fathom it and reach the guilty emissaries and con
trivers but by incompetent negro testimony? In some of the
States civil process has been brought to bear with disastrous effi
ciency upon the Army. Every judge has the power to issue the
writ of habeas corpus, and if one manifests more facility in dis
charging petitioners than his associates the application is made to
him, however remote he may be. In one instance a general on the
eve of an important movement, when every man was needed, was
embarrassed by the command of a judge — more than two hundred
miles distant — to bring if in his custody, or send if in custody of
another, before him, on habeas corpus, some deserters who had
been arrested and returned to his command. In another, the com
mandant of a camp of conscripts, who had a conscript in camp,
was commanded to bring him before a judge more than a hundred
miles distant, although there was a judge competent to hear and
determine the cause resident in the place where the writ was ex
ecuted. He consulted eminent counsel, and was advised that, from
the known opinions of the judge selected, the conscript would un
doubtedly be released, and the officer was therefore advised to dis
charge him at once, and return the facts informally; that such a
return was not technically sufficient, but would be accepted as ac
complishing the purpose of the writ. He acted on the advice of
his counsel, and was immediately summoned by the judge to show
cause why he should not be attached for a contempt in making an
insufficient return, and was compelled to leave his command at a
time when his services were pressingly needed by the Government
and travel over a hundred miles and a considerable distance away
from any railroad, to purge himself of the technical contempt.
These particular instances may serve to show the nature of the
delays, difficulties, and embarrassments which are constantly oc
curring. And injurious as they are, they are but light and trivial
in comparison with evils which are reasonably to be anticipated.
It is understood that questions are to be multiplied as to the
constitutionality of the late act of Congress placing in the military
service those who had furnished substitutes. If a single judge, in
any State, should hold the act to be unconstitutional, it is easy to
foresee that that State will either furnish no soldiers from this
class, or furnish them only when too late for the pressing need of
the country. Every application will be made to that particular

First Congress. 399
judge, and he will discharge the petitioners in each. And although
the officer may have the right of appeal, yet the delay will be
tantamount in its consequences to a discharge. Indeed, this re
sult is likely to ensue, though every judge in the Confederacy
should hold the law to be perfectly constitutional and valid.
A petition for a habeas corpus need not and ordinarily does not
disclose the particular grounds upon which the petitioner claims
his discharge. A general statement on oath that he is illegally
restrained of his liberty is sufficient to induce and even to require
the judge to issue the writ. In every case the enrollment will be
followed by the writ, and every enrolling officer will be kept in
continual motion to and from the judge, until the embarrassment
and delay will amount to the practical repeal of the law. Its pro
visions will add no more soldiers to the Army. But this is not all.
We shall not be able to retain those already in the service. Noth
ing has done so much to inspirit our brave soldiers as the de
termination evinced by Congress to send to their aid those who
have thus far lived in ease at home while they have endured dan
gers, toils, and privations. When the hope of equal justice and of
speedy reinforcement shall thus have failed, disappointment and
despondency will displace the buoyant fortitude which animates
them now. Desertion, already a frightful evil, will become the
order of the day. And who will arrest the deserter, when most of
those at home are engaged with him in the common cause of
setting the Government at defiance ? Organized bands of deserters
will patrol the country, burning, plundering, and robbing indis
criminately, and our armies, already too weak, must be still further
depleted at the most imminent crisis of our cause, to keep the
peace and protect the lives and property of our citizens at home.
Must these evils be endured? Must the independence for which
we are contending, the safety of the defenseless families of the
men who have fallen in battle and of those who still confront the
invader, be put in peril for the sake of conformity to the technical
ities of the law of treason ?
Having thus presented some of the threatening evils which ex
ist, it remains to suggest the remedy. And in my judgment that
is to be found only in the suspension of the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus. It is a sharp remedy, but a necessary one. It is a
remedy plainly contemplated by the Constitution. All the powers

400 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
of the Government, extraordinary as well as ordinary, are a sacred
trust, to be faithfully executed whenever the public exigency may
require. Recognizing the general obligation, we cannot escape
from the duty in one case more than in another. And a suspension
of the writ when demanded by the public safety is as much a duty
as to levy taxes for the support of the Government. If the state
of invasion declared by the Constitution to be a proper case for
the exercise of this power does not exist in our country now, when
can it ever be expected to arise ? It is idle to appeal against it to
the history of the old Union. That history contains no parallel
case. England, whose reverence for the great bill of right is at
least as strong as our own, and the stability of whose institutions
is the admiration of the world, has repeatedly within the last hun
dred years resorted to this remedy when only threatened with
invasion. It may occasion some clamor, but this will proceed
chiefly from the men who have already been too long the active
agents of evil. Loyal citizens will not feel danger, and the dis
loyal must be made to fear it. The very existence of extraordinary
powers often renders their exercise unnecessary. To temporize
with disloyalty in the midst of war is but to quicken it to the
growth of treason. I therefore respectfully recommend that the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus be suspended. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 3, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 15th ult., I herewith trans
mit for your information in executive session a communication
from the Secretary of War, relative to the general officers ap
pointed under the act approved October 13, 1862. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 5, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 25th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, relative to the steps taken to carry out the provisions

First Congress. 401
of the act of Congress "in relation to the arrest and disposition
of slaves who have been recaptured from the enemy," Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, February 5, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit communications from the Secretaries of the
Treasury and of War, which convey the information asked for
in your resolution .of the 13th ultimo, relative to the amount of
money forwarded to the Trans-Mississippi Department since the
adjournment of Congress, and to the adjustment of claims against
the Government for articles illegally impressed and not paid for
at the time. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, in response to your resolution of the 15th ult., requesting
to be informed "by what authority Gens. Sam Jones and Im-
boden have prohibited the transportation of food from the mil
itary districts in which they are located to the city of Richmond
for private use and consumption." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 12th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Sec
retary of War, relative to the "domestic passport system" now
enforced upon citizens traveling in some parts of the Confed
erate States outside of the lines of the armies. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 8, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 12th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, stating that the records of the War Office "do not
26

402 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
show any authority granted to raise troops of conscript age, except
in localities where the operation of the conscript law has been sus
pended, or from the control of the enemy it cannot be enforced."
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering a copy of the report by Gen.
Jno. S. Williams of the operations of the forces under his com
mand at Blue Springs, Henderson, and Rheatown, Tenn.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. n, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, submitting an estimate of the sum
needed for the conscription service.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount specified for the
purpose indicated. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 11, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 31st December, 1863, I
herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, concerning the "correspondence with Gen.
Whiting relative to the defense of Wilmington, North Carolina,"
and the aid which "can be given by further legislation to the com
plete defense of that important post." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. n, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting estimates of ad
ditional sums needed for the support of the Government.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount specified for the
purposes indicated. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 403
Richmond, Va., Feb. 11, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit, and recommend to your favorable consid
eration in secret session, a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy, asking for authority to transfer the amount appropri
ated under secret act No. 6, approved September 19, 1862, to the
appropriation under secret act No. 31, approved October 6, 1862.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 12, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 21st ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Sec
retary of War, relative to the delivery of the "tax in kind" at the
Government depots by the producers. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 12, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 29th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, submitting copies of papers relating "to the trial and
conviction of W. E. Coffman by a military court," and to "a writ
of habeas corpus issued from the circuit court of Rockingham
County, Va., to prevent the execution of said Coffman." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 12, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering copies of several additional
reports of General Beauregard, connected with the defense of
Charleston. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 12, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 2d ult., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of

404 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the Treasury, relative to the assessment and collection of taxes
under the act approved May 1, 1863. Jefferson Davis. ,
Richmond, Va., Feby. 12, 1864. '
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary- of the Treasury, ' submitting an estimate of
additional sums needed for the support of the Government.
I recommend an appropriation of the amount specified for the
purposes indicated. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., February 13, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States. ;
I feel impelled by the condition of the country earnestly to rec
ommend to your adoption the extension of the conscription already
recommended* in my annual message of the 7th of December last,
and to inform you that the preparations made by the enemy for
the campaign of the present year warn us that our armies in the
field must be reenforced to the utmost possible extent.
The agricultural interests of the country must be protected and
fostered, or we shall be unable to raise the supplies necessary for
the subsistence of the Army as well as of the people at home. How
is this to be done ?
There is no possibility of affording adequate local protection by
our armies in the field, which must of necessity be kept concen
trated to resist the main columns of the invading forces of the
enemy. Our farms and depots can be protected from destruc
tive raids only by men who remain at home engaged in man-
ufactural, agricultural, and other pursuits. There are but two
modes of rendering these classes available for such purposes.
One is by calling them out as militia ; the other by enrolling them
under Confederate authority. I propose in a few words to contrast
these modes.
If those left at home are available only as militia, it will become
necessary to make requisitions for them on the States in advance
of any pressing necessity for their services, because of the delays
*See page 370.

First Congress. 405
which are always involved in obtaining forces under such calls.
When called out it will naturally result that the men will be re
tained for long periods in the field or in camp, to be ready for
emergencies, as they could not, if discharged, be promptly re
called when required. This method of using the reserves will tell
with disastrous effect on our agriculture.
On the other hand, troops for local defense and special service,
as organized under the act of 21st of August, 1861, would afford
the Commander in Chief the means of calling out the men em
braced in such organizations at a moment's warning, and enable
him, without imprudence, to dismiss them the moment the danger
had disappeared. They would probably not be absent from the
fields and workshops more than two or three weeks at a time, and
there would thus be no serious interruption to the productive in
dustry of the country. If the spirit which rendered the volunteer
ing so general among all classes of citizens at the beginning of the
war were still prevalent, there would be no necessity for the pro
posed legislation, as the citizens would readily join the organiza
tions provided in the law above mentioned. But as this is not the
case, it is necessary that conscription for local defense should re
place volunteering.
If Congress should decline to adopt this measure, which my
sense of what is needed for the public defense forces me again to
urge upon its attention, I am unable to perceive from what source
we are to obtain the men necessary not only to repel raids but to
relieve the large number of able-bodied soldiers now detailed from
the Army for local service in the States.
I trust that my conviction of the pressing necessity for this leg
islation in aid of the public defense will be received by Congress
as a sufficient justification for this renewal of the recommendation
contained in the message addressed to you at the commencement
of the present session. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 15, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 12th inst., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, conveying the
information asked for relative to Gen. A. R. Lawton and Gen. J.
B. Gordon.

406 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
The terms of the inquiry to which this reply is made suggest the
propriety of informing the Senate that other general officers, who
have been wounded in battle and separated from their commands,
have been regarded as having a continuing right to receive the
prescribed pay and allowances of their grade, notwithstanding the
appointment of others to supply the want created by their indefi
nite absence. For example, the recent nominations of brigadier
generals, who had been selected to command the brigades of Gen.
W. H. F. Lee, of Virginia, and of Gen. D. W. Adams, of Louisi
ana, were not intended to vacate the commissions or to suspend
the pay of those gallant officers, but to use the authority to appoint
supernumerary generals for one of the purposes for which it was
understood to have been given. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 15, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith submit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate of an additional
appropriation required by the War Department. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 15, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information communications from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of several additional re
ports of military operations. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., February 15, 1864.
.To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of December 24, 1863, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, submitting copies of the charges and specifications,
and of the accompanying papers, in the case of Major H. C.
Guerin, C. S. Jefferson Davis.

First Congress. 4°7
Richmond, Va., February 16, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 5th instant, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, conveying
the information asked for relative to the hospitals in and near the
city of Richmond, and to the surgeons and assistant surgeons at
tached to them. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 16th, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In partial response to your resolution of the nth December,
1863, I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary
of War, conveying the information asked for relative to the of
ficers of the Commissary Department who have failed to render
their accounts, and stating the cause of his inability at present to
furnish the desired information concerning such officers of the
Quartermaster's Department. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Navy, covering an estimate for an addi
tional appropriation required under an act* approved on the 16th
inst. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith submit for your consideration a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for an additional ap
propriation required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 17, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 12th ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, conveying the
*To pay allowances authorized to officers of the Navy.

408 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
information asked for relative to the returns of the company com
manders of the Army for the clothing transferred to them for is
sue and distribution. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith submit for your consideration a communication from
the Secretary of the Navy, covering an estimate for an additional
appropriation required under an act approved on the 16th instant.
Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES.
Richmond, Va., December 31, 1863.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
The act entitled "An Act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to
aid the State of Kentucky, and for other purposes,' " approved
29th of January, 1862, has been duly considered, and I find my
self constrained, though very reluctantly, because of the purpose
in view, to return the same to the House in which it originated
with a statement of the objections which: cause me to withhold
my approval.
The act to which this is amendatory was for the declared ob
ject of aiding the Governor and Council of Kentucky to raise
and organize troops in that State for the Confederate service, and
to supply them with clothing, subsistence, transportation, arms,
and ammunition. The second section of that act carefully pro
vided the manner of making requisitions on the appropriation,
so as to secure its application to the object for which it was de
signed — viz., to provide for troops raised for the Confederate
service anterior to their being mustered into the same, and there
fore before they could be supplied by the officers of the Confed
erate Army.
The act now before me devotes one-half of that appropriation
to a purpose entirely different from that originally contemplated,
and authorizes the Governor and Council to draw from the Treas
ury a million of dollars, to be expended in purchasing clothing

First Congress. 409
for the use and benefit of the Kentucky troops now in the service.
These already receive the same allowance of clothing as all other
troops. The act under consideration makes an appropriation for
an object for which other money is appropriated, and directs its
expenditure by agents other than the bonded officers charged
with supplying clothing to the whole Army. If it be designed,
as equity would seem to require, to make a proportionate pro
vision for all the other troops, the Senate will not fail to observe
the very large expenditure which it would involve, and that the
method is objectionable, because it would be to employ two sets
of agents to perform the same duty, who, buying in the same
market, would necessarily be bidders against each other.
If the allowance of clothing be not sufficient, a better remedy
would seem to be an increase of the appropriation for the cloth
ing for the whole Army, that the grateful duty might in that case
be performed by the Confederate authorities of issuing to the
soldier whatever additional allowance the Government may be
able to procure and his wants may require.
It will be further perceived that to recognize as well founded
the implication contained in this bill that extra supplies of cloth"
ing furnished to the soldiers ought to be paid for by the Confed
eracy would lay the foundation for large claims to be made here
after by the States for reimbursement on account of clothing sup
plied by them to their soldiers.
If the discrimination made by this act in favor of the gallant
soldiers of our sister State of Kentucky originates from the
natural sympathy excited by their separation from such com
forts as they might expect to receive if able to communicate with
their homes, Congress will not fail to perceive that there are
many other troops in the service in like condition, and whose
claims to consideration stand on precisely the same footing.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., February 11, 1864.
The House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
Having carefully considered the act entitled "An Act to provide
for wounded and disabled officers, soldiers, and seafneh an asylum'
to be called the 'Veteran Soldiers' Home,'" I feel' constrained to

410 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
return it with my objections to the House of Representatives, in
which it originated. The object of the act appeals most strongly
to the sympathies of all ; but in providing the means for effectu
ating that object, it enacts provisions which, in my judgment, are
unwarranted by the Constitution. Without affirming that the act
creates a perfect corporation, there can be no doubt that it confers
upon the board of managers of the institution which it is intended
to found corporate powers and franchises of a well-defined char
acter, which constitute them what is known as a quasi corpora
tion. They are to organize themselves into a board, by the
election of a president, treasurer, and their necessary officers;
are to continue in office until their successors are appointed, thus
providing for a continual succession; and they are to be subject
to the general approval and direction of the Secretary of War,
thus constituting the Secretary a visitor, a usual incident of
eleemosynary corporations. They have powers to make by
laws, or, as the act expresses it, the "power to make all requisite
rules and regulations" for the government of the institution ; and
they are authorized to receive endowments from individuals and
from the States. These are all ordinary and well-known cor
porate franchises. But if any doubt could exist as to whether
they are granted to the board as a corporation, or quasi corpora
tion, or only intrusted to them as individual trustees, that doubt
is removed by the second section of the act. That section pro
vides that the treasurer shall give bond with security for the
faithful discharge of his duties, which bond shall be payable to
the said board of managers and their successors in office, and
may by them be put in suit in any State or Confederate court
having jurisdiction. It cannot be understood that this bond is to
be taken to and sued upon by the board of managers in their indi
vidual capacities as natural persons. This is evident from two
considerations :
First. Such a power would be supererogatory and useless,
since as natural persons they already had by the common law
ample right to make any contract and take any bond or other
security not contravening the policy of the law.
Second. The right of action on a bond payable to the man-
• agers as individuals would, in the courts of law, remain in and
be under the control of the managers after they had gone out of

First Congress. 411
office ; and in case of the death of all of them would belong to the
personal representative of the last survivor ; and to prevent these
inconveniences it is expressly provided that the bond should be
payable to and be sued on by "the board of managers and their
successors in office," which could be accomplished only by con
stituting them to that extent a corporation.
From these considerations it is apparent that the intent of the
act is to confer corporate powers upon the board of managers;
and that intent is, in my judgment, beyond the powers intrusted
to Congress by the Constitution. However enlightened opinions
may have differed under the old Government, the whole history
and theory of the contest in which we are engaged and the ex
press recognition in our Constitution of the sovereignty of the
States preclude all idea of so widely extending by construction
the field of implied powers. That there is no such power ex
pressly granted need scarcely be remarked.
But if this view of the intent and operation of the act be dis
carded as incorrect, then it can be susceptible of but one other in
terpretation. It provides for the support and comfort of soldiers
and seamen disabled in the public service — a class in all coun
tries regarded as the peculiar objects of governmental benevo
lence. The institution which it founds is endowed, in part at
least, from the funds of the Government. The real estate neces
sary for the purpose of this act is to be leased or purchased by
the Secretary of War, under the approval of the President, as
the property of the Government. Officers in the service and pay
of the Government are to be assigned for duty at the asylum. Its
whole management is to be subject to the general direction and
control of a high . officer of the Government — the Secretary of
War; and the board of managers are required to report to the
Secretary, to be communicated to Congress at every regular ses
sion, a statement of the condition of the institution. It is then a
Government institution, and its officers are officers of the Con
federate States; but they are not to be appointed in any of the
ways by which alone such appointments can be constitutionally
made — neither by the President, with the advice and consent of
the Senate, nor by the President alone, nor by the courts of law,
nor by the Head of a Department. The managers are to be ap
pointed by the Governors of the several States, and they in turn

412 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
are to appoint their president and treasurer and fix their sala
ries. These two are, in my judgment, the only interpretations of
which the act is susceptible; and under either view its provisions
are violative of the Constitution. Jefferson Davis.

PROCLAMATION.
By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
The Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate
States of America have signified their desire that a day may be
recommended to the people, to be set apart and observed as a day
of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, in the language following,
to wit :
"Reverently recognizing the providence of God in the affairs of
man, and gratefully remembering the guidance, support, and de
liverance granted to our patriotic fathers in the memorable war
which resulted in the independence of the American colonies, and
now reposing in him our supreme confidence and hope in the pres
ent struggle for civil and religious freedom, and for the right to
live under a government of our own choice, and deeply impressed
with the conviction that without him nothing is strong, nothing
wise, and nothing enduring ; in order that the people of this Con
federacy may have the opportunity at the same time of offering
their adoration of the great Sovereign of the universe, of peni
tently confessing their sins, and strengthening their vows and pur
poses of amendment in humble reliance upon his "gracious and
almighty power :
"The Congress of the Confederate States of America do re
solve, That it be recommended to the people of these States that
Friday, the eighth day of April next, be set apart and observed
as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, that Almighty God
would so preside over our public councils and authorities, that
he would so inspire our armies and their leaders with wisdom,
courage, and perseverance, and so manifest himself in the great-

First Congress. 413
ness of his goodness and majesty of his power, that we may be
safely and successfully led, through the chastenings to which we
are being subjected, to the attainment of an honorable peace; so
that while we enjoy the blessings of a free and happy govern
ment we may ascribe to him the honor and the glory of our in
dependence and prosperity,"
A recommendation so congenial to the feelings of the people
will receive their hearty concurrence ; and it is a grateful duty to
the Executive to unite with their representatives in inviting them
to meet in the courts of the Most High. Recent events awaken
fresh gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of nations. Our enemies
have suffered repeated defeats, and a nefarious scheme to burn
and plunder our capital, and to destroy our civil government by
putting to death the chosen servants of the people, has been baf
fled and set at naught. Our armies have been strengthened, our
finances promise rapid progress to a satisfactory condition, and
our whole country is animated with a hopeful spirit and a fixed
determination to achieve independence.
In these circumstances it becomes us, with thankful hearts, to
bow ourselves before the throne of the Most High, and, while
gratefully acknowledging so many mercies, confess that our sins
as a people have justly exposed us to his chastisement. Let us
recognize the sufferings which we have been called upon to en
dure, as administered by a Fatherly hand for our improvement,
and with resolute courage and patient endurance let us wait on
him for our deliverance.
In furtherance of these objects, now, therefore, I, Jefferson
Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue
this, my proclamation, calling upon the people of the said States,
in conformity with the desire expressed by their representatives,
to set apart Friday, the eighth day of April, as a day of humiliation,
fasting, and prayer; and I do hereby invite them on that day to
repair to their several places of public worship and beseech Al
mighty God "to preside over our public councils, and so inspire
our armies and leaders with wisdom, courage, and perseverance,
and so manifest himself in the greatness of his goodness and in
the majesty of his power, that we may secure the blessings of an
honorable peace and of free government, and that we, as a people,
may ascribe to him all the honor and glory of his name."

414 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate
, , States of America, at the city of Richmond, on this twelfth
day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.

ADDRESS.
General Orders No. 19.
Adjt. and Insp. General's Office,
Richmond, February 10, 1864.
The following address of the President is published for the
information of the Army :
Soldiers of the Armies of the Confederate States.
In the long and bloody war in which your country is engaged
you have achieved many noble triumphs. You have won glorious
victories over vastly more numerous hosts. You have cheerfully
borne privations and toil to which you were unused. You have
readily submitted to restraints upon your individual will that the
citizen might better perform his duty to the State as a soldier.
To all these you have lately added another triumph — the noblest
of human conquests — a victory over yourselves.
As the time drew near when you who first entered the service
might well have been expected to claim relief from your arduous
labors and restoration to the endearments of home you have
heeded only the call of your suffering country. Again you come
to tender your service for the public defense — a free offering,
which only such patriotism as yours could make — a triumph
worthy of you and of the cause to which you are devoted.
I would in vain attempt adequately to express the emotions
with which I received the testimonials of confidence and regard
which you have recently addressed to me. To some of those
first received separate acknowledgments were returned. But it is
now apparent that a like generous enthusiasm pervades the whole

First Congress. 415
Army, and that the only exception to such magnanimous tender
will be of those who, having originally entered for the war,
cannot display anew their zeal in the public service. It is, there
fore, deemed appropriate, and it is hoped will be equally ac
ceptable, to make a general acknowledgment, instead of suc
cessive special responses. Would that it were possible to render
my thanks to you in person, and in the name of our common
country as well as in my own, while pressing the hand of each
war-worn veteran, to recognize his title to our love, gratitude, and
admiration !
Soldiers! By your will (for you and the people are but one) I
have been placed in a position which debars me from sharing your
dangers, your sufferings, and your privations in the field. With
pride and affection my heart has accompanied you in every march ;
with solicitude it has sought to minister to your every want ; with
exultation it has marked your every heroic achievement. Yet
never, in the toilsome march, nor in the weary watch, nor in the
desperate assault, have you rendered a service so decisive in re
sults as in this last display of the highest qualities of devotion and
self-sacrifice which can adorn the character of the warrior patriot.
Already the pulse of the whole people beats in unison with
yours. Already they compare your spontaneous and unanimous
offer of your lives for the defense of your country with the halt
ing and reluctant service of the mercenaries who are purchased
by the enemy at the price of higher bounties than have hitherto
been known in war. Animated by this contrast, they exhibit
cheerful confidence and more resolute bearing. Even the mur
murs of the weak and timid, who shrink from the trials which
make stronger and firmer your noble natures, are shamed into
silence by the spectacle which you present. Your brave battle
cry will ring loud and clear through the land of the enemy as well
as our own, will silence the vainglorious boastings of their cor
rupt partisans and their pensioned press, and will do justice to
the calumny by which they seek to persuade a deluded people
that you are ready to purchase dishonorable safety by degrading
submission. Soldiers! The coming spring campaign will open under aus
pices well calculated to sustain your hopes. Your resolution
needed nothing to fortify it. With ranks replenished under the

416 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
influence of your example and by the aid of your representatives,
who give earnest of their purpose to add, by legislation, largely
to your strength, you may welcome the invader with a confidence
justified by the memory of past victories. On the other hand,
debt, taxation, repetition of heavy drafts, dissensions, occasioned
by the strife for power, by the pursuit of the spoils of office, by
the thirst for the plunder of the public Treasury, and, above all,
the consciousness of a bad cause, must tell with fearful force upon
the overstrained energies of the enemy. His campaign in 1864
must, from the exhaustion of his resources both in men and
money, be far less formidable than those of the last two years,
when unimpaired means were used with boundless prodigality and
with results which are suggested by the mention of the glorious
names of Shiloh and Perryville, and Murfreesboro and Chicks
amauga, and the Chickahominy and Manassas, and Fredericks
burg end Chancellorsville.
Soldiers! Assured success awaits us in our holy struggle for
liberty and independence, and for the preservation of all that
renders life desirable to honorable men. When that success shall
be reached, to you — your country's hope and pride — under Divine
Providence, will it be due. The fruits of that success will not be
reaped by you alone, but your children and your children's chil
dren, in long generations to come, will enjoy blessings derived
from you that will preserve your memory ever living in their
hearts. Citizen-defenders of the homes, the liberties, and the altars of
the Confederacy! That the God whom we all humbly worship
may shield you with his Fatherly care, and preserve you for safe
return to the peaceful enjoyment of your friends and the asso
ciation of those you most love, is the earnest prayer of your Com
mander in Chief. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, February 9, 1864.
By order : S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.

First Congress. 417
OFFICIAL REGULATIONS TO CARRY INTO EFFECT
THE ACT "TO IMPOSE REGULATIONS UPON THE
FOREIGN COMMERCE OF THE CONFEDERATE
STATES TO PROVIDE FOR THE PUBLIC DEFENSE."
I. — AS TO THE SEA.
1. The owners of any vessel intending to sail from a Confed
erate port with a cargo consisting in whole or in part of cotton,
tobacco, military and naval stores, sugar, molasses, or rice, shall,
before lading on board of any such articles, file with the collector
of the port from which, the vessel is to sail a copy of her register
with a declaration of the names of the owners and officers thereof,
the place of their birth and of their residence for the preceding
year, together with the port or place to which the said vessel pro
poses to sail. The said declaration shall also set forth the quantity
and. value, in Confederate currency, of the cargo proposed to be
taken out, as also the consent of the said owners that one-half of
the tonnage of the said vessel may be employed by the Confederate
Government for its own use, both on the outward and homeward
voyage, at the rate of freight hereinafter mentioned. . The col
lector shall submit a statement as to the owners and officers to
the military commandant of the port, and if he shall not object to
their loyalty or to the sailing of the vessel for reasons of military
necessity the collector shall grant a permit for the lading of the
said vessel, one-half for account of the owners and one-half for
account of the Confederate States.
2. Before the said lading shall be completed the owners of the
vessel shall execute to the Confederate States a bond in double the
value of the vessel, with security deemed adequate by the col
lector, conditioned that she will pursue the voyage designated, and
that she will return with reasonable dispatch to a Confederate port
after her outward cargo shall be discharged, with a cargo con
sisting one-half of articles not prohibited by the laws of the Con
federate Government and the other half of such articles as the
Government shall offer for shipment from such port, at the rate
of freight hereinafter mentioned.
3. Each shipper of any portion of the cargo proposed to be
laden on board the said vessel shall, before the lading thereof,
27

418 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
make application to the collector for a permit to lade the same,
which application shall declare the articles to be shipped and the
quantity and value thereof in Confederate currency, the port of
destination, and the name of the consignee. A permit shall be
granted by the collector if the application is deemed satisfactory.
The lading shall be had under the inspection of a revenue officer,
who shall be charged with the duty of seeing that the goods laden
conform to the permit.
4. Before the completion of the lading on board or the granting
a clearance each shipper of any portion of the cargo shall execute
and deliver to the collector a bond to the Confederate States in
double the value of his shipment in Confederate money, with se
curity deemed adequate by the collector, with condition that at
. least one-half the net proceeds of said shipment shall be invested
in goods or articles not prohibited by law, and that the said goods
or articles shall be shipped by the same or some other vessel to the
Confederate States within sixty days from the unlading of said
cargo ; or that the said half of the net proceeds shall be paid in coin
or sterling exchange to the proper agent of the Confederate
States, to be reimbursed to the shipper by the delivery to him of
cotton at the port of departure in the Confederate States at the
rate of 10 pence sterling per pound for middling uplands.
5. The freight-to be paid by the Confederate States on all cot
ton and tobacco shipped from a Confederate port shall be 5 pence
sterling per pound, payable on delivery at the port of destination
in coin or sterling exchange. Return freight shall be at the rate of
£25 per ton, payable on its delivery in the Confederate port, in cot
ton at 10 pence sterling per pound for middling uplands, and at a
proportionate price for cotton of other qualities. In calculating
the ton of freight by weight, 2,240 pounds shall be allowed; by
measure, 40 cubic feet shall be allowed.
6. If the outward-bound vessel shall consent, at the request of
the Government, to take two-thirds of her cargo for account of
the Confederate States, the outward freight shall be 6 pence
sterling per pound ; and whenever the Government is not prepared
to fill up any portion of the tonnage reserved for its use at the
time at which any vessel may be made ready to sail, the owners
may fill up the same on their own account; but no vessel shall,
without consent of the Government, sail on her outward voyage

First Congress. 419
until one-third of her cargo shall be laden for the use of the Gov
ernment. 7. The rate of freight for articles other than cotton and tobacco
shall be adjusted at the same relative rate and be payable in the
same way.
8. The Government reserves the right to limit or prohibit the
shipment of resin, turpentine, or any manufacture thereof, when
ever deemed dangerous to its own shipment.
9. Upon the completion of the lading of the vessel, and before
receiving her clearance, there shall be delivered to the collector, in
addition to the usual manifest, another, setting forth the names,
ages, and description of her officers and crew and of every pas
senger intending to sail in her. The said last-mentioned manifest
shall be delivered to the commandant of the port, who shall there
upon cause the entire vessel to be searched, and if satisfied that the
parties on board are persons who may safely be permitted to leave
the Confederacy, and the passengers have the proper passports,
he shall certify the same on the manifest and return the same to
the collector, whereupon, and not before, a clearance shall be
granted to the vessel, and she shall be permitted to sail.
10. The owners of each vessel and of each portion of a cargo
sailing from a Confederate port shall be allowed to take up their
respective bonds by producing to the collector the certificate of the
proper agent of the Confederate Government at the port of de
livery, setting forth the particulars showing that the said party
has complied with the obligation of the said bond so far as the
same was practicable ; and the collector, upon being duly satisfied,
shall be authorized to surrender the said bonds.
11. Nothing in these regulations shall be so construed as to con
flict with the proviso of the law which declares "that nothing in
this act shall be construed to prohibit the Confederate States, or
any of them, from exporting any of the articles herein enumerated
on their own account ;" nor shall a bond be required of a State in
any case.
12. The penalties of all bonds executed in conformity with these
regulations shall be recovered in full on proof of breach of the
conditions of the bond, and without proof of any damage suffered
by the Confederate States in consequence of such breach, and all

420 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
bonds shall be executed in such force as to give effect to this regu
lation. 13. Vessels sent into the Confederacy for the purpose of export
ing cotton received in payment of any Confederate bond or obli
gation shall be subject to these regulations only as far as relates
to such portion of the tonnage, if any, as may remain vacant after
the lading of the cotton received in payment as aforesaid.
14. The regulations for overland commerce with neutral coun
tries will be issued separately within a few days.
Approved.
C. G. Memminger, Secretary of the Treasury.
James A. Seddon, Secretary of War.
Approved March 5, 1864. Jeff'n Davis.

RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
Whereas, the campaigns of the brave and gallant armies cover
ing the capital of the Confederate States during the two successive
years of eighteen hundred and sixty-two and eighteen hundred
and sixty-three, under the leadership and command of General
Robert E. Lee, have been crowned with glorious results, defeat
ing greatly superior forces massed by the enemy for the conquest
of these States, repelling the invaders with immense losses, and
twice transferring the battlefield from our own country to that
of the enemy; And whereas, the masterly and glorious achieve
ments, rendering forever memorable the fields of the "Seven
Days of Great Battles," which raised the siege of Richmond, as
well as those of Cedar Run, Second Manassas, Harper's Ferry,
Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, Win
chester, Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville, command the admira
tion and gratitude of our country ; And whereas, these and other
illustrious services rendered by this able commander since the
commencement of our war of independence have especially en
deared him to the hearts of his countrymen, and have imposed on
Congress the grateful duty of giving expression to their feelings :
Therefore, Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,

First Congress. 421
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are tendered, to General
Robert E. Lee and to the officers and soldiers of the Confederate
armies under his command, for the great and signal victories they
have won over the vast hosts of the enemy, and for the inestima
ble services they have rendered in defense of the liberty and in
dependence of our country.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate
these resolutions to General Robert E. Lee, and to the officers and
soldiers herein designated.
Approved January 8, 1864.
Whereas, Major Heros von Borcke, of Prussia, Adjutant and
Inspector General of the cavalry corps of the Army of Northern
Virginia, having left his own country to assist in securing the in
dependence of ours, and by his personal gallantry in the field
having won the admiration of his comrades as well as that of his
commanding general, all of whom deeply sympathize with him
in his present sufferings from the wounds received in battle:
Therefore, Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and the same are hereby
tendered, to Major von Borcke for his self-sacrificing devotion to
our Confederacy, and for his distinguished services in support of
its cause.
Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolution be trans
mitted to Major von Borcke by the President of the Confederate
States. Approved January 30, 1864.
Whereas, the Congress of the Confederate States have received,
with the liveliest emotions, the cheering intelligence that a large
portion of the Tennessee troops composing the Army of Tennessee,
under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, have ten
dered their services to the country during the war; it is, there
fore, Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are hereby cordially given to the
gallant soldiers of Tennessee, who have, in advance of the legisla
tion of Congress, and before their three years' term of service had

422 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
expired, voluntarily tendered their services to the country during
the war, with the heroic determination never to abandon the field
till the last vandal invader is driven from our soil and our freedom
won. Resolved, That, in view of the magnitude of the struggle in
which we are engaged, and the great stake at issue — the freedom
of our country — the Congress indulges the confident hope that
the example so heroically set by their brothers in arms will be
followed by our whole Army, thus giving to the world, after nearly
three years of arduous struggle, an earnest of their determination
to die or be free.
Resolved, That the President be requested to have the foregoing
preamble and resolution sent to the commanders of the Army,
with the request that they communicate them to the officers and
soldiers, as an evidence of the high appreciation in which they are
gratefully held by the Congress of the Confederate States of
America for their heroic valor displayed on so many memorable
occasions, and for their fortitude and perseverance under so many
trials. Approved February 3, 1864.
The Congress of the Confederate States having learned through
the public press of the reenlistment for the war of the North Car
olina brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia serving under
General Robert D. Johnston : Therefore,
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the patriotism and spirit of the North Carolina troops,
evinced by their prompt and voluntary devotion of themselves
afresh to the service of the country, are beyond all praise, and de
serve the unbounded gratitude of the country.
Approved February 6, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are tendered to the gallant troops
from the State of Louisiana in the Army of Tennessee, who have,
with signal unanimity, volunteered their services for the war.
Sec. 2. Resolved, That the lofty and self-sacrificing spirit ex
hibited by this noble act deserves, and will receive, the commenda
tion and gratitude of every true patriot.

First Congress. 423
Sec. 3. Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are equally due,
and are tendered, to the patriotic and self-sacrificing troops who,
at the commencement of the war, placed their services at the dis
posal of their country without condition or limit as to time.
Approved February 6, 1864.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby
tendered, to the officers and men of the Second Florida Regiment,
who, after a service of distinguished gallantry and heroic suffer
ing for nearly three years, did, on the twenty-eighth ultimo, at a
meeting held near Rapidan Station, Virginia, resolve to reenlist
for the war at the expiration of their present term of service.
Approved February 6, 1864.
Whereas, the Alabama troops composing the brigade com
manded by Brigadier General Cullen A. Battle, in the Army of
Northern Virginia, volunteered in the service of the Confederate
States, in the early part of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-
one, upon the first call for troops for the defense of Virginia, have
participated in every battle fought by that army, from the battle
of Seven Pines to that of Gettysburg, always winning by their
gallantry and devotion deserved praise and honor, and now, after
enduring for nearly three years the hardships and dangers of
active military service, have reenlisted for the war : Therefore,
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby cordially ten
dered, to the Alabama troops, who, by their renewing the offer
of their services to the country for the war in advance of any leg
islative action, have shown a spirit undaunted, a heroic determina
tion to battle ever until the independence of their country is es
tablished, and a consecration to the cause of liberty worthy of imi
tation by their comrades.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate a
copy of the foregoing preamble and resolution to the commander
and troops of said brigade as an evidence of the grateful appre
ciation by Congress of their fortitude and heroism during the
trials and dangers of past services, and of their late act of patriot
ism, confirming the faith and reassuring the hope of the patriot.
Approved February 6, 1864.

424 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America, having
learned that the division of troops commanded by Major General
Rodes have reenlisted for the war, do —
Resolve, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby
tendered, to the officers and troops commanded by Major General
Rodes for the patriotism exhibited by them in reenlisting for the
war as well as for the gallantry they have always displayed upon
the field of battle ; and they are assured that their country will al
ways bear in grateful remembrance the noble manner in which
they have come to her assistance in the hour of her need.
Resolved, further, That the President be requested to commu
nicate this resolution to General Rodes and the officers and
troops under his command.
Approved February 6, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and hereby cordially ten
dered, to the gallant brigade of North Carolina troops com
manded by Brigadier General S. D. Ramseur, in the Army of
Northern Virginia, for their devoted patriotism in unanimously
offering their valuable services to the Confederacy for the war,
after having already signalized their patriotic zeal, fortitude, and
valor on many fields of battle and in many scenes of trial.
Approved February 6,^864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
Colonel Thomas G. Lamar and the officers and men engaged in the
gallant and successful defense of Secessionville against the greatly
superior numbers of the enemy on the sixteenth day of June,
eighteen hundred and sixty-two.
Approved February 8, 1864.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and
are hereby cordially given, to Captain Odium, Lieutenant Richard
Dowling, and the forty-one men composing the Davis Guards,
under their command, for their daring, gallant, and successful
defense of Sabine Pass, Texas, against the attack made by the
enemy on the eighth of September last, with a fleet of five gun-

First Congress. 425
boats and twenty-two steam transports, carrying a land force of
fifteen thousand men.
Resolved, That this defense, resulting, under the providence of
God, in the defeat of the enemy, the capture of two gunboats, with
more than three hundred prisoners, including the commander of
the fleet, the crippling of a third gunboat, the dispersion of the
transports, and preventing the invasion of Texas, constitutes, in
the opinion of Congress, one of the most brilliant and heroic
achievements in the history of this war, and entitles the Davis
Guards to the gratitude and admiration of their country.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate the
foregoing resolutions to Captain Odium, Lieutenant Dowling, and
the men under their command.
Approved February 8, 1864..
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
cordially tendered, to General G. T. Beauregard and the officers
and men of his command for their gallant and successful defense
of the city of Charleston, South Carolina — a defense which for the
skill, heroism, and tenacity displayed by the defenders during an
attack scarcely paralleled in warfare — whether we consider the
persistent efforts of the enemy or his almost boundless resources
in the most improved and formidable artillery and the most pow
erful engines of war hitherto known — is justly entitled to be pro
nounced glorious by impartial history and an admiring country.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate the
foregoing resolution to General Beauregard and the officers and
men of his command.
Approved February 8, 1864.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby
tendered, to Major General Patrick R. Cleburne and the officers
and men under his command for the victory obtained by them over
superior forces of the enemy at Ringgold Gap, in the State of
Georgia, on the twenty-seventh day of November, eighteen hun
dred and sixty-three, by which the advance of the enemy was im
peded, our wagon train and most of our artillery saved, and a
large number of the enemy killed and wounded.

426 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate the
foregoing resolution to Major General Cleburne and his com
mand. Approved February 9, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress and of the country are due, and are
hereby tendered, to the members of McClung's battery for the
chivalrous and patriotic manner in which they have revolunteered
and tendered their services for the war, and that a copy of this
resolution be transmitted to them without delay.
Approved February 13, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
tendered, to the officers and men of the Tenth Mississippi Regi
ment for having patriotically and in a spirit of self-sacrificing de
votion reenlisted for the war.
Resolved, That a record of these proceedings be forthwith fur
nished to the troops comprising the Tenth Mississippi Regiment.
Approved February 13, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the communication of Major Francis W. Smith, command
ing a battalion of Virginia artillery, stationed at Drewry's Bluff,
composed of "United artillery," Captain Thomas Kevill; "John
ston artillery," Captain B. J. Epes; "Neblett's artillery," Captain
W. G. Coleman ; and "Southside artillery," Captain J. W. Drewry,
announcing their voluntary reenlistment for the war, is hailed with
pleasure by Congress as an evidence of unfaltering devotion to
the cause of liberty and independence and of stern determination
to resist to the utmost the wicked purposes of a relentless and
merciless foe.
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby
tendered, to the officers and men of this command for their gal
lant and patriotic conduct "in unanimously reenlisting for the war
under such regulations as Congress may prescribe."
Approved February 15, 1864.

First Congress. 427
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress and of the country are due, and are
hereby tendered, to the officers and men of the Twenty-Eighth and
Thirteenth Regiments of North Carolina troops, who have so
gallantly revolunteered for the war, and have pledged themselves,
their lives, and fortunes never to lay down their arms until our
soil is freed from the invading foe and our independence ob
tained. Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby, through
its representatives in Congress, tendered, to the officers and men
of the Third Georgia Regiment, who were the first to leave their
State to battle on the soil of Virginia, whose gallant dead have
been left on many of her historic battlefields, and which entire
regiment, to a man, have cheerfully and unanimously reenlisted
for the war, heroically resolving that, as they were among the first
to take up arms in the cause of liberty and independence, they will
be the last to lay them down.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby gratefully
tendered, to the officers and men of the gallant Twenty-Second
Regiment of Virginia Infantry for their noble zeal and patriotism
in reenlisting for the war.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to Hart's bat
tery, Hampton's legion, South Carolina volunteers, for their gal
lant and patriotic resolution, recently adopted, to reenlist for the
war. Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due to the officers and men of the
Forty-Sixth and Fifty-Fifth Regiments of Tennessee volunteers

428 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
for the promptness and patriotism they have displayed in unani
mously reenlisting for the war "under such regulations as Con
gress may prescribe."
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to the officers
and men of the Sixteenth Regiment of Mississippi troops, Colonel
Samuel E. Baker commanding, for their patriotic resolution, re
cently adopted, to reenlist for the war.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Whereas, in addition to the various brigades and regiments of
veteran troops from the State of Alabama to whom Congress has
heretofore given evidence of grateful appreciation by vote of
thanks for reenlisting for the war, other brigades and regiments
are nobly coming to the rescue of their imperiled country by such
reenlistment, thus furnishing evidence that the citizen soldiery
from that State have determined never to abandon the struggle in
which we are engaged until our independence shall have been
achieved: Therefore —
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered,
alike to the gallant soldiery from the State of Alabama who, in
the first instance, enlisted for the war, and to those who, notwith
standing the toils, and hardships of many a weary march and perils
of many a hard-fought battle, have voluntarily come forward and
offered their labors and lives.
Resolved, That such noble examples of heroism and self-sac
rifice will ever be remembered by a grateful country, and should
stimulate all those who remain at home to redouble their exertions
to provide, not only for the comfort and efficiency of those pa
triotic warriors, but for their families and loved ones whom they
have left behind.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby heartily ten
dered, to the Seventh and Twelfth Regiments Virginia Cavalry,

First Congress. 429
for the patriotic and indomitable spirit they have displayed in so
promptly reenlisting for the war, and that they have entitled them
selves to the lasting gratitude of their country in thus renewing
their vows of consecration to the sacred cause of Southern inde
pendence. Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of the Congress are due, and are hereby cordially
tendered, to the gallant troops of Lomax's cavalry brigade, for
their patriotic example in reenlisting for the war, and that the
lofty and determined spirit they have displayed in thus dedicating
themselves afresh to the cause of independence will entitle them
to the lasting gratitude of their country.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of the Congress are due, and are hereby tendered,
to the troops in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States
from the State of Georgia, who have so promptly and so gallantly
reenlisted for the war.
Sec. 2. That the action of those who, from the beginning, have
stood in front of danger and endured every hardship, in thus so
cheerfully resolving to remain the voluntary bulwark of our
country's defense, is commended by the Congress to all the people
of the Confederate States as an example worthy of patriotic emu
lation, and should be accepted by every one as the signal for re
newed devotion to the cause and for increased and universal en
ergy in the prosecution of a struggle on the issue of which de
pends not only Confederate and State independence, but the very
existence of constitutional government in America.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
the officers and men of the Sixty-First Virginia Regiment of In
fantry and the Fifth Virginia Regiment of Cavalry, for having pa
triotically, and in a spirit of self-sacrificing devotion, reenlisted for
the war.

430 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Sec. 2. Resolved, That a record of these proceedings be forth
with furnished to the troops composing the above-named regi
ments. Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of the Congress of the Confederate States are
due, and are hereby tendered, to Commander John Taylor Wood,
Confederate States Navy, and to the officers and men under his
command, for the daring and brilliantly executed plans which re
sulted in the capture of the United States transport schooner
"Elmore," on the Potomac River; of the ship "Allegheny," and the
United States gunboats "Satellite" and "Reliance ;" and the United
States transport schooners "Golden Rod," "Coquette," and "Two
Brothers," on the Chesapeake ; and, more recently, in the capture
from under the guns of the enemy's works of the United States
gunboat "Underwriter," on the Neuse River, near Newbern, North
Carolina, with the officers and crews of the several vessels brought
off as prisoners.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are tendered to the Fifteenth, Twen
ty-Seventh, and Thirtieth Regiments of North Carolina troops
for their patriotic devotion to our cause in reenlisting for the war.
Approved February 15, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of A merica,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
tendered, to the enlisted men of Douglas's (Texas) battery for
the patriotic resolutions adopted by them on the eighteenth day of
January last, and by which they reenlisted in the military service
of the country for the war.
Approved February 16, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the reenlistment of the Fifteenth and Twenty-Seventh Reg
iments of North Carolina troops, Cooke's brigade, is a grateful

First Congress. 431
testimony of devotion to the great cause of Southern independ
ence, and entitles them to the thanks of Congress and the country;
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to
the officers and men of said regiments for their noble and patriot
ic conduct in reenlisting for the war.
Approved February 16, .1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That Congress hails with delight the manifestations evinced by
the brave and gallant officers and privates of the Ninth Regiment,
Alabama Volunteers, who have stood under the fire of the enemy
for near three years, never to yield to Northern oppression ; and
for this act of patriotism and exalted self-sacrifice in reenlisting
for the war the thanks of Congress and the country are eminently
due them. That the example of those brave men who have en
dured the dangers and perils of the war since its commencement
is a happy omen for the future, and should encourage Congress
and the country to rest with an abiding hope and confidence in the
success of our arms and the final triumph of liberty, under the
lead of those brave and unconquerable spirits.
Approved February 16, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
General E. Kirby Smith for the signal victory achieved by him in
the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, on the thirtieth of August,
eighteen hundred and sixty-one [1862], and to all the officers and
soldiers of his command engaged in that battle ; and especially to
General Churchill, General Cleburne, and Colonel Preston Smith,
of whom he says : "I almost fear to particularize, lest I do not full
justice to all. But I cannot close without expressing my admira
tion at the promptness and intelligence with which Generals
Churchill, Cleburne, and Colonel Preston Smith executed the
orders given to them."
Sec. 2. Resolved, That special acknowledgments and commen
dation are declared for that highest order of generalship with
which this victory was followed up, utterly annihilating with five
thousand an army of ten thousand, of whom full five thousand
were actually captured, besides the slain in battle; and for the

432 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
brilliant campaign, in which the speed, vigor, and constancy of a
rapid advance resulted in planting the Confederate flag upon the
capitol of Kentucky, and upon the shores of the Ohio River, in
front of the great city of Cincinnati.
Sec. 3. Resolved, That the superior generalship displayed in
rapidly gathering the immediate fruits of a victory, and in follow
ing it promptly with a campaign of activity, enterprise, and un
wearied constancy, renders it worthy of the applause of the Gov
ernment and the emulation of the Army.
Sec. 4. Resolved, That the President is requested, in appropriate
general orders, to make public the sense of Congress in the prem
ises, and to cause the same to be communicated to General E.
Kirby Smith and the officers named, and to be read at the head of
each regiment engaged in that battle.
Approved February 17, 1864.
Whereas, Poague's artillery battalion, Third Army Corps,
Northern Virginia, has patriotically reenlisted to serve during the
war: Therefore —
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress and of the country are due, and are
hereby tendered, to the officers and men of said battalion for this
act of noble and patriotic devotion to the cause in which we are
engaged. Approved February 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
tendered, to the officers and men of the Thirty-Ninth [Seventh]
Mississippi Regiment for their patriotic determination to con
tinue in the service until the independence of these States shall
have been firmly established.
Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit a copy
of this resolution to the regiment whose patriotic devotion to
their country's cause it is designed to acknowledge.
Approved February 17, 1-864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress and the country are due, and are

First Congress. 433
hereby tendered, to the officers and men of the Thirty-Seventh
Regiment of North Carolina troops for their gallant conduct in re-
volunteering for the war.
Approved February 17, 1864.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do resolve,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
the enlisted men of the Surry Light Artillery, Captain J. D. Hark-
ins, for their patriotic resolutions adopted on the ninth day of
February, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and for their man
ifestation of zeal in our struggle and devotion to their country's
cause by reenlisting for the war.
Approved February 17, 1864.
Whereas, the Pee Dee Artillery of South Carolina Volunteers,
early in the present struggle for Southern independence, tendered
their services to the Government for the period of the war, and
have recently renewed their pledge to serve their country until
the last invader is driven from our soil : Therefore —
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are cordially tendered,
Pee Dee Artillery of South Carolina Volunteers, for their patri
otic reenlistment for the war.
Approved February 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States, That the
thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to Orr's
Rifles, the First, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Regiments,
South Carolina Volunteers, composing McGowan's Brigade, for
their patriotic devotion to the cause of Southern independence,
as manifested by their recent action, unanimously reiterating their
determination to serve during the war; in thus renewing their
pledges, after nearly three years of arduous and gallant service,
they have met the expectation of their country, and are entitled
to its approbation.
Approved February 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are again due, and are hereby ten-
28

434 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
dered, to General N. B. Forrest and the officers and men of his
command for meritorious service in the field, and especially for
the daring, skill, and perseverance exhibited in the pursuit and
capture of the largely superior forces of the enemy near Rome,
Georgia, in May last; for gallant conduct at Chickamauga, and
for his recent brilliant services in West Tennessee.
Approved February 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate' States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and hereby cordially ten
dered, to Lieutenant General James Longstreet and the officers
and men of his command for their patriotic services and brilliant
achievements in the present war, sharing, as they have, the ardu
ous fatigues and privations of many campaigns in Virginia, Mary
land, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Tennessee, and participating in
nearly every great battle fought in those States ; the commanding
General ever displaying great ability, skill, and prudence in com
mand, and the officers and men the most heroic bravery, forti
tude, and energy, in every duty they may have been called upon
to perform.
Resolved, That the President be lequested to transmit a copy
of the foregoing resolution to Lieutenant General Longstreet for
publication to his command.
Approved February 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby cordially
tendered, to Major General J. E. B. Stuart and to the officers
and men under his command for their distinguished gallantry
and skill during the present war, especially as displayed in the
summer of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, in the raid around
the army of McClellan across the Chickahominy, the expedition
into Pennsylvania, and to Catlett's Station, and in the battles of
Fleetwood, Chancellorsville, and other places.
That the President be requested to communicate this resolution
to General Stuart and the officers and men under his command.
Approved February 17, 1864.

Robert E. Lee.

-CJ

Robert E. Lee.
Robert Edward Lee was born in Stratford, Westmoreland
County, Virginia, January 19, 1807. His father was General
Henry Lee, the "Light-Horse Harry" of the Revolutionary War.
He attended school at Alexandria, Va., until 1825, when he en
tered the Military Academy at West Point, from which he gradu
ated in 1829 without a demerit, second in a class of forty-six; was
appointed second lieutenant of engineers and assigned to duty at
Old Point and on the coasts ; was assistant to the Chief of
Engineers at Washington in 1834, and the next year was on the
commission to mark the boundary line between Ohio and Mich
igan ; was promoted first lieutenant in 1836 and captain of en
gineers in 1838. In 1837 was ordered to the Mississippi River to
make special plans and surveys for its improved navigation ; in
1840 was a military engineer; in 1842 was stationed at Fort Ham
ilton, N. Y., and in 1844 one of the Board of Visitors at West
Point. At the beginning of the Mexican Wrar, he was assigned to
duty as Chief Engineer of the Army under General Wool, with the
rank of captain, and at the request of General Scott was assigned
to his personal staff. He rendered conspicuous service through
out that war, particularly at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Cheru-
busco, Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec. He was three times
brevetted for gallant conduct during the war, the last being colonel
of engineers. General Scott, in his official report, said of him,
"I am compelled to make special mention of Captain R. E. Lee ;"
again, of one of his acts, he said it was "the greatest feat of
physical and moral courage performed by any individual in my
knowledge pending the campaign ;" and again referred to him as
being "as distinguished for execution as for science and daring,"
adding that his "success in Mexico was largely due to the skill,
valor, and undaunted energy of Robert E. Lee ;" and with empha
sis he pronounced him "the greatest military genius in America."
After the Mexican War, up to 1852, he was with the engineers'
corps, headquarters at Baltimore ; then Superintendent of the Mil-
(437)

438 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
itary Academy at West Point until 1855, when he was promoted
and assigned to the Seccnd Cavalry, under Col. Albert Sidney
Johnston. He was engaged with this regiment fighting the In
dians on the frontier of Texas and Mexico from 1856 to 1861, ex
cept that in October, 1859, he was temporarily at Washington dur
ing the John Brown raid at Harpers Ferry, and was sent by the
President to suppress that movement, a duty promptly discharged
by him. He was in command of the Department of Texas in
1860-61, when the Southern States began to secede from the
Union, and was called to Washington about the date of the inau
guration of President Lincoln. When it became known that war
was to follow, he was offered high position in the United States
Army, and was the choice of General Scott for the chief command.
When told by a prominent gentleman, who was speaking for the
President, that he could have the command of the Army, he replied
that, "though opposed to secession and deprecating war, he would
take no part in the invasion of the Southern States." Promptly —
that is, within three days — after his State, Virginia, passed her
ordinance of secession, he resigned his commission in the Army,
as he said he felt conscientiously bound by the act of his State.
In a letter to his sister, written then, he said : "We are now in a
state of war which will yield to nothing. The whole South is in
a state of revolution into which Virginia, after a long struggle,
has been drawn ; and though I recognize no necessity for this state
of things, and would have forborne and pleaded to the end for
the redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own person
I had to meet the question whether I should take part against my
native State. With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling
of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able
to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my
children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission
in the Army, and, save in defense of my native State — with the
sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed — I hope
I may never be called upon to draw my sword."
April 23, 1861, he was made commander in chief of the Virginia
State forces, and began the work of organization for the State's
defense. On April 25 he said : "No earthly power would give me
as much pleasure as to restore peace to my country, but I fear it
is now out of the power of man, and in God alone must be our

Robert E. Lee. 430
trust. I think our policy should be purely on the defensive, to re
sist aggression, and allow time to allay the passions, and permit
reason to resume her sway."
May 14, 186 1, he was appointed brigadier general in the Con
federate States Army, and on June 14, 1861, a full general ; August
3rd, 1861, was given command of operations in the Trans-Alle-
ghany region of Virginia; November 5, 1861, was placed in
charge of the defenses on the coast of South Carolina, Georgia,
and Florida ; March 13, 1862, assigned to duty at Richmond, and
charged with the conduct of all military operations of the Con
federate States Army, under the direction of the President ; June
ist, 1862, was placed in command of the Army of Northern Vir
ginia, which position he held until the surrender of his army at
Appomattox, April 9, 1865; January 31, 1865, was made general
in chief, and on February 6, 1865, was assigned to the command
of all of the armies of the Confederate States.
Not long subsequent to the closing of the war, he said, "All
that the South has ever desired was that the Union as established
by our fathers should be preserved, and that the Government as
originally organized should be administered in purity and truth ;"
and later he said, "I had no other guide, nor had I any other object
than the defense of those principles of American liberty upon
which the constitutions of the several States were originally
founded, and unless they are strictly observed, I fear there will
be an end of Republican government in this country." He de
voted his few years after the war to efforts to restore harmony to
the people of the whole country, and to the education of young
men. He became President of Washington and Lee University,
and gave his entire time and talents to that institution. He died
at his home, in Lexington, October 12, 1870. When he died, it
was said of him : "The grave of this noble hero is bedewed with
the most tender and sacred tears ever shed upon a human tomb.
A whole nation has risen up in the spontaneity of its grief to
render the tribute of its love." Benjamin H. Hill, of Georgia,
said of him : "When the future historian shall come to survey the
character of Lee, he will find it rising like a huge mountain above
the undulating plain of humanity, and he must lift his eyes high
toward Heaven to catch its summit. He possessed every virtue
of other great commanders without their vices. He was a foe

440 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
without hate, a friend without treachery, a soldier without cruel
ty, a victor without oppression, and a victim without murmuring.
He was a public officer without vices, a private citizen without
wrong, a neighbor without reproach, a Christian without hypoc
risy, and a man without guile. He was a Caesar without his am
bition, Frederick without his tyranny, Napoleon without his
selfishness, and Washington without his reward. He was obedi
ent to authority as a servant, and royal in authority as a true king.
He was as gentle as a woman in life, modest and pure as a virgin
in thought, watchful as a Roman vestal in duty, submissive to
law as Socrates, and grand in battle as Achilles."

Second Congress.

Second Congress.
FIRST SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., MAY 2, 1864. ADJOURNED JUNE 14, 1864.
MESSAGES. Richmond, May 2, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States
of America.
You are assembled under circumstances of deep interest to your
country, and it is fortunate that, coming as you do newly elected
by the people and familiar with the condition of the various lo
calities, you will be the better able to devise measures adapted to
meet the wants of the public service without imposing unnecessary
burdens on the citizen. The brief period which has elapsed since
the last adjournment of Congress has not afforded sufficient op
portunity to test the efficacy of the most important laws then en
acted, nor have the events occurring in the interval been such as
materially to change the state of the country.
The unjust war commenced against us in violation of the rights
of the States, and in usurpation of power not delegated to the
Government of the United States, is still characterized by the
barbarism with which it has heretofore been conducted by the en
emy. Aged men, helpless women, and children appeal in vain lo
the humanity which should be inspired by their condition for im
munity from arrest, incarceration, or banishment from their
homes. Plunder and devastation of the property of noncombat
ants, destruction of private dwellings, and even of edifices devoted
to the worship of God ; expeditions organized for the sole purpose
of sacking cities, consigning them to the flames, killing the un
armed inhabitants, and inflicting horrible outrages on women and
children, are some of the constantly recurring atrocities of the
invader. It cannot reasonably be pretended that such acts con
duce to any end which their authors dare avow before the civilized
world, and sooner or later Christendom must mete out to them
(443)

444 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the condemnation which such brutality deserves. The suffering
thus ruthlessly inflicted upon the people of the invaded districts
has served but to illustrate their patriotism. Entire unanimity and
zeal for their country's cause have been preeminently conspicu
ous among those whose sacrifices have been the greatest. So the
Army, which has borne the trials and dangers of the war, which
has been subjected to privations and disappointments (tests of
manly fortitude far more severe than the brief fatigues and perils
of actual combat) , has been the center of cheerfulness and hope.
From the camp comes the voice of the soldier patriots invoking
each who is at home, in the sphere he best may fill, to devote his
whole energies to the support of a cause in the success of which"
their confidence has never faltered. They — the veterans of many
a hard-fought field — tender to their country, without limit of
time, a service of priceless value to us, one which posterity will
hold in grateful remembrance.
In considering the state of the country the reflection is naturally
suggested that this is the Third Congress of the Confederate
States of America. The Provisional Government was formed, its
Congress held four sessions, lived its appointed term, and passed
away. The permanent Government was then organized, its differ
ent departments established, a Congress elected, which also held
four sessions, served its full constitutional term, and expired. You,
the Second Congress under the permanent Government, are now
assembled at the time and place appointed by law for commencing
your session. All these events have passed into history, notwith
standing the threat of our prompt subjugation made three years
ago by a people that presume to assert a title to govern States
whose separate and independent sovereignty was recognized by
treaty with France and Great Britain in the last century, and re
mained unquestioned for nearly three generations. Yet these
very Governments, in disregard of duty and treaty obligations
which bind them to recognize as independent Virginia and other
Confederate States, persist in countenancing by moral influence,
if not in aiding by unfair and partial action, the claim set up by
the Executive of a foreign Government to exercise despotic sway
over the States thus recognized, and treat the invasion of them
by their former limited and special agent as though it were the
attempt of a sovereign to suppress a rebellion against lawful au-

Second Congress. 445
thority. Ungenerous advantage has been taken of our present
condition, and our rights have been violated, our vessels of war
detained in ports to which they had been invited by proclamations
of neutrality, and in one instance our flag also insulted where the
sacred right of asylum was supposed to be secure; while one of
these Governments has contented itself with simply deprecating,
by deferential representations, the conduct of our enemy in the
constantly recurring instances of his contemptuous disregard of
neutral rights and flagrant violations of public law. It may be that
foreign governments, like our enemies, have mistaken our desire
for peace, unreservedly expressed, for evidence of exhaustion, and
have thence inferred the probability of success in the effort to sub
jugate or exterminate the millions of human beings who, in these
States, prefer any fate to submission to their savage assailants.
I see no prospect of an early change in the course heretofore pur
sued by these Governments ; but when this delusion shall have been
dispelled and when our independence by the valor and fortitude
of our people shall have been won against all the hostile influences
combined against us, and can no longer be ignored by open foes
or professed neutrals, this war will have left with its proud mem
ories a record of many wrongs which it may not misbecome us
to forgive, some for which we may not properly forbear from de
manding redress. In the meantime it is enough for us to know
that every avenue of negotiation is closed against us; that our
enemy is making renewed and strenuous efforts for our destruc
tion, and that the sole resource for us, as a people secure in the
justice of our cause and holding our liberties to be more precious
than all other earthly possessions, is to combine and apply every
available element of power for their defense and preservation.
On the subject of the exchange of prisoners I greatly regret to
be unable to give you satisfactory information. The Government
of the United States, while persisting in failure to execute the
terms of the^ cartel, make occasional deliveries of prisoners, and
then suspend action without apparent cause. I confess my ina
bility to comprehend their policy or purpose. The prisoners held
by us, in spite of humane care, are perishing from the inevitable
effects of imprisonment and the homesickness produced by the
hopelessness of release from confinement. The spectacle of their
suffering augments our longing desire to relieve from similar

446 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
trials our own brave men who have spent so many weary months
in a cruel and useless imprisonment, endured with heroic con
stancy. The delivery, after a suspension of some weeks, has just
been resumed by the enemy ; but as they give no assurance of in
tent to carry out the cartel, an interruption of the exchange may
recur at any moment.
The reports of the Departments, herewith submitted, are re
ferred to for full information in relation to the matters appertain
ing to each. There are two of them on which I deem it necessary
to make special remark. The report of the Secretary of the Treas
ury states facts justifying the conclusion that the law passed at
the last session for the purpose of withdrawing from circulation
the large excess of Treasury notes heretofore issued has had the
desired effect, and that by the 1st of July the amount in circulation
will have been reduced to a sum not exceeding $230,000,000. It
is believed to be of primary importance that no further issue of
notes should take place, and that the use of the credit of the Gov
ernment should be restricted to the two other modes provided by
Congress — viz., the sale of bonds and the issue of certificates bear
ing interest for the price of supplies purchased within our limits.
The law as it now stands authorizes the issue by the Treasury of
new notes to the extent of two-thirds of the amount received under
its provisions. The estimate of the amount funded under the law
is shown to be $300,000,000, and if two-thirds of this sum be re
issued we shall have an addition of $200,000,000 to our circula
tion, believed to be already ample for the business of the country.
The addition of this large sum to the volume of the currency would
be attended by disastrous effects and would produce the speedy re
currence of the evils from which the funding law has rescued the
country. If our arms are crowned with the success which we
have so much reason to hope, we may well expect that this war
cannot be prolonged beyond the current year, and nothing would
so much retard the beneficent influence of peace on all the interests
of our country as the existence of a great mass of currency not
redeemable in coin. With our vast resources the circulation, if
restricted to its present volume, would be easily manageable, and
by gradual absorption in payment of public dues would give place
to the precious metals, the only basis of a currency adapted to
commerce with foreign countries. In our present circumstances

Second Congress. 447
I know of no mode of providing for the public wants which would
entail sacrifices so great as a fresh issue of Treasury notes, and
I trust that you will concur in the propriety of absolutely for
bidding any increase of those now in circulation.
Officers have been appointed and dispatched to the trans-Mis
sissippi States and the necessary measures taken for the execution
of the laws enacted to obviate delays in administering the Treas
ury and other Executive Departments in those States, but suffi
cient time has not elapsed to ascertain the results.
In relation to the most important of all subjects at the present
time, the efficiency of our armies in the field, it is gratifying to
assure you that the discipline and instruction of the troops have
kept pace with the improvement in material and equipment. We
have reason to congratulate ourselves on the results of the legis
lation on this subject, and on the increased administrative energy
in the different bureaus of the War Department, and may not un
reasonably indulge anticipations of commensurate success in the
ensuing campaign.
The organization of reserves is in progress, and it is hoped they
will be valuable in affording local protection without requiring de
tails and detachments from active force.
Among the recommendations contained in the report of the
Secretary of War, your attention is specially invited to those in
which legislation is suggested on the following subjects — viz. :
The tenure of office of the general officers in the Provisional
Army, and a proper discrimination in the compensation of the
different grades.
The provision required in aid of invalid officers who have re
signed in consequence of wounds or sickness contracted while in
service. The amendment of the law which deprives officers in the field of
the privilege of purchasing rations, and thus adds to their em
barrassment, instead of conferring the benefit intended.
The organization of the general staff of the Army, in relation
to which a special message will shortly be addressed to you, con
taining the reasons which compel me to withhold my approval of
a bill passed by your predecessors at too late a period of the ses
sion to allow time for returning it for their reconsideration.

448 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
The necessity for an increase in the allowance now made for the
transportation of officers traveling under orders.
The mode of providing officers for the execution of the con
script laws.
The means of securing greater dispatch and more regular ad
ministration of justice in examining and disposing of the records
of cases reported from the courts-martial and military courts in
the Army.
The recent events of the war are highly creditable to our troops,
exhibiting energy and yigilance combined with the habitual gal
lantry which they have taught us to expect on all occasions. We
have been cheered, by important and valuable successes in Florida,
northern Mississippi, western Tennessee and Kentucky, west
ern Louisiana, and eastern North Carolina, reflecting the highest
honor on the skill and conduct of our commanders and on the
incomparable soldiers whom it is their privilege to lead. A naval
attack on Mobile was so successfully repulsed at the outer works
that the attempt was abandoned, and the nine months' siege of
Charleston has been practically suspended, leaving that noble city
and its fortresses imperishable monuments to the skill and forti
tude of its defenders. The armies in northern Georgia and in
northern Virginia still oppose with unshaken front a formidable
barrier to the progress of the invader, and our generals, armies,
and people are animated by cheerful confidence.
Let us, then, while resolute in devoting all our energies to se
curing the realization of the bright auspices which encourage us,
not forget that our humble and most grateful thanks are due to
Him without whose guidance and protecting care all human efforts
are of no avail, and to whose interposition are due the manifold
successes with which we have been cheered. Jefferson Davis.

To the Senate of the Confederate States.
The action of the Senate on the nominations for field officers
of the Eleventh Mississippi Regiment, which occurred on the eve
of your adjournment at the last session, was not communicated to
me till after the adjournment. I was then unable to return the
nomination of Colonel Green for your reconsideration (his re-

Second Congress. 449
.jection appearing to have been based on an error) , and have kept
the whole subject open for further action at the present session^
when you could be informed of the facts.
The resolution of the Senate is in the following words :
"Resolved, That the nomination of F. M. Green to be colonel
of the Eleventh Mississippi Regiment be rejected for the reason
that in the opinion of the Senate W. B. Lowry is the senior and
ranking officer."
If the Senate had at the same time suspended its action on the
other nominations, there could have been no difficulty in awaiting
its present session for a settlement of the legal rights of the of
ficers of this regiment, which cannot be affected by the action of
the Executive, or the Senate, or of both combined, inasmuch as
they are vested by act of Congress, which has the constitutional
power to determine the rules of promotion in the service. But
probably not perceiving, in the press of business at the close of
the session, what would be the result of its action if carried into
effect, the Senate confirmed the nominations of the lieutenant
colonel and major, thus subordinating to two of his juniors the
senior captain of the regiment, who had been in command of it to
the entire satisfaction of his superior for more than nine months,
and who had been adjudged to be the senior captain after an ex
amination of the rights of the different claimants for seniority at
the War Department.
I was compelled, in order to avoid this result, to decline com
missioning either of the field officers confirmed by you, leaving
each of the captains in his former rank of captain and leaving
Captain Green in command of the regiment, till your attention had
been called to the case and full information was placed within
your reach.
The law and facts appear to me to admit of but one conclusion,
and they are now presented as succinctly as possible.
ist. In this regiment, originally enlisted for twelve months, Cap
tain Lowry was senior to Captain Green.
2d. Under act No. 306 of Provisional Congress ( 1 ith De
cember, 1861) Captain Green's company reenlisted for the war,
and he was reelected captain under the provisions of the 4th sec
tion, and by the terms of act No. 397, of 15th February, 1862
(which may have been overlooked by the Senate), his commission
29

450 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
under this reelection took date from his former commission, so
that he is a captain of the year 1861.
3d. On the 16th April, 1862, the conscript law was passed at the
first session of the Permanent Congress, and by its first sec
tion all companies whose original term of service was for twelve
months were allowed the privilege of reorganizing and electing
officers, "who shall be commissioned by the President." But
Congress did not extend to the officers thus reelected the priv
ilege of back date to their commissions, which 'had been accorded
by the Provisional Congress to those who voluntarily reenlisted
under the bounty and furlough laws.
Only two companies of the Eleventh Regiment volunteered re-
enlistment, of which Captain Green's was one, and Captain Frank
lin's the other. The remaining companies were reenlisted by con
scription. Captain Franklin is no longer in the service. Under
the laws as they stand on the Statute Book, Captain Green's com
mission is the only one in the regiment that bears date in 1861.
The remaining commissions, being all under the conscript act of
1862, are necessarily subsequent to its passage.
It is due to candor to observe that the conclusion reached by
the Senate in its resolution that Captain Lowry was the senior
captain is in conformity with a general order issued by the War
Department on the 9th July, 1862 (Gen. Orders No. 47, Par. 4),
but many complaints having been made against the effects of this
order, the whole subject was carefully investigated by me, and
that order was modified on the 5th March, 1863, by Gen. Order
No. 24, Par. 1. When, therefore, in the following May, the ques
tion of seniority between Captains Green and Lowry was pre
sented to me for decision the question of law was no longer open,
and nothing remained but to ascertain the facts, which were found
to be in accordance with the foregoing narration.
I now respectfully send again to the Senate the nomination of
Captain Green, to the office for which it has not been suggested
he is incompetent, which he held for many months, and to which,
according to my best judgment, he has rights vested in him by
the laws. I am confident the Senate would never have consented
to prejudice those rights if they had been in full possession of the
facts. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Department, Richmond, 4th May, 1864.

Second Congress. 451
Richmond, Va., May 4, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication* from the Secretary of the
Navy, and invite your attention to his request for an early con
sideration of it. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 5, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration two communications
from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting estimates of addi
tional appropriations required for the support of the Government.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 18, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewijh transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting an estimate of an
additional appropriation required for the support of the Govern
ment. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 18, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Attorney General, submitting estimates of additional ap
propriations required for the support of the Government. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 18, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
Agreeably to the recommendation of the Secretary of State, I
hereby nominate P. N. Lynch to be Special Commissioner of the
Confederate States to the States of the Church. Jefferson Davis.
*Relative to a fund raised by ladies of South Carolina for the con
struction of an ironclad gunboat for the defense of that State.

452 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., May 19, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering a copy of the reports of General
Bragg and his subordinate commanders of the battle of Chicka
mauga. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 20, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 10th inst., I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Post
master General relative to the steps taken to secure the transmis
sion and delivery of the mails from the post office in this city
during the past two weeks. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., May 20, 1864.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
The following resolution passed by the House on the 14th in
stant has been received :
Resolved, That the President be requested to inform the House, if not
incompatible with the public interest, whether the reasons given in his
special message for suspending the writ of habeas corpus still exist, and
what additional reasons now exist to such extent that the public safety
requires the continuance of the suspension thereof.
In my opinion the reasons given in the special message trans
mitted to Congress at its last session, recommending the suspen
sion of the writ of habeas corpus, still exist in undiminished force
and the present juncture especially requires the continuance of
the suspension. The effects of the law for that purpose have been
most salutary, and to that law in no inconsiderable degree are we
indebted for the increased efficiency of the military preparations
which have enabled our gallant armies, under the providence of
God, to beat back the vast invading forces which still threaten us.
In my judgment it would be perilous, if not calamitous, to dis
continue the suspension while the armies of the enemy are press
ing on our brave defenders with persistent effort for their destruc
tion and for the subjugation of our country.

Second Congress. 453
It is a source of gratification to be able to inform you that the
mere passage of the law suspending the writ was so effectual in
restraining those who were engaged in' treasonable practices and
in dangerous complicity with our enemies that the instances are
very few in which arrests were found necessary.
The effect of the law in preventing the abuse of the writ for the
purpose of avoiding military service by men whose plain duty it
is to defend their country can hardly be overestimated.
The sensitiveness exhibited in different parts of our country to
the legislation on this subject is indicative of the love of freedom
which is innate among the people, and which should ever be cher
ished as the sole guaranty for the preservation of their constitu
tional liberties. It is not doubted, however, that if those who have
expressed dissatisfaction with the law had been in possession of
the information which it was my duty to communicate to you, and
which may not yet be revealed without injury to the public inter
est, they would fully have approved the exercise of the power of
suspending the writ, which was intrusted to Congress by the Con
stitution. All trusts impose duties. The power was intrusted
expressly with the intent that it should be used when necessary to
the public safety in case of invasion. Congress, concurring with
me that the exigency had arisen which required the exercise of
the power, performed but a plain duty in passing the law, and such
will, I doubt not, be the judgment of the people when the facts
can be made known without detriment to their interests.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., May 24th, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In further response to your resolution of the 10th inst., I here
with transmit for your information a communication from the
Postmaster General relative to the steps taken to secure the trans
portation and delivery of the mails from the post office in this city
during the past two weeks. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., May 28, 1864.
To the House o_f Representatives.
In response to a resolution of the House of Representatives of
the 15th January last, I herewith transmit for your information

454 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
a communication from the Secretary of War, covering a list of
those who have been retired from the military service, "in accord
ance with the provisions of the act for ridding the Army of ig
norant, disabled, and incompetent officers." Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 28, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of several reports of mili
tary operations, together with a copy of a letter from General R.
E. Lee, in which he expresses his disapproval of the publication of
such reports, and to which I invite your special attention.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 30, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I invite your attention to the accompanying communication from
the Secretary of the Navy, and, agreeably to his recommendation,
hereby nominate the persons named upon the annexed list to the
offices designated in the Provisional Navy. In addition to the an
nexed list, there are officers of the Navy now on shore duty who,
are deemed eminently qualified to command afloat, and it is not
designed by these nominations to bar their future transfer to the
Provisional Navy with their relative rank. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., May 30, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration communications
from the proper officers, submitting estimates of the amounts re
quired to carry out the provisions of the act, approved May 13,
1864, authorizing additional compensation to certain officers and
employees in the civil and legislative departments of the Govern
ment. Jefferson Davis.

Second Congress. 455
Richmond, Va., May 30, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, submitting an estimate of an
additional sum required for the support of the Government.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 1/1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 3d ultimo, I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, stating that "no instructions have been issued to impressing
officers and agents in addition to, or different from, those con
tained in General Order No. 30, bearing date March 4, 1864."
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., June 1, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 25th ult, I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, relative to the tobacco ration authorized to be furnished to
the Army. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 1, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering copies of several additional
reports of military operations. It is suggested that these reports
should not be published or used otherwise than for the information
of members and Senators of the Confederate States Congress.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 1, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering copies of additional reports
of military operations in the year 1862. Jefferson Davis.

456 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., June ist, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 5th ult., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, relative to the organization and disbanding of the Palmetto
Battalion of Light Artillery. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 2, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering copies of additional reports
of military operations during the year 1863. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 4th, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 5th ultimo, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, conveying
the information asked for relative to the organization and dis
banding of Company K, of the 27th Regiment, South Carolina
Volunteers Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 4, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration communications from
the proper officers, submitting estimates of the amount required
to be appropriated, for the period ending Dec. 31, 1864, under the
act* approved June 2, 1864. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, VA.,June 4th, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
, In* response to your resolution of the 5th ult., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, relative to the "Holcomb Legion of South Carolina Volun-

?Increasing salary and mileage of Senators and members, and compen
sation of employees of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Second Congress. 457
teers" and to "other legionary organizations" in the Provisional
Army of the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., June 8, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to a resolution of the House of Representatives, of
January 15, 1864, I herewith transmit for your information a
communication from the Secretary of War, covering a copy of
the proceedings of the court of inquiry, relative to the capture of
New Orleans. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 8th, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering copies of additional reports of military operations
during the year 1863.
It is suggested that these papers are intended to be used for the
information of members of Congress, and that their publication
at this time is considered unadvisable. Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES. Richmond, May 28, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.*
A bill "to provide and organize a general staff for armies in the
field to serve during the war" was passed by your predecessors and
submitted for my approval at the close of the last session.
I was unable to approve it, and now desire to state my objections
to it, as well as my views on this important subject, in a hope that
by a comparison of opinion some measure may be framed equally
acceptable to the Legislative and Executive Departments of the
Government. I believe it to be established by the experience of Europe a.s well
as our own that it is impracticable to organize and administer
armies with efficiency without the aid of a general staff, permanent
in its character, trained in its duties, aspiring to promotion in its
*Pocket veto.

458 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
own corps, and responsible to the head of the Department. Such
a staff should be composed of a small body of officers, whose edu
cation, experience, activity, and special adaptation to their duties
render them peculiarly competent to perform functions on which
an army depends for its capacit}- to act with vigor. In Europe
years of varied education in the schools, the cantonment, and the
field fit the staff officer for his position, and a long experience in
the lower grades is required before he is deemed competent to
duty in a more important sphere. We are forced to make ex-
• perimental appointments of officers unprepared by any previous
training, and who can acquire only in actual service that experi
ence which must serve in place of well-grounded instruction. It
is scarcely possible to make this experience supply the defect of
previous military education, otherwise than by the organization of
the officers into one corps, responsible to one head, who can assign
them to positions independent of the movements of general of
ficers, and who, by judiciously varying the field, or character of
their duties, can give them larger opportunities for instruction and
prevent their views being narrowed to the routine and usages of a
single commander, himself, perhaps, without military education.
Hope of promotion, founded on their own merit and length of
good service, is as necessary to the officers of the general staff as
to those of the line, furnishing the best stimulus known to honora
ble exertion and zealous discharge of duty. This stimulus cannot
exist unless the staff be organized into one corps, responsible to
one chief, who, thus becoming intimately acquainted with the ca
pacity and merits of each, is able properly to distribute the duties'
so as to secure the services of the right man in the right place, and
to afford to each an opportunity for distinction. If, otherwise,
each staff officer becomes dependent upon the particular com:
mander with whom he is serving, no means of comparison exist
between the relative merits of the officers. Each looks for pro
motion to the favor of his general, and rises in grade, not by his
own relative merit, but by the patronage of his commander. A
gallant and able commander, whose own promotion is exception
ally rapid by reason of his special merits, is thus enabled to lift
to higher grades the officers of his staff to whom he has become
attached by companionship in the field, although these officers may
be far inferior in merit and length of service to others whose duties

Second Congress. 459
have connected them with generals less distinguished. Promo
tion thus becomes with the staff a matter of hazard, dependent not
on the merit of the officer himself, but of the general with whom
he serves, and heartburnings, jealousy, and discontent are the
natural results of so false a system.
Again, if the general staff is not formed into corps, there will
not be the "esprit" necessary in all military organizations, and there
cannot be the cointelligence among the officers thereof which se
cures the certain and rapid communication of all information
through the different parts of an army. There will also be em
barrassment in their tenure of office and assignment to duty, as
when a general officer dies or is relieved from his command there
remain no duties to be performed by the staff which has been au
thorized for him especially. However valuable or meritorious the
officers may be, they are displaced by the staff chosen by the suc
cessor of their commander. Nothing remains but to deprive them
of their commissions, without fault of their own, or to keep them
in service as supernumeraries, and thus to add to the number of
-officers already in excess of the wants of the Army.
Again, an organization of a general staff should possess flexi
bility, so that the proper number and class of staff officers can be
sent where needed. If an inflexible rule of assignment be fixed by
legislation, some commands will be cumbered with unnecessary
officers, while others will be deficient in the number indispensable
to perform the necessary duties. Legislation would surely be
considered unwise if it allotted by inflexible rule the number of
troops to be used in each military department; yet it would be
scarcely more objectionable than the assignment of the same
specified number of staff officers to each commander, according
to his grade, thus applying a general rule to a series of cases each
requiring special treatment.
The inspecting duties in an army ought not, in my judgment, to
be separated from' those of the adjutants. The erroneous im
pression prevails that an inspecting department, independent of
the general staff, is established in most of the armies of Europe.
The reverse is the fact, and the duties of inspection are so inti
mately connected with the other duties of the general staff that
¦ they can be properly performed by it alone. The objections to
the separation are manifold. In the first place, officers having

460 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
no other than inspecting duties must frequently be unemployed,
even in war, while in peace their duties will occupy but very little
time. Next, it is to be observed that where the adjutants and in
spectors form one corps the duties of the adjutant make him fa
miliar with the details of the service where reform and discipline
are most needed, and thus render him more competent to effective
inspection when assigned to that duty than he could be if exclu
sively employed as inspector. Lastly, the duties of an inspector
are such as not to render the officer who performs them acceptable
to his brother officers, if his duty be properly performed. It is not
to be wondered at that an officer whose duties may not be inap
propriately described as those of a detective should, if his duty
be rigidly performed, incur somewhat of the odium of an in
former ; and when these duties constitute the sole service of an of
ficer permanently attached to an army, he must become either so
lax in their performance as to render him useless, or his pro
fessional pride and self-respect are wounded and his relations with.
his brother officers unfavorably affected by the distrust and dis
like resulting from his official reports. When, however, an as
sistant adjutant and inspector general is from time to time as
signed to the making of necessary inspections at various points,
this temporary discharge of an unpleasant duty becomes but an
incident in his professional career, and does not affect his relations
with his brother officers.
Having stated these as the general principles which in my judg
ment should govern legislation on the subject, the objections to the
bill passed at the last session can be more easily understood, and I
proceed to state them briefly :
I. The first section of the bill authorizes a general commanding
armies, or a separate army, to assign to duty one of the general
officers under his command as chief of staff, one of the brigadier
generals under his command as inspector general, and one other
brigadier as chief quartermaster, one officer below the rank of
brigadier as chief commissary, and one as chief of ordnance.
This power of assignment is given without reference to or con
sultation with the War Department or the Executive, and might
be exercised in contravention of the views and judgment of both.
Leaving out of view the question whether it is in accordance with
the Constitution to make the commander of an army independent

Second Congress. 461
of the Commander in Chief in the discharge 01 any of the duties
of his office, and looking only to the effect of such a system, it
plainly creates in this branch of the service as many independent
executives as there are generals commanding armies in the field,
,and thus destroys that unity of design and concert of action which
are indispensable elements of success in war. The generals com
manding armies would be by this section vested with the right to
¦derange the organization of their commands as settled by the
Commander in Chief by removing from their appropriate func
tions the commanders of corps, divisions, and brigades, whom
the Executive had selected and the Senate had approved as spe
cially fitted to lead the troops in battle.
That the general commanding the Army has, under the terms of
this section, the right of assigning general officers under his com
mand to the duties of the general staff without reference to the
authority of the Executive is plain from the other sections, which
declare that the President is to appoint, with the advice of the
Senate, the staffs of all general officers other than those who com
mand armies.
Nor does this section restrict the commanding general in rela
tion to the branch of service or the grade of the officers whom he
is permitted to assign to commissary and ordnance duties cf the
general staff. It is only necessary that they be below the rank of
brigadier general. The commanding general would have the pow
er, therefore, to assign a captain commissary to be chief of ord
nance, or a lieutenantof infantry to be chief commissary, without
check or control from the President or Senate, while the Presi
dent would be without power to appoint subordinates to the officers
thus selected by the general of the Army without submitting their
nominations for the approval of the Senate. Not only, therefore,
is all order of authority introverted by these provisions, but the
officers assigned to duty by the commanding generals, not being
permanent members of the general staff, would be independent
of its chief, and inextricable confusion would necessarily result.
This section, so far from responding to the title of the bill by
providing a general staff, in reality breaks up that which now
exists, subdivides it into a number of small bodies, irresponsible
to the head of the department, and destroys the possibility of any
regular, consistent, and intelligent cooperation in the action of our

462 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
forces, so essential to success. Its effect is to create a staff for gen
erals, not a general staff.
If a contest should arise between the quartermasters general,
the commissaries general, or the chiefs of ordnance »i Generals
A and B, in any district of country for supplies or means of trans
portation, who is to determine between these rivals, each equal in
authority and each dependent on a separate chief? How are the
chiefs of those bureaus in Richmond to apportion the supplies in
store according to the wants of the different armies without au
thority to exact from them reports and returns ? If it be said that
these officers would become temporarily responsible to the heads
of departments, how is this responsibility to be enforced if the
orders of the general and those of the chief of the department
should conflict? If ordnance depots are provided at different
points for different commands, how is the officer in charge of these
depots to act if ordered by the chief of ordnance of a general in
the field to make a different disposal of the stores from that or
dered by the head of the department in Richmond ?
If such a bill should become a law, in vain would the War De
partment seek to exact rigid obedience to law cr orders from the
irresponsible staff created under its provisions. In vain would it
seek for the information necessary for its guidance, or attempt to
change the relative strength of armies to meet the varying move
ments of the enemy. The staff officers could be made the ready
and safe means of thwarting the Government in its orders for the
removal of troops from one command to -reenforce threatened
positions in another, and could be easily rendered subservient to
the natural but dangerous propensity of most commanders to re
tain all the troops under their own control for the safety of their
own commands, without reference to more urgent needs at other
points. It is scarcely necessary to add to these considerations more than
a bare allusion to the tendency of such bodies of officers, when de
pendent for their own promotion on the favor of the special chiefs,
to resort to agencies less commendable than the zealous discharge
of their legitimate duties for the attainment of their desires.
II. Another very objectionable feature of the bill proposed is its
effect on the officers of the general staff other than those who may
be selected as the favorites of commanding generals.

Second Congress. 463.
Numbers of zealous, meritorious, and valuable officers have
.made the duties of the general staff objects of special study ; have
embraced the staff as a branch of the profession in which under
existing laws they are entitled to promotion for merit and long
service, just as the line officers have a right to promotion in their
branch. This bill deprives the staff officers of this the great incentive to
the zealous discharge of duty. It debars them from promotion
to the higher grades of their own branch of service, and bestows
these prizes of honorable ambition on the officers of the line, who
will thus monopolize the promotions to the higher grades, both in
the line and staff, to the entire exclusion of the officers of the lat
ter. Few will be willing to remain in the staff under such cir
cumstances. Those who consent to continue will be those least
ambitious of promotion, and the whole staff service will be im
paired in tone and efficiency.
III. The assignment of general officers to staff duties as pro
vided in the bill would leave many brigades, some divisions, and
perhaps some corps without their appropriate commanders, and
no provision is made to supply the vacancies thus created. Are
their commands to be considered vacant and successors appointed ?
If so, what is to become of those assigned to staff duty, should
the commanding general revoke the assignment?, If the contrary,
many brigades will be commanded by the officer next in rank to
be assigned brigadier, however incompetent such officer may be to
command a brigade, and the like would occur as to divisions and
corps, in contravention of the policy, well considered and estab
lished, that general officers are appointed by selection for merit,
and not promoted by seniority. If the commanding general is
ordered to another command, is he to take his staff with him, or
is he to leave it for service with his successor ? In either case, is
the whole general staff of each army to be changed at the caprice
of the new commander? This must be the effect of the bill, for
the power to assign necessarily implies the power to revoke, as it
would otherwise be equivalent to a permanent appointment, that
could be made only by the President, with the advice and consent
of the Senate.
IV. The fourth objection to the bill is that it applies one rigid
rule for the number of the general staff, based solely on the rank

464 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
of the commander and having no reference to the necessities of a
command. The staff allowed is excessive in number and rank in
many instances and entirely inadequate in others. A law pro
viding a general staff on such a basis as is assumed in this bill
cannot, from its very nature, be executed according to its terms.
The labor required of the staff connected with a brigade, division,
or corps depends on the fact of its being part of an army or a
separate command as well as on the number of men ; the extent of
the country over which operations are to be conducted; the
abundance or scarcity of supplies in the district; the existence or
absence of railroad, river, or other transportation ; the concentra
tion or dispersion of the troops, and the many other circumstances
which control military movements in time of war. It is impos
sible to apply a rigid, unbending rule to such diverse cases. An
organization into corps meets all these difficulties by providing
for assignment of the proper number of officers to different com
mands according to the needs of each.
V. The number and rank of aids-de-camp allowed by the bill are
believed to be greatly in excess of those allowed by other govern
ments and quite unsuited to the nature of ours. They would
rather impede than improve the service. They would encourage
love of ostentation and feed a fondness for vain display, which
should rather be» discouraged than fostered. The experience of
this war has demonstrated that the most efficient commanders,
those who have most attracted the respect, gratitude, and admira
tion of their country, have avoided the large retinue of personal
staff which this bill would seem to sanction as proper or de
sirable. VI. The objection to the enormous increase in the number of
officers and expenditure that would result from the passage of
such a bill becomes a matter of serious concern when no corre
sponding increase of efficiency is secured; of still graver im
portance when the opposite result is to be feared.
According to the bill as passed the staff would embrace an ad
dition of about 400 officers, involving an increased annual expendi
ture for pay, rations, forage, and allowance amounting to $1,138,-
728 above the present staff as organized by general orders under
existing legislation.
If generals are to be allowed to change the staff of each army to

Second Congress. 465
which they may be assigned at their pleasure, it is difficult to cal
culate the extent to which this abuse would grow, the number of
men that would be drawn from useful service to cumber the staff,
or the increase of expenditure involved.
Congress will perceive that with objections so radical it was im
possible for me to approve the bill passed at the last session, and
that the subject was too important to be treated in a hurried mes
sage within the last few hours of the close of a Congress. Con
curring in the expediency of legislation for the organization of a
general staff, I have thought a full exposition of my views on the
subject would perhaps conduce to the framing of a measure which
would carry into effect the views of the Legislative Department
while excluding the provisions which have compelled me to de
cline approving that devised by your predecessors. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, June 6, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I regret that a sense of duty compels me to return to the Senate
without my signature a joint resolution which originated in your
honorable body entitled "Joint resolution in regard to the ex
emption of editors and employees of newspapers."
The terms of this resolution extend to editors of magazines and
periodicals other than newspapers, together with their employ
ees, the same exemption from military service as is now accorded
in favor of newspapers.
I see no reason for exempting these citizens from the duty of de
fending their country which would not apply to all authors, pub
lishers, booksellers, printers, and other persons connected with the
publication of books, pamphlets, religious tracts, and other read
ing matter. At a moment when our lives, our liberty, and our in
dependence are threatened by the utmost power of our enemies,
when every citizen capable of bearing arms ought to be found in
the ranks, I cannot but deem it impolitic to add to the list of ex
emptions without the most urgent necessity. Seeing no such neces
sity, and believing the precedent set by this resolution, if passed,
to be productive of evil effect, I am constrained to return it with
out my approval. Jefferson Davis.
3°

466 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, June 7, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
A bill which originated in the Senate entitled "An Act to au
thorize the appointment of additional officers of artillery for ord
nance duties" has been presented for my signature, but it con
tains a provision founded on an error of fact which compels me
to return it without approval, that the error may be corrected.
The bill contains the following proviso : "Provided, That acting
ordnance officers having been found duly qualified for appointment
according to the regulations of the War Department, and being
already on duty in the field under the orders of the Secretary of
War, shall have preference of appointment under this act." There
are no acting ordnance officers on duty in the field, and I learn
on inquiry that the persons so designated are in reality merely
employees of the Ordnance Bureau for the performance of ord
nance duties in the field in the absence of legislation authorizing
the appointment of officers. This proviso, therefore, has the ef
fect, under an error of fact apparent in its terms, of restricting the
Executive in the choice of persons to fill the offices created by the
bill to a list of employees selected by a chief of bureau, which is
plainly not in accordance with the expressed intention of Con
gress, nor with the terms of the Constitution. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 10, 1864.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
I herewith return to your honorable body, with my objections,
a bill which originated in the House entitled "An Act to amend
an act entitled an act to impose regulations upon the foreign
Commerce of the Confederate States to provide for the public de
fense," approved February 6, 1864.
The principal provisions of the bill are unexceptionable, but one
of its clauses requires to be guarded by some restriction or modi
fication in order to prevent serious injury to the public service.
For a proper understanding of the subject it is necessary to state
certain facts, probably unknown to many members, and which
have an important bearing on the policy of the Government.
Prior to the passage of the act of 6th of February, 1864, the

Second Congress. 467
Government was without any means of making available the cot
ton and tobacco in its possession for the purchase abroad and
importation of supplies essential to the conduct of the war and the
efficiency of the Army, other than two or three steamers belonging
to the departments, and such steamers belonging to private own
ers as could be obtained by contract. The prices charged to the
Government were too excessive to be borne, while the profits of
the private' owners were so great as to enable them by the pay
ment of extravagant wages and rewards to secure (against the
possibility of competition on the part of the Government) the
choice of the pilots, engineers, and other officers available for the
service. The large majority of those engaged in the trade were
foreigners who, by the aid of the fortifications and defenses es
tablished and maintained in our harbors at the Confederate ex
pense, were thus enabled to accumulate rapid fortunes, while de
preciating our currency and exhausting our country of the pro
ductions which form its most valuable resources for needful sup
plies during the war. In the beginning these vessels were by con
sent of the owners made partially available for public purposes,
and a portion of their tonnage was reserved for public use, but
always at very extravagant rates. Subsequently, however, even
these profits were insufficient to satisfy the demands of some of
the traders, and attempts were made to enhance gains by bringing
State and Confederate officials into competition for the use of the
vessels. The evil effects of the system were so apparent that the
act of the 6th of February last was passed by your predecessors,
and under its provisions regulations were adopted which were
intended to guard the public interest, while still offering to private
owners adequate profits to induce a continuance of the trade. For
some weeks after the adoption of these regulations strenuous ef
forts were made by parties interested in the business to induce a
relaxation of the regulations. Many of the vessels remained un
employed on the allegation of the owners that the terms imposed
by the regulations were so onerous as to render impossible the con
tinuance of the business. The regulations remained unchanged,
for I was satisfied, from an examination of the subject, that this
complaint was unfounded, and that the withdrawal of the vessels
was an experiment by a combination among the owners on the
firmness of the Government. The result proved the correctness

468 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
of the view, for, after various attempts to obtain increased advan
tages, the vessels resumed their voyages. Their number has been
largely increased, the ability to export produce and import sup
plies on Government account has been developed to a greater ex
tent than had been anticipated, and the credit of the Government
has been so improved in foreign markets that the quotations for
its loan have rapidly advanced.
It is proper here to observe that among the efforts made to
induce a change of the regulations, was a warning given to
officers of the Government that the owners of vessels could make
better bargains with Governors of States than with the Confeder
ate Government, and that if the regulations were not relaxed in
their favor, they would transfer their vessels to the Executives
of the several States and thus withdraw them from the operations
of the regulations.
Reverting to the terms of the act of 6th of February, 1864, it is
to be observed that by the fifth section it was provided that noth
ing in the act "shall be construed to prohibit the Confederate
States or any of them from exporting any of the articles herein
enumerated on their own account." Holding in view this expres
sion of the legislative will, the regulations authorized by the law
were formed and are now in force, based substantially on the fol
lowing policy :
First. That every vessel owned by private persons shall be con
sidered on every voyage as chartered to the Confederate Govern
ment for one-half of her tonnage, outward and inward.
Second. That all private owners of cargo exported from the
Confederacy shall bring in return supplies equal to one-half of the
proceeds of their expected cargo.
Third. That the several States shall remain at liberty to charter
the other half of each vessel, and shall be free to carry out or
bring back cargo on that half without being subject to the regu
lations. It will be perceived that the policy of these regulations places
the several States on an equal footing with the Confederate Gov
ernment so far as is possible, the only difference being that while
the Confederacy imposes a forced charter for one-half of the ton
nage in its favor, it has no authority to do more for the States

Second Congress. 469
than to leave tne other half subject to their use by charter obtained
by consent of the owners.
When these regulations were accepted by the owners of vessels
they amounted in substance to an agreement on their part to char
ter half of their tonnage to the Confederacy on every voyage at
the rates stipulated in the regulations.
Now, the bill which I return to the House makes three pro
visions :
First. That cargo shipped by the States shall not be subject to
the regulations, and to this there can be no objection. It merely
reaffirms the law as it stands.
Second. That vessels owned by any State and employed for the
exclusive use of the State shall not be subject to the regulations;
and to this no objection is made, as it places vessels owned by any
State on the same footing as vessels owned by the Confederacy.
Third. That vessels chartered by any State for its exclusive
use shall not be subject to the regulations ; and this is the pro
vision to which objection is made, because it is liable to a con
struction which would authorize the States, instead of chartering
from the owners of vessels in the trade only that half which re
mains at their disposal under the regulations, and thus preserving
equality with the Confederate Government in this matter, to char
ter the entire tonnage of the vessels, thus depriving the Confed
eracy of a resource now at its disposal, and without which very
serious embarrassments to the public service would ensue. When
it is remembered that the number of private vessels in the service
is limited, that the profits of exporting produce are very large,
that the temptation to engage in the business will be great, it is
easy to perceive how grave might become the consequences of
sanctioning a system under which the several States and the
Confederate Government would be competitors for contracts with
the owners of the vessels engaged in this commerce, and how im
minent the risk that the Confederacy would be deprived of this in
dispensable means of carrying on the war.
I trust, therefore, that the House will concur in the opinion that
the words "or chartered" should be stricken out of the closing
sentence of the bill, or that a clause should be added providing
"that nothing in this law shall be so construed as to affect the
rights of the Confederate States under existing regulations to the

470 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
use of one-half the tonnage of each vessel engaged in the trade,
except such as are owned exclusively by a State." Jefferson Davis.

To the House of Representatives of the Congress of the Confederate
States.
I herewith return to you an act to amend an act entitled "An
Act to reduce the currency and to authorize a new Jssue of notes
and bonds," approved February 17, 1864, with the objections
which induce me to withhold my approval thereof.
Under the provisions of the act of 17 February, 1864, all Treas
ury notes above the denomination of five dollars not bearing in
terest, which shall not have been funded east of the Mississippi
on 1 April, 1864, and on 1 July west of the Mississippi, are made
subject to a tax of 33 1-3 cents on the dollar. Notes of the denom
ination of one hundred dollars are made subject to a further tax
of ten per cent per month until funded; and all these notes out
standing on 1 January, 1865, are then taxed 100 per cent.
The effect of these provisions east of the Mississippi is to reduce
the nominal rate of all the notes one-third after the 1 April, to in
crease this reduction ten per cent per month on the one hundred
dollar notes until 1 November, 1864, at which date they are ex
tinguished, and on 1 January, 1865, to extinguish the other notes.
The amendatory act which it is now proposed to pass grants
to certain persons the privilege of funding at par all these notes
until ist January, 1865 ; and thus in effect gives to them precisely
the rights which are taken away from all other citizens by the
original act.
The extent of this privilege may be measured by the fact that
the one hundred dollar notes outstanding on 1 April were esti
mated by the Secretary of the Treasury to amount to one hundred
and twenty-eight millions. In the hands of persons not em
braced by the amendatory act, they have already lost one-third
of their nominal value. They continue to lose 10 per cent per
month, and finally, on 1 November, such as remain outstanding
will cease to have any value. But in the hands of the persons
described in the amendatory act they all stand good against the
Government for their entire original value.

Second Congress. 471
The persons to whom this privilege is granted are by the terms
of the amendatory act disposed into two classes :
1. Loyal citizens or persons belonging to the Confederate States
Army within the enemy's lines as prisoners of war.
2. Other loyal persons held as prisoners, who, by reason of the
occupation by the enemy of the section of country in which they
resided, and the interruption of the postal and telegraphic com
munication, or other unavoidable cause were prevented from ob
taining timely information of the requirements of the said act, or
who were so situated in consequence of movements of the enemy
or the casualties of war as to be unable to comply with the pro
visions thereof.
The evidence which the act requires to establish the facts upon
which the claim rests is the simple affidavit of the claimant; and
it is only in case of his inability to make affidavit that suppletory
proof is required. The persons described in this law comprehend
the population remaining in several States of the Confederacy
and large portions of other States. The only exception is of such
as may be unwilling to make oath of loyalty. The law does not
even restrict its benefits to loyal citizens, but expressly includes
"other persons," and contains no indication of the meaning to be
attached to the word "loyal" when applied to persons not citizens
of the Confederate States.
It is known that very large amounts of Treasury notes have
fallen into the hands of the enemy by the fortunes of war, and
one of the results accomplished by your predecessors in affixing
short delays for funding was to prevent these notes from becom
ing available to the plunderers who had robbed our citizens. It is
too plain for doubt that our enemies, who have not hesitated in the
attempt to defraud the Treasury and the people by means of
counterfeited notes, would have little scruple or difficulty in devis
ing means to bring themselves within the terms of the bill under
consideration. It is but a moderate calculation to say that at the
present moment taxes which have accrued to the Treasury, and
on which this bill would take effect, amount to fifty millions of
dollars, and this sum would probably be doubled at the end of
the period fixed for claiming the benefit of its provisions.
The bill contains no adequate safeguard for the protection of
the Treasury. No means are provided for testing the truth of

47 2 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the affidavits on which millions of dollars are to be paid out of the
public purse. No commissioner, no court, no officer is directed
or even authorized to investigate a claim. The oath of any man
who is willing to swear to the requirements of the law is to be
conclusive. The outstanding bills for one hundred dollars on
the east of the Mississippi must amount to many millions of dol
lars, and cannot now be funded for more than forty-seven per
cent of their nominal value, and such as are not funded by the ist
November next will be extinct. The bill leaves the Treasury at
the mercy of dishonest men for this whole amount with less pro
tection than experience has shown to be necessary to guard it
against an overcharge in the purchase of ordinary supplies.
It is not doubted that there are many exceptional cases in which
the law of February last will operate harshly, and even unjustly.
The desire to relieve prisoners of war, as evinced by the passage
of this bill, is not only natural but commendable, and I would
cheerfully cooperate with Congress in any measures necessary to
attain that object, if so guarded as to protect the Treasury from
fraudulent claims. In this bill there is an absence of necessary
safeguards, and I am therefore unable to give it my approval.
Jefferson Davis.
June II, 1864. Richmond, Va.

To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
I return to the Senate, in which it originated, the joint resolu
tion directing "the settlement of the claim of Zedekiah McDaniel
and Francis M. Ewing for destroying the Federal gunboat 'Cairo'
by means of a torpedo," with the objections which induce me to
withhold my approval.
The character of this claim may be thus briefly stated. Z. Mc
Daniel and F. M. Ewing were appointed Acting Masters in the
Navy in August, 1862. Their letters of appointment stated that
they were "appointed for special service on submarine batteries"
and ordered them to report to Flag Officer William F. Lynch, at
Jackson, Miss.
Submarine batteries were at that time the subject of device and
experiment for river and harbor defenses, and these gentlemen
were recommended as well qualified for such service, McDaniel

Second Congress. 473
as having been engaged a short time in preparing torpedoes, and
Ewing as being enterprising and bold. In accepting their ap
pointments it appears that they did not allege that they had in
vented or contrived a torpedo, nor were they appointed to use
specially any one of the numerous devices, more or less ingenious,
which had been suggested and brought to the notice of the Gov
ernment. They reported in obedience to orders and entered upon the duty
of placing torpedoes in the Yazoo River under the immediate com
mand of Commander Isaac N. Brown, and the gunboat "Cairo"
was destroyed on the 14th December, 1862, by a torpedo placed
by them in company with others.
In March, 1863, McDaniel and Ewing for the first time ap
prised the Department that they claimed a reward for their serv
ice on the ground that the torpedo which exploded under the
"Cairo" was invented by them. The claim was based on the pro
visions of three acts of Congress: ist. "An Act recognizing the
existence of war between the United States and the Confederate
States, and concerning letters of marque, prizes, and prize goods,"
No. 106, approved 6th May, 1861 ; 2d. An Act amendatory of the
foregoing, No. 170, approved 21st May, 1861 ; 3d. An Act amend
atory of this last-mentioned law, approved 21st April, 1862.
The second section of the act No. 170, above cited, secures to
the inventor of "any new kind of armed vessel or floating battery
or defense" certain rewards and privileges upon the condition
that "he shall deposit a plan of the same, accompanied by suit
able explanations or specifications, in the Navy Department, to
gether with an affidavit setting forth that he is the inventor there
of." This deposit and affidavit are prerequisite to any exclusive
rights in favor of the inventor, and a reservation is made specially
in favor of the Government of the right of using such invention
in all cases.
The very basis of the claim of these parties was the originality
of their invention. The joint resolution under consideration re
cites that a board of naval officers have reported that the "Cairo"
was destroyed "by means of a torpedo invented and used by them
[McDaniel & Ewing] in the Yazoo River in 1862." This is an
error, no board of officers of the Navy having even investigated or

474 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
reported on this point. The description given of the torpedo by
Commander Brown is on record, and does not justify the claim
of original invention made by these parties. It represents the
torpedo to have consisted of two demijohns connected together,
filled with gunpowder, and exploded by means of the ordinary
friction primer. The letter of Commander Brown further de
clares that other parties rendered "most material aid in the de
struction of this vessel, and are justly entitled to much of the
credit of the success."
Independently of this objection to the claim, the legislation
above recited seemed to be conclusive against it. The policy of
the law plainly provided that inventors should have the exclusive
privilege of their inventions and should be entitled to the rewards
promised them, only on condition that they should file in the
Navy Department such a description of their invention as would
enable the Government to render available the right of using the
invention which it had reserved for itself. In the present case
the Government was deprived of its right to use the alleged in
vention by the failure of the claimants to give the description or
file the proper papers in the Department till May, 1863, or about
five months after the destruction of the "Cairo." The high boun
ty of fifty per centum, the largest, it is believed, ever allowed for
a similar service, was granted by Congress according to the act of
21st April, 1862, and it may be reasonably assumed that such
extraordinary bounty was partly in consideration for this right
expressly reserved to the country.
Upon these grounds and especially upon the important princi
ples to which reference will be subsequently made, the Secretary
of the Navy rejected the claim of McDaniel and Ewing, who
appealed to the Executive from his decision. The views of the
Head of the Navy Department were sustained, and application was
then made to Congress, which afforded the claimants a fresh tri
bunal by directing the Secretary of the Treasury to adjust their
claims. The joint resolution directing this reference was passed
in February last, and the Secretary made a report to Congress at
its present session stating the value of the vessel and armament
destroyed, but also stating that no investigation had been made of
the merits of the claim or of the originality of the invention. The

Second Congress. 47 c
Naval Board called together at the request of the Secretary of the
Treasury performed no other duty than estimating the value, but
•did not (nor could they under the joint resolution) act as a
•tribunal for the examination of the other questions involved in the
claim. My objections to the present joint resolution are :
ist. That there is error of fact in its recital that a board of
naval officers had reported that the "Cairo" was destroyed "by
means of a torpedo invented and used- by the memorialists." Not
only is it a mistake that such report was made, but it is believed
to be very questionable whether the torpedo was an original in
vention of the memorialists.
2d. The claimants failed to give the Government the considera
tion which the law requires as a condition of the right to the re
ward — namely, such a description of the alleged invention as
would enable the Government to enjoy freely its reserved rights
of using the invention in its own service.
3d. The most serious objection is this, that the service on which
this claim is founded was rendered by officers of the Navy spe
cially appointed and paid for this service. They did not make
known to the Department when they were appointed that they
proposed to use a special torpedo of their own invention, for the
use of which they expected a reward. So far as is known to the
Government, all the means, the materials, the expenditures of the
torpedo service in the Yazoo River, including the pay and allow
ances of these claimants, were at the charge of the Government,
and the service was performed under the control of a Navy officer
of superior rank ; nor was the sanction of any officer of the Gov
ernment asked or given that these claimants should conduct tor
pedo experiments at public expense, without risk of time, labor, or
capital of their own, and with the right to large reward in the
event of success.
No public officer charged with a special duty for which he is
paid, and the means of performing which are also paid for by the
Government, can be allowed to claim a reward for the perform
ance of his duty without evils of the greatest character to the pub
lic service.
Large numbers of Army and Navy officers have been employed

476 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
in torpedo service and submarine defenses. Scarcely one has
failed to suggest and essay new devices and combinations, many
of which have proved successful. Numerous vessels have been
destroyed, but the claim under consideration is the only one that
has been presented to the attention of the Government. None of
the other officers seem to have imagined that it was not their
duty to devote all their mind, talent, and inventive faculties in
performing the service to which they were assigned without any
other pecuniary reward than the pay and allowances accorded by
law to other officers of the same grade.
If the present joint resolution should give sanction to the oppo
site view of the duty of an officer, it is easy to perceive how in
juriously it will affect the service. It is less easy to estimate the
amount of the claims on the Treasury that would thus be sanc
tioned. If these claimants are to be rewarded for the destruction of the
"Cairo," why are they to receive the whole sum allowed by the
law ? There seems no ground for excluding the others who aided
in the enterprise and who, in the language of Commander Brown,
rendered most material aid, and are justly entitled to much of the
credit of success.
My examination of the legislation leads me to a view of the
policy of Congress quite different from that which would be im
plied by the passage of this joint resolution. The three acts above
recited seem to me clearly to indicate a desire to encourage pri
vate enterprise and to stimulate the investment of private means
in the effort to destroy the armed ships of the enemy by awarding
a reward (originally of twenty per centum, afterwards increased
to fifty per centum) to private armed vessels and to private in
dividuals operating at their own expense with torpedoes or other
devices for the public defense. They do not seem to me to have
contemplated offering the same reward to the officers and seamen
of the Navy, paid and maintained at public expense, for doing
their duty in waging war on the vessels of the enemy on the high
seas or in rivers and harbors.
I have deemed this full explanation of the facts and law of the
case due to Congress as justifying the refusal to sign what is
apparently an unimportant bill for the relief of private claimants,

Second Congress. 477
but is in reality the sanction of a principle deemed unsound and
pernicious, involving in its consequences injury to the public serv
ice and heavy demands on the public Treasury. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., June 11, 1864.

ADDRESS.
Circular.
Hdqrs. District of Indian Territory,
Fort Towson, C. N., May 14, 1864.
The following address of His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, Pres
ident of the Confederate States, is hereby published for the infor
mation of the people of the Six Confederate Indian Nations.
S. B. Maxey,
Brigadier General Commanding.
Richmond, February 22, 1864.
Israel Folsom,
President of the Grand Council of the Six Confederate Indian
Nations, And Samuel Garland, Choctaw chief; John Jumper, Seminole
chief; Samuel Chicote, Creek chief; George Washington, Caddo
-chief; Winchester Colbert, Governor Chickasaw Nation; Stand
Watie, Cherokee chief :
I have received and read with much interest your communication
of the 24th of November, 1863, which conveys to me for my in
formation certain resolutions passed by the delegates of the Six
Nations, and the executives of the same, in general council as
sembled. The welfare of the citizens and soldiers you represent is iden
tical with that of all the Confederate States in the great struggle
in which we are now engaged for constitutional rights and inde
pendence, and you are regarded by this Government as peculiarly
entitled to its fostering care.
I am, therefore, very much concerned to hear that you consider

478 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the Confederate Government has failed fully to redeem its pledges
made to the Six Nations for supplies and protection. It is con
solatory, however, to be assured by you that the attributed failure
does not arise from any want of good faith on our part, but from
other causes which you have mentioned. And you may rest as
sured that those officers and agents to whom you allude as hav
ing not only neglected their duty, but perverted their authority to
the commission of wrong, this Government will hold to rigid re
sponsibility, whenever the proper proof in each case is brought
before it.
Your requests as well as your complaints have received my ear
nest consideration, and I take pleasure in saying that, while it will
always gratify me to be able to grant the one, I will ever most
respectfully give heed to the other. All treaty stipulations be
tween us shall be sacredly observed and carried into effect to the
full extent of my power as President of the Confederate States.
The policy of constituting the territory of the Six Nations a sep
arate military department, outside of the control of the command
ing general of the department west of the Mississippi, has been
thoroughly considered and discussed by the Executive Govern
ment here, with your delegates elect.
In pursuance of the result of that discussion I have caused the
Indian Territory to be designated as a separate military district,
and the Indian troops to be placed under the immediate command
of General Cooper, the officer of your choice. It was thought
manifestly better for the interest of all concerned that your Terri
tory should be constituted a separate military district, rather than'
a department, so that the commanding general of the Trans-Mis
sissippi Department may be responsible for the defense and pro
tection of your district, as well as for all others under his charge,
and will feel it his duty to aid and protect you with all the prompti
tude and efficiency that unity in the whole force will confer. This
view has been presented to your delegates, and I hope, when fully
explained, will meet with your approval.
You will learn from your delegates as well as through this chan
nel that additional brigades in the Territory will be formed as
rapidly as the number of regiments will warrant, and brigadiers
appointed over them, in the selection of whom your recommenda
tions will be specially regarded. As there are not yet a sufficient

Second Congress. 479
number of Indian troops to constitute a division, a major general
cannot now be properly appointed ; but as soon as there are at least
three such brigades, I propose to appoint a major general to com
mand them. In this view, but more especially in view of the pub
lic interest, I earnestly urge upon you the policy of making the
requisite organization of Indian troops as rapidly as possible. As
the law now stands, I have not the power to constitute such courts
as you specify, but measures will be taken to secure justice to those
claimants you describe, as fully and promptly as is practicable.
Arrangements have been made with Major Le Flore to have a cer
tain number of arms delivered on the west side of the Mississippi
River for the Indians, and General Smith has been instructed to
give every facility for their transportation.
Your last resolution, which instructs your delegates to assure
the Confederate States of the unshaken loyalty of the Six Nations
represented in the grand council to their treaties with this Gov
ernment, is highly creditable to them, is what I expected from
them, and claims my grateful recognition. The soldiers and peo
ple of the Six Nations in treaty and amity with us are regarded
by this Government with the same tender care and solicitude as
are the soldiers and people of all of the Confederate States.
Our cause is one, and our hearts must be united; we must all
put forth our whole energy, cultivate harmony and confidence,
practice fortitude, bring forth promptly every available man into
the field, and resolve to do, and if need be to die, in defense of our
birthright. And with the providence of God to guide and to
shield us, victory will perch on our banners and bless us with
peace, independence, and prosperity.
Accept my best wishes for health and happiness to yourselves
and to the people of the Six Nations, and believe me, very truly,
your friend, Jefferson Davis.

RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do resolve,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
tendered, to the Thirty-Fourth and Thirty-Eighth Regiments of

480 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
North Carolina troops, for the promptness and unanimity with
which they have reenlisted for the war.
Approved May 17, 1864.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do resolve,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
the Texas brigade, composed of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Tex
as and Third Arkansas Regiments, for their eminently patriotic
conduct in reenlisting for the war.
Approved May 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress and the country are due, and are
tendered, to Major General Robert F. Hoke and Commander
James W. Cooke, and the officers and men under their command,
for the brilliant victory over the enemy at Plymouth, North Car
olina. Approved May 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to
Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, and the officer's and men of
his command, for the skill and gallantry displayed in achieving the
signal victory of Ocean Pond, Florida, on the twentieth of Feb
ruary last. .
Approved May 17, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
tendered, to Brigadier General F. M. Cockrell, and the officers and
soldiers composing the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and
Sixth Regiments of Missouri infantry, First, Second, and Third
Regiments of Missouri cavalry, the batteries of Bledsoe, Landis,
Guibor, Walsh, Dawson, and Barrett, and Woodson's detached
company, all in the service of the Confederacy east of the Mis
sissippi River, for the prompt renewal of their pledges of fidelity
to the cause of Southern independence for forty years, unless inde
pendence and peace, without curtailment of boundaries, shall be
sooner secured.
Approved May 23, 1864.

Second Congress. 481
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
cordially tendered, to Major General N. B. Forrest, and the offi
cers and men of his command, for their late brilliant and success
ful campaign in Mississippi, West Tennessee, and Kentucky — a
campaign which has conferred upon its authors fame as enduring
as the records of the struggle which they have so brilliantly illus
trated. Approved May 23, 1864.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do resolve,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
cordially tendered, to the Ninth Regiment of Texas infantry, for
their patriotic conduct in reenlisting for the war, and tendering
their energies, lives, and honor to the service of the Confederate
States till it is ended and our independence achieved.
Approved June 4, 1864.
Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America,
That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and are hereby
most cordially tendered, to Major General Richard Taylor, and
the officers and men of his command, for the brilliant successes
obtained by them over the enemy in Louisiana during the past
year, and particularly for the victories at Mansfield and Pleasant
Hill, on the eighth and ninth of April last, and their subsequent
operations against the retreating army of the Federal General
Banks, in the valley of the Red River.
Resolved, That the President communicate this resolution to
Major General Taylor and the officers and men of his command.
Approved June 10, 1864.
31

482 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
SECOND SESSION.
MET AT RICHMOND, VA., NOVEMBER 7, 1864. ADJOURNED
MARCH l8, 1865.
MESSAGES. Richmond, Va., November 7, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of
America. It is with satisfaction that I welcome your presence at an earlier
day than that usual for your session, and with confidence that I
invoke the aid of your counsels at a time of such public exigency.
The campaign which was commenced almost simultaneously
with your session early in May last, and which was still in prog
ress at your adjournment in the middle of June, has not yet
reached its close. It has been prosecuted on a scale and with an
energy heretofore unequaled. When we revert to the condition of
our country at the inception of the operations of the present year,
to the magnitude of the preparations made by the enemy, the
number of his forces, the accumulation of his warlike supplies,
and the prodigality with which his vast resources have been lav
ished in the attempt to render success assured; when we contrast
the numbers and means at our disposal for resistance, and when
we contemplate the results of a struggle apparently so unequal,
we cannot fail, while rendering the full meed of deserved praise
to our generals and soldiers, to perceive that a power higher than
man has willed our deliverance, and gratefully to recognize the
protection of a kind Providence in enabling us successfully to
withstand the utmost efforts of the enemy for our subjugation.
At the beginning of the year the State of Texas was partially in
possession of the enemy, and large portions of Louisiana and
Arkansas lay apparently defenseless. Of the Federal soldiers
who invaded Texas, none are known to remain except as prisoners
of war. In northwestern Louisiana a large and well-appointed
army, aided by a powerful fleet, was repeatedly defeated, and
deemed itself fortunate in finally escaping with a loss of one-
third of its numbers, a large part of its military trains, and many
transports and gunboats. The enemy's occupation of that State

Second Congress. 483
is reduced to the narrow district commanded by the guns of his
fleet. Arkansas has been recovered with the exception of a few
fortified posts, while our forces have penetrated into central Mis
souri, affording to our oppressed brethren in that State an oppor
tunity, of which many have availed themselves, of striking for
liberation from the tyranny to which they have been subjected.
On the east of the Mississippi, in spite of some reverses, we
have much cause for gratulation. The e"nemy hoped to effect dur
ing the present year, by concentration of forces, the conquest
which he had previously failed to accomplish by more extended
operations. Compelled therefore to withdraw or seriously to
weaken the strength of the armies of occupation at different points,
he has afforded us the opportunity of recovering possession of ex
tensive districts of our territory. Nearly the whole of northern
and western Mississippi, of northern Alabama, and of western
Tennessee are again in our possession, and all attempts to pene
trate from the coast line into the interior of the Atlantic and Gulf
States have been baffled. On the entire ocean and gulf coast of
the Confederacy the whole success of the enemy, with the enor
mous naval resources at his command, has been limited to the
capture of the outer defenses of Mobile Bay.
If we now turn to the results accomplished by the two great
armies, so confidently relied on by the invaders as sufficient to
secure the subversion of our Government and the subjugation of
our people to foreign domination, we have still greater cause for
devout gratitude to Divine Power. In southwestern Virginia
successive armies, which threatened the capture of Lynchburg
and Saltville, have been routed and driven out of the country, and
a portion of eastern Tennessee reconquered by our troops. In
northern Virginia extensive districts formerly occupied by the
enemy are now free from their presence. In the lower Valley
their general, rendered desperate by his inability to maintain a
hostile occupation, has resorted to the infamous expedient of con
verting a fruitful land into a desert by burning its mills, gran
aries, and homesteads, and destroying the food, standing crops,
live stock, and agricultural implements of peaceful noncombat
ants. The main army, after a series of defeats in which its losses
have been enormous, after attempts by raiding parties to break up
our railroad communications, which have resulted in the destruc-

484 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
tion of a large part of the cavalry engaged in the work, after con
stant repulse of repeated assaults on our defensive lines, is, with
the aid of heavy reenforcements, but with, it is hoped, waning
prospect of further progress in the design, still engaged in an ef
fort commenced more than four months ago to capture the town
of Petersburg.
The army of General Sherman, although succeeding at the end
of the summer in obtaining possession of Atlanta", has been unable
to secure any ultimate advantage from this success. The same
general, who in February last marched a large army from Vicks
burg to Meridian with no other result than being forced to march
back again, was able, by the aid of greatly increased numbers and
after much delay, to force a passage from Chattanooga to Atlanta,
only to be for the second time compelled to withdraw on the line
of his advance without obtaining control of a single mile of terri
tory beyond the narrow track of his march, and without gaining
aught beyond the precarious possession of a few fortified points in
which he is compelled to maintain heavy garrisons and which arc
menaced with recapture.
The lessons afforded by the history of this war are fraught with
instruction and encouragement. Repeatedly during the war have
formidable expeditions been directed by the enemy against points
ignorantly supposed to be of vital importance to the Confederacy.
Some of these expeditions have, at immense cost, been successful,
but in no instance have the promised fruits been reaped. Again,
in the present campaign was the delusion fondly cherished that
the capture of Atlanta and Richmond would, if effected, end the
war by the overthrow of our Government and the submission of
our people. We can now judge by experience how unimportant
is the influence of the former event upon our capacity for defense,
upon the courage and spirit of the people, and the stability of the
Government. We may in like manner judge that if the campaign
against Richmond had resulted in success instead of failure ; if the
valor of the army, under the leadership of its accomplished com
mander, had resisted in vain the overwhelming masses which were,
on the contrary, decisively repulsed; if we had been compelled to
evacuate Richmond as well as Atlanta — the Confederacy would
have remained as erect and defiant as ever. Nothing could have
been changed in the purpose of its Government, in the indomitable

Second Congress. 485
valor of its troops, or in the unquenchable spirit of its people. The
baffled and disappointed foe would in vain have scanned the re
ports of your proceedings, at some new legislative seat, for any
indication that progress had been made in his gigantic task of
conquering a free people. The truth so patent to us must ere
long be forced upon the reluctant Northern mind. There are no
vital points on the preservation of which the continued existence
of the Confederacy depends. There is no military success of the
enemy which can accomplish its destruction. Not the fall of Rich
mond, nor Wilmington, nor Charleston, nor Savannah, nor Mo
bile, nor of all combined, can save the enemy from the constant
and exhaustive drain of blood and treasure which must continue
until he shall discover that no peace is attainable unless based on
the recognition of our indefeasible rights.
Before leaving this subject it is gratifying to assure you that the
military supplies essentially requisite for public defense will be
found, as heretofore, adequate to our needs, and that abundant
crops have rewarded the labor of the farmer and rendered abortive
the inhuman attempt of the enemy to produce by devastation fam
ine among the people. FOREIGN RELATIONS.
It is not in my power to announce any change in the conduct
of foreign powers. No such action has been taken by the Chris
tian nations of Europe as might justly have been expected from
their history, from the duties imposed by international law, and
from the claims of humanity. It is charitable to attribute their
conduct to no worse motive than indifference to the consequences
of a struggle which shakes only the republican portion of the
American continent, and not to ascribe to design a course calcu
lated to insure the prolongation of hostilities.
No instance in history is remembered by me in which a nation
pretending to exercise dominion over another asserting its inde
pendence has been the first to concede the existence of such inde
pendence. No case can be recalled to my mind in which neutral
powers have failed to set the example of recognizing the independ
ence of a nation when satisfied of the inability of its enemy to sub
vert its Government, and this, too, in cases where the previous
relation between the contending parties had been confessedly that

486 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
of mother country and dependent colony ; not, as in our case, that
of coequal States united by Federal compact. It has ever been
considered the proper function and duty of neutral powers to per
form the office of judging whether in point of fact the nation
asserting dominion is able to make good its pretensions by force
of arms, and if not, by recognition of the resisting party, to dis
countenance the further continuance of the contest. And the
reason why this duty is incumbent on neutral powers is plainly
apparent when we reflect that the pride and passion which blind
the judgment of the parties to the conflict cause the continuance
of active warfare and consequent useless slaughter long after the
inevitable result has become apparent to all not engaged in the
struggle. So long, therefore, as neutral nations fail, by recogni
tion of our independence, to announce that in their judgment the
United States are unable to reduce the Confederacy to submis
sion, their conduct will be accepted by our enemies as a tacit en
couragement to continue their efforts, and as an implied assurance
that belief is entertained by neutral nations in the success of
their designs. A direct stimulus, whether intentional or not, is
thus applied to securing a continuance of the carnage and devasta
tion which desolate this continent and which they profess deeply
to deplore.
The disregard of this just, humane, and Christian public duty
by the nations of Europe is the more remarkable from the fact that
authentic expression has long since been given by the Govern
ments of both France and England to the conviction that the Unit
ed States are unable to conquer the Confederacy. It is now more
than two years since the Government of France announced offi
cially to the Cabinets of London and Saint Petersburg its own
conclusion that the United States were unable to achieve any de
cisive military success. In the answers sent by these powers no
intimation of a contrary opinion was conveyed ; and it is notorious
that in speeches, both in and out of Parliament, the members of
Her Britannic Majesty's Government have not hesitated to express
this conviction in unqualified terms. The denial of our rights un
der these circumstances is so obviously unjust and discriminates
so unfairly in favor of the United States that neutrals have sought
to palliate the wrong of which they are conscious by professing to
consider, in opposition to notorious truth and to the known belief

Second Congress* 487
of both belligerents, that the recognition of our independence
would be valueless without their further intervention in the strug
gle, an intervention of which we disclaim the desire and mistrust
the advantage. We seek no favor, we wish no intervention, we
know ourselves fully competent to maintain our own rights and
independence against the invaders of our country, and we feel
justified in asserting that without the aid derived from recruiting
their armies from foreign countries the invaders would ere this
have been driven from our soil. When the recognition of the
Confederacy was refused by Great Britain in the fall of 1862 the
refusal was excused on the ground that any action by Her Majes
ty's Government would have the effect of inflaming the passions
of the belligerents and of preventing the return of peace. It is
assumed that this opinion was sincerely entertained ; but the ex
perience of two years of unequaled carnage shows that it was
erroneous, and that the result was the reverse of what the British
ministry humanely desired. A contrary policy, a policy just to
us, a policy diverging from an unvarying course of concession to
all the demands of our enemies, is still within the power of Her
Majesty's Government, and would, it is fair to presume, be pro
ductive of consequences the opposite of those which have unfor
tunately followed its whole course of conduct from the commence
ment of the war until the present time. In a word, peace is im
possible without independence, and it is not to be expected that
the enemy will anticipate neutrals in the recognition of that inde
pendence. When the history of the war shall be fully disclosed, the calm
judgment of the impartial publicist will for these reasons be unable
to absolve the neutral nations of Europe from a share in the moral
responsibility for the myriads of human lives that have been unnec
essarily sacrificed- during its progress.
The renewed instances in which foreign powers have given us
just cause for complaint need not here be detailed. The extracts
from the correspondence of the State Department which accom
pany this message will afford such further information as can be
given without detriment to the public interest, and we must re
serve for the future such action as may then be deemed advisable
to secure redress.

488 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
FINANCES.
Your especial attention is earnestly invited to the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, submitted in conformity with law. The
facts therein disclosed are far from discouraging, and demonstrate
that with judicious legislation we shall be enabled to meet all the
exigencies of the war from our abundant resources and avoid at
the same time such an accumulation of debt as would render at
all doubtful our capacity to redeem it. The total receipts in the
Treasury for the two quarters ending on the 30th of September,
1864, were $415,191,550, which sum, added to the balance of $308,-
282,722 that remained in the Treasury on the ist of April last,
forms a total of $723,474,272. Of this total, not far from half —
that is to say, $342,560,327 — has been applied to the extinction of
the public debt, while the total expenditures have been $272,378,-
505, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the ist of October, 1864,
of $108,535,440.
The total amount of the public debt, as exhibited on the books
of the Register of the Treasury on the ist of October, 1864, was
$1,147,970,208, of which $539,34.0,090 was funded debt bearing
interest, $283,880,150 was Treasury notes of the new issue, and
the remainder consisted of the former issue of Treasury notes,
which will be converted into other forms of debt, and will cease
to exist as currency on the 31st of next month.
The report, however, explains that, in consequence of the ab
sence of certain returns from distant officers, the true amount of
the debt is less by about $21,500,000 than appears on the books of
the Register, and that the total public debt on the ist of last month
may be fairly considered to have been $1,126,381,095.
The increase of the public debt during the six months from the
ist of April to the ist of October was $97,650,780, being rather
more than $16,000,000 per month, and it will be apparent, on a
perusal of the report, .that this augmentation would have been
avoided and a positive reduction of the amount would have been
effected but for certain defects in the legislation on the subject of
finances, which are pointed out in the report and which seem to
admit of easy remedy.
In the statements just made the foreign debt is omitted. It
consists only of the unpaid balance of the loan known as the cotton
loan. This balance is but £2,200,000 and is adequately provided

Second Congress. 489
for by about 250,000 bales of cotton owned by the Government,
even if the cotton be rated as worth but 6 pence per pound.
There is one item of the public debt not included in the tables
presented, to which your attention is required. The bounty bonds
promised to our soldiers by the third section of the act of 17th of
February, 1864, were deliverable on the ist of October. The
Secretary has been unable to issue them by reason of an omission
in the law, no time being therein fixed for the payment of the
bonds. The aggregate appropriations called for by the different de
partments of the Government, according to the estimates sub
mitted with the report, for the six months ending on the 30th of
June, 1865, amount to $438,102,679, while the Secretary esti
mates that there will remain unexpended out of former appropria
tions, on the ist of January, 1865, a balance of $467,416,504. It
would therefore seem that former estimates have been largely in
excess of actual expenditures, and that no additional appropria
tions are required for, meeting the needs of the public service up
to the ist of July of next year. Indeed, if the estimates now pre
sented should prove to be as much in excess of actual expendi
tures as has heretofore been the case, a considerable balance will
still remain unexpended at the close of the first half of the ensuing
year. The chief difficulty to be apprehended in connection with our
finances results from the depreciation of the Treasury notes, which
seems justly to be attributed by the Secretary to two causes, re
dundancy in amount and want of confidence in ultimate redemp
tion, for both of which remedies are suggested that will commend
themselves to your consideration as being practical as well as effi
cient. The main features of the plan presented are substantially these :
First, that the faith of the Government be pledged that the notes
shall ever remain exempt from taxation; second, that no issue
shall be made beyond that which is already authorized by law ;
third, that a certain fixed portion of the annual receipts from tax
ation during the war shall be set apart especially for the gradual
extinction of the outstanding amount until it shall have been re
duced to $150,000,000 ; and fourth, the pledge and appropriation of
such proportion of the tax in kind and for such number of years

490 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
after the return of peace as shall be sufficient for the final redemp
tion of the entire circulation.
The details of the plan, the calculations on which it is based, the
efficiency of its operation, and the vast advantages which would
result from its success are fully detailed in the report, and cannot
be fairly presented in a form sufficiently condensed for this mes
sage. I doubt not it will receive from you that- earnest and can
did consideration which is merited by the importance of the sub
ject. The recommendations of the report for the repeal of certain
provisions of the tax laws which produce inequality in the burden
of taxation ; for exempting all Government loans from taxation on
capital, and from any adverse discrimination in taxation on in
come derived from them ; for placing the taxation on banks on the
same footing as the taxation of other corporate bodies ; for secur
ing the payment into the Treasury of that portion of the bank
circulation which is liable to confiscation because held by alien en
emies; for the conversion of the interest-bearing Treasury notes
now outstanding into coupon bonds, and for the quarterly collec
tion of taxation — all present practical questions for legislation,
which, if wisely devised, will greatly improve the public credit and
alleviate the burdens now imposed by the extreme and unnecessary
depreciation in the value of the currency.
The returns of the Produce Loan Bureau are submitted with
the report, and the information is conveyed that the Treasury
agency in the Trans-Mississippi Department has been fully organ
ized and is now in operation, with promise of efficiency and suc
cess. The provision heretofore made to some extent for increasing
the compensation of public officers, civil and military, is found to
be in some places inadequate to their support, perhaps not more
so anywhere tnan in Richmond, and inquiry with a view to appro
priate remedy is suggested to your consideration. Your notice is
also called to the condition of certain officers of the Treasury, who
were omitted in the law heretofore passed for the relief of other
public officers, as mentioned in the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury.

Second Congress. 491
DEPARTMENT OF WAR.
The condition of the various branches of the military service is
stated in the accompanying report of the Secretary of War.
Among the suggestions made for legislative action, with a view
to add to the number and efficiency of the Army, all of which will
receive your consideration, there are some prominent topics which
merit special notice.
The exemption from military duty now accorded by law to all
persons engaged in certain specified pursuits or professions is
shown by experience to be unwise, nor is it believed to be defen
sible in theory. The defense of home, family, and country is uni
versally recognized as the paramount political duty of every mem
ber of society, and in a form of government like ours, where each
citizen enjoys an equality of rights and privileges, nothing can be
more invidious than an unequal distribution of duties and obliga
tions. No pursuit or position should relieve any one who is able
to do active duty from enrollment in the Army, unless his func
tions or services are more useful to the defense of his country in
another sphere. But it is manifest that this cannot be the case
with entire classes. All telegraph operators, workmen in mines,
professors, teachers, engineers, editors and employees of news
papers, journeymen printers, shoemakers, tanners, blacksmiths,
millers, physicians, and the numerous other classes mentioned in
the laws cannot in the nature of things be equally necessary in
their several professions, nor distributed throughout the country
in such proportions that only the exact numbers required are
found in each locality ; nor can it be everywhere impossible to re
place those within the conscript age by men older and less capable
of active field services. A discretion should be vested in the mil
itary authorities, so that a sufficient number of those essential to
the public service might be detailed to continue the exercise of
their pursuits or professions ; but the exemption from service of the
entire classes should be wholly abandoned. It affords great fa
cility for abuses, offers the temptation as well as the ready means
of escaping service by fraudulent devices, and is one of the prin
cipal obstructions to the efficient operation of the conscript laws.
A general militia law is needful in the interest of the public
defense. The Constitution, by vesting the power in Congress,
imposes on it the duty of providing "for organizing, arming, and

492 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as
may be employed in the service of the Confederate States." The
great diversity in the legislation of the several States on this sub
ject, and the absence of any provision establishing an exact meth
od for calling the militia into Confederate service, are sources of
embarrassment which ought no longer to be suffered to impede
defensive measures.
The legislation in relation to the cavalry demands change. The
policy of requiring men to furnish their own horses has proven
pernicious in many respects. It interferes with discipline, impairs
efficiency, and is the cause of frequent and prolonged absence from
appropriate duty. The subject is fully treated in the Secretary's
report, with suggestions as to the proper measures for reforming
that branch of the service.
The recommendation hitherto often made is again renewed, that
some measure be adopted for the reorganization and consolida
tion of companies and regiments when so far reduced in numbers
as seriously to impair their efficiency. It is the more necessary
that this should be done, as the absence of legislation on the sub
ject has forced generals in the field to resort to various expedients
for approximating the desired end. It is surely an evil that a
commanding officer should be placed in a position which forces
upon him the choice of allowing the efficiency of his command to
be seriously impaired or of attempting to supply by the exercise
of doubtful authority the want of proper legal provision. The
regard for the sensibility of officers who have heretofore served.
with credit, and which is believed to be the controlling motive
that has hitherto obstructed legislation on this subject, however
honorable and proper, may be carried to a point which seriously
injures the public good; and if this be the case, it can scarcely be
questioned which of the two considerations should be deemed
paramount. The Secretary's recommendations on the subject of facilitating
the acquisition of the iron required for maintaining the efficiency
of railroad communication on the important military lines are com
mended to your favor. The necessity for the operation in full
vigor of such lines is too important to need comment.
The question in dispute between the two Governments relative
to the exchange of prisoners of war has been frequently presented

Second Congress. 493
in former messages and reports, and is fully treated by the Secre
tary. The solicitude of the Government for the relief of our cap
tive fellow-citizens has known no abatement, but has, on the con
trary, been still more deeply evoked by the additional sufferings
to which they have been wantonly subjected by deprivation of
adequate food, clothing, and fuel, which they were not even per
mitted to purchase from the prison sutlers. Finding that the
enemy attempted to excuse their barbarous treatment by the un
founded allegation that it was retaliatory for like conduct on our
part, an offer was made by us with a view of ending all pretext
for such recriminations or pretended retaliation.
The offer has been accepted, and each Government is hereafter
to be allowed to provide necessary comforts to its own citizens held
captive by the other. Active efforts are in progress for the imme
diate execution of this agreement, and it is hoped that but few
days will elapse before we shall be relieved from the distressing
thought that painful physical suffering is endured by so many of
our fellow-citizens whose fortitude in captivity illustrates the na
tional character as fully as did their valor in actual conflict.
EMPLOYMENT OF SLAVES.
The employment of slaves for service with the Army as team
sters or cooks, or in the way of work upon the fortifications, or in
the Government workshops, or in hospitals and other similar du
ties, was authorized by the act of 17th of February last, and pro
vision was made for their impressment to a number not exceeding
20,000, if it should be found impracticable to obtain them by con
tract with the owners. The law contemplated the hiring only of
the labor of these slaves, and imposed on the Government the
liability to pay for the value of such as might be lost to the owners
from casualties resulting from their employment in the service.
This act has produced less result than was anticipated, and
further provision is required to render it efficacious ; but my pres
ent purpose is to invite your consideration to the propriety of a
radical modification in the theory of the law.
Viewed merely as property, and therefore as the subject of
impressment, the service or labor of the slave has been frequently
claimed for short periods in the construction of defensive works.
The slave, however, bears another relation to the State — that of a

494 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
person. The law of last February contemplates only the relation
of the slave to the master and limits the impressment to a certain
term of service.
But for the purposes enumerated in the act, instruction in the
manner of encamping, marching, and parking trains is needful;
so that even in this limited employment length of service adds
greatly to the value of the negro's labor. Hazard is also encoun
tered in all the positions to which negroes can be assigned for
service with the Army, and the duties required of them demand
loyalty and zeal. In this respect the relation of person predom
inates so far as to render it doubtful whether the private right of
property can consistently and beneficially be continued, and it
would seem proper to acquire for the public service the entire
property in the labor of the slave, and to pay therefor due com
pensation rather than to impress his labor for short terms ; and this
the more especially as the effect of the present law would vest this
entire property in all cases where the slave might be recaptured
after compensation for his loss had been paid to the private owner.
Whenever the entire property in the service of a slave is thus
acquired by the Government, the question is presented by what
tenure he should be held. Should he be retained in servitude,
or should his emancipation be held out to him as a reward for
faithful service, or should it be granted at once on the promise of
such service; and if emancipated, what action should be taken tq
secure for the freedman the permission of the State from which
he was drawn to reside within its limits after the close of the
public service ? The permission would doubtless be more readily
accorded as a reward for past faithful service, and a double mo
tive for a zealous discharge of duty would thus be offered to those
employed by the Government — their freedom and the gratification
of the local attachment which is so marked a characteristic of the
negro, and forms so powerful an incentive to his action. The
policy of engaging to liberate the negro on his discharge after
service faithfully rendered seems to me preferable to that of grant
ing immediate manumission, or that of retaining him in servitude.
If this policy should recommend itself to the judgment of Con
gress, it is suggested that, in addition to the duties heretofore per
formed by the slave, he might be advantageously employed as

Second Congress. 495
pioneer and engineer laborer, and in that event that the number
should be augmented to 40,000.
Beyond these limits and these employments it does not seem to
me desirable, under existing circumstances, to go. A broad moral
distinction exists between the use of slaves as soldiers in defense
of their homes and the incitement of the same persons to insurrec
tion against their masters. The one is justifiable, if necessary,
the other is iniquitous and unworthy of a civilized people ; and such
is the judgment of all writers on public law, as well as that ex
pressed and insisted on by our enemies in all wars prior to that
now waged against us. By none have the practices of which they
are now guilty been denounced with greater severity than by
themselves in the two wars with Great Britain, in the last and in
the present century; and in the Declaration of Independence of
1776, when enumeration was made of the wrongs which justified
the revolt from Great Britain, the climax of atrocity was deemed
to be reached only when the English monarch was denounced as
having "excited domestic insurrections amongst us."
The subject is to be viewed by us, therefore, solely in the light
of policy and our social economy. When so regarded, I must dis
sent from those who advise a general levy and arming of the slaves
for the duty of soldiers. Until our white population shall prove
insufficient for the armies we require and can afford to keep in
the field, to employ as a soldier the negro, who has merely been
trained to labor, and as a laborer [under] the white man, accus
tomed from his youth to the use of firearms, would scarcely be
deemed wise or advantageous by any ; and this is the question now
before us. But should the alternative ever be presented of sub
jugation or of the employment of the slave as a soldier, there
seems no reason to doubt what should then be our decision.
Whether our view embraces what would, in so extreme a case, be
the sum of misery entailed by the dominion of the enemy, or be
restricted solely to the effect upon the welfare and happiness of
the negro population themselves, the result would be the same.
The appalling demoralization, suffering, disease, and death which
have been caused by partially substituting the invader's system of
police for the kind relation previously subsisting between the mas
ter and slave have been a sufficient demonstration that external
interference with our institution of domestic slavery is productive

496 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
of evil only. If the subject involved no other consideration than
the mere right of property, the sacrifices heretofore made by our
people have been such as to permit no doubt of their readiness to
surrender every possession in order to secure their independence.
But the social and political question, which is exclusively under
the control of the several States, has a far wider and more endur
ing importance than that of pecuniary interest. In its manifold
phases it embraces the stability of our republican institutions, rest
ing on the actual political equality of all its citizens, and includes
the fulfillment of the task which has been so happily begun — that
of Christianizing and improving the condition of the Africans who
have, by the will of Providence, been placed in our charge. Com
paring the results of our own experience with those of the experi
ments of others who have borne similar relation to the African
race, the people of the several States of the Confederacy have
abundant reason to be satisfied with the past, and will use the
greatest circumspection in determining their course. These con
siderations, however, are rather applicable to the improbable con
tingency of our need of resorting to this element of resistance
than to our present condition. If the recommendation above
made, for the training of 40,000 negroes for the service indicated,
shall meet your approval, it is certain that even this limited num
ber, by their preparatory training in intermediate duties, would
form a more valuable reserve force in case of urgency than three
fold their number suddenly called from field labor, while a fresh
levy could, to a certain extent, supply their places in the special
service for which they are now employed.
OTHER DEPARTMENTS.
The regular annual reports of the Attorney General, the Secre
tary of the Navy, and the Postmaster General are appended, and
give ample information relative to the condition of the respective
Departments. They contain suggestions for legislative provisions
required to remedy such defects in the existing laws as have been
disclosed by experience, but none of so general or important a
character as to require that I should do more than recommend
them to your favorable consideration.

Second Congress. 497
NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.
The disposition of this Government for a peaceful solution of
the issues which the enemy has referred to the arbitrament of
arms has been too often manifested and is too well known to need
new assurances. But while it is true that individuals and par
ties in the United States have indicated a desire to substitute rea
son for force, and by negotiations to stop the further sacrifice of
human life, and to arrest the calamities which now afflict both
countries, the authorities who control the Government of our
enemies have too often and too clearly expressed their resolution
to make no peace, except on terms of our unconditional submis-.
sion and degradation, to leave us any hope of the cessation of hos
tilities until the delusion of their ability to conquer us is dispelled.
Among those who are already disposed for peace many are actu
ated by principle ancj by disapproval and abhorrence of the iniqui
tous warfare that their Government is waging, while others are
moved by the conviction that it is no longer to the interest of the
United States to continue a struggle in which success is unattain
able. Whenever this fast-growing conviction shall have taken
firm root in the minds of a majority of the Northern people, there
will be produced that willingness to negotiate for peace which is
now confined to our side. Peace is manifestly impossible unless
desired by both parties to this war, and the disposition for it among
our enemies will be best and most certainly evoked by the demon
stration on our part of ability and unshaken determination to de
fend our rights, and to hold no earthly price too dear for their pur
chase. Whenever there shall be on the part of our enemies a de
sire for peace, there will be no difficulty in finding means by which
negotiation can be opened ; but it is obvious that no agency can be
called into action until this desire shall be mutual. When that con
tingency shall happen, the Government, to which is confided the
treaty-making power, can be at no loss for means adapted to ac
complish so desirable an end. In the hope that the day will soon
be reached when under Divine favor these States may be allowed
to enter on their former peaceful pursuits and to develop the
abundant natural resources with which they are blessed, let us,
then, resolutely continue to devote our united and unimpaired en
ergies to the defense of our homes, our lives, and our liberties.
32

498 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
This is the true path to peace. Let us tread it with confidence in
the assured result. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., November 9, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, showing that a dangerous conspiracy
exists in some of the counties of southwestern Virginia and in
the neighboring portions of North Carolina and Tennessee, which
it is found impracticable to suppress by the ordinary course of law.
The facts are so fully exhibited by the report and accompanying
papers, herewith submitted, that I consider it unnecessary to re
peat them or to do more than invite your early attention to dis
closures upon which I deem it my duty to recommend the suspen
sion of the writ of habeas corpus in order that full efficacy may
be given to the military power for the repression of the evil.
It may be proper here to add that after the expiration of the
term for which the writ was suspended serious embarrassment
was encountered, particularly at Mobile, Wilmington, and Rich
mond, on account of the inability of the military authorities to
arrest and hold suspected persons against whom the testimony
was sufficient to give full assurance that they were spies or hold
ing treasonable communication with the enemy, though legal proof
could not be adduced to secure their commitment and conviction
by the courts, either because of the character of the evidence or of
the necessity for concealing the sources of information, which
were not infrequently within the enemy's lines. Jefferson Davis
Richmond, Va., Nov. 9, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering copies of several reports of military operations dur
ing the present year, and renew my suggestion that all such pa
pers are submitted for the information of Congress, and that it is
not considered advisable to publish them at this time.
Jefferson Davis.

Second Congress. 499
Richmond, Va., November 11, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of the reports of Major
General N. B. Forrest, relative to the battle of Tishomingo Creek,
and of Captain B. L. Farinholt, relative to the engagement of the
enemy with the reserve forces at Staunton River Bridge.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., November 11, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 14th June last, I herewith
transmit communications from the Secretaries of the Treasury and
of War, conveying the information desired, relative to the tax in
kind and other taxes collected from the several States for the year
1863. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., November 15, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives;
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, submitting an estimate for an addi
tional appropriation,* to be employed for the purpose which he
indicates. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., November 15, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering a copy of the report by General
G. T. Beauregard of operations on Morris Island during the
months of July, August, and September, 1863. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Nov. 15, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information, in secret session, a
*To compensate owners of the steamer "Phoenix," impressed by military
authority, and sunk as an obstruction in Mobile harbor.

500 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
communication from the Secretary of State, submitting copies of
the correspondence with our commissioners abroad, referred to in
my message of the 7th inst. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., November 21, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 8th instant, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, which
conveys the information requested relative to the act of June 14,
1864, to "provide and organize a general staff."
The seventh section of the act invests the Executive with the
discretion which has been exercised. The eighth section, by re
stricting appointments, indicates the course which has been pur
sued in the attempt to ascertain with accuracy the number of offi
cers in the several staff corps, so as to distribute them in accord
ance with the order from the Adjutant General's office, a copy
of which is annexed, as well as to ascertain whether there are not
supernumerary staff officers now in commission who should be
discharged. Jefferson Davis
Richmond, Va., Nov. 21, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I response to your resolution of the 17th instant, I herewith
transmit a communication* from the Secretary of State, which
conveys the information requested. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., November 21st, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 9th inst., I herewith trans
mit communications from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of
War, covering copies of all orders now in force which have been
issued to the assessors and collectors of taxes. Jefferson Davis.
*Stating that no intimation has been received by the Confederate Gov
ernment of a willingness on the part of any State of the United States
to go into convention with the States of the Confederacy for the purpose
of negotiating a peace, or consulting on the best method of effecting a
cessation of hostilities, or for any purpose whatever.

Second Congress. 501
Richmond, Va., November 24, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 8th instant, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, relative to
the special exchange of prisoners of war by the Commissioner of
Exchange. Jefferson Davis..

Richmond, Va., November 24th, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 19th inst., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, relative to the
recent impressment of slaves by his order in the State of Virginia.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Nov. 24, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 14th instant, adopted in
secret session, I herewith transmit a communication from the Sec
retary of War, which conveys the information requested relative
to the enlistment into our Army of prisoners of war who have tak
en the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, November 26, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 17th instant, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War relative to the number of persons in "each State ex
empted from military service upon the certificate of the Governors,
respectively, that they are officers necessary for the proper admin
istration of the government of said States." Jeff'n Davis.
Richmond, Va., November 26, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 9th instant, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, which con-

502 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Y_eys the information requested relative to the number of persons
exempted or detailed for certain specified purposes, so far as the
records of the Department enable him to furnish it.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Nov. 29, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering estimates for addi
tional appropriations required by the Navy Department. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 6, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 14th ult., adopted in secret
session, I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary
cf War, which conveys the information desired relative to the
rations furnished to prisoners of war. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 6, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 23d ultimo, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, which con
veys the information requested relative to the arrangements which
have been made "for the relief of our soldiers who are prisoners
of war in the hands of the enemy." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Dec. 6, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 23d ultimo, I herewith
transmit and invite your attention to a communication from the
Secretary of War, relative to the "appointment under an act ap
proved June 14, 1864, providing for the establishment and pay
ment of claims for a certain description of property taken or in
formally impressed for the use of the Army." Jefferson Davts.

Second Congress. 5°3
Richmond, Va., Dec. 6, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 23d ultimo, I herewith
transmit communications from the Secretaries of the Treasury and
of War, relative to the protection secured for the cotton under
their control, belonging to the Confederate States, against expos
ure to the weather. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 6, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of several additional re
ports of military operations. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 7, 1864.
To the Senate and* House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate "of funds re
quired to meet our treaty obligations to the Indian Nations, for the
period ending June 30th, 1865." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 7, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives*
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering [an estimate of funds]
needed to meet [a deficiency in the appropriation to pay the officers
and] employees of the Department.] Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Dec. 12, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, showing the additional
amount necessary to be appropriated to meet the estimated ex-
*This message was found badly mutilated, the words in brackets being
supplied by the compiler.

504 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
penses of the Department of Justice, for the half year ending June
30, 1865. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Dec. 12, 1864.
To the House" of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 19th ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, which conveys
the information requested, so far as the records of his Department
enable him to furnish it, and states the reasons which make it im
practicable for him to reply more definitely as to the amount of
money expended in payment of the Army of the Trans-Missis
sippi since the assignment of Gen. E. K. Smith to the command
of the Department. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Dec. 15, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, relative to the increase of the amount
to be appropriated for a purpose for which he has already sub
mitted an estimate. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Dec. 15, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, relative to certain transfers
of appropriations required in connection with the service of his
Department. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Dec. 15, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 23d ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, which conveys
the information requested relative to the sale of cloth and cloth
ing to officers of the armies in the field, under the act of February
17, 1864. Jefferson Davis.

Second Congress. 505
Richmond, Virginia, December 15th, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of State, covering further copies of his correspond
ence with our commissioners abroad, referred to in my message
of the 7th inst. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, December 19, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 19th ult., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary
of War, relative to contracts for supplies to be paid for in cotton
in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 19, 1864.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the
Treasury, relative to a further foreign loan, and recommend his
proposition to your favorable consideration in secret session.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 19, 1864.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 25th ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, which conveys
the information desired relative to trials and convictions under
the act to punish drunkenness in the Army. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., December 20, 1864.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit the reports made by the Heads of the Treas
ury and War Departments, in response to your resolution of tlje
6th instant, making various inquiries relative to the subject em
braced in the act of February 6, 1864, entitled "A" bill to impose
regulations upon the foreign commerce of the Confederate States
to provide for the public defense."

506 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
The importance of this subject induces me to present, at some
length, my views upon the policy of the law, and upon its effects
as developed by experience.
The first section of the law (which was passed at the fourth ses
sion of the First Congress and was the expression of its matured
judgment) prohibits the exportation of the principal products of
the Confederate States, except under uniform regulations, and the
reason for this prohibition is expressed in the preamble to be this :
"That the condition of the contest demands that the Confederate
States should call into requisition whatever resources of men and
money they have for the support of their cause."
The fifth section of the law indicates that the purpose of Con
gress in granting power to allow or refuse permission to export
the products of our country was to enforce a return, in whole or
in part, of the value of the produce exported "in military or other
supplies for the public service."
But a full understanding of the policy of your predecessors can
be attained only by taking into consideration another act passed
on the same day, and entitled "An Act to prohibit the importation
of luxuries or of articles not necessary or of common use." This
last-mentioned act actually prohibited during the pending war the
importation of any articles not necessary for the defense and sub
sistence of the country ; and among those excluded from importa
tion were wines, spirits, jewelry, cigars, and all the finer fabrics of
cotton, flax, wool, or silk, as well as all other merchandise serving
only for the indulgence of luxurious habits.
In a word, the two acts were an exercise of the power to regu
late commerce so as to make it subservient to the success of our
struggle, by prohibiting the importation or exportation of mer
chandise or produce for any other purpose than national defense
and necessary subsistence, until these vital objects should be
placed beyond the reach of danger. The two laws form one com
mon system, and they should be so regarded in considering the
propriety of the repeal or modification of either.
• When signing my approval of these acts I considered them as
measures eminently wise and proper, and as well adapted to rem
edy existing evils. Complaints were rife throughout our country
that its foreign commerce was almost exclusively in the hands of
aliens; that our cotton, tobacco, and naval stores were being

Second Congress. 507
drained from the States, and that we were receiving in return
¦cargoes of liquors, wines, and articles of luxury; that the im
ported goods, being held in few hands and in limited quantities,
were sold at prices so exorbitant that the blockade runners, after
purchasing fresh cargoes of cotton, still retained large sums of
Confederate money, which they invested in gold for exportation
and in foreign exchange, and that the whole course of the trade
had a direct tendency to impoverish our country, demoralize our
people, depreciate our currency, and enfeeble our defense. Con
gress believed these complaints well-founded, and in that belief I
fully concurred. None doubted that a remedy was desirable, and
your present inquiries seek information in relation to the efficiency
of the remedy provided by the legislation then devised, as devel
oped by actual experience.
My conviction is decided that the effect of the legislation has
been salutary, that the evils existing prior to its adoption have
been materially diminished, and that the repeal of the legislation or
any modification impairing its efficiency would be calamitous.
This opinion is shared by every Executive Department that has
been intrusted with the execution of these laws and regulations,
and thus enabled to form a judgment based on observation and
experience. The propriety and justice of a claim on the part of the Govern
ment that a share of all the vessels engaged in the blockade trade
should be held subject to its use for the benefit of the whole peo
ple was so obvious that even before the legislation of Congress
few owners refused to place at its disposal one-third of the ton
nage, both outward and inward, for the importation of supplies
and the exportation of the produce necessary to pay for them. On
the passage of the laws it was deemed proper to increase the de
mand of the Government to one-half. This decision was based
not only on the consideration that the Government was burdened
with the entire expense of defending the ports of entry, but on the
further reason that the enormous gains of the commerce were
monopolized by foreigners, free to engage in commerce at their
pleasure while our citizens were engrossed in the sacred duty of
defending their homes and liberties, and therefore unable to com
pete for the trade. It was foreseen that this increase would be

508 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
resisted, and in a message* on the subject, addressed by me to the
House of Representatives on the ioth of June last, it was stated
that— For some weeks after the adoption of these regulations strenuous ef
forts were made by parties interested in the business to induce a relaxation
of the regulations. Many of the vessels remained unemployed on the alle
gation of the owners that the terms imposed by the regulations were so^
onerous as to render impossible the continuance of the business. The
regulations remained unchanged, for I was satisfied from an examination
of the subject that this complaint was unfounded and that the withdrawal
of the vessels was an experiment, by a combination among their owners,,
on the firmness of the Government. The result proved the correctness
of ¦ this view, for after various attempts to obtain , increased advantages
the vessels resumed their voyages. Their number has been largely in
creased. The ability to export produce and import supplies on Govern
ment account has been developed to a greater extent than had been antici
pated, and the credit of the Government has been so improved in foreign
markets that the quotations for its loan have rapidly advanced.
In the same message it was also stated that —
Among the efforts made to induce a change of the regulations was a
warning given to officers of the Government that the owners of vessels
could make better bargains with the Governors of States than with the
Confederate Government, and that if the regulations were not relaxed in
their favor they would transfer their vessels to the Executives of the
several States, and thus withdraw them from the operation of the regu
lations. Reverting now to the precise inquiries contained in your resolu
tion, I answer:
First. That no restriction whatever has been placed on the ex
ercise of the right of any Confederate State to export on its own
account any of the articles enumerated in the act entitled "An Act
to impose regulations," &c, approved 6th of February, 1864.
Each State not only exports whatever it pleases, but the obliga
tion imposed on private individuals to bring back into the coun
try necessary supplies equal in value to one-half of the produce
exported is not extended to the States. They are in these respects
on a footing of absolute equality with the Confederate Govern
ment. I am aware that complaints have been made of the effect of
*Page 466.

Second Congress. 509
these regulations by the Governors of some of the States, but their
objections are, in my judgment, without foundation.
It is not denied by any of them that when a State purchases a
vessel it is left under the exclusive control of the State authorities,
and that the Confederate Government claims no share of the out
ward or inward tonnage. It is also admitted that when the States
purchase or charter any part of a vessel, not exceeding one-half,
the Confederate States Government does not interfere with their
enjoyment of the portion so purchased or chartered, and confines
itself to exacting from the private owner the use of that half not
conveyed to the State ; but the complaint is that the Confederate
Government will not further consent to yield, for the benefit of a
single State, any part of that moiety of the tonnage of each vessel
which it has secured under the regulations for the common use
and benefit of all the States of which it is agent.
By the regulations, as now existing, half the tonnage of all the
vessels engaged in the trade has been conveyed to the use of the
Confederacy. Why should a single State be allowed to take for
its separate use from the Confederacy any part of this half? Is
it not enough that the remaining half is left open for purchase or
charter by the State ?
It is plain that a State and the owner of a vessel can have no
motive for contracting in such manner as to diminish the tonnage
claimed by the Confederacy, unless for a profit that is to be shared
by both. Any concession, therefore, made on this point is in ef
fect the loss of an interest which is the common property of all
the States for the joint gain of a single State and of a private
capitalist. Again, the Army in the field is the Army of the Confederacy,
which is charged with the duty of supplying it with clothing, sub
sistence, and munitions of war. The performance of this duty
demands the most strenuous exertions and the command of all the
resources that can be reached. Any diminution of our command
of those resources by a modification of the existing legislation
might lead to disastrous consequences. Under our present ar
rangements we are barely able to supply to our brave defenders
a moderate share of those comforts which are indispensable
to their efficiency. As long as privations are endured by all alike,
there is a noble and patriotic emulation in the display of cheerful

510 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
fortitude in enduring them. But if the common supply now dis
tributed among all is diminished for the purpose of enabling any
one State to add to the supplies furn.shed her own troops, the
effect will be pernicious to an extent that can scarcely be appre
ciated in advance. I leave it to others to imagine the state of
feeling which would ensue if the soldiers of the seaboard States.
were to be found amply supplied with all necessaries and com
forts, standing side by side with the troops of interior States, who
would be deprived of a part of what they now receive in conse
quence of a diminution of our present means of providing for all
alike. If to this it should be answered that the interior States
could enjoy the same advantages as the seaboard States by send
ing agents to the ports to represent them, thus placing all on an
equal footing, the reply is obvious. The result would then be to
bring all the States back to the same condition in which they now
are — that is to say, each possessing its fair share of the advantages
derived, from the tonnage used by the Confederate Government.
It appears to me that any change in the present regulations so as
to affect the rights of the Confederate Government must neces
sarily be either useless or mischievous — useless, if no advantage
is to be gained by any one State over the others ; mischievous in
the extreme, if such an advantage is to be the effect of the change.
It has been suggested that there are many articles required by
the people of the different States which can be obtained only
through the aid of their governments, and that the efforts of the
Confederate Government are confined exclusively to the supply
of the needs of the Army. This is true ; but one-half of all the
tonnage of private owners remains open to employment by the
States for the purpose suggested, though, perhaps, at somewhat
greater cost than would be charged if they were permitted to use
the portion reserved for the Confederacy. But I repeat that there
is no justice apparent in the demand that all the States should
sacrifice a common right for the profit of a single State, nor in
diminishing the necessary comforts of the soldier for the benefit
of those who remain at home. It is also competent for each State
to purchase vessels for its own use or to purchase shares in com
mon with one or more other States for the introduction of sup
plies necessary for the people without encroaching on the means.
used by the Confederacy for supplying the Army.

Second Congress. 511
Second. Upon the second question, whether the regulations
have caused any diminution in the number of vessels engaged in
foreign commerce, the report of the Secretary of the Treasury
gives such information as satisfactorily establishes the reverse to
be the case.
In addition to the statements made by him, derived from official
returns, the Secretary of War reports that many new steamers are
understood to be on the way to engage in the trade, notwithstand
ing the impression which prevails that the stringency of the block
ade is constantly increasing.
The number of vessels which arrived at two ports of the Confed
eracy between the ist of November and 6th of December was
forty-three, averaging more, than one per day, and indicating no
check in the trade. A further and conclusive proof that the prof
its of 'this commerce under present regulations are sufficiently
tempting to secure its increase, is afforded by the fact that the
shares of the companies engaged in it have greatly advanced in
value. The shares of one company, originally of $1,000 each,
were selling in July last for $20,000 each, and now command $30,-
000. Those of another company have increased in the same pe
riod from $2,500 to $6,000 ; and all exhibit a large advance.
Third. Your third inquiry seeks information whether the legis
lation and regulations have been beneficial or otherwise in their
effect on the success of our arms and the supply of means neces
sary to the public defense.
My opinion has already been indicated on this point, and the
reports of the Secretaries are decided in the expression of their
own convictions of the wisdom of the laws, and the beneficial ef
fects produced by them, in connection with the regulations estab
lished for giving them effect.
These laws and regulations have enabled the Government not
only to provide supplies to a much greater extent than formerly,
and to furnish the means for meeting the installments on its for
eign loan, but to put an end to a wasteful and ruinous contract sys
tem, by which supplies were obtained before Congress determined
to exercise control over the imports and exports.
Instead of being compelled to give contractors a large profit on
the cost of their supplies, and to make payment in cotton in our
ports at 6 pence per pound, we now purchase supplies abroad by

512 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
our agents at cost in the foreign market, and pay there in cotton,
which sells at a net price of 24 pence per pound. When all the
elements of calculation are taken into consideration, it is by no
means an exaggeration to say that 100 bales of cotton exported by
the Government will purchase abroad the same amount and value
of supplies that 600 bales would purchase delivered to contractors
in the Confederacy. A reference to the report of the Secretary of
the Treasury shows that of 11,796 bales of cotton shipped since ist
of July last, but 1,272 were lost; not quite 11 per cent. If this be
taken as a fair average, and it is believed to be so, out of 600 bales
of cotton exported, 534 would arrive abroad and yield, at £40 per
bale, £21,360, while the same 600 bales delivered on payment at a
home port, at 6 pence per pound, would yield less than £6,000.
There are other advantages derived from buying abroad, rather
than contracting with blockade runners, of no small magnitude,
but the foregoing statement will show the enormous profits that
were made by them when the Government was forced to contract
instead of purchasing for itself, and will suggest a motive for the
strenuous efforts they have not ceased to make to get rid of the
regulations and procure a change in the policy of the Government.
It is to the law and regulations that the Government owes its
ability to command freight room, and then buy and sell for itself
instead of being forced to make contracts so extravagant as those
above described. It requires little sagacity to perceive that with
temptation so great the owners of vessels would spare no pains
to obtain contracts from the several States, if allowed to do so by
law, with the view of again withdrawing from our use as far as
possible the tonnage of their vessels, and thus compelling a return
to the ruinous contract system.
The reports of the Secretaries will fully inform you of the quan
tity and nature of the supplies obtained by the Government under
the present system, and their importance to the national defense
will be perceived at a glance.
Fourth. To the fourth inquiry, whether experience has sug
gested the necessity of the repeal of said act, or any modification
or amendment of its provisions, the foregoing remarks would
seem to furnish a sufficient answer. But I conclude, by renewing
the expression of my conviction that the result of any legislation
checking or diminishing the control now exercised by the Govern-

Second Congress. 513
nient over our foreign commerce would be injurious to the public
interest and would insure the renewal in aggravated form of the
evils which it was the purpose of your predecessors to remedy by
the laws now in force. Jefferson Davis.
[A similar message was communicated to the Senate under date
of December 17, 1864, in response to its resolution of December
5, 1864.]
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
When the act to regulate the pay and mileage of members and
the compensation of officers of the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives was transmitted to me I found, upon examination of its
provisions, some features inconsistent with the law for the organ
ization of the Treasury Department, and the general policy of pro
tecting the Treasury by checks and balances, so as to restrain offi
cials by the records of the Department itself.
I did not, however, feel constrained to return the bill with ob
jections, believing that every desirable end could be obtained by
bringing the matter to your attention and recommending amend
atory legislation. It was therefore signed on the 24th instant.
I invite you to a special examination of the clause by which the
depositaries of the Treasury are directed to honor and pay drafts
on the Treasury by members of Congress.
For a fuller exposition of the departure which that provision
makes from the wise rules and regulations established by law' for
the protection of the Treasury, I refer you to the annexed letter
of the Secretary of the Treasury. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Virginia, December 28, 1864.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 4, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for an additional
appropriation* required by the Engineer Bureau. Jefferson Davis.
*For the schooner "Isabel," seized by military authority and sunk as
an obstruction in Dog River bar channel, Mobile Bay, May 5, 1862.
33

5T4 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 4, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of November 14th, 1864, I here
with transmit for your information a communication from the
Secretary of War, covering a copy of the official report of General
J. E. Johnston, relative to operations of the Army of Tennessee.
I invite your attention to the Secretary's remarks in reference
to the delay which has occurred in responding to your resolution,
and concur with him in suggesting that it is not advisable to pub
lish this communication at present, or at a future time, without the
correspondence which was contemporaneous, and which explains
the events. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jan. 4, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 23d ult., I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
the Navy, relative to "a flour and grist mill and bakery," estab
lished by the Department, at Albany, Georgia. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., January 5, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 2d ultimo, relative to the
impressment of slaves, I herewith transmit a communication from
the Secretary of War, which conveys all the information I have
on the subject. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jan. 5, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 25th November last, I
herewith transmit communications, which furnish the information
desired relative to the "commissioned officers attached to and em
ployed in the different Departments and Bureaus in the city of
Richmond." Jefferson Davis.

Second Congress. 515
Richmond, Va., Jan. 5, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 30th ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, which con
veys the information that "no coals were taken from the steamer
Advance,' in October last, or at any other time, for the naval
service." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Jan. 5, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering estimates of addi
tional appropriations required for the service of the Agency of
the Department west of the Mississippi River. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Jan. 6, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for an additional
appropriation required by the Bureau of Engineers. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 6, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 19th November last, I
herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of War,
which conveys the information desired, relative to the impress
ment of brandy, so far as the records of his office enable him to
furnish it. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 6, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 24th ult., relative to un
paid requisitions upon the Treasury, drawn by the Quartermas
ter General and the Commissary General. I herewith transmit a

516 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, which conveys
the information desired. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Department, January 13, 1865.
To the House of Representatives, C. S. A.
I have just received the accompanying report from the Secre
tary of War stating that Henry S. Foote, a member of the House
of Representatives from the State of Tennessee, has been arrested
by a military officer in northern Virginia while endeavoring to
pass our lines on his way to the enemy's country. As this arrest
may involve a question of privilege, I submit the matter to you,
in order that such disposal of the case may be made as to you shall
seem proper. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond', Va., January 14, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 8th of November, 1864, I
herewith transmit for your information a communication from
Hon. Plowell Cobb, who was President of the Provisional Con
gress, relative to the preparation of copies of the journals of that
body, and of the proceedings of the Convention which framed the
Provisional and Permanent Constitutions of the Confederate
States. And I invite your attention to the suggestions he makes
in reference to funds to be expended in the further prosecution
of the work. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 14, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 24 ultimo, I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, relative to the passports which have been issued to certain
youths to leave the Confederate States. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Jan. 20, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 30th ult., I herewith trans
mit communications from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of

Second Congress. 517
War, and from the Postmaster General, which convey the in
formation called for in relation to the means employed to com
municate with the Trans-Mississippi Department. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Jan. 20, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering an estimate for an
additional appropriation required for the public service.
Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, Richmond, Va., January 24, 1865.
Gentlemen of the "Joint Committee on the State of the Country."
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of resolutions
adopted by the General Assembly of Virginia in relation to certain
restrictions said to have been placed on the transportation of sup
plies of food to the cities of Richmond and Petersburg.
Upon investigation I find that no orders have emanated from
the War Department or the provost marshal of Richmond of the.
character supposed in the resolution. I, however, learn that
there may be an order of the character spoken of emanating from
the lieutenant general commanding the Confederate forces on the
north side of the James River, which, if so, will be ascertained at
once, he having been furnished with a copy of the resolution and
called upon for information touching the same.
I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., January 24, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to a resolution adopted by you on the 31st ult., I
herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of War,
covering copies of his letters to Genl. E. Kirby Smith, relative to
the general administration of the Trans-Mississippi Department.
Jefferson Davis.

518 Messages and Papers of th,e Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., February 3, 1865.
To the House* of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 25th ultimo, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, cover
ing copies of his correspondence with the Governor of North Car
olina relative to "coals of the steamer 'Advance.' "
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 3, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 19th ultimo, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, which con
veys the information desired, relative to "the number of persons in
each State exempted from military service by reason of being
claimed as State officers," and to "the number of exemptions and
details for express, telegraphic, and railroad companies, etc.," and
explains the causes of delay in replying to previous resolutions on
those subjects. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 3, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, concerning an estimate for
an additional appropriation required by the Navy Department.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 3, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering an estimate for an
additional appropriation required to meet 'the expenses of the
Department of Justice during the six months ending June 30, 1865.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 4th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 12th ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication, from the Secretary of War, furnishing, as

Second Congress. 5Z9
far as the records of his Department will enable him to do so, the
information requested relative to the organization of the "Corps
of Scouts" authorized to be created by the act of the last Con
gress to facilitate communication with the Trans-Mississippi De
partment. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., February 4, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of November 28, 1864, I here
with transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, rela
tive to the removal of the sick and wounded officers of the Army
from the almshouse in this city, which was used as a hospital,
and to the accommodations which have been provided for the pa
tients elsewhere. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, Richmond, February 6, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of
America. Having recently received a written notification, which satisfied
me that the President of the United States was disposed to con
fer informally with unofficial agents which might be sent by me
with a view to the restoration of peace, I requested the Hon. Alex
ander H. Stephens, the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, and the Hon. John
A. Campbell to proceed through our lines, and to hold conference
with Mr. Lincoln, or with any one he might depute to represent
him. I herewith transmit for the information of Congress the report
of the eminent citizens above named, showing that the enemy re
fused to enter into negotiations with the Confederate States, or
with any one of them separately, or to give to our people any other
terms or guaranties than those which the conqueror may grant,
or to permit us to have peace on any other basis than our uncon
ditional submission to their rule, coupled with the acceptance of
their recent legislation on the subject of the relations between the
white and black populations of each State. Such is, as I under
stand it, the effect of the amendment to the Constitution which
has been adopted by the Congress of the United States.
Jefferson Davis.

,520 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., February 5, 1865.
To the President of the Confederate States,
Sir: Under your letter of appointment of the 28th ult., we proceeded
to seek an "informal conference'' with Abraham Lincoln, President of
the United States, upon the subject mentioned in the letter. The con
ference was granted, and took place on the 30th inst., on board of a
steamer in Hampton Roads, where we met President Lincoln and the
Hon. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States. It contin
ued for several hours, and was both full and explicit.
We learned from them that the message of President Lincoln to the
Congress of the United States, in December last, explains clearly and dis
tinctly his sentiments as to the terms, conditions, and methods of pro
ceeding, by which peace can be secured to the people, and we were not
informed that they would be modified or altered to obtain that end. We
understood from him that no terms or proposals of any treaty, or agree
ment, looking to an ultimate settlement, would be entertained or made
by him with the Confederate States, because that would be a recognition
of their existence as a separate power, which, under no circumstances,
would be done; and for like reasons that no such terms would be en
tertained by him from the States separately; that no extended truce or
armistice (as at present advised) would be granted, without a satisfac
tory assurance in advance of a complete restoration of the authority of
the United States over all places within the States of the Confederacy.
That whatever consequence may follow from the reestablishment of
that authority must be accepted; but that individuals subject to pains
and penalties under the laws of the United States might rely upon a very
liberal use of the power confided to -him to remit those pains and penal
ties if peace be restored.
During the conference, the proposed amendment to the Constitution
of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st ult., was brought
to our notice. This amendment declares that neither slavery nor invol-
ultary servitude, except for crimes, should exist within the United States,
or any place within their jurisdiction, and that Congress should have
power to enforce this amendment by appropriate legislation. Of all the
correspondence that preceded the conference herein mentioned, and
leading to the same, you have heretofore been informed.
Very respectfully, your obedient servants,
Alex. H. Stephens,
Robert M. T. Hunter,
John A. Campbell.

Second Congress. 521
Message of President Lincoln. <on the Hampton Roads
Conference, Including, Correspondence.
Executive Mansion, Feb. 10, 1865.
To the Honorable House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 8th inst., requesting information
in relation to a conference held in Hampton Roads, I have the honor to
state that on the date I gave Francis P. Blair, Senior, a card written as
follows, to wit : December 28, 1864.
Allow the bearer, F. P. Blair, Sr., to pass our lines, go South, and re
turn. A. Lincoln.
That at the time I was informed that Mr. Blair sought the card as a
means of getting to Richmond, Va., but he was given no authority to speak
or act for the Government. Nor was I informed of anything he would say
or do on his own account or otherwise.
Mr. Blair told me that he had been to Richmond and had seen Mr.
Jefferson Davis, and he (Mr. Blair) at the same time left with me a
manuscript letter as follows, to wit : Richmond, Va., January 12, 1865.
F. P. Blair, Esq..
Sir: I have deemed it proper and probably desirable to you to give
you in this form the substance of the remarks made by me to be repeated
by you to President Lincoln, etc. I have no disposition to find obstacles
in forms, and am willing now, as heretofore, to enter into negotiations
for the restoration of peace. I am ready to send a Commission whenever
I have reason to suppose it will be received, or to receive a Commission
if the United States Government shall choose to send one. Notwithstand
ing the rejection of our former offers, I would, if you could promise that
a Commission, Minister, or other agent would be received, appoint one
immediately, and renew the effort to enter into a conference with a view
to secure peace to the two countries.
Yours, etc., Jefferson Davis.
Afterwards, with a view that it should be shown to Mr. Davis, I wrote
and delivered to Mr. Blair a letter, as follows, to wit :
Washington, January 18, 1865.
F. P. Blair, Esq.
Sir: You having shown me Mr. Davis's letter to you of the 12th inst.,
you may say to him that I have constantly been, am now, and shall con
tinue ready to receive any agent whom he, or any other influential person
now resisting the national authority, may informally send me, with a
view of securing peace to the people of our common country.
Yours, etc., A- Lincoln.

522 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Afterwards Mr. Blair dictated for and authorized me to make an entry
on the back of my retained copy of the letter just above recited which is
as follows : January 28, 1865.
To-day Mr. Blair tells me that on the 2lsf inst., he delivered to Mr.
Davis the original, of which the within is a copy, and left it with him;
that at the time of delivering Mr. Davis read it over twice in Mr. Blair's
presence, at the close of which he (Mr. B.) remarked that the part about
our common country related to the part of Mr. Davis's letter about the
two countries, to which Mr. D. replied that he understood it.
A. Lincoln.
Afterwards the Secretary of War placed in my hands the following
telegram, indorsed by him, as appears :
Office U. S. Military Telegraph, War Department.
(Cipher.) The following telegram was received at Washington Jan
uary 29, 1865 : From Headquarters Army of the James,
6:30 p.m., January 29, 1865.
To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
The following dispatch is just received from Major General Parke, who
refers it to me for my action. I refer it to you ih lieu of General Grant —
absent. E. O. C. Ord, Major General Comdg.
Headquarters Army of the James.
The following dispatch is forwarded to you for your action. Since I
bave no knowledge of General Grant's having had any understanding of
this kind, I refer this matter to you as the ranking officer present in the
two armies. John G. Parke, Major General Comdg.
From Headquarters Ninth Army Corps,
January 29, 1865.
Major General John G. Parke, Headquarters Army of the Potomac.
Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and J. A. Campbell desire
to cross my lines, in accordance with an understanding claimed to exist
with Lieutenant General Grant, on their way to Washington as Peace
Commissioners. Shall they be admitted? They desire an early answer,
so as to come through immediately. They would like to reach City Point
to-night if they can. If they cannot do this, they would like to come
through to-morrow morning. O. B. Willcox, Major Commanding Ninth Corps.
Respectfully referred to the President for such instructions as he may
be pleased to give. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
January 29, 1865, 8:30 P.M.

Second Congress^ 523
It appears that about the time of placing the foregoing telegram in my
bands, the Secretary of War dispatched to General Ord as follows, to wit :

War Department, Washington City,
Jan. 29, 1865, 10 p.m.
"Major General Ord.
This Department has no knowledge of any understanding by Gen. Grant
to allow any person to come within his lines as Commissioners of any
sort. You will therefore allow no one to come into your lines under such
character or profession until you receive the President's instructions, to
whom your telegrams will be submitted for his directions.
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
(Sent in cipher at 2 a.m.)

Afterwards, by my directions, the Secretary of War telegraphed Gen.
Ord as follows, to wit:
War Department, Washington, D. C,
Jan. 30, 1865, 10 a.m.
Major General E. O. C. Ord, Headquarters Army of the James.
By the direction of the President you are instructed to inform the three
gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, that a message will
be dispatched to them at or near where they now are without unneces
sary delay. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

Afterwards I prepared and put into the hands of Major Thomas T.
Eckert the following instructions : Executive Mansion, Washington,
Jan. 30, 1865.
Major T. T. Eckert.
Sir: You will proceed with the documents placed in your hands, and
on reaching General Ord will deliver him the letter addressed him by
the Secretary of War. Then, by General Ord's assistance, procure an
interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, or any of them,
deliver to him or them the paper on which your own letter is written.
Note on the copy which you retain the time of delivery and to whom de
livered. Receive their answer in writing, waiting a reasonable time for
it, and which, if it contain their decision to come through without further
conditions, will be your warrant to ask General Ord to pass them through
as directed in the letter of the Secretary of War. If by their answer
they decline to come, or propose other terms, do not have them pass
through. And this being your whole duty return and report to me.
Yours truly, A- Lincoln.

524 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
City Point, Feb. 1, 1865.
Messrs. Alexander H. Stephens, J. A. Campbell, and R. M. T. Hunter.
Gentlemen: I am instructed by the President of the United States to
place this paper in your hands with the information that if you pass
through the United States military lines, it will be understood that you
do so for the purpose of an informal conference on the basis of that letter,
a copy of which is on the reverse side of this sheet; and that you choose
to pass on such understanding, and so notify me in writing. I will pro
cure the Commanding General to pass you through the lines and to Fortress
Monroe under such military precautions as he may deem prudent, and
at which place you will be met in due time by some person or persons for
the purpose of such informal conference; and further, that you shall have
protection, safe conduct, and safe return in all events.
Thomas T. Eckert, Major and Aid-de-Camp.
Afterwards, but before Major Eckert had departed, the following dis
patch was received from General Grant :
Office U. S. Military Telegraph, War Department.
(Cipher) The following telegram was received at Washington, Jan. 31, 1865,
from City Point, Va., 10:30 a.m., Jan. 31, 1865:
His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.
The following commmunication was received here last evening:
Petersburg, Va., Jan. 30, 1865.
Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies of the United States.
Sir: We desire to pass your lines under safe conduct, and to proceed
to Washington to hold a conference with President Lincoln upon the
subject of the existing war, and with a view of ascertaining upon what
terms it may be terminated, in pursuance of the course indicated by him
in his letter to Mr. Blair of Jan. 18, 1865, of which we presume you
have a copy, and if not, we wish to see you in person, if convenient, and
to confer with you on the subject.
Very respectfully yours, Alexander H. Stephens,
J. A. Campbell,
R. M. T. Hunter.
I have sent directions to receive these gentlemen, and expect to have
them at my quarters this evening awaiting your instructions.
U. S. Grant, Lieut. General,
Commanding Armies of the United States.
This, it will be perceived, transferred General Ord's agency in the matter
to General Grant. I resolved, however, to send Major Eckert forward
with his message, and accordingly telegraphed. General Grant as follows,
to wit:

Second Congress. 5^5
Executive Mansion, Washington,
Jan. 31, 1865.
Lieut. Gen. Grant, City Point, Va.
A messenger is coming to you on the business contained in your dis
patch. Detain the gentlemen in comfortable quarters until he arrives,
and then act upon the message he brings as far as applicable, it having
been made up to pass through Gen. Ord's hands, and when the gentlemen
were supposed to be beyond our lines.
(Sent in cipher at 1 130 p.m.) A. Lincoln.

When Major Eckert departed, he bore with him a letter of the Secre
tary of War to General Grant as follows, to wit :
War Department, Washington, D. C,
Jan. 30, 1865.
Lieut. General Grant, Commanding, etc.
General: The President desires that you procure for the bearer, Major
Thomas T. Eckert, an interview with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Camp
bell, and if, on his return to you, he requests it, pass them through our
lines to Fortress Monroe by such route and under such military precau
tions as you may deem prudent, giving them protection and comfortable
quarters while there, and that you let none of this have any effect upon
any of your movements or plans.
By order of the President. Edwin ,M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

Supposing the proper point to be then reached, I dispatched the Secre
tary of State with the following instructions, Major Eckert, however,
going ahead of him : Executive Mansion, Jan. 31, 1865.
Hon. Win. H. Seward, Secretary of State.
You will proceed to Fortress Monroe, Va., there to meet and informally
confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell on the basis of my
letter to F. P. Blair, Esq., of Jan. 18, 1865, a copy which you have.
You will make known to them that three things are indispensable, to wit :
ist, the restoration of the national authority throughout all the States ;
2d, no receding by the Executive of the United States on the slavery
question from the position assumed thereon in the late annual message
to Congress, and in the preceding documents; 3d, no cessation of hostili
ties short of an end of the war and the disbanding of all the forces hostile
to the Government. You will inform them that all propositions of theirs
not inconsistent' with the above will be considered and passed upon in a
spirit of sincere liberality. You will hear all they may choose to say and
report it to me. You will not assume to definitely consummate anything.
Yours etc. Abraham Lincoln.

526 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
On the day of its date the following telegram was sent to General.
Grant: War Department, Washington,
Feb. 1, 1865.
Lieut. Gen. Grant, City Point, Va.
Let nothing which is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your mili
tary movements or plans.
(Sent in cipher at 9:30 a.m.) A. Lincoln.
Afterwards the following dispatch was received from General Grant:
Office U. S. Telegraph, War Department.
(In cipher.)
The following telegram was received at Washington at 2:30 p.m., Feb.
1, 1865, from City Point, Va., Feb. 1, 12:30 p.m., 1865:
His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.
Your dispatch is received. There will be no armistice in consequence
of the presence of Mr. Stephens and others" within our lines. The troops
are kept in readiness to move at the shortest notice if occasion should.
justify it. U. S. Grant, Lieut. Gen.
To notify Major Eckert that the Secretary of State would be at Fort
ress Monroe and to put them in communication, the following dispatch
was sent : War Department, Washington,
Feb. 1, 1865.
T. T. Eckert, care Gen. Grant, City Point, Va.
Call at Fortress Monroe and put yourself under the direction of Mr.
S., whom you will find there. A. Lincoln.
On the morning of the 2d inst. the following telegrams were received
by me from the Secretary of State and Major Eckert:
Fortress Monroe, Va., 11:30 p.m.,
Feb. 1, 1865.
The President of the United States.
Arrived here this evening. Richmond party not here. I remain here.
Wm. H. Seward.
City Point, Va., 10 p.m.,
Feb. 1, 1865.
His Excellency A. Lincoln, President of the United States.
I have the honor to report the delivery of your communication and my
letter at 4:15 this afternoon, to which I received a reply at 6 p.m., but
not satisfactory. At 8 p.m. the following note, addressed to Gen. Grant*,
was received :

Second Congress. 527
„¦ t, . n n . ClTY Point, Feb 1, 1805.
To Lieut. Gen. Grant. ' *"
. Sir: We desire to go to Washington City to confer informally with the
President personally, in reference to the matters mentioned in his letter
to Mr. Blair of the 18th of January, ult., without any personal compromise
on any question in the letter. We have the permission to do so from the
authorities in Richmond.
Very respectfully yours, Alexander H. Stephens,
R. M. T. Hunter,
J. A. Campbell.
At 9:30 e.m. I notified them that they could not proceed farther unless
they complied with the terms expressed in my letter. The point of meet
ing designated in the above would not, in my opinion, be insisted upon.
I think Fortress Monroe would be acceptable. Having complied with
my instructions, will return to Washington to-morrow, unless otherwise
ordered. Thomas T. Eckert, Major, etc.
On reading this dispatch of Major Eckert's, I was about to recall him
and the Secretary of State, when the following telegram of General Grant
to the Secretary of War was shown me :
Office U. S. Military Telegraph, War Department.
(In cipher.)
The following telegram was received at Washington at 4:35 a.m., Feb.
2, 1865, from City Point, Va., Feb. 1, 1865:
To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
Now that the interview between Major Eckert, under his written in
structions, and Mr. Stephens and party, has ended, I will state confi
dentially, but not officially, to become a matter of record, that I am con
vinced, upon conversation with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter, that their
intentions are good and their desire sincere to restore peace and Union.
I have not felt myself at liberty to express even views of my own, or to
account for my reticence. This has placed me in an awkward position,
which I could have avoided by not seeing them in the first instance. I
fear now their going back without any expression from any one in authority
will have a bad influence. At the same time I recognize the difficulties
in the way of receiving these informal Commissioners at this time, and I
do not know what to recommend. I am sorry, however, that Mr. Lin
coln cannot have an interview with the two named in this dispatch, if
not all three now within our lines. Their letter to me was all that the
President's instructions contemplated to secure their safe conduct, if they
had used the same language to Capt. Eckert. U. S. Grant, Lieut. General.
This dispatch of General Grant changed my purpose, and accordingly
I telegraphed him and the Secretary of War as follows :

528 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
War Department, Washington,
Feb. 2, 1865.
To Lieut. General Grant, City Point, Va.
Say to the gentlemen that I will meet them personally at Fortress Mon
roe as soon as I can get there.
(Sent in cipher at 9 a.m.) A. Lincoln.
War Department, Washington, D. C,
Feb. 2, 1865.
To Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Fortress Monroe, Va.
Induced by a dispatch from General Grant, I join you at Fortress Mon
roe as soon as I can come.
(Sent in cipher at 9 a.m.) A. Lincoln.
Before starting, the following dispatch was shown me. I proceeded,
nevertheless : Office U. S. Military Telegraph, War Department.
(In cipher.)
The following telegram was received at Washington, Feb. 2, 1865, from
City Point, Va,, 9 a.m., Feb. 2, 1865 :
To Hon. W. H. Seward, Sec'y of State, Fortress Monroe.
[Copy to Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.]
The gentlemen here have accepted the proposed terms and will leave
for Fortress Monroe at 9:30 a.m. U. S. Grant, Lieut. Gen.
On the night of the 2d I reached Hampton Roads, and found the Sec
retary of State and Major Eckert in a steamer anchored off the shore,
and learned of them that the Richmond gentlemen were in another
steamer, also anchored, off shore in the Roads, and that the Secretary of
State had not yet seen or communicated with them. I ascertained that
Major Eckert had literally complied with, his instructions, and I saw for
the first time the answer of the Richmond gentlemen to him, which, in
his dispatch to me of the ist, characterized as not satisfactory. That
answer is as follows, to wit : City Point, Va., Feb. 1, 1865.
To Thos. T. Eckert, Major and Aid-de-Camp.
Major: Your note delivered by yourself this day has been considered
In reply, we have to say that we were furnished with a copy of the letter
of President Lincoln to F. P. Blair, of the 18th of lanuary, ult. Another
copy of which is appended to your note. Our intentions are contained in
the letter, of which the following is a copy : .
Richmond, January 28, 1865.
In conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing
is a copy, you are to proceed to Wishington City for an informal confer-

Second Congress. 529
ence with him upon the issues involved in the existing war, and for the
purpose of securing peace to the two countries. , .
With great respect, your obedient servant, Jefferson Davis.

The substantial object to be attained by the informal conference is to
ascertain upon what terms the existing war can be terminated honorably.
Our instructions contemplate a personal interview between President Lin
coln and ourselves at Washington; but, with this explanation, we are
ready to meet any person or persons that President Lincoln may appoint,
at such place as he may designate. Our earnest desire is that a just and
honorable peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepared to receive or
to submit propositions which may possibly lead to the attainment of
that end.
Very respectfully yours, Alex. H. Stephens,
Robert M. T. Hunter,
John A. Campbell.

A note of these gentlemen, subsequently addressed to General Grant,
has already been given in Major Eckert's dispatch of the ist inst. I also
saw here for the first time the following note addressed by the Richmond
gentlemen to Major Eckert: City Point, Va., February 2, 1865.
Thomas T. Eckert, Major and A. D. C.
Major: In reply to your verbal statement that your instructions did not
allow you to alter the conditions upon which a passport would be given
to us, we say that we are willing to proceed to Fortress Monroe, and there
to have an informal conference with any person or persons that President
Lincoln may appoint, on the basis of his letter to Francis P. Blair of the
18th of January, ultimo, or upon any other terms or conditions that he
may hereafter propose not inconsistent with the essential principles of
self-government and popular rights, upon which our institutions are
founded. It is our earnest wish to ascertain, after a free interchange of
ideas and information, upon what principles and terms, if any, a just and
honorable peace can be established without the further effusion of blood,
and to contribute our utmost efforts to accomplish such a result. We
think it better to add that in accepting your passport we are not to be
understood as committing ourselves to anything, but to carry on this in
formal conference with the views and feelings above expressed.
Very respectfully yours, etc., Alex. H. Stephens,
R. M. T. Hunter,
J. A. Camprell.
[Note. The above communication was delivered to me at Fortress Mon
roe at 4:30 p.m., Feb. 2, by Lieut. Col. Babcock, of Gen. Grant's Staff.
Thos. T. Eckert, Major and A. D. C]
34

530 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
On the morning of the 3d the gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and
Campbell, came aboard of our steamer and had an interview with the
Secretary of State and myself of several hours' duration. No question
of preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or mentioned.
No other person was present. No papers were exchanged or produced,
and it was in advance agreed that the conversation was to be informal
and verbal merely. On my part the whole substance of the instructions to
the Secretary of State, hereinbefore recited, was stated and insisted upon,
and nothing was said inconsistent therewith, while, by the other party,
it was not said that in any event or on any condition they ever would
consent to reunion ; and yet they equally omitted to declare that they would
never so consent. They seemed to 'desire a postponement of that question
and the adoption of some other course first, which, as some of them
seemed to argue, might o"r might not lead to reunion, but which course we
thought would amount to an indefinite postponement.
The conference ended without result.
The foregoing, containing, as is believed, all the information sought,
is respectfully submitted. Abraham Lincoln.

Richmond, Va., February 6th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 13th December last, I here
with transmit for your information a communication from the
Secretary of War, relative to the "Cotton Bureau," established in
the State of Texas, and covering copies of all documents on the
subject on file in his office, and of his correspondence with the
General commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, in refer
ence to the use of cotton as a means of procuring supplies for the
Army. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 25th ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Secretary of War, covering a list
of the quartermasters and assistant quartermasters now in the
service and indicating the rank of each officer and the duty on
which he is employed. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 31st December last, I here
with transmit for your information a communication from the

Second Congress. S31
Secretary of War, covering copies of "the reports of Generals
Taylor, Price, and Magruder, with the report of General Smith
appended, of their military operations in the Trans-Mississippi
Department during the last eighteen months." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 8th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the nth ult., I herewith trans
mit a communication from the Postmaster General, which con
veys the information requested relative to the number of persons
exempted as contractors to carry the mails on routes less than
fifty miles in length, so far as the records of his office enable him
to furnish it. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 10, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering an estimate for an
additional appropriation required by the Navy Department.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 15, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In partial response to your resolution of the 24th ultimo, I
herewith transmit communications from the Secretary of the Navy
and the Postmaster General, relative to the number of white men
between the ages of 18 and 45, and of negroes, whose services are
necessary to their respective Departments.
The Secretary of War has been called on to furnish reports on
this subject from the several bureaus specified in your resolution,
which will be transmitted when received. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 15, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In further response to your resolution of the 25th ultimo, I
herewith transmit for your information a communication from

532 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the Secretary of the Navy, covering copies of the remainder of
his correspondence with the Governor of North Carolina, relative
to coal belonging to the steamer "Advance." Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 15, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of 24th December last, I here
with transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, which
conveys the information requested, relative to the number of iron
furnaces and forges worked by agents of the Government or by.
contractors during the year 1864, and to the cost per ton of the
several kinds of iron furnished by them. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 15, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering an estimate for an
additional appropriation required by the Department of Justice.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 20, 1865.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
I submit herewith to your honorable body a report from the
Secretary of War, dated the 18th instant, exhibiting the condition
to which the public service is now reduced by the want of means in
the Treasury to furnish the supplies needful for the Army and for
the public defense. The urgency for the passage of some revenue
bill has now become so pressing as to threaten the gravest con
sequences. I am fully aware of the embarrassments which have
retarded the action of the House in the performance of its exclu
sive constitutional function of originating a bill for raising rev
enue, and that the great diversity of opinion which must exist on
so complex and difficult a subject has prevented the adoption of
measures recommended by the Committee of Ways and Means of
the House, as well as those recommended by the Secretary of the
Treasury. I would, however, respectfully suggest that our af-

Second Congress. 533
fairs are now in a position so critical that objections which under
other circumstances would be regarded as insurmountable may
well be waived in favor of any scheme of finance or taxation that
will enable the Treasury promptly to meet our most pressing
wants, and that immediate legislation, even if somewhat imperfect,
is preferable to wiser measures if attended with delay.
In connection with this subject I would invoke your attention
to the need of prompt action for adding to our strength in the
field. Very few weeks now remain for preparation, and we are
threatened by a concentration of forces around us which cannot
be successfully resisted without the aid of large reenforcements
to our armies.
It is with trust in your wisdom and patriotism that I obey the
behest of the Constitution in placing before you this information
of the state of the country, confident that you will need no further
stimulus than the knowledge of these facts to induce such action
as will avert the perils which now menace our country.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 20, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 6th instant, I herewith
transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, which con
veys all the information in my possession relative to the non-de
struction of the cotton in the city of Savannah, before its evacua
tion by our military forces. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 20, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for an additional
appropriation required by the Department. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 20, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In further response to your resolution of the 24th ult., I here
with transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, rela-

534 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
tive to the number of white men between the ages of 18 and 45,
and of negroes, who, in addition to their own officers, are required
to carry on the operations of the Bureau of his Department to
which your inquiries refer, and of the railroad companies of the
country; and indicating the railroads which he considers most
necessary for military purposes and of which the repairs or con
struction should be affected by appropriations by the Government.
In connection with the latter subject he makes a suggestion to
which I invite your special attention. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 21, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 30th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, relative to the accessions to the Army from each
State since April 16, 1862 ; to the number of persons liable to con
scription who have been exempted or detailed, and to the number
of those between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and not un
fitted for active service in the field, who are employed in the sev
eral States in the manner indicated in your inquiry. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 22, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 25th ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secre
tary of War, relative to the number of able-bodied men between
the ages of eighteen and forty-five "claimed to be exempt from
conscription by the Governor, laws, and resolutions of the State
of Georgia." Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., February 24th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information copies of the corre
spondence requested in your resolution of the 24th ult., as follows
— to wit :
"Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate to
this House, if not incompatible with the public interest, all the

Second Congresi. 535
correspondence between himself and General Joseph E. Johnston
touching the command and movements of the Army of Tennessee,
and all the correspondence between himself and Generals Beaure
gard and Hood touching the command and movements of the
same army since the removal of General Johnston from the com
mand of it, and up to the retreat of it to the south side of the
Tennessee River."
The correspondence of the Secretary of War and of the Adju
tant General will be found combined according to dates.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., February 24th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 17th of May last, I here
with transmit for your information a copy of my own correspond
ence as well as that of the Secretary of War, and of the Adjutant
and Inspector General, with Genl. Joseph E. Johnston, during
the period indicated.
The resolution is in these words :
"Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested, in addi
tion to the correspondence heretofore communicated to Congress
between the President and Secretary of War and General Joseph
E. Johnston in relation to the conduct of the war in the valley of
the Mississippi, to communicate to Congress so much of said cor
respondence as has not as yet been called for by this House, com
mencing with a letter of November 24th, 1862, addressed by Gen
eral Johnston to the Hon. Geo. W. Randolph, Secretary of War,
and including General Johnston's reply to the letter of the Pres
ident of July last, which closes the public correspondence."
To the copy of General Johnston's letters of August 8th and
20th, 1863, which is requested in the latter part of the resolution,
has been added a copy of my reply, bearing date September 7th,
1863, and closing the correspondence to which it belongs; and,
with a view to presenting the whole subject at once, I have includ
ed a copy of the printed correspondence heretofore communicated
to Congress, which was published by order of the House and
which has been submitted in response to the resolution of Decem
ber nth, 1863, as follows:

536 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
"Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate to
the House, if not incompatible with the public interest, the orders
given to and the correspondence had with General Jos. E. John
ston during the months of May, June, and July, 1863, concerning
his command and the operations in his Department."
This communication would have been made at a much earlier
date but for the fact that an important paper which had been
handed to me by General Johnston in person at Chattanooga, and
in which he objected to sending reenforcements from the Army of
Tennessee to that in Mississippi, had been mislaid, and seemed
necessary to the completeness of the correspondence. I have not
yet been able to recover it, but [am] unwilling to delay my re
sponse to your resolution any longer on that account. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 25, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, covering an estimate for an additional
appropriation required by the War Department. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 27, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Postmaster General, relative to "An Act fixing the sal
aries of certain civil officers in the Trans-Mississippi Department,"
and invite your special attention to his suggestions, with a view
to further legislation on the subject if you deem it necessary.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., Feb. 28, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of War, relative to the construction and repair
of railroads necessary for military purposes, and submitting an

Second Congress. 537
estimate of the amount required to be appropriated for these ob
jects during the year 1865.
I invite your special attention to the subject. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., February 28, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Secretary of War, covering copies of several additional reports
of military operations. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 1, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I have received the following resolution adopted by you in
secret session on the 12th January last :
"Resolved, That the President of the Confederate States be re
quested to communicate to the Senate, if in his opinion it be not
incompatible with the public interests, the contemporaneous cor
respondence and documents mentioned in the letter of the Secre
tary of War of the 3d inst, communicating a copy of the report of
Genl. Joseph E. Johnston, called for by a resolution of the Senate."
In response, I herewith transmit for your information copies of
my own correspondence with Genl. J. E. Johnston during the time
he commanded the Army of Tennessee in the field, as well as of
the correspondence had with him by the Department.
The letter of the Secretary of War of this date, covering the
papers forwarded by him, explains the delay in responding to your
resolution. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 3, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I have this day received a copy of your resolution of the ist
inst., as follows :
"Resolved, That Major General Stephen D. Lee, having been
appointed Lt. General under the act of Feb. 17, 1864, and
having been relieved from the discharge of the duties in the
command to which he was appointed, cannot be confirmed by the

538 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Senate to the said command, but must now resume his former rank
in the service."
In response, I have the honor to request the return of the nom
ination which was the occasion of the resolution, and to inforrn
you that, before the action of the Senate in the premises was
known, I had directed a new nomination of the officer referred to
to be made, which should be free from the objection stated.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 4, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
In response to your resolution of the 21st ultimo, I herewith
transmit for your information a communication from the Secretary
of War, covering a copy of General John B. Hood's report of the
operations of the Army of Tennessee while under his command.
Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 6, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I have this day approved and signed an act which originated in
the Senate entitled "An Act (S. 117) to authorize the command
ers of reserves in each State to order general courts-martial and to
revise the proceedings of courts-martial and military courts."
In the first section the general commanding reserves in each
State is authorized to order general courts-martial for the trial of
offenses committed against the military code by persons belonging
to his command and to revise the proceedings.
In the second section military courts are authorized under cer
tain circumstances to try offenses committed by members of the
organization of reserves. But no provision is made by which the
general commanding reserves is authorized to revise the pro
ceedings of military courts in any case. From the title of the
act it seems to have been the intention to confer this power, and I
have thought it proper to invite your attention to what seems to
be an oversight in not granting it. A copy of the act is inclosed.
Jefferson Davis.

Second Congress. 539
Richmond, Va., March 6th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 23d ult, I herewith trans
mit for your information a communication from the Secretary of
War, covering a copy of General John B. Hood's report of the
operations of the Army of Tennessee while under his command.
Jefferson Davis.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate- States of
America. Having been this day informed that the two houses of Congress
have concurred in fixing Saturday next as the day for the ad
journment, I deem it proper and advisable to notify you that I
expect at an early day to send a communication* which may re
quire your deliberation and action, and therefore to request that
you will prolong your session for a few days. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, March 9, 1865.

Executive Office, Richmond, Va., March 9th, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your consideration a communication
from the Secretary of the Treasury, covering estimates of appro
priations required for the support of the Government during the
year 1865. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 9th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information a copy of the report
of Lieut. Genl. S. D. Lee, of the operations of his corps of the
Army of Tennessee during the recent campaign, under command
of Genl. John B. Hood, whose report in response to your resolu
tion of the 23d ult. was submitted on the 6th inst.
Jefferson Davis.
*See page 544.

540 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., March n, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I have received a copy of your resolution of the 6th instant, as
follows :
Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested to inform the
Senate why he gives to aids-de-camp to general officers above the grade
of brigadier general only the rank of first lieutenant in his nominations
made to the Senate.
In response, I herewith transmit for your information a com
munication from the Secretary of War upon the same subject in
response to the resolution of the House of Representatives of No
vember 8, 1864, as follows :
Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested to inform this
House whether any appointments have been made under the act entitled
"An Act to provide and organize a general staff for the armies in the field
to serve during the war," approved June 14, 1864; and if not, why such
appointments have not been made in pursuance of said act.
The anticipation of amendatory legislation, as set forth in the
annexed report, together with the discretionary power vested in
the Executive by the seventh section of the act referred to, has
caused me for the time being not to make appointments under
said act.
In the case of aids-de-camp, it has been the practice, because
of their personal and confidential relations to their chief, to ap
point upon his nomination. To this practice there seems to be no
paramount objection, while the rank of such officers is of the
subaltern grade ; but if they have high rank, for many and obvious
considerations their selection cannot be controlled by the personal
preferences of the general with whom they are to serve. But the
suggested change in the mode of selection would impair the con
fidential relation which an aid should have to his chief, and be
an unwelcome task to the appointing power.
The nominations of aids-de-camp have for the above reasons
been continued as heretofore, though the legislative amendment
expected had not been made. Jefferson Davis.
Executive Office, Richmond, March 13, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of
America.I have now under consideration the act entitled "An Act to

Second Congress. 541
diminish the number of exemptions and details," which has passed
both Houses, and was presented to me on Saturday, the nth in
stant. The act contains two provisions which would in practice so im-L
pair the efficiency of the service as to counterbalance, if not out
weigh, the advantages that would result from the other clauses
contained in it.
The third section exempts all skilled artisans and mechanics in
the employment of the Government from all military service. A
very important and indeed indispensable portion of our local de
fense troops consists of these mechanics and artisans. They
amount to many thousands in the Confederacy ; and while they are
and should remain exempt from general service, no good cause is
perceived why they should not, like all other citizens capable of
bearing arms, be organized for local defense and be ready to de
fend the localities in which they are respectively employed against
sudden raids and incursions. If exempt from this local service,
it will be necessary to detach in many cases troops from the armies
in the field to guard the towns and workshops where they are em
ployed. It is believed that if this provision becomes a law the gain
of strength resulting from the repeal of other exemptions enacted
by the first section of the law would be more than counterbalanced
by the loss of this local force.
The second provision to which I refer is that which revokes all
details and exemptions heretofore granted by the President and
Secretary of War, and prohibits the grant of such exemptions and
details hereafter. There is little hazard in saying that such a
provision could not be executed without so disorganizing the pub
lic service as to produce very injurious results. In every depart
ment of the Government, in every branch of the service through
out the country, there are duties to be performed which cannot
be discharged except by men instructed and trained in their per
formance. Long experience makes them experts. Their services
become in their peculiar sphere of duty worth to the country great
ly more than any they could possibly render in the field. Some of
these it would be impossible immediately to replace. The Treas
ury expert who detects a forged note at a glance ; the accounting
officer whose long experience makes him a living repository of
the rules and precedents which guard the Treasury from frauds;

542 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the superintendent of the manufacturing establishments of the
Government which supply shoes, harness, wagons, ambulances,
&c, for the Army ; the employees who have been specially trained
in the distribution and subdivision of mail matter among the va
rious routes by which it is to reach its destination, are among the
instances that are afforded by the daily experience of executive
officers. To withdraw from the public service at once, and with
out any means of replacing them, the very limited number of ex
perts, believed to be less than ioo, who are affected by the bill, is
to throw the whole machinery of Government into confusion and
disorder, at a period when none who are not engaged in executive
duties can have an adequate idea of the difficulties by which they
are already embarrassed.
The desire of the Executive and the Secretary of War to obtain
for the Army the services of every man available for the public
defense can hardly be doubted, and Congress may be assured that
nothing but imperative public necessity could induce the exercise
of any discretion vested in them to retain men out of the Army.
But no Government can be administered without vesting some
discretion in executive officers in the application of general rules
to classes of the population. Individual exceptions exist to all
such rules, in the very nature of things, and these exceptions can
not be provided for by legislation in advance.
I earnestly hope that Congress will pass an amendment to the
act now under consideration, in accordance with the foregoing
recommendations, so that I may be able by signing both the act
and amendment to secure unimpaired benefit from the proposed
legislation. Jefferson Davis.

Executive Office, Richmond, March 13, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I have returned with my approval an act entitled "An Act to
regulate the business of conscription." There is, however, one
section of the act which seems to me to threaten injury to the
service unless essentially modified.
The eighth section provides that there shall be in each Con
gressional district "a medical board composed of three surgeons,
who, after due notice of the time and place of their meeting, shall

Second Congress. 543
visit each county of their district at least once in three months, and
shall examine for discharge or recommendation for light duty all
conscripts who have been furloughed under the provisions of the
preceding section. Every discharge granted by said medical
board shall be final and shall relieve the party from all military
service in the future when the disability is permanent and the
cause of it is set forth in the certificate."
It is greatly to be feared that under the terms of this section
considerable numbers of men will be finally discharged from mil
itary service while competent to aid in the defense of their coun
try. The terms of the law do not require that the disability shall
be total, as well as permanent, in order to entitle the soldier to be
discharged. The loss of a limb, or stiffness of a joint, or even the
loss of the dexter forefinger, lameness, nearsightedness, partial
deafness, are instances of disability, permanent but not total, and
which may well exist without rendering the individual incompe
tent to perform valuable service in posts, garrisons, or even in
active operations.
The number of surgeons required for the duty imposed by this
section would be about 150 in addition to the local physicians.
We have no medical officers to spare from attendance upon the
troops and in hospitals, so that it would be necessary to appoint
this number of new officers who would generally be drawn from
men in active service in the field. After the first visit to the
different counties these officers would have so little to do as to
be practically supernumeraries supported by the Government at
great cost, and with the loss of their services in the field. Of the
three surgeons who are to compose the board, only two are to be
public officers ; so that any resident physician of a county, in con
nection with a single Army surgeon, would have power by action,
from which there is no appeal, to discharge permanently from
service any inhabitant of the county in which he practices his pro
fession. When we consider the strong opposition manifested in
many districts of the country to the system of conscription, and the
many influences which are resorted to by those who seek to escape
service, there is much cause to fear that the effect of these pro
visions will be to deplete our reduced forces to a serious extent,
and I hope it will be the pleasure of Congress to repeal this sec
tion or materially to modify its provisions. Jefferson Davis.

544 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., March 13, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of
America. When informed on Thursday last that it was the intention of
Congress to adjourn sine die on the ensuing Saturday, I deemed it
my duty to request a postponement of the adjournment* in order
that I might submit for your consideration certain matters of pub
lic interest which are now laid before you. When that request
was made, the most important measures that had occupied your
attention during the session had not been so far advanced as to be
submitted for Executive action, and the state of the country had
been so materially affected by the events of the last four months as
to evince the- necessity of further and more energetic legislation
than was contemplated in November last.
Our country is now environed with perils which it is our duty
calmly to contemplate. Thus alone can the measures necessary
to avert threatened calamities be wisely devised and efficiently
enforced. Recent military operations of the enemy have been successful
in the capture of some of our seaports, in interrupting some of
our lines of communication, and in devastating large districts of
our country. These events have had the natural effect of encour
aging our foes and dispiriting many of our people. The Capital
of the Confederate States is now threatened, and is in greater
danger than it has heretofore been during the war. The fact is
stated without reserve or concealment, as due to the people whose
servants we are, and in whose courage and constancy entire trust
is reposed ; as due to you, in whose wisdom and resolute spirit the
people have confided for the adoption of the measures required to
guard them from threatened perils.
While stating to you that our country is in danger, I desire also
to state my deliberate conviction that it is within our power to
avert the calamities which menace us, and to secure the triumph
of the sacred cause for which so much sacrifice has been made, so
much suffering endured, so many precious lives been lost. This
result is to be obtained by fortitude, by courage, by constancy in
enduring the sacrifices still needed ; in a word, by the prompt and

*See page 539.

Second Congress. 545
resolute devotion of the whole resources of men and money in the
Confederacy to the achievement of our liberties and independence.
The measures now required, to be successful, should be prompt.
Long deliberation and protracted debate over important measures
are not only natural, but laudable in representative assemblies un
der ordinary circumstances ; but in moments of danger, when ac
tion becomes urgent, the delay thus caused is itself a new source of
peril. Thus it has unfortunately happened that some of the meas
ures passed by you in pursuance of the recommendations con
tained in my message* of November last have been so retarded as
to lose much of their value, or have, for the same reason, been
abandoned after being matured, because no longer applicable to
our altered condition, and others have not been brought under
examination. In making these remarks it is far from my inten
tion to attribute the loss of time to any other cause than those in
herent in deliberative assemblies, but only urgently to recommend
prompt action upon the measures now submitted.
We need, for carrying on the war successfully, men and sup
plies for the Army. We have both within our country sufficient
to obtain success. To obtain the supplies, it is necessary to pro
tect productive districts and guard our lines of communication by
an increase in the number of our forces ; and hence it results that,
with a large augmentation in the number of men in the Army, the
facility of supplying the troops would be greater than with our
present reduced strength. For the purchase of the supplies now
required, especially for the armies in Virginia and North Car
olina, the Treasury must be provided with means, and a modifica
tion in the impressment law is required. It has been ascertained
by examination that we have within our reach a sufficiency of what
is most needed for the Army, without having recourse to the ample
provision existing in those parts of the Confederacy with which
our communication has been partially interrupted by hostile op
erations. But in some districts from which supplies are to be
drawn the inhabitants, being either within the enemy's lines or in
very close proximity, are unable to make use of Confederate
Treasury notes for the purchase of articles of prime necessity, and
it is necessary that to some extent coin be paid in order to obtain
*Page 482.
35

546 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
supplies. It is therefore recommended that Congress devise the
means for making available the coin within the Confederacy for
the purpose of supplying the Army. The officers of the supply
departments report that with $2,000,000 in coin the armies in Vir
ginia and North Carolina can be amply supplied for the remainder
of the year, and the knowledge of this fact should suffice to in
sure the adoption of the measures necessary to obtain this mod
erate sum.
The impressment law as it now exists prohibits the public offi
cers from impressing supplies without making payment of the
valuation at the time of impressment. The limit fixed for
the issue of Treasury notes has been nearly reached, and the
Treasury cannot always furnish the funds necessary for prompt
payment; while the law for raising revenue, which would have
afforded means for diminishing, if not removing, this difficulty,
was unfortunately delayed for several months, and has just been
signed. In this condition of things it is impossible to supply the
Army, although ample stores may exist in the country, whenever
the owners refuse to give credit to the public officer. It is neces
sary that this restriction on the power of impressment be removed.
The power is admitted to be objectionable, liable to abuse, and
unequal in its operations on individuals ; yet all these objections
must yield to absolute necessity. It is also suggested that the
system of valuation now established ought to be radically changed.
The legislation requires in such cases of impressment that the
market price be paid ; but there is really no market price in many
cases, and the valuation is made arbitrarily and in a depreciated
currency. The result is that the most extravagant prices are
fixed, such as no one expects ever to be paid in coin. None be
lieve that the Government can ever redeem in coin the obligation
to pay $50 a bushel for corn, or $700 a barrel for flour. It would
seem to be more just and appropriate to estimate the supplies
impressed at their value 'in coin, to give the obligation of the
Government for the payment of the price in coin with reasonable
interest; or, at the option of the creditor, to return in kind the
wheat or corn impressed, with a reasonable interest also payable
in kind, and to make the obligations thus issued receivable for all
payments due in coin to the Government. Whatever be the value
attached by Congress to these suggestions, it is hoped that there

Second Congress. 547
will be no hesitation in so changing the law as to render it possible
to supply the Army in case of necessity for the impressment of
provisions for that purpose.
The measure adopted to raise revenue, though liberal in its pro
visions, being clearly inadequate to meet the arrear of debt and the
current expenditure, some degree of embarrassment in the man
agement of the finances must continue to be felt. It is to be
regretted, I think, that the recommendation of the Secretary of
the Treasury of a tax on agricultural income equal to the aug
mented tax on other incomes, payable in Treasury notes, was re
jected by Congress. This tax would have contributed materially
to facilitate the purchase of provisions and diminish the necessity
that is now felt for a supply of coin.
The measures passed by Congress during the session for re
cruiting the Army and supplying the additional force needed for
the public defense have been, in my judgment, insufficient; and I
am impelled by a profound conviction of duty, and stimulated by
a sense of the perils which surround our country, to urge upon
you additional legislation on this subject.
The bill for employing negroes as soldiers has not reached me,
though the printed journals of your proceedings inform me of its
passage. Much benefit is anticipated from this measure, though
far less than would have resulted from its adoption at an earlier
date, so. as to afford time for their organization and instruction
during the winter months.
The bill for diminishing the number of exempts has just been
made the subject of a special message,* and its provisions are such
as would add no strength to the Army. The recommendation to
abolish all class exemptions has not met your favor, although still
deemed by me a valuable and important measure ; and the number
of men exempted by a new clause in the act just passed is believed
to be quite equal to that of those whose exemption is revoked. A
law of a few lines repealing all class exemptions would not only
strengthen the forces in the field, but be still more beneficial by
abating the natural discontent and jealousy created in the Army
by the existence of classes privileged by law to remain in places of
*Page 540.

548 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
safety while their fellow-citizens are exposed in the trenches and
the field.
The measure most needed, however, at the present time for
affording an effective increase to our military strength is a gen
eral militia law, such as the Constitution authorizes Congress to
pass, by granting to it power "to provide for organizing, arming,
and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them
as may be employed in the service of the Confederate States,"
and the further power "to provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the Confederate States, suppress insurrections,
and repel invasions." The necessity for the exercise of this power
can never exist if not in the circumstances which now surround us.
The security of the States against any encroachment by the Con
federate Government is amply provided by the Constitution by
"reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the
officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the
discipline prescribed by Congress."
A law is needed to prescribe not only how and of what persons
the militia are to be organized, but to provide the mode of calling
them out. If instances be required to show the necessity for such
general law, it is sufficient to mention that in one case I have been
informed by the Governor of a State that the law does not permit
him to call the militia from one county for service in another, so
that a single brigade of the enemy could traverse the State and
devastate each county in turn without any power on the part of
the Executive to use the militia for effective defense ; while in an
other State the Executive refused to allow the militia "to be em
ployed in the service of the Confederate States" in the absence
of a law for that purpose.
I have heretofore, in a confidential message* to the two Houses,
stated the facts which induced me to consider it necessary that
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should be suspended.
The conviction of the necessity of this measure has become deeper
as the events of the struggle have been developed. Congress has
not concurred with me in this opinion. It is my duty to say that
the time has arrived when the suspension of the writ is not simply
advisable and expedient, but almost indispensable to the success-
*Page 395 ; see also page 498.

Second Congress. 549
ful conduct of the war. On Congress must rest the responsibility
of declining to exercise a power conferred by the Constitution as
a means of public safety, to be used in periods of national peril
resulting from foreign invasion. If our present circumstances
are not such as were contemplated when this power was con
ferred, I confess myself at a loss to imagine any contingency in
which this clause of the Constitution will not remain a dead letter.
With the prompt adoption of the measures above recommended
and the united and hearty cooperation of Congress and the peo
ple in the execution of the laws and the defense of the country,
we may enter upon the present campaign with cheerful confidence
in the result. And who can doubt the continued existence of that
spirit and fortitude in the people, and of that constancy under re
verses, which alone are needed to rerider our triumph secure?
What other resource remains available but the undying, uncon
querable resolve to be free? It has become certain beyond all
doubt or question that we must continue this struggle to a suc
cessful issue, or must make abject and unconditional submission
to such terms as it shall please the conqueror to impose on us
after our surrender. If a possible doubt could exist after the
conference between our Commissioners and Mr. Lincoln, as re
cently reported* to you, it would be dispelled bv a recent occur
rence of which it is proper that you should be informed.
Congress will remember that in the conference above referred
to our Commissioners were informed that the Government of the
United States would not enter into any agreement or treaty what
ever with the Confederate States, nor with any single State ; that
the only possible mode of obtaining peace was by laying down
our arms, disbanding our forces, and yielding unconditional obe
dience to the laws of the United States, including those passed
for the confiscation of our property, and the constitutional amend
ment for the abolition of slavery. It will be further remembered
that Mr. Lincoln declared that the only terms on which hostilities
could cease were those stated in his message of December last,
in which we were informed that in the event of our penitent sub
mission he would temper justice with mercy, and that the question
whether we would be governed as dependent territories or per-
*Page 519.

550 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
mitted to have a representation in their Congress was one on which
he could promise nothing, but which would be decided by their
Congress after our submission had been accepted.
It has not, however, been hitherto stated to you that in the
course of the conference at Fortress Monroe a suggestion was
made by one of our Commissioners that the objection entertained
by Mr. Lincoln to treating with the Government of the Confed
eracy, or with any separate State, might be avoided by substituting
for the usual mode of negotiating through commissioners or other
diplomatic agents the method sometimes employed of a military
convention to be entered into by the commanding generals of the
armies of the two belligerents. This he admitted was a power
possessed by him, though it was not thought commensurate with
all the questions involved. As he did not accept the suggestions
when made, he was afterwards requested to reconsider his conclu
sion upon the subject of a suspension of hostilities, which he
agreed to do, but said that he had maturely considered the plafi
and had determined that it could not be done. Subsequently, how
ever, an interview with General Longstreet was asked for by Gen
eral Ord, commanding the enemy's Army of the James, during
which General Longstreet vas informed by him that there was a
possibility of arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the present
unhappy difficulties by means of a military convention, and that if
General Lee desired an interview on the subject it would not be
declined, provided General Lee had authority, to act. This com
munication was supposed to be the consequence of the suggestion
above referred to, and General Lee, according to instructions,
wrote to General Grant on the 2d of this month proposing to meet
him for conference on the subject, and stating that he was vested
with the requisite authority. General Grant's reply stated that he
had no authority to accede to the proposed conference; that his
power extended only to making a convention on subjects purely of
a military character, and that General Ord could only have meant
that an interview would not be refused on any subject on which
he (General Grant) had the right to act. It thus appears that
neither with the Confederate authorities nor the authorities of any
State, nor through the commanding generals, will the Government
of the United States treat or make any terms or agreement what
ever for the cessation of hostilities. There remains, then, for us

Second Congress. 551
no choice but to continue the contest to a final issue, for the people
of the Confederacy can be but little known to him who supposes
it possible that they would ever consent to purchase at the cost of
degradation and slavery permission to live in a country garrisoned
by their own negroes and governed by officers sent by the con
queror to rule over them.
Having thus fully placed before you the information requisite
to enable you to judge of the state of the country, the dangers to
which we are exposed, and the measures of legislation needed for
averting them, it remains for me but to invoke your attention to the
consideration of those means by which, above all others, we may
hope to escape the calamities that would result from our failure.
Prominent above all others is the necessity for earnest and cordial
cooperation between all departments of government, State and
Confederate, and all eminent citizens throughout the Confederacy.
To you especially, as Senators and Representatives, do the people
look for encouragement and counsel. To your action, not only
in legislative halls but in your homes, will their eyes be turned
for the example of what is befitting men who, by willing sacrifices
on the altar of freedom, show that they are worthy to enjoy its
blessings. I feel full confidence that you will concur with me
in the conviction that your public duties will not be ended when
you shall have closed the legislative labors of the session, but that
your voice will be heard cheering and encouraging the people to
that persistent fortitude which they have hitherto displayed, and
animating them by the manifestation of that serene confidence
which in moments of public danger is the distinctive characteristic
of the patriot who derives courage from his devotion to his coun
try's destiny and is thus enabled to inspire the like courage in
others. Thus united in a common and holy cause, rising above all selfish
considerations, rendering all our means and faculties tributary
to the country's welfare, let us bow submissively to the Divine will
and reverently invoke the blessing of our Heavenly Father, that,
as he protected and guided our sires when struggling in a similar
cause, so he will enable us to guard safely our altars and our fire
sides and maintain inviolate the political rights which we inher
ited. Jefferson Davis.

552 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Richmond, Va., March 13, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
Herewith I transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, cover
ing several communications from officers of the Army in reference
to the present condition of the country as connected with military
defense, and especially with the matter of supplies for the Army.
They will serve to elucidate the message* this day transmitted to
you. The last in the order of time of those communications was
received after my message was transmitted, and refers to a con
tingency which, if it should occur, must seriously affect the opin
ions which I then expressed. I invite your special attention to the
papers submitted. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 13, 1865.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I herewith transmit for your information copies of the corre
spondence referred to in my message* of this date, in regard to the
proposed conference to adjust terms of peace by means of a mil
itary convention. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 13th, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of 23d November last, I here
with transmit for your information a communication from the
Secretary of War, the Attorney General, and the Postmaster Gen
eral, relative to the number, ages, etc., of the officers and em
ployees in their respective Departments on duty in the city of
Richmond. The transmission of these papers has been delayed in order that
the report of the Secretary of the. Treasury relative to the number
of employees in his Department, which was included in your call
for information, might accompany them.
That report has not yet been received, but I have decided to
withhold the present communications no longer on that account.
Jefferson Davis.
*Page 544.

Second Congress. 553
Richmond, Va., March 14, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit for your information a communication from
the Postmaster General, relative to the removal of a postmaster
from office. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 14, 1865.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 2d inst., I herewith trans
mit for your information communications from the Secretary of
the Navy and the commissioner for the exchange of prisoners,
relative to the trial and execution of John Y. Beall, Acting Master
in the C. S. Navy, by the authorities of the United States.
Jefferson Davis.

VETO MESSAGES.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
I feel constrained to return to the Senate, without my approval,
an act which originated in your honorable body, entitled, "An Act
to increase the number of acting midshipmen in the Navy, and to
provide the mode of appointment."
The act provides that the additional acting midshipmen "shall
be appointed under the regulations prescribed by the Secretary of
the Navy as follows : One from each Congressional district, upon
the recommendation of the Representative in Congress; two at
large from each State, upon the recommendation of the Senators
thereof respectively ; and ten at large by the President."
The Constitution, in the 2d article, 2d section, 2d clause, after
giving to the President power to nominate, and by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate to appoint all officers of the
Confederate States whose appointments are not otherwise pro
vided for, adds : "But the Congress may by law vest the appoint
ment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the Presi
dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the Heads of Departments."
The framers of the Constitution, in defining the powers of the
several Departments of the Government, took care to designate the
particular class of offices which the two Houses of Congress may

554 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
fill, and thus excluded the idea of power to make selections for
any others.
By the fifth clause of article ist, section 2, the special power is
given to the House of Representatives "to choose their Speaker
and other officers," the word "their" being applicable not only to
the Speaker, but to the "other officers."
By the act now before me, however, the two Houses empower
their respective members to "choose" officers that are not "their
officers," but officers of the Executive Department of the Govern
ment. The language is not susceptible of any other meaning.
The acting midshipmen "shall be appointed upon the recommenda
tion" of the Representatives or Senators, as the case may be.
But the Constitution, by granting to Congress no other power
over officers created by law than that of vesting the appointment
"in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the Heads of
Departments,", thus withholds from that branch of the Govern
ment any participation in such appointments. But it may be re
marked that this act gives the power of making the proposed ap
pointments not to Congress as a body, but to the individual mem
bers of the two Houses, and that it is thus in conflict with the
spirit and interrt of the ist clause of the 6th section of the ist
article of the Constitution, which enumerates the privileges ac
corded to Representatives and Senators individually. These priv
ileges are carefully restricted to such as are necessary to enable
them to discharge their duties as legislators. All other rights,
powers, and privileges granted to Congress by the Constitution
are conferred on the body collectively, or on one of the two
Houses. The power to make selections for appointment to office is no
where accorded in that instrument to the Senators and Representa
tives individually ; and it is believed to be an unquestioned prin
ciple of constitutional law that no legislation can add to the power
vested by the Constitution in any member of any one of the
three Departments of Government.
The power of Congress to vest by law the appointment of in
ferior officers in the President alone or in the Heads of Depart
ments would seem to include a power to restrict, limit, or partially
confer the authority, or to divide it between several Departments,
provided they be those which may constitutionally exercise the

Second Congress. 555
function. But, if the view of the Constitution which has been
presented be correct, it is clear that the Congress cannot vest in
itself any right to a participation in the selection of officers of any
class save those of the two Houses. The language of the act or
ganizing the Navy is sometimes cited to support the opinion that
acting midshipmen are not officers, but employees. In the first
section of that act, the President is authorized to appoint certain
commissioned officers, and to "employ as many masters, midship
men, engineers, naval constructors, boatswains, gunners, carpen
ters, sailmakers, arid other warrant and petty officers and seamen
as he may deem necessary," &c.
If it were conceded that acting midshipmen are not officers, the
bill would not on that account be the less liable, in my judgment,
to the objections above set forth ; for it is as little in accordance
with the letter and the spirit of the Constitution for the members
of Congress to participate in choosing employees as in choosing
officers for the Executive or Judicial Departments. It is repug
nant to the whole theory of our republican institutions, which are
based on the fundamental idea of independent and distinct func
tions in each of the Departments of Government, the Legislative,
Executive, and Judicial ; and evil consequences must result from
any departure from this principle.
But in no just sense can it be maintained that an acting midship
man is not an officer of the Navy. The very clause in the law
just referred to implies that he is a "warrant officer ;" but if there
be doubt as to this, the question is decided by the 3rd section of
the act of 2 1 st April, 1862, which declares that "the warrant offi
cers shall be as follows : Twenty passed midshipmen, one hundred
and six acting midshipmen," &c, &c. The commissioned officer
is appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate ;
the next grade, the warrant officer, belongs to that class of in
ferior officers which according to the Constitution may be estab
lished by law, and appointed by the President alone, or the Head
of a Department.
The midshipman is of this class. His appointment is authorized
by law, and his promotion provided for by regulations. He can
not be discharged or dismissed from service at the pleasure of his
commander, nor without delinquency on his part, as a mere em
ployee for temporary service. His name is placed in the Navy

556 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Register, and the proper record kept of his entry into service, to
determine his rank ; and in all relations to officers and seamen he
is entitled to be, and is, actually treated as an officer of the Navy.
The bill is returned in no spirit of unwillingness to receive the
advice and recommendations of members of Congress, which are
recognized to be entitled to special consideration, but from a sense
of duty to constitutional obligations. Jefferson Davis.
23d January, 1865.

Richmond, Va., January 25, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
I return to your honorable body without my approval an act
which originated in the Senate, entitled "An Act to authorize
newspapers to be mailed to the soldiers free of postage."
The act provides "that all newspapers directed to any officer,
musician, or private engaged in the actual service of the Confed
erate States may be transmitted through the mails free of post-
age." The Constitution, article 1, section 8, clause 7, gives power to
Congress "to establish post offices and post routes; but the ex
penses of the Post Office Department after the ist day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1863, shall be paid out of its own rev
enues." This provision that the Post Office Department shall be self-sus
taining was not contained in the Constitution of our former Gov
ernment. It is important that its spirit and object should be cor
rectly determined now, because many members of the present
Congress were also members of the Provisional Congress, which
adopted this new clause, and legislation by them will be deemed
hereafter to possess peculiar value as a precedent, and as a contem
poraneous interpretation of the Constitution by those best ac
quainted with its meaning.
It was generally understood that the clause under consideration
was intended by its framers to correct what were deemed to be
two great vices that had been developed in the postal system of
the United States. The first was the injustice of taxing the whole
people for the expense of the mail facilities afforded to individuals ;
and the remedy devised was to limit the Government to the fur-

Second Congress. 557
nishing of machinery for carrying the mails and compelling those
who might use the facilities thus furnished to pay the expense
thereof. The second evil against which this clause was intended as a
safeguard was the wasteful extravagance which grew out of the
franking privilege, with its attendant abuses of large contracts for
stationery, printing, binding, &c, and increased Government pat
ronage with its train of corrupting influences.
With this knowledge of the purpose of the framers of the Con-,
stitution, and of the evils against which they intended to provide
by the clause under consideration, I cannot escape the conclusion
that to authorize the transmission of any mail matter free of
postage is to violate the true intent and meaning of the Constitu
tion. If the act now before me should become a' law, the Postmaster
General would be bound to pay railroads and other carriers for
conveying newspapers to the armies without reimbursement from
any source whatever. He could not be repaid out of the general
Treasury without a violation of the letter of the Constitution, nor
out of the other revenues of his Department without in effect
imposing on those who pay for carrying their own correspondence
an additional charge to defray the cost of conveying newspapers
for others.
If it be competent for Congress under the clause to order news
papers to be carried free of postage, the power exists to order free
transmission of any other mail matter. But we must ever remem
ber that Congress can exercise no implied powers — certainly none
not necessary to carry into effect the powers expressly granted;
and where shall we find in the Constitution any power in the
Confederate Government, expressed or implied, for dividing either
the people or the public servants into classes unequally burdened
with postal charges ?
In that part of the Constitution which specially treats of the
burden of taxation, every precaution has been taken to secure uni
formity and to guard against bounties or preferences of any kind ;
and although not directly applicable to the subject of postage, the
spirit of the whole provision is so opposed to inequality in legisla
tion that the passage may well serve for illustration. The first
clause of article I, section 8, gives to Congress power "to lay

558 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue neces
sary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry
on the Government of the Confederate States; but no bounties
shall be granted from the Treasury ; nor shall any duties or taxes
on importations from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster
any branch of industry; and all duties, imposts, and excises shall
be uniform throughout the Confederate States." It is true that
the payment of postage is not properly a tax, but compensation
for service rendered ; yet it would scarcely be ingenuous to deny
that so to regulate the rates of postage as to produce an excess of
receipts over the expense of carrying mail matter for one class and
to use this excess in order to carry free of cost the mail matter of
another class would strongly conflict with the just equality of priv
ileges and burdens which the above-cited clauses were designed to
secure. I regret to be compelled to object to a measure devised by Con
gress for the benefit or relief of the Army, but with my convictions
on the subject it is not possible to approve the act now before me.
Jefferson Davis.
Richmond, Va., March 9, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I feel constrained to return the bill "To provide for the promo
tion of officers in certain cases" to the Senate, in which it orig
inated, with a statement of the objections which have led me to
withhold from it my signature.
The Constitution provides, in paragraph 2, section 2, article 2,
that the President "shall have power, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate," to appoint officers of the Confederate
States not otherwise provided for, "but the Congress may, by law,
vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper,
in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the Heads of De
partments." In the bill under consideration it is declared that "it shall be
competent to the commanding general in the field, or the Secretary
of. War, to order the promotions to be made of the officers next
in grade," &c.
This seems to me to confer a power of appointment on com
manding generals not warranted by the Constitution.

Second Congress 559
It may be further remarked that the power conferred upon the
Secretary of War will be ineffectual except in the case where the
officer next in rank is qualified to fill the temporary vacancy, a
case in which the power would be least necessary in order to pro
vide for the time being a competent commander. Jefferson Davis.

Richmond, Va., March 11, 1865.
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America.
The act entitled "An Act to abolish the office of certain quarter
masters and assistant quartermasters, commissaries and assistant
commissaries, and to provide for the appointment of bonded agents
in said departments," which originated in your honorable body, is
herewith returned without my approval, and with a statement of
the objections which have prevented my signing it.
The act abolishes the office of all quartermasters, assistant quar
termasters, commissaries, and assistant commissaries at posts and
depots, and of those engaged in purchasing and impressing sup
plies, except such as are above the age of forty-five years, or have
been disabled in service or declared unfit for duty in the field. It
requires those officers to be dropped from service (one-fourth in
two months, one-fourth in four months, one-fourth in six months,
and one-fourth within two years), and directs that their places be
supplied by bonded agents, who are to be persons above the age of
forty-five years or disabled in service, or unfit for duty in the field ;
and it revokes all details and repeals all authority to grant details
of persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years for
duty in the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments, except
skilled artisans and mechanics permanently employed, or persons
disabled or unfit for duty in the field.
The object plainly intended by this act is one which meets my
hearty concurrence and approval. Its obvious purpose is to
strengthen the Army by placing in the ranks persons fit for active
service, and whose places can be supplied by others unable to do
duty in the field. On reference of the subject, however, to the
Secretary of War, it has been found that this act could not be
executed without seriously impairing our ability to supply the
armies in the field during the approaching campaign, and that its

560 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
operation would be to drop officers who have been carefully se
lected by reason of their superior capacity and qualifications, while
retaining others of inferior merit and value.
The difficulty of furnishing supplies to the Army, owing to em
barrassments in transportation, is greater now than it has been
at any previous period of the "war. This difficulty has prompted
the selection for that duty of the best and most active and compe
tent officers in the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments,
and such officers have within the last six months been in many
instances withdrawn from the armies where their services were
less important, and assigned to duty in purchasing, collecting, and
forwarding supplies. This fact was, I feel confident, not known to
Congress when the act was passed; and it could not have been
intended to drop from service officers of special merit and retain
others of inferior value. I am also satisfied, from the report made
to me by the Secretary of War, that the number of officers who
would be dropped under the provisions of this law is far less than
is supposed ; that their value as soldiers in the ranks would in no
manner compensate for the loss of their services in their present
positions. The total number of post and purchasing commissaries
in the States east of the Mississippi River is but 212, of whom
many are either over forty-five years of age, or otherwise exempt
from the operations of the proposed law. The total number of
quartermasters collecting taxes in kind is 96, and on post duty
223, including officers in charge of manufactories of clothing,
shoes, harness, wagons, ambulances, &c. A number of them are
over forty-five years of age, others would not be embraced by the
terms of the act, others still have special qualifications for the
superintendence of the important manufactures confided to their
care. Taken altogether, it is doubted whether the officers who would
be dropped under the provisions of the bill would exceed 200 in
number, of whom 50 would go into the ranks in two months, 50 in
four months, and 50 more in six months. This scarcely appre
ciable addition' to the force in the field would be dearly bought at
the sacrifice of efficiency in the two branches of service on which
the very existence of the Army depends. The terms of the act
exempt from its operation those now on duty in the field, so that
if it becomes a law it would not even be possible to avert the loss"

Second Congress. 561
of the best officers by returning them to duty in the field, and
dropping others of inferior merit. The Secretary of War is left
without discretion or choice in the matter.
The heads of the two branches of service affected by this act
apprehend great embarrassment to their respective departments if
it becomes a law. The machinery now organized would be im
paired in its workings everywhere, and in some instances posi
tively interrupted just at the opening of the most important cam
paign. Valuable and experienced officers would be withdrawn
from service. Chief commissaries long accustomed to control op7
erations in an entire State, quartermasters thoroughly informed
as to the resources of their respective fields of duty, would at
short intervals be dropped, and the heads of these bureaus would
be embarrassed with the difficult duty in the midst of an active
campaign of supplying the places with inexperienced and untried
successors. The representations made to me on the subjects embraced in this
act by those under whose immediate superintendence its provi
sions would be executed, together with my own daily experience of
the difficulties attendant on the efficient discharge of the duties of
these two indispensable branches of the service, have created ap
prehensions of injurious effects from the passage of the act too
serious to permit my approving it. Jefferson Davis.
Richmond,.Va., March 17, 1865.
To the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.
I return without my approval an act which originated in your
honorable body, entitled "An Act to provide for the payment of
arrears now due to the Army and Navy."
I have been led to believe that this act was passed in haste and
without due consideration, and that some members who voted for
it desire an opportunity for reconsidering their action.
The act provides for additional issue of Treasury notes to an
amount not exceeding $80,000,000, to be used in payment of all
arrears of pay and allowances due to persons in the military and
naval service of the Confederate States; these notes "to be re
garded in all respects as Treasury notes issued by virtue of the act
to reduce the currency and authorize a new issue of notes and
bonds, approved February 17, 1864."
¦56

562 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
The objections to this legislation are, in my judgment, manifold
and grave.
First. The act of February 17, 1864, levied a tax on the Treas
ury notes then outstanding far exceeding that levied on any other
species of property, and which could be justified only- by the con
sideration that the additional contribution thus exacted from the
holders of these public credits would be compensated in whole or
in part by the increased value of the new currency which was is
sued for the old at the rate of $2 of the former for $3 of the
latter. The act revoked all authority theretofore given to issue
Treasury notes, and it was generally if not universally considered
that the provisions of that law constituted an implied pledge of the
faith of the Government that no further issues of notes should be
made than those therein provided for. It would be scarcely con
sistent to take from the holder one-third of the nominal amount of
the currency in hand for the purpose of reducing the currency
as set forth in the title of the law; to unite with this exaction a
previous authority to issue notes, and afterwards to provide for
an expansion of the currency in opposition to the principles of the
act of February 17, 1864, to the evident detriment of the holders
of the currency under that act.
Second. Independently of the objection just stated, the effect of
a new issue of Treasury notes would be disastrous. The passage
of the law would be accepted as proof that there is no limit to the
issue of Treasury notes except the pleasure of the Government,
and the people will be persuaded that whenever an emergency
arises it will be met by additional issues of paper money. Such a
conviction, once rooted in the popular mind, could not be erad
icated, and the depreciation of the notes in circulation would in
crease so rapidly as effectually to destroy the whole value of what
is outstanding and leave the country without a circulation and
the Government without credit.
Third. The bill, although intended by Congress for the benefit of
the Army, to which we all acknowledge the most sacred obliga
tions of justice and gratitude, would havcan effect the reverse of
that designed. It would despoil the soldier, instead of paying him.
If money be raised by taxation for paying arrears due the Army,
the demand thus created for the notes enhances the value and
enables the public creditor who receives them to make them avail-

Second Congress. 563
able for the purchase of what he needs. If, on the contrary, the
soldier is to have his claim extinguished by the simple process of
printing more paper money, and thus diminishing its value below
even its present depreciation, his claims for his arrears of pay
will have been practically repudiated instead of being paid. Jus
tice to the soldier prompted Congress to pass this bill. The
same motive induces me to withhold my approval of it ; and if my
objections sh,all appear to you well founded, when your attention
is drawn to the supposed consequences that would result from
this legislation, I am persuaded that you will concur in my opin
ion that it ought not to be adopted.
Fourth. There is a mechanical difficulty in the execution of the
law of which Congress was not aware, and which under any cir
cumstances would render the bill unavailing for its intended pur
pose of prompt payment of the arrears due the Army.
The removal of the Treasury Note Bureau from Columbia, the
time required for reestablishing it with its machinery at another
locality and for preparing Treasury notes for the $50,000,000 or
$60,000,000 remaining for issue under existing laws, together with
other causes which it is unwise to relate, would prevent the issue
of the notes provided for in this bill for at least three months to
come. It is gratifying to assure you of my belief that the receipts from
the tax bill just passed, together with other resources within reach
of the Treasury, will enable the Government to pay the arrears
due to the Army and Navy sooner than the additional notes con
templated by the bill could be issued, and that the proposed in
crease of currency can thus be avoided without causing delay in
satisfying the just claims of the defenders of our country.
Jefferson Davis.
PROCLAMATIONS.
General Orders No. 89.
Headquarters Trans-Mississippi Department,
Shreveport, La., November 24, 1864.
The following proclamation of the President is republished for
information in this Department :

564 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
A PROCLAMATION.
It is meet that the people of the Confederate States should, from
time to time, assemble to acknowledge their dependence on Al
mighty God, to render devout thanks to his holy name, to bend
in prayer at his footstool, and to accept, with fervent submission,
the chastening of his all-wise and all-merciful providence.
Let us, then, in temples and in the field, unite our voices in rec
ognizing, with adoring gratitude, the manifestations of his pro
tecting care in the many signal victories with which our arms have
been crowned; in the fruitfulness with which our land has been
blessed, and in the unimpaired energy and fortitude with which he
has inspired our hearts and strengthened our arms in resistance
to the iniquitous designs of our enemies.
And let us not forget that, while graciously vouchsafing to us
his protection, our sins have merited and received grievous chas
tisement ; that many of our best and bravest have fallen in battle ;
that many others are still held in foreign prisons; that large dis
tricts of our country have been devastated with savage ferocity,
the peaceful homes destroyed, and helpless women and children
driven away in destitution; and that with fiendish malignity the
passions of a servile race have been excited by our foes into the
commission of atrocities from which death is a welcome escape.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confed
erate States of America, do issue this my proclamation, setting
apart V/ednesday, the 16th day of November next, as a day to be
specially devoted to the worship of Almighty God; and I do in
vite and invoke all the people of these Confederate States to
assemble on the day aforesaid, in their respective places of public
worship, there to unite in prayer to our Heavenly Father that he
bestow his favor upon us ; that he extend over us the protection
of his almighty arm; that he sanctify his chastisement to our
improvement, so that we may turn away from evil paths and walk
righteously in his sight; and that he may restore peace to our
beloved country, healing its bleeding wounds, and securing to us
the continued enjoyment of our own right to self-government and
independence, and that he will graciously hearken to us while we
ascribe to him the power and glory of our independence.

Second Congress. 565
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States at
Richmond, this 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1864.
Jefferson Davis.
By the President : J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.
The foregoing proclamation, owing to the irregularity of communi
cation with the seat of Government, was not received until too late
for the general observance of the day appointed. The commanding
general therefore directs that the 16th day of December next be
set apart for the object specified; that on rthat day all Government work
shops be closed and labor suspended, and that, as far as practicable, all
military duties cease. The troops are recommended to assemble at their
respective places of worship, and the citizens of the Department invited
to unite in the religious observance of the day.
By command of General E. Kirby Smith.
S. S. Anderson, Assistant Adjutant General.

By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, It has been made known to me that Bennett G. Burley,
an Acting Master in the Navy of the Confederate States, is now
under arrest in one of the British North American Provinces on an
application made by the Government of the United States for the
delivery to that Government of the said Bennett G. Burley, under
the treaty known as the Extradition Treaty, now in force between
the United States and Great Britain ;
And whereas, it has been represented to me that the said de
mand for the extradition of said Bennett G. Burley is based on the
charge that the said Burley is a fugitive from justice, accused of
having committed the crimes of robbery and piracy within the
jurisdiction of the United States;
And whereas, it has further been made known to me that the
accusations and charges made against the said Bennett G. Burley
are based solely on the acts and conduct of said Burley in an
enterprise or expedition made or attempted in the month of Sep
tember last ( 1864) for the capture of the steamer "Michigan," an
armed vessel of the United States, navigating the Lakes on the
bbundary lirte between the United States and the said British

566 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
North American Provinces, and for the release of numerous citi
zens of the Confederate States, held as prisoners of war by the
United States, at a certain island called Johnson's Island ;
And whereas, the said enterprise or expedition for the capture
of said armed steamer "Michigan" and for the release of the said
prisoners on Johnson's Island was a proper and legitimate bellig
erent operation, undertaken during the pending public war be
tween the two Confederacies known respectively as the Confed
erate States of America and the United States of America ; which
operation was ordered, directed, and sustained by the authority of
the Government of the Confederate States, and confided to its com
missioned officers for execution, among which officers is the said
Bennett G. Burley :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate
States of America, do hereby declare and make known to all whom
it may concern, that the expedition aforesaid, undertaken in the
month of September last, for the capture of the armed steamer
"Michigan," a vessel of war of the United States, and for the re
lease of the prisoners of war, citizens of the Confederate States of
America, held captive by the United States of America at John
son's Island, was a belligerent expedition ordered and undertaken
under the authority of the Confederate States of America, against
the United States of America, and that the Government of the
Confederate States of America assumes the responsibility of an
swering for the acts and conduct of any of its officers engaged in
said expedition, and especially of the said Bennett G. Burley, an
Acting Master in the Navy of the Confederate States.
And I do further make known to all whom it may concern that
in the orders and instructions given to the officers engaged in
said expedition, they were specially directed and enjoined to "ab
stain from violating any of the laws and regulations of the Cana
dian or British authorities in relation to neutrality," and that the
combination necessary to effect the purpose of said expedition
"must be made by Confederate soldiers and such assistance as they
might (you may) draw from the enemy's country."
In testimony whereof I have signed this manifesto and directed
the same to be sealed with the seal of the Department of State
of the Confederate States of America, and to be made public.

Second Congress. 567
Done at the city of Richmond on this 24th day of December,
1864. Jefferson Davis.
By the President : J. P. Benjamin-, Secretary of State.

By the President of the Confederate States.
A PROCLAMATION.
The Congress of the Confederate States have, by a joint resolu
tion, invited me to appoint a day of public fasting, humiliation, and
prayer, with thanksgiving to Almighty God.
It is our solemn duty at all times, and more especially in a season
of public trial and adversity, to acknowledge our dependence on
his mercy, and to bow in humble submission before his footstool,
confessing our manifold sins, supplicating his gracious pardon,
imploring his divine help, and devoutly rendering thanks for the
many and great blessings which he has vouchsafed to us.
Let the hearts of our people turn contritely and trustingly unto
God; let us recognize in his chastening hand the correction of a
Father, and submissively pray that the trials and sufferings which
have so long borne heavily upon us may be turned away by his
merciful love; that his sustaining grace be given to our people,
and his divine wisdom imparted to our rulers; that the Lord of
Hosts will be with our armies and fight for us against our ene-'
mies, and that he will graciously take our cause into his owrt
hand and mercifully establish for us a lasting, just, and honorable
peace and independence.
And let us not forget to render unto his holy name the thanks
and praise which are so justly due for his great goodness and for
the many mercies which he has extended to us amid the trials
and suffering of protracted and bloody war.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate
States of America, do issue this my proclamation, appointing Fri
day, the 10th day of March next, as a day of public fasting, humil
iation, and prayer (with thanksgiving) for "invoking the favor
and guidance of Almighty God," and I do earnestly invite all sol
diers and citizens to observe the same in a spirit of reverence, peni
tence, and prayer.

568 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States, at
Richmond, this 25th day of January, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. Jefferson Davis.
By the President: J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State.

ADDRESS. Danville, Va., April 4, 1865.
To the People of the Confederate States of America.
The General in Chief of our Army has found it necessary to
make such movements of the troops as to uncover the capital and
thus involve the withdrawal of the Government from the city of
Richmond. It would be unwise, even were it possible, to conceal the great
moral as well as material injury to our cause that must result from
the occupation of Richmond by the enemy. It is equally unwise
and unworthy of us, as patriots engaged in a most sacred cause, to
allow our energies to falter, our spirits to grow faint, or our efforts
to become relaxed under reverses, however calamitous. While
it has been to us a source of national pride that for four years of
unequaled warfare we have been able, in close proximity to the
center of the enemy's power, to maintain the seat of our chosen
Government free from the pollution of his presence ; while the
memories of the heroic dead who have freely given their- lives to
its defense must ever remain enshrined in our hearts; while the
preservation of the capital, which is usually regarded as the evi
dence to mankind of separate national existence, was an object
very dear to us, it is also true, and should not be forgotten, that
the loss which we have suffered is not without compensation. For
many months the largest and finest army of the Confederacy, un
der the command of a leader whose presence inspires equal con
fidence in the troops and the people, has been greatly trammeled
by the necessity of keeping constant watch over the approaches
to the capital, and has thus been forced to forego more than one
opportunity for promising enterprise. The hopes and confidence
of the enemy have been constantly excited by the belief that their
possession of Richmond would be the signal for our submission to

Second Congress. 5^9
their rule, and relieve them from the burden of war, as their fail
ing resources admonish them it must be abandoned if not speedily
brought to a successful close. It is for us, my countrymen, to
show by our bearing under reverses how wretched has been the
self-deception of those who have believed us less able to endure
misfortune with fortitude than to encounter danger with courage.
We have now entered upon a new phase of a struggle the memory
of which is to endure for all ages and to shed an increasing luster
upon our country.
Relieved from the necessity of guarding cities and particular
points, important but not vital to our defense, with an army free
to move from point to point and strike in detail the detachments
and garrisons of the enemy, operating on the interior of our own
country, where supplies are more accessible, and where the foe
will be far removed from his own base and cut off from all succor
in case of reverse, nothing is now needed to render our triumph
certain but the exhibition of our own unquenchable resolve.' Let
us but will it, and we are free; and who, in the light of the past,
dare doubt your purpose in the future ?
Animated by the confidence in your spirit and fortitude, which
never yet has failed me, I announce to you, fellow-countrymen,
that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart
and soul ; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one
foot of the soil of any one of the States of the Confederacy ; that
Virginia, noble State, whose ancient renown has been eclipsed
by her still more glorious recent history, whose bosom has been
bared to receive the main shock of this war, whose sons and
daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to "render her il
lustrious in all times to come — that Virginia, with the help of her
people, and by the blessing of Providence, shall be held and de
fended, and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders4 of
her homes by the sacrifice of any of her rights or territory: If
by stress of numbers we should ever be compelled to a temporary
withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other border State,
again and again will we return, until the baffled and exhausted
enemy shall abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of
making slaves of a people resolved to be free.
Let us not, then, despond, my countrymen ; but, relying on the
never-failing mercies and protecting care of our God, let us meet

570 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.
the foe with fresh defiance, with unconquered and unconquerable
hearts. Jeff'n Davis.

General Orders No. 3.
Adjt. and Insp. General's Office, Richmond, Va., February 6, 1865.
I. The following act of Congress is published for the informa
tion of the Army :
An Act to Provide for the Appointment of a General in Chief of
the Armies of the Confederate States.
Section i. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do en
act that there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, an officer, who shall be known and designated
as General in Chief, who shall be ranking officer of the Army, and as such
shall have command of the military forces of the Confederate States.
Sec 2. That the act providing a staff for the general who may be as
signed to duty at the seat of Government is hereby, repealed, and that' the
General in Chief who may be appointed under the provisions of this act
shall have a staff not less than that now allowed a general in the field, to
be assigned by the President or to be appointed by him, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate.
Approved January 23, 1865.
II. General Robert E. Lee, having been duly appointed General
in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States, will assume the
duties thereof, and will be obeyed and respected accordingly.
III. General Orders No. 23, of 1864, are hereby revoked.
By order: • S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General.
President's Office, Richmond, Va., March 20, 1865.
To the Secretary of the Senate.
Sir: I have the honor, by direction of the President, to request
that you furnish him at the earliest practicable moment with a
transcript of the journal of the Senate beginning with the morning
of the 16th inst., and continuing to the adjournment on the 18th.
He desires a transcript of the executive and secret sessions as well
as of the open sessions.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Burton N. Harrison, Private Secretary.

Index.

Index.

[ The Index to the Diplomatic Correspondence is iu Volume II.]

Abolitionist. One who favored and endeavored to
bring about the abolition of African slav
ery in the United States. In the early his
tory of the Government the abolitionists
generally favored gradual and voluntary
emancipation of the slaves; but later, as
the feelings of both sides of the contro
versy grew in bitterness, they advocated
immediate aDolition, regardless of the
wishes of the slaveowners. They were
organized into a separate party in the be
ginning, but later were merged into the
Republican Party.
Adams, Charles F., mentioned, 350.
Adams, D. W., commission and pay
of, discussed, 406.
Addresses of President. (See also
Proclamations.)
To— Army of —
Eastern Virginia, 229.
Richmond, 228.
Indian tribes, 477.
People of Confederate States,
331. 568.
Soldiers of Confederate States,
335. 4H-
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
appropriation for, recommended,
306, 318.
Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction,
act to establish court of, in Mis
sissippi vetoed, 101 .
Admission into Confederacy of —
Kentucky, recommendations re
garding application for, 145.
Missouri —
Consideration of Congress re
specting, requested by Presi
dent, 144.
Proclaimed, 166.

Admission into Confederacy of (Con
tinued) —
New States and Territories dis
cussed, 117, 137.
North Carolina, 117.
Contemplated, 98.
Tennessee, 117.
Virginia, 77, 117.
Advance, The, coals taken from, for
naval service referred to, 515, 518,
53'-
African Slave Trade.
The term applied to the importation
into the American Colonies, and later into
the States, of negro slaves, and their sale
to the inhabitants. This traffic was in
dulged in and encouraged by Great Brit
ain about the beginning of the 18th cen
tury, and that country then made treaties
by which contracts were obtained for sup
plying slaves to the West Indies. The
slave trade was an important issue in the
Colonies, before and during the Revolu
tion, and was the subject of sharp contro
versy in the formation of the Constitution.
Some of the States wished no restriction
on the traffic, while others sought to have
it entirely prohibited. A compromise al
lowed Congress to prohibit it after 1S08,
which was done by act. There was no
restriction upon domestic slave trading.
Agricultural Products:
Cotton —
Accumulated by Treasury De
partment referred to, 390.
Non-destruction of, in Savannah,
Ga., referred to, 533.
Protection for, under control of
Secretaries of Treasury and
War, referred to, 503.
Purchased for Government in
Louisiana referred to, 311.
Sale of, in foreign markets, under
cover of certificates, 317.
(573)

574 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Agricultural Products (Continued) :
Cotton- Sale or hypothecation of, or cot
ton certificates, in Europe, re
ferred to, 319.
Use of, as means of securing
Army supplies, 530.
. Vessels in Chesapeake Bay for
exporting, 195.
Tobacco —
Rations of, for Army, referred to,
455-
Vessels in Chesapeake Bay for
exporting, 195.
Agricultural Resources of Southern
States discussed, 81, 123, 136.
Aids-de-camp, rank of, discussed, 540.
Alabama: Iron and coal in, referred to, 305.
Military operations in, 483.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks ten
dered, 423, 428, 431.
Alabama Claims.
During the Civil War a number of ves
sels were built in Great Britain for the
Confederate States, and in the face of the
protests of the representatives of the
United States they were allowed to es
cape from British ports armed and
equipped for the destruction of the com
merce of the United States. These ves
sels captured and destroyed many ships of
Ihe latter-named Government, laden with
goods and merchandise. After the war
closed the Government pressed a claim
upon Great Britain for damages to its
commerce by these vessels, and finally it
was agreed between the two Govern
ments to submit the claims to a court of
arbitration. This court was formed, and
was composed of Charles Francis Adams,
named by the President of the United
States; Sir Alexander Cockburn, by the
Queen of England; Count Federigo Sclo-
pls, by the King of Italy; M. Jacques
Staempfli, by the President of Switzer
land ; and Viscount d'ltajuba, by the Em
peror of Brazil. This commission was or
ganized at Geneva, Dec. 15, 1S71, the
Count Sclopis presiding, and an award
was made by the commission in favor of
the United States of $15,500,000, in gold,
in satisfaction of all claims. The most im ¦
portant of the vessels thus sent out from

the ports of Great Britain, and the one
which inflicted the greatest injury upon
the commerce of the United States, was
the Alabama, and hence the name Ala
bama Claims. Some of the other ships
were the Florida, the Georgia, and the
Shenandoah.
Alabama River, appropriation for de
fense of, recommended, 196.
Alabama, The, destruction of the Hat-
teras by, referred to, 305.
Albany, Ga., flour and grist mill, and
bakery established at, referred to,
514-
Albemarle, The.
An ironclad ram built for the Confed
erate States on the Roanoke River, in
North Carolina, in 1863. She did consid
erable damage to the commerce of the
United States, but was destroyed by Lieu
tenant Cushing Oct. 27, 1S64.
Alexander, J. W., mentioned, 197.
Alien Enemies:
Banishment of, proclaimed, 131.
Regulations respecting, 132.
Sequestration of estates of, referred
to, 308.
Aliens, act repealing laws authorizing
naturalization of, vetoed, 165.
Allatoona, Ga., Battle of.
A battle between the Federals, com
manded by Gen. Corse, and the Confed-
' erates, commanded by Gen. French, oc
curred at Allatoona, a village in Georgia,
about 35 miles northwest of Atlanta, on
Oct. 6, 1864. Each army lost about 700
men in this engagement.
Alleghany Mountain, W. Va., battle of,
referred to, 154.
Amnesty. An act of pardon for an offense. Dur
ing the war and subsequently thereto,
proclamations granting amnesty to per
sons who had been engaged therein
against the Government were issued by
the President of the United States. These
proclamations were based upon authority
conferred by Congress, and were special
in their character until July 4, 1868, when
one extending pardon to all excepting a
few classes was promulgated. Dec. 25
of same year full amnesty was granted to
all persons who had been engaged In the:
war.

Jndt\

575

Anderson, Joseph R., letters to, regard
ing restrictions upon vessels leav
ing Confederate States, transmit
ted, 147.
Anderson, Robert, mentioned, 73, 94.
Antietam, Mil., Battle of.
A :.m. 'H river, called the Anliulam,
flows into t lie Potomac River from the
north about 7 miles above lhirpers bYr-
ry. The town of Sharpsburg Is belwi'i'ii
these two rivers. There was fought near
this town, on Sept. 16, 17, 1N02, a seven-
battle. It Is culled by the Federals An
tietam, by the Confederates Sharpsburg.
Gen. McCleliitn commanded the Union
army, about 00,000; and Gen. l.<-e, the
Confederates, about .)5,OCO. Loss of for
mer, 12,4(10 (2,010 killed); of the hitler in
killed, wounded, and missing, about 12,-
coo.
Appomattox, Va., Battle of.
Thr town of Appoiimllox is tilt' cou nl v
seat of thi? county of that name in Vir
ginia, and is situated about 25 miles to
the eastward of Lynchburg. The surren
der of the Army of Northern Virginia,
36,000 men, by Gen. l.ee, to Gen. (Irani,
occurred here Apr. 9, 1S05. The ollicers
and men of Lee's army were nil puniled,
and permitted to return to their limney,
practically ending the war.
Appropriations: Discussed, 489.
Recommended for —
Adjutantand Inspector General's
Office, 306, 318.
B Army, 57, 303, 310.
Army cooks ami nurses, 127.
Army officers, expenses of, acting
as Indian agents, 99.
Army, Provisional, 57.
Carrying into effect act to aid
people of Kentucky, 128.
Conscription service, 402.
Contracts of Medical Purveyors,
310.
Defense of Alabama River and
Mobile Bay, 196.
Destitute people in Missouri, 12(1.
Engineer Bureau, 248, 306, 395,
S'S-
Expenses Incurred in detecting
forgers of Treasury notes, 239.

Appropriations (Continued):
Recommended for —
Floating defenses, 203.
Flour for Army, 249.
Foreign loan, act authorizing, 301.
Government expenditures, 199
3'3. 3'7, 387. 4°2. 4°4> -15'. 454.
455. 517. 539-
Impressment of slaves, claims
for, 395.
Increased compensation of Sen
ators, Representatives, and
Congressional employees, | 56.
Indian affaire, 154, 242, 300, 382,
386. 503-
Indian Affairs, Bureau of, 58, 407.
Interest on money borrowed
from banks in Tennessee, pay
ment of, 154, 255.
Interest on Removal and Subsist
ence Fund due Indians, 386.
Justice, Department of, 383, #7,
5°3. 5'8. 532-
Medical department of Army,
250.
Military hospitals, 127.
Naval officers, allowances to, 407.
Naval vessels, purchase of, 201,
249.
Navy Department, 205, 213, 317,
408, 502, 518,531.
North Carolina, claims of, for
supplies furnished troops of,
3°4-
Ordnance, 249.
Ordnance Bureau, 213, 299, 309.
Owners of —
Schooner Isuhl, 513.
Steamer I'/ia-nix, 499.
Pensions, 79.
PostOllice building in Richmond,
Va , 318.
Post Office Department, 99, 128,
306.
Powder, purchase of, 58.
Public defense, 12S, 196, 203.
Communications regarding,
208.

5 ,J6 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Appropriations (Continued):
Recommended for —
Purposes not stated, 99, 100, 126,
154, 214, 239, 243, 248, 252, 253,
254. 256. 257. 262, 395, 504.
Railroads, construction of, 139,
152, 53°-
River defense e^rvice, and claims
for, 196, 203, 314.
Seizures of private property, 247,
296. 395. 499. 5!3-
State Department, 251.
Submarine telegraph cable at
Charleston, S. C, 319.
Surgeon General, 315.
Telegraphic service, 298.
Trans-Mississippi Department,
Treasury Department, 207, 257.
War Department, 303, 406, 533,
536.
Employees in, 303, 503.
War tax, refunding excess of,
paid by —
Louisiana, 253.
North Carolina, 239.
Transfer of, recommendations re
garding, 403, 504.
Arizona Territory, organization of, pro
claimed, 167.
Arkansas: Battles in, referred to, 214.
Confederate Constitution adopted
by, 117-
Invasion of, by Federal forces, re
ferred to, 345.
Military operations in, 483.
Troops of, resolution of thanks ten
dered, 480.
Arkansas Post, Ark., Battle of.
Arkansas Post was a village on the
Arkansas River, about 70 miles south
east of Little Rock. On Jan. 11, 1863,
this place was attacked by the Federals,
under Gen. McClernard, and the Confed
erate forces there were captured. The
Federal loss In killed and wounded was
about 1,000.
Armed Vessels, Private:
Commissions to, 102.

Armed Vessels, Private (Continued):
Commissions to —
Act authorizing issuance of, 104.
Amendment to, 113.
Form of bond, 112.
Applications for, invited, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Discussed, 281, 349.
President's instructions to, m.
Arms and Ammunition. (See also
Ordnance and Ordnance Sup
plies.)
Act to encourage manufacture of,
within Confederate States vetoed,
158.
Manufacture of, recommendations
regarding, 194, 199.
Transfer of, from several States to
General Government, recom
mendations regarding, 56.
Army, Confederate States:
Accessions to, referred to, 534
Act- Abolishing offices of certain quar
termasters vetoed, 559.
Accepting volunteer regiment
from Texas vetoed, 160.
Allowing minors to hold commis
sions in, explanation regarding
approval of, 314.
Amending act —
Aiding Kentucky vetoed, 408.
Establishing and organizing
general staff for, vetoed,
262.
Establishing and organizing
Provisional, vetoed, 263.
Authorizing —
Appointment of additional ar
tillery officers for ordnance
duty vetoed, 466.
Appointment of additional as
sistant surgeons in, vetoed,
130.
Free mailage of newspapers to
soldiers vetoed, 556.
Creating office of commanding
general vetoed, 215.

Index.

577

Army, Confederate States(Continued) :
Act- Diminishing number of exemp
tions and details, recommenda
tions regarding, 540, 547.
Directing how prize money shall
be paid vetoed, 216.
Encouraging manufacture o f
small arms vetoed, 158.
Establishing Veteran Soldiers'
Home vetoed, 409.
Exempting editors and newspa
per employees vetoed, 465.
Granting furloughs vetoed, 162.
Increasing strength of heavy ar
tillery for seacoast defense ve
toed, 320.
Organizing general staff for, rea
sons for applying pocket veto
to, 457-
Paying arrears due Army and
Navy vetoed, 561.
Promoting officers in certain
cases vetoed, 558.
Providing for appointment of
general in chief, 570.
Raising and organizing troops in
Missouri —
Returned with reasons there
for, 155.
Vetoed, 160.
Regulating business of conscrip
tion, recommendations regard
ing. 542-
Regulating furloughs and dis
charges vetoed, 156.
Relating to pay and allowances
of deceased soldiers vetoed, 216.
Reorganizing and promoting effi
ciency of Medical Department
vetoed, 263.
Addresses of President to —
Army of —
Eastern Virginia, 229.
Richmond, 228.
Soldiers, 335, 414.
Aids-de-camp in, rank of, discussed,
S4°- 37

Army, Confederate States(Continued) :
Appropriations recommended for —
Cooks and nurses for, 127.
Expenses of, 57, 303, 310.
Flour for, 249.
Medical Department of, 250. .
Provisional Army, 57.
Assistant Surgeons in, act for ap
pointment of additional, vetoed,
130.
Cadets in, recommendation regard
ing appointment and duties of, 80.
Cavalry horses, legislation regard
ing, recommended, 372, 492.
Chaplains for, recommendation re
garding appointment of, 81.
Clothing for, returns for, referred
to, 407.
Commissions for trials of offenses
in, recommended, 244.
Conscription law. (See Conscrip
tion Law.)
Consolidation of companies and
regiments, recommendations re
garding, 236, 258, 372, 492.
Courts-martial in —
Findings of, referred to, 300,303.
Recommendations r eg a r di ng,
244. 448> 538-
Report of, transmitted in cases
of—
Desertion, etc., 303.
Drunkenness, 255.
Desertions in, reports of courts-
martial in cases of, transmitted,
3«3-
Drunkenness in —
Report of courts-martial in cases
of, transmitted, 255.
Trials and convictions under act
to punish, referred to, 505.
Duties for persons above conscript
age discussed, 371.
Enlistments in, terms of, discussed,
190.
General —
Act creating office of command
ing, vetoed, 215.

578 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Army, Confederate States(Continued) :
General —
Creation of grade of, recommend
ed, 80.
General in Chief of, appointment
of, 57o.
General staff of, organization of,
recommended, 373, 447.
Act providing for —
Reasons for applying pocket
veto to, 457.
Referred to, 500.
Vetoed, 262.
Holcomb Legion referred to, 456.
Increase in —
Provision for, recommended, 236.
Recommended, 122, 194,371,404,
532. 545-
Legionary organization of Provi
sional, referred to, 456.
Military courts in, recommenda
tions regarding, 448, 538.
Militia law, general, recommended,
49i. 548-
Negroes employed in, discussed,
and recommendations regard
ing, 37°. 493-
Arming as 6oldiers —
Opposed, 495.
Referred to, 547.
Nominations for appointment in,
return of, requested, 241, 537.
Officers of —
Absence of —
Act to prevent, referred to, 388.
Discussed, and recommenda
tions regarding, 372.
Act- Authorizing appointment of
additional artillery, for ord
nance duties vetoed, 466.
Providing for promotion of, in
certain cases vetoed, 558.
Appointed under act approved
Oct. 13, 1862, referred to, 400.
Appointed under act to raise
troops, approved Oct. 11, 1862,
referred to, 392.

Army, Confederate States(Continued):
Officers of —
Communication of, serving in
cities, 300.
Deprived of purchasing rations,
recommendations regarding,
447-
Employed in Departments in
Richmond, Va., referred to, 514,
552-
Estimate of expenses of, acting as
Indian agents, 99.
Guilty of absence without leave,
and desertion, pardoned, 329.
Incompetent —
Discussed, and recommenda
tions regarding, 257.
List of retired, transmitted,
453-
New mode of withdrawing
commissions of, recommend
ed, 236.
Increase of allowances to, travel
ing under orders recommend
ed, 448.
List of —
In artillery of Provisional, for
performance of ordnance
duty transmitted, 384.
Referred to, 251.
Retired, transmitted, 453.
Pay and allowances of general,
while invalidated from service
discussed, 405.
Provision for appointment of
brigadier and major generals in
certain cases recommended,
260.
Provision for invalid, resigning
from service recommended,
447-
Renomination of certain, advice
of Senate regarding necessity
of, requested, 246.
Sale of cloth and clothing to, re
ferred to, 504.
Sick and wounded, accommoda
tions for, referred to, 519.

Index.

579

Army, Confederate States(Continued) :
Officers of —
Tenure of office of, in Provision
al, recommendations regard
ing. 447-
Operations of. (See also the sever
al battles; encyclopedic arti
cles.)
Discussed, 72, 78, 122, 124, 136,
189, 196, 208, 232, 240, 276, 332,
345. 448. 482. 544-
Report of — ¦
Publishing of, disapproved, 454,
455. 457, 498-
To be transmitted, 147.
Transmitted, 127, 214, 241, 247,
248,250,251, 255,298, 299,311,
Zn, 3l6> 384> 3S5, 386. 39i. 4°6.
454. 455, 456, .457. 498, 499.
5°3. 5H, 53°. 534, 535. 537.
538. 539-
Ordnance for —
Appropriation for, recommend
ed, 249.
Gunpowder —
Act to encourage manufacture
of, vetoed, 158.
Appropriation for purchase of,
recommended, 58.
Manufacture of, discussed, 199.
Machinery removed from Har
pers Ferry referred to, 125.
Manufacture of, recommenda
tions regarding, 194, 199.
Purchase of, abroad referred to,
204.
Ordnance officers, examination and
appointment of, referred to, 300.
Palmetto Light Artillery, organiza
tion and disbanding of, referred
to, 456.
Private property seized by —
Belonging to alien enemies re
ferred to, 308.
Brandy referred to, 515.
Claims for, referred to, 401.
Appointments under act for
payment of, referred to, 502.

Army, Confederate States(Continued) :
Private property seized by —
Claims for —
Appropriation to pay, recom
mended, 247, 296.
Recommendations regarding
payment of, 546.
In Petersburg and Lynchburg re
ferred to, 304. '
Payment of assessments of dam
ages by officers without inter
vention of courts-martial 01-
boards of survey referred to,
390. |
Referred to, 262, 301 , 308, 3 10, 31 1.
Taxes due on, referred to, 153.
Temptations to hoard supplies
checked by impressment, 374.
Promotions in, for gallantry re
ferred to, 388.
Regiments disbanded and consoli
dated referred to, 249.
Reorganization and reenforcement
of, discussed, 294.
R»U of merit referred to, 384.
Scouts, organization of corps of, re
ferred to, 518.
Slaves employed in, discussed, and
recommendations regarding,
37o, 493-
Arming as soldiers —
Opposed, 495.
Referred to, 547-
Soldiers in —
Absence of, act to prevent, re
ferred to, 388.
Act authorizing free mailage of
newspapers to, vetoed, 556.
Addresses of President to, 335,
414.
Arrested or confined in Rich
mond, Va., referred to, 315.
Bounty bonds to, referred to,
489.
Guilty of absence without leave,
and desertion pardoned, 329.
Number of, furnished by each
State referred to, 246.

580 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Army, Confederate States(Contin ued):
Soldiers in —
Pay of —
Proposals to increase, dis
cussed, 374.
Recommendations regarding,
243-
Shot without trial, inquiry re
garding, replied to, 246.
South Carolina —
Troops of, hanged by Federal
forces referred to, 127, 128.
Volunteer company from, organ
ization and disbanding of, re
ferred to, 456.
Volunteer legion of, referred to,
456.
Substitutes in, discussed, 370.
Supplies for —
Recommendations regarding,
532. 545. S52-
Use of cotton as means of pro
curing, 530.
Tobacco ration for, referred to,
455-
Transportation facilities for, dis
cussed, and recommendations re
garding, 81, 139, 151, 236, 249, 295,
492. 533. 536.
Wheat's Louisiana Battalion, dis
banding of, referred to, 261.
Army of Eastern Virginia, address of
President to, 229.
Army of Northern Virginia, operations
of, referred to, 384.
Army of Peninsula, provisions fur
nished, referred to, 247.
Army of Richmond, address of Presi
dent to, 228.
Army of Tennessee, correspondence
regarding, transmitted, 514, 534,
'535. 537- 538- 539-
Army of Trans-Mississippi, money ex
pended in payment of, referred to,
504.
Army Officers. (See Army, Confed
erate States.)

Army, United States:
Destruction of property by, dis
cussed, 3S0.
Increase in, referred to, 233.
Instructions for government of, 3S0.
Negroes forced into, discussed, 3S0.
Outrages committed by officers and
soldiers of, 115, 119, 127, 128,
137, MO, 1S4, 233, 289, 298, 329,
37°. 379. 443. .493, 564-
Retaliatory measures —
Discussed, 234.
Proclaimed, 269.
Discussed, 289.
Threatened, 115, 120, 141.
Arrests, Military, of citizens of Con
federate States referred to, 243,
3°4-
List of prisoners in Salisbury, N. C,
referred to, 308.
Ashe, William S., communication
from, urging completion of cer
tain railroads, 151.
Atlanta, Ga., Battle of.
A battle near Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1S64,
the Federals being commanded by Gen.
Sherman, and the Confederates by Gen.
Hood. Gen. McPherson wnskilled. Fed
eral loss, about 4,000. Confederate loss,
considerably larger, estimated at about
7,000.
Attorney General, report of, transmit
ted and discussed, 78, 192, 194,
196.
Averysboro, N. C, Battle of.
Averysboro is a small town in Harnett
County, N. C, about 30 miles south of
Raleigh. A battle was fought here March
16, 1S65, by a portion of Gen. Sherman's
army, commanded by Gen. Slocum, and
the Confederates, commanded by Gen.
Hardee. Federal loss, 77 killed, and
nearly 500 wounded. The Confederates
retreated, leaving over 100 dead on the

Baker, Samuel E., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 428.
Baker, T.Harrison, vessel under, com
missioned private armed vessel,
102.

Index.

58i

Baker's Creek, Miss., Battle of. (See
Champion Hills, Battle of.)
Ball's Bluff, Va., Battle of.
A battle near Ball's Bluff, on the south
side of the Potomac River, about 30 miles
to the northwest of Washington City,
Oct. zi, 1S61. The Federals, 1,900, were
commanded by Col. Baker, who was
killed; the Confederates, by Gen. N. G.
Evans. The Federals were defeated with
a loss of S94. Confederate loss, 302.
Banks, A. D., mentioned, 85.
Banks: Appropriation to pay interest on
money borrowed from, in Ten
nessee, recommended, 154, 255.
In Kentucky contributing money
for subjugation of people in, 148.
Taxation on, recommendations re
garding, 490.
Barney, J. N., mentioned, 197.
Baton Rouge, la., Battle of.
A battle near Baton Rouge, La., Aug,
5, 1S62. The Federals, 2,500, were com ¦
manded by Gen. Williams, who was
killed; the Confederates, about the same
number, by Gen. Breckinridge. The
Confederates attacked and were repulsed.
Losses about the same, near 400, on each
side.
Battle, Cullen A., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 423.
Battles. (See War between the
States; encyclopedic articles;
the several battles.)
Bay of Mobile:
Appropriation for defense of, rec
ommended, 196.
Outer defenses of, capture of, re
ferred to, 483.
Beall, John Y., trial and execution of,
referred to, 553.
Beauregard, Pierre G. T.:
Correspondence with, regarding
Army of Tennessee transmitted,
534-
General, Confederate Army, nomi
nation of, 129, 306.
Mentioned, 94, 95, 96, 209.
Reduction of Fort Sumter exe
cuted by, 73. . (See also 78, 98.)
Communication regarding, 96.

Beauregard, Pierre G. T. (Continued):
Report of —
Connected with defense of
Charleston transmitted, 403.
On Morris Island transmitted,
499-
Resolutions of thanks tendered
command of, 114, 133, 231, 338,
425-
Beaver Dam Creek, Va., Battle of.
(See Mechanicsville, Battle of.)
Belgium, Confederate Commissioner
to, 76.
Belligerency of Confederate States
recognized by foreign powers re
ferred to, 280.
Belligerent Expedition, proclamation
regarding, 565.
Belligerent Rights.
When governments are at war with
each other there are certain rights or priv
ileges accorded them by r.eutral govern
ments which are known as belligerent
rights. The recognition of such rights
was accorded to the Confederate States by
many neutral governments during the
war, including Great Britain, France, and
other important nations of Europe, and
by Brazil.
Belmont, Mo., Battle of.
A battle near Belmont, in southeastern
Missouri, Nov. 7, 1S61. The Federals,
3,000, were commanded by Gen. Grant ;
the Confederates, by Gen. Pillow. Loss
of the former, about 500; and of the latter,
about 600.
Referred to, 137.
Benjamin, Judah P., letter of, regard
ing restrictions on vessels leav
ing Confederate States transmit
ted, 147.
Bentonville, N. C, Battle of.
A battle at Bentonville, N. C, a town
to the south of Raleigh,..March 19, 20, 1865.
The Federals, 65,000, were commanded by
Gen. Sherman; the Confederates, about
24,000, by Gen. Johnston. Federal loss,
1,646; Confederate loss, about 2,Soo.
Berlin and Milan Decrees referred to,
284.
Bible Society of Confederate States, act
for relief of, vetoed, 267.

582 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Big Bethel, Va., Battle of.
A battle near the village of Big Bethel,
Va., about 10 miles to the northwest of
Fortress Monroe, June 10, 1S61. TheFed-
erals, 2,500, commanded by Gen. Peirce,
were defeated by the Confederates, i,Soo,
under Gen. Magruder. Federal loss, 75,
including Major Winthrop; Confederate
loss, 1 killed and 4 wounded.
Referred to, 137.
Big Black, Miss., Battle of.
A battle on Big Black River, Miss., not
far to the westward of Vicksburg, May
17, 1863. The Federals, 10,000, were com
manded by Gen. Clernard; the Confeder
ates, S,ooo, by Gen. Pemberton. The lat
ter retreated, losing about 1,200 prisoners
and some artillery.
Bills and Acts retained by President,
reasons therefor, 214.
Biographical Sketches of —
Davis, Jefferson, 17.
Lee, Robert E., 437.
Stephens, Alexander H., 173.
Blair, Francis P., correspondence in
peace negotiations, 521.
Bledsoe, A. F., letter of, regarding re
strictions on vessels leaving Con
federate States referred to, 147.
Blockade. The right of a nation to prevent inter
course with her enemy's ports on the part
of neutrals, in the time of war, is well es
tablished as a principle of international
law. This is done by a blockade. To be
binding, and to bring the right to blockade
the ports of a country within the real
meaning of the law as upheld and enforced
by leading nations, the blockade must be
effective — that is to say, it must not be a
mere paper blockade.
Blockade of Confederate ports:
Binding effect of, and attitude of
foreign powers regarding, dis
cussed, 142, 282, 349.
Proclamation announcing, dis
cussed, 76.
Blue Mountain, Ala., proposed rail
road to Rome, Ga., from, referred
to, 249.
Blue Springs, Tenn., operations at,
402.

Bonds: Act amending act to reduce curren
cy and authorize new issue of
notes and, vetoed, 470.
Act of South Carolina offering
guaranty of, transmitted, 309.
Bounty, to soldiers referred to,
489.
Provision for borrowing on, dis
cussed, 361-.
Boonsboro, Md., Battle of. (See South
Mountain, Battle of.)
Borcke, Heros von, resolution of thanks
tendered, 421.
Border States, relations with, dis
cussed, 121.
Bragg, Braxton:
General, Confederate Army, nomi
nation of, 211.
Referred to, 347.
Report of, on —
Battle of—
Chickamauga, Ga., transmit
ted, 452.
Shiloh, Tenn., transmitted, 245.
Bombardment of Pensacola, Fla.,
referred to, 200.
.Certain battles transmitted, 313.
Branch, Lowrence 0. B., report of, on
battle of Newbern, N. C, 212.
Brandy, impressment of, referred to,
5'5-
Bridgeport, Ala., operations at, 245.
Brigadier Generals, provision for ap
pointment of, in certain cases rec
ommended, 260.
Bristow Station, Va., Battle of.
A battle at Bristow Station, near Ma
nassas, Va,, Aug. 27, 1S62. The Feder
als were commanded by Gen. Pope; the
Confederates, by Gen. Thos. J. Jackson.
The loss on each side was between 200
and 300.
British Orders in Council referred to,
2S4.
Broadwell, W. A., accounts of, re
ferred to, 304, 319.
Brown, Isaac N., resolution of thanks
^ tendered command of, 275.

Index.

583

Brown's Insurrection.
On Oct. 16, 1859, John Brown, with 22
men as his assistants, with force and arms,
seized the United States armory at Har
pers Ferry, Va. (now West Virginia).
In this armory was stored about ioo,oco
stands of small arms belonging to the Gov
ern inent. The avowed object of Brown
was to free the negro slaves of the South,
and the seizure of this armory with its
stock of arms, etc., was the beginning of
his operations. The militia of the Slate
was hastily summoned, and attacked him
and his associates. After a somewhat
desperate fight, in which he was wound
ed, they were captured. He was tried by
a jury, condemned, and on Dec. 2 was
executed by hanging.
Buchanan, Franklin, commander of
squadron in battle of Hampton
Roads, 197, 210.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 230.
Building, Public, appropriation for
construction of, in Richmond,
Va., recommended, 318.
Bull Run, Va., Battles of.
13ull Run is the name of a small river
in Virginia, near which two battles were
fought, about 30 miles southwest of
Washington City. The first battle oc
curred July 21, 1861. The Federals, about
28,000, commanded by Gen. McDowell,
were defeated by the Confederates, about
31,000, commanded by Gen. Beauregard.
Loss of Federals, 2,952; of Confederates,
The second battle occurred at this place
Aug. 29, 30, 1S62. The Federals, 35,000,
commanded by Gen. Pope, were defeated
by the Confederates, about 44,000, com
manded by Gen. Lee. Federal loss, 15,-
000; Confederate loss, 8,400. The Con
federates called these battles the first and
second battles of Manassas. The engage
ment of Aug. 29, 30 is also called the bat
tle of Groveton.
First battle of—
Dispatch of President Davis to
Congress regarding, 124.
Referred to, 137.
Second battle of —
Discussed, 240.
Referred to in proclamation,
268.

Bureaus. (See the several bureaus.)
Burley, Bennett G., arrest of, procla
mation regarding, 565.
Burnside, Ambrose E., army under —
Defeated, 241, 276.
Retreat of, from Chattanooga,
Tenn., 347.
Burton, James H., report of, regarding
machinery removed from Harp
ers Ferry transmitted, 125.
Burwell's Bay, defenses of, referred
to, 202.
Butler, Andrew J., mentioned, 272.
Butler, Benjamin F.:
Atrocious conduct of, referred to,
234> 379-
Proclaimed an outlaw, 269.
Discussed, 289.

Cabinet. Is the name given to the advisers of the
President. The Cabinet officer in each
case is the head of an Executive Depart
ment. The Confederate President was
given power by the Constitution to re
move members of his Cabinet at will, and
Congress was authorized to provide seats
for them in either House, with the privi
lege of participating in debates on sub
jects pertaining to their respective De
partments. These provisions are not in
the Constitution of the United States.
The Confederate Secretaries of State were
Robert Toombs, of Ga., Robert M. T.
Hunter, of Va., William M. Browne, of
Ga., ad interim, and Judah P. Benjamin,
of La. ; of the Treasury, Charles G. Mem-
minger and George A. Trenholm, of S. C. ;
of War, Leroy Pope Walker, of Ala., Ju
dah P. Benjamin, of La., George W. Ran
dolph, Gustavus W. Smith, and James A.
Seddon, of Va., and John C. Breckin
ridge, of Ky.; of the Navy, Stephen R.
Mallory, of Fla. ; Postmaster General,
John II. Reagan, of Tex.; Attorneys Gen
eral, Judah P. Benjamin, of La., Thomas
Bragg, of N. C, Thomas H. Walts and
Wade Keyes, of Ala., ad interim, and
George Davis, of N. C.
Cable at Charleston, S. C, appropria
tion for, recommended, 319.
Cadets, appointment and duties of,
recommendations regarding, 80.

5§4

Messages and Pampers of the Confederacy.

Campbell, John A., intermediary in
peace negotiations:
Correspondence between Confed
erate commissioners, Mr. Seward
and, 84.
Peace commissioner to United
States, report of, 520.
Referred to, 70.
Services of, discussed, 82.
Capital, Confederate States, removed
from Montgomery, Ala., to Rich
mond, Va., 117.
Resolution providing for, vetoed,
100.
Carnifex Ferry, W. Val, Battle of.
A battle near the town of Carnifex
Ferry, Nicholas County, W. Va., Sept.
10, 1 86*1. The Federals, 10,000, were com
manded by Gen. Rosecrans; the Confed
erates, about 2,000, by Gen. Floyd. The
latter retreated to the mountains. Losses
small on each side.
Carpetbaggers. In the early years succeeding the war,
many of the Southern States were con
trolled in their local governments by reck
less adventurers who had sought tempo
rary residence in these States, and who
succeeded by artful appeals to the negroes
in obtaining control of their votes. They
excluded the better class of whites from
the ballot box, levied fraudulent taxes,
and piled up enormous State debts. It was
charged upon them that Ihey never intend
ed to become permanent citizens of these
States, that they were only seeking of
fices, and that they carried all their es
tates and effects in carpetbags; hence the
name.
Carrick's Ford, W. Va., action at, re
ferred to, 19S.
Carthage, Mo., Battle of.
A battle near the town of Carthage,
Jasper County, Mo., July 5, i86r. The
Federals, about 1,500, were commanded by
Gen. Sigel; the Confederates, about 3,500,
by Gen. Sterling Price. Federal loss, 13
killed, and 31 wounded; Confederate loss,
about 40 killed, and 125 wounded.
Cedar Creek, Va., Battle of.
A battle near Cedar Creek, a small
stream in the Shenandoah Valley, Va.,
which flows into the Shenandoah River,
about four miles from Strasburg, on Oct.
19, 1S64. The Confederates, commanded I

by Gen. Early, attacked the Federals,
under Gen. Wright, who was in com
mand during the temporary absence of
Gen. Sheridan, and captured 24 guns and
about 1,600 prisoners. Gen. Sheridan re
turned, assumed command, and later the
same day attacked the Confederates and
defeated them. Federal loss in the two
engagements, about 6,000; Confederate
loss, about 4,200.
Cedar Mountain, Va., Battle of.
A battle about 2 miles west of Mitch
ell's Station, Culpeper County, Va., Aug.
9, 1862. The Federals, 8,000, commanded
by Gen. Banks; the Confederates, about
20,000, by Gen. T. J. Jackson. The Fed
erals were defeated, with a loss of 1,500;
Confederate loss, 1,300.
Census, constitutional requirement
regarding taking of, discussed,
364.
Champion Hills, Miss., Battle of.
A battle in Hinds County, Miss., be
tween Jackson and Vicksburg, May i6y
1S63. The Federals, 32,003, were com
manded by Gen. Grant; the Confeder
ates, about 25,000, commanded by Gen.
Pemberton. The Confederates retreated,.
with a loss of about 2,500; Federal loss,
about the same number. This battle is
also called the battle of Baker's Creek.
Referred to, 386.
Chancellorsville, Va., Battle of.
A battle near the village of Chancel
lorsville, Spottsylvania County, Va., 55
miles to the northwest of Richmond, May
2-4, 1863. The Federals, 132,000, com
manded by Gen. Hooker; the Confeder
ates, 65,000, by Gen. Lee. The Federals
were defeated, with a loss of 17,000; Con
federate loss, 12,281. Gen. Thomas J.
Jackson was killed here.
Chantilly, Va., Battle of.
A battle near the village of Chantilly,
Fairfax County, Va., 20 miles west cf
"Washington City, Sept. 1, 1862. The
Federals were commanded by Gen. Pope \
the Confederates, by Gen. T.J. Jackson.
The loss of the former was about 1,300,
including 2 generals, Stevens and Kearny ;
Confederate loss, Soo.
Chaplains, Military, appointment of,
recommendations regarding, 81.
Charleston, S. C:
Defense of, discussed, 345, 403.
Resolution of thanks tendered
soldiers engaged in, 425.

Index.

58:

Charleston, S. C. (Continued):
Siege of, discussed and referred to,
71,78,448.
Submarine telegraph cable at, ap
propriation for, recommended,
3'9-
Chattanooga, Tenn., Battle of. (See
Lookout Mountain, Battle of;
Missionary Ridge, Battle of.)
Cheatham, Benjamin F. :
Report of, on battle of Shiloh,
Tenn., transmitted, 309.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 168.
Cherokee Indians:
Appropriation to pay interest on
Removal and Subsistence Fund
due, recommended, 386.
Hostile attitude of, discussed, 295.
Sums invested or funded for, re
ferred to, 305.
Treaty with, and other relations
discussed, 149.
Chesapeake Bay, vessels in, for ex
porting cotton or tobacco re
ferred to, 195.
Chickahominy, Va., Battle of. (See
Cold Harbor, Battle of.)
Chickahominy River, survey of, with
view to occupying as defensive
line discussed, 201.
Chickamauga, Ga., Battle of.
A battle near Chickamauga River, Ga.,
a few miles to the south of Chattanooga,
Tenn., Sept. 19, 20, 1S63. The Federals,
about 55,000, were commanded by Gen.
Rosecrans ; the Confederates, about 50,000,
by Gen. Bragg. The Federals were de
feated with a loss of over 16,000. Con
federate loss, near the same number.
Discussed, 346.
Referred to, 452.
Chickasaw Indians, treaty with, and
other relations discussed, 149.
Chief Executive. (See Davis, Jeffer
son; Lincoln, Abraham.)
Chief of Commissariat, report of, trans
mitted, 155.
Chief of Engineers, report of, trans
mitted, 301.

Chief of Ordna«ce, report of, transmit
ted and discussed, 301,374.
Chilton, William P., mentioned, 31.
Choctaw Indians, treaty with, and
other relations discussed, 149.
Citizens of Confederate States:
Addresses of President to, 331,
S°8.
Exchange or release of, transported
from Confederacy referred to,
316.
Military arrests of, referred to, 243,
304-
List of prisoners at Salisbury, N.
C, referred to, 308.
Civil Prisoners, exchange or release
of, transported from Confederacy
referred to, 316.
Civil Rights Act.
An act of Congress of the United
States, passed April 9, 1S66. The act was
passed over the veto of President John
son. The principal section provided that
all persons born in the United States, and
not subjects of any foreign power, exclud
ing Indians not taxed, were to be recog
nized as citizens of the United States, the
object being to place negroes on the same
civil footing as white persons. Later, In
1S75, a more stringent act with similar ob -
ject was passed. These acts carried pro
visions inflicting severe penalties fortheir
violation. In 1SS3 the Supreme Court of
the United States declared the main sec
tions of the act unconstitutional.
Civil War. (See War between the
States; encyclopedic articles.)
Cleburne, Patrick R., resolution of
thanks tendered command of,
4^5-
Clingman, Thomas L., Commissioner
of North Carolina to Confederate
States, 98.
Coal and Iron in Alabama referred to,
305.
Cobb, Howell:
Communication from, regarding
preparation of Congressional and
constitutional proceedings trans
mitted, 516.
Mentioned, 239.

586 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Cockrell, Francis M., resolution of
thanks tendered command of,
480.
Coffman, W. E., trial and conviction
of, referred to, 403.
Cold Harbor, Va., Battle of .
Two battles near Cold Harbor, Han
over County, Va., about 9 miles northeast
of Richmond. The first, June 27, 1S62, is
also known as the battle of Gaines's Mill.
. The Federals, about 20,000, were a portion
of McClellan's army, commanded by Gen.
Porter; the Confederates, by Generals Lee
andjackson. The Federals were driven
across the Chickahominy, with a loss of
nearly 7,000; the Confederate loss was
less. The second was fought June 3, 1864.
The Federals, about 150,000, were com
manded by Gen. Grant; the Confederates,
about 60,000, by Gen. Lee. The Federals
were defeated with a loss from June I to
June 12, of 14,931. Confederate loss less
than 2,000.
Commerce, revocation of restrictions
upon, across Rio Grande referred
to, 3i7-
Commerce, Foreign:
Act amending act imposing regula
tions on, to provide for public de
fense vetoed, 466.
Bill imposing regulations upon,
etc., discussed, 505.
Regulations on, 417.
Commissariat, inquiry in relation to,
125-
Commissariat, Chief of, report of,
transmitted, 155.
Commissary Department:
Men liable to conscription removed
from, referred to, 391.
Officers of, failing to render ac
counts referred to, 407.
Commissary General, report of, trans
mitted, 255.
Commissioners, Confederate States:
Appropriations for sending, recom
mended, 76.
Commissions of, explanation re
garding, 311.
Correspondence with, transmitted,
i55. 196. 3'3. 3!5. 499. 5°S-

Commissioners, Confederate States
(Continued):
Discussed, 76, 279.
Mission of, discussed, 279.
Nomination of, 57, 128, 311.
Reasons for sending, to Russia
transmitted, 315.
Recall of, from Great Britain, 357.
Seized by United States authorities,
141. (See also Trent Affair.)
Commissions for trials of offenses in
Army recommended, 244.
Compromise of 1850.
The Compromise of 1S50 comprises the
passage through Congress of several
measures of importance affecting more or
less the slavery question. The chief pro
visions of these measures were for the
admission into the Union of California, as
a free State, the organization of the Ter
ritories of Utah and New Mexico, with
out restrictions as to slavery, the abolition
of slave trade in the District of Columbia,
and a fugitive slave law. These measures
were passed largely through the influence
of Henry Clay.
Confederate Army. (See Army, Con
federate States.)
Confederate Commissioners. (See
Commissioners, Confederate
States.)
Confederate Congress. (See Congress,
Confederate States.)
Confederate Constitution. (See Con
stitution, Confederate States.)
Confederate Flag. (See Flag, Confed
erate States.)
Confederate Navy. (See Navy, Con
federate States.)
Confederate States of America.
A Confederacy of 11 States of the
United States which seceded therefrom
in 1S60-1S61, and formed an independent
government. These States were Ala
bama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisi
ana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
The Executive power was vested in a
President to be elected for 6 years and
who was ineligible for reelection. The
legislative power was vested in a Sen
ate and House of Representatives. The
judicial power was vested in a Supreme

Index.

587

'Court and such inferior tribunals as Con -
gress might from time to time establish.
The provisional Congress met at Mont -
gomery, Ala., Feb. 4, 1S61, and on Feb. 8
adopted a provisional Constitution. Jef -
ferson Davis, of Miss., was chosen pro
visional President, and Alexander H.
Stephens, of Ga., provisional Vice Presi
dent, and they were inaugurated as such
Feb. 18, 1861. A permanent Constitution
was adopted Mch. 11, 1861, and Mr.
Davis and Mr. Stephens were chosen as
permanent President and permanent Vice
President, respectively, Nov. 6, 1861, and
were inaugurated Feb. 22, 1862. The
permanent capital was fixed at Rich
mond, Va., July 20, 1861. The United
States Government denied the right of
any State to secede from the Union, and
a bitter war ensued, which continued
until Apr., 1865, when it was brought to a
close by the surrender of the Confederate
armies, and the States were restored to
the Union.
Addresses of President to people
of, 331. S°8.
Admission into Confederacy of —
Kentucky, recommendations re
garding application for, 145.
Missouri —
Consideration of Congress re
specting, requested by Presi
dent, 144.
Proclaimed, 166.
New States and Territories dis
cussed, 117, 137.
North Carolina, 117.
Contemplated, 98.
Tennessee, 117.
Virginia, 77, 117.
Alien enemies in —
Banishment of, proclaimed, 131.
Regulations respecting, 132.
Sequestration of estates of, re
ferred to, 308.
Appropriation for support of, rec
ommended, 199,313, 317, 387> 4°2>
4°4. 451. 4S4. 4SS. Sll< 539-
Army of. (See Army, Confederate
States.)
Attitude of United States toward,
and beginning of war discussed,
32. 63> "7. l84> 277.

Confederate States of America (Con
tinued):
Belligerency of, recognized by for
eign powers referred to, 280.
Blockade of ports of —
Binding effect of, and attitude oi
foreign powers regarding, dis
cussed, 142, 282, 349.
Proclamation announcing, dis
cussed, 76.
Bonds of —
Act amending act to reduce cur
rency and authorize new issue
of notes and, vetoed, 470.
Act of South Carolina offering
guaranty of, transmitted, 309.
Bounty, to soldiers referred to,
489.
Provision for borrowing on, dis
cussed, 361.
British consul to, exequatur of, re
voked, 325.
Referred to, 360.
Capital of, removed from Mont
gomery, Ala., to Richmond,
Va., 117.
Resolution providing for, vetoed,
100.
Citizens of —
Addresses of President to, 331,
S68.
Exchange or release of, trans
ported from, referred to, 316.
Military arrests of, 243, 304.
List of prisoners at Salisbury,
N. C, referred to, 308.
Commissioner of Kentucky on sub
ject of banks sent to, 148.
Commissioner of North Carolina
on subject of admission of State
into Confederacy accredited to,
98.
Commissioners of. (See Commis
sioners, Confederate States.)
Commissioners of Kentucky on
subject of admission of State into
Confederacy sent to, 145.
Congress of. (See Congress, Con
federate States.)

588 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Confederate States of America (Con
tinued):
Constitution of. (See Constitution,
Confederate States.)
Constitutional rights of States dis
cussed, 32, 63, 121, 184, 277.
Conventions of. (See Treaties,
hereunder.)
Court, Supreme, of, organization
of, recommended, 192.
Credit of, discussed, 192, 293.
Debt of, discussed, 192, 293, 363, 488.
Diplomatic relations discussed, 76,
H2. 278. 348. 444. 485-
Disaffection and disloyalty in, dis-t
cussed, 395.
Expenditures of —
Appropriation for, recommend
ed, 199, 313, 317, 3S7, 402, 404,
45'. 454. 455. 5'7. 539-
Discussed, 191, 488.
Expressions of sympathy from
France discussed, 288,
Flag of. (See Flag, Confederate
States.)
Foreign relations discussed, 76, 142,
278, 348, 444. 485-
Former relations with United
States discussed, 32, 63, 184, 277.
Growth of, discussed, 186.
Loans contracted by. (See Loans.)
Ministers of. (See Ministers, Con
federate States.)
Navy of. (See Navy, Confederate
States.)
Number of troops furnished by
States of, referred to, 246.
Presidentof. (See Davis, Jefferson.)
Property seized by. (See Private
Property.)
Provision for support of, recom
mended, 199, 313, 317, 387, 402,
404, 451, 454.455. 5J7. 539-
Provisional Army of. (See Army,
Confederate States.)
Provisional Constitution of. (See
Constitution, Confederate
States.)

Confederate States of America (Con
tinued):
Recognition of independence of —
Attitude of powers regarding,
discussed, 279, 348, 444, 485.
Commissioners sent to request,.
76.
Intervention not desired, 487.
Request for, discussed, 142.
Revenues of. (See Finances.)
Seat of Government of, removed to-
Richmond, Va., 117.
Resolution providing for, vetoed,.
100.
Secession of, discussed and referred
to, 32, 63, 117, 184, 278.
Supreme Court of, organization of,
recommended, 192.
Taxation in. (See Tax, War ; Tax
ation ; Taxes.)
Transfer of military supplies from
State depositories to, legislation
for, recommended, 56.
Transportation facilities of, dis
cussed, and recommendations re
garding, 81, 139, 151, 236, 249,.
295. 492, 533. 536-
Treaties of, with —
Foreign powers —
Discussed, 360.
Disregarded by, 444.
Not binding, 360.
Indians- Discussed, 149, 295.
Faithful observance of, by, 238.
Report on, transmitted, 198.
Missouri, 144.
Tennessee, 99.
Virginia, 82.
Commission for negotiating,.
62.
Referred to, 77.
Discussed, 77.
Proclaimed, 102.
Vice President of. (See Stephens,
Alexander H.)
Confederate Veterans. (See United
Confederate Veterans.)

Index.

589

Confiscation Bill passed by United
States Congress discussed, 233.
Confiscation of Property:
Belonging to alien enemies re
ferred to, 308.
Brandy, referred to, 515.
Claims for, referred to, 401.
Appointments under act for pay
ment of, referred to, 502.
Appropriation to pay, recom
mended, 247, 296, 395.
Recommendations regarding
payment of, 546.
In Petersburg and Lynchburg re
ferred to, 304.
Payment of assessments of dam
ages by officers without interven
tion of courts-martial or boards
of survey referred to, 390.
Referred to, 247, 262, 301, 308, 310,
3n.
Taxes due on, referred to, 153.
Temptation to hoard supplies
checked by impressment, 374.
Congress, Confederate States.
The legislative powers of the Confed
erate States were vested in the Congress,
which was organized along the same lines,
and was clothed with similar authority to
that exercised by the Congress of the
United States. The first, or Provisional,
Congress was organized in Montgomery,
Ala., Feb. 4, 1861.- The first session of
the Permanent Congress was organized
in Richmond, Va., Feb. 18, 1S62.
Act providingfor holding elections
for Representatives in Tennessee
vetoed, 324.
Adjournment of, postponement of,
requested, 539.
Referred to, 544.
Advice of Senate regarding neces
sity of renominating certain offi
cers requested, 246.
Bills and acts retained by Presi
dent, reasons therefor, 214.
Constitutional powers of Executive
and Senate regarding nomina
tions discussed, 388.

Congress, Confederate States (Con
tinued):
Employees of, estimate for in
creased compensation of, trans
mitted, 456.
Act relative to, recommendations
regarding, 513.
Extraordinary sessions of Provi
sional, convened, 60, 133.
Information requested by House re
garding naval employees abroad
refused, reasons therefor, 302.
Members of, estimate of increased
salary and mileage of, trans
mitted, 456.
Act relative to, recommendations
regarding, 513.
Message to —
Error in, corrected, 83, 299.
Return of, requested, 299.
Preparation of journals of Provi
sional, referred to, 516.
Provisional, invited to hold session
in Memphis, Tenn., 100.
Request of House that President
cause State Department to trans
mit estimate for diplomatic affairs
refused, reasons therefor, 253.
Resolution providing for meeting
of, in Richmond, Va., vetoed, 100.
Resolutions of thanks of. (See Res
olutions of Thanks.)
Transcript of Senate journal re
quested, 570.
Transmission of Army, report re
quested, by House referred to,
192.
Congress of Paris, principles of war
declared by, discussed, 283, 349,
358, 359-
Conscription Law:
Act- Diminishing number of exemp
tions and details, recommen
dations regarding, 540, 547.
Regulating business of conscrip
tion, recommendations regard
ing, 542-

590 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy-

Conscription Law (Continued):
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 205, 212, 234, 236, 294,
312, 37o, 4°4> 49 1-
Enforcement of —
In Georgia referred to, 250.
Men employed in, referred to,
387-
Mode of providing officers for,
recommended, 448.
Referred to, 300.
Joint resolution in regard to exemp
tion of editors and newspaper
employees vetoed, 465.
List of exempts transmitted, 3S3,
501, 518, 531,534.
Number of men subject to —
Referred to, 534.
Removed from Commissary and
Quartermaster's Department
to give places to disabled sol
diers referred to, 391.
Proclaimed, 326.
Conscription Service:
Appropriation for, recommended,
402.
Authority to raise troops of con
script age referred to, 401.
Disabled persons enrolled referred
to, 256.
Constitution, Confederate States.
The delegates from the States which
formed the Confederacy assembled In
Montgomery, Ala., Feb..;, 1S61, in a Pro
visional Congress, and adopted a tempo
rary or Provisional Constitution. Lat
er they adopted a permanent Constitution
for the Government of the Confederacy,
and which was duly ratified by the States
thereof. In his inaugural address, pages
35 and 36, President Davis, addressing
himself to this subject, said, " We have
adopted a Constitution differing only
from that of our fathers (the Constitution
of the United States) in so far as it is ex
planatory of their well-known intent,
freed from sectional conflicts;" and again,
in the same address, he said, " We have
changed the constituent parts, but not the
system of government. The Constitution
framed by our fathers is that of these
Confederate States. In their exposition

of it, and in the judicial construction it
has received, we have a light which re
veals its true meaning."
Permanent, 37.
Adoption of, by —
Arkansas, 117.
North Carolina, 117.
Tennessee, anticipated, 117.
Virginia, 1 17.
Discussed, 184.
Preparation of proceedings of
convention framing, referred
to, 516.
Ratification of, referred to, 63.
Signers of, 53, 54.
Provisional, 3.
Amendment to, 10.
Discussed, 35.
Preparation of proceedings of
convention framing, referred
to, 516.
Ratification of, by Missouri, re
ferred to, 144.
Signers of, 13, 14.
Constitution, United States.
The Constitution is the fundamental or
organic law of the United Slates. It is
written, and was framed by the conven
tion which assembled in Philadelphia
May 25, 17S7, and adjourned Sept. 17, of
that year. It was submitted to the States
for their ratification, was ratified by them,
each State acting separately, and went
into effect March 4, 17S9.
Constitutional Rights of States dis
cussed, 32, 63, 121, 184, 277.
Consul, British, exequatur of, re
voked, 325.
Referred to, 360.
Convention of Railroad Presidents:
Referred to, 81.
Resolutions adopted at, requesting
aid of Government for construc
tion of lines transmitted, 152.
Conventions. (See Treaties.)
Cooke, James W., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 480.
Cooke's Brigade, resolution of thanks
tendered, 430.

Index.

591

Cooper, Samuel, General, Confederate
Army, nomination of, 129, 306.
Coosaw River, engagement at, re
ferred to, 200.
Copperhead. A name given to citizens of the North
ern States of the Union who sympathized
with the people of the South during the
war.
Corinth, Miss., Battle of.
A battle near the town of Corinth, in
northeastern Mississippi, Oct. 3, 4, 1S62.
The Federals, 20,000, were commanded
by Gen. Rosecrans, and defeated the Con
federates, commanded by Generals Van
Dorn and Price. The loss of the former
was about 2,500, and the latter about
4,000.
Cotton: Accumulated by Treasury Depart
ment referred to, 390.
Non-destruction of, in Savannah,
Ga., referred to, 533.
Protection for, under control of
Secretaries of Treasury and War
referred to, 503.
Purchased for Government in Lou
isiana referred to, 311.
Sale of, in foreign markets under
cover of certificates referred to,
317-
Sale or hypothecation of, or cotton
certificates in Europe referred to,
3'9.
Use of, as means of procuring sup
plies for Army, 530.
Vessels in Chesapeake Bay for ex
porting referred to, 195.
Cotton Bureau established in Texas
referred to, 530.
CottonLoans, Foreign, referred to, 3S3,
390, 488.
Counterfeiting of Confederate money
by citizens of United States dis
cussed, 233, 235, 471.
Appropriation for detecting persons
engaged in, recommended, 239.
Court of Admiralty and Maritime Ju
risdiction, act to establish, in Mis •
sisslppi vetoed, 101.

Court, Supreme, organization of, rec
ommended, 192.
Courts, organization of, discussed, 78.
Courts-martial: Findings of, referred to, 300, 303.
Recommendations regarding, 244,
448- 538.
Reports of, in cases of desertion
and drunkenness, transmitted,
255. 3o3-
Courts, Military, recommendations re
garding, 448, 538.
Covington and Ohio Railroad, commu
nication from President of Cen
tral Railroad urging completion
of, discussed, 151.
Cox, J. D., report of Gen. Marshall on
attack on, transmitted, 245.
Crawford, Martin J., peace commis
sioner to United States:
Conduct of Federal Government
in negotiations discussed, 70.
Correspondence between Secretary
Seward, Judge Campbell, and
commissioners, 84.
Transmitted, 82.
Nomination and appointment of,
55, 5°-
Credit, Public, discussed, 192, 293.
Creek Indians, treaty with, and other
relations discussed, 149.
Crittenden, George B., report of, on
battle of Fishing Creek, Ky., re
ferred to, 200.
Crittenden Compromise.
A measure urged by John J. Critten
den, of Ky., in the Senate of the United
States in iS6o-i86i, for harmonizing the
sections of the country, and compromis
ing some of the slavery questions. The
measure provided among other things for
the reSstablishmcnt of the slave line of
360 30', and for the belter enforcement of
fugitive slave laws.
Cross Keys, Va., Battle of.
A battle in Rockingham County, Va.,
about 20 miles to the northeast of Staun
ton, June S, 1S62. The Federals, 18,000,
were commanded by Gen. Fremont; the
Confederates, about 8,000, by Gen. T. J.
Jackson. Federal loss, 625: Confederate
loss, 2S7.

592 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Cruizebearr, Robert, mentioned, 266.
Cumberland Gap, Tenn., surrender of,
discussed, 346.
Currency. (See Treasury Notes.)
Curry, Jabez L. M., mentioned, 29, 30.
Curtis, Samuel R., mentioned, 214.
D
Danville, Va., railroad from Greens
boro, N. C, to, recommended,
140, 152-
Davis, Jefferson, President Confederate
States:
Addresses of, to —
Army of —
Eastern Virginia, 229.
Richmond, 228.
Indian tribes, 477.
People of Confederate States,
33i, 5^8.
Soldiers of Confederate States,
335. 4H-
Advice of Senate regarding neces
sity of renominating certain offi
cers requested by, 246.
Appropriations recommended by.
(See Appropriations.)
Biographical sketch of, 17.
Causes leading up to War between
the States discussed by, 32, 63
(see also 60, 70, 78, 82), 117, 184,
277.
Constitutional powers of Executive
and Senate regarding nomina
tions discussed by, 388.
Constitutional rights of States
discussed by, 32, 63, 121, 184,
277.
Election of, as President of Provi
sional Government, 29.
Notification of, 30.
Extraordinary session messages of,
63, 134-
Extraordinary sessions of Congress
convened by, 60, 133.
Finances discussed by, and recom
mendations regarding, 77, 123,
139. 191,235,259,293,361,446,488,
532, 545-

Davis, Jefferson, President Confederate
States (Continued):
Foreign relations discussed by, 76,
H2> 278, 348> 444, 485-
Inaugural address of —
First, 32.
Second, 183.
Inauguration of —
First, 31.
Second, 181.
Information requested by House
regarding naval employees
abroad refused by, reasons there
for, 302.
Letter of, to President Lincoln —
Introducing peace commission
ers, 55.
Regarding treatment and ex
change of prisoners of war,
'15,313-
Referred to, 121.
Nominations of. (See Executive
Nominations.)
Peace negotiations —
Conduct of Federal officials re
garding, discussed by, 70.
Correspondence between Con
federate commissioners, Sec
retary Seward, and Judge
Campbell, 84.
Transmitted, 82.
Discussed by, 497, 519, 549.
Hampton Roads conference dis
cussed, 519, 549.
Message and correspondence
of President Lincoln, 521.
Report of commissioners, 520.
Military convention for, referred
to, 55°. 552-
Refusal of United States to enter
into, discussed by, 70, 82, 381,
5^, 55o.
Willingness of any State of
United States to enter into con
vention regarding, referred to,
500.
Pocket veto of, organizing general
staff for armies, 457.

Index.

593

Davis, Jefferson, President Confederate
States (Continued) :
Portrait of, 16.
Proclamations of —
Admission of Missouri into Con
federacy, 166.
Banishing alien enemies, 131.
Belligerent expedition, 565.
Conscription, 326.
Declaring Benjamin F. Butler an
outlaw, etc., 269.
Extraordinary sessions of Con
gress convened, 60, 133.
Fasting and prayer, 103, 135, 217,
227, 268, 324, 328, 412, 563,
5°7-
Order regarding, 565.
Habeas corpus, suspending writ
of, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224,
225, 226.
Inviting applications for letters
of marque and reprisal, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Measures of retaliation for crimes
committed by United States of
ficers, 269.
Organization of Arizona Territo
ry, 167.
Pardoning soldiers guilty of ab
sence without leave and deser
tion, 329.
Revoking exequatur of British
consul, 325.
Savannah commissioned private
armed vessel, 102.
Thanksgiving. (See Fasting and
Prayer, hereunder.)
Treaty with Virginia, 102.
Request of House that President
cause State Department to trans
mit estimate of expenses for dip
lomatic affairs refused by, rea
sons therefor, 253.
Secession of Confederate States
discussed and referred to by, 32,
63, H7, i84> 278.
Secretary of, appointment of, re
ferred to by, 200.
38

Davis, Jefferson, President Confederate
States (Continued) :
Slavery, and rights of States re
garding, discussed by, 66.
Special session messages of, 63,
134-
Special sessions of Congress con
vened by, 60, 133.
State of the Confederacy discussed
by, 32, 63, 117, 136, 184, 189, 232,
276, 296, 345, 443, 482, 544.
Stephens, A. H., correspondence
regarding appointment of, as
military commissioner to Unit
ed States, 339.
Veto messages of —
Abolishing office of certain quar
termasters, etc., 559.
Acceptance of volunteer regi
ment from Texas, 160.
Amending act —
Aiding Kentucky, 408.
Establishing and organizing
general staff for Army, 262.
Establishing and organizing
Provisional Army, 263.
Imposing regulations upon for
eign commerce to provide
for public defense, 466.
Reducing currency and author
izing new issue of notes and
bonds, 470.
Authorizing —
Appointment of artillery offi
cers for ordnance duty, 466.
Appointment of additional as-
sistant surgeons in Army,i30.
Free mailage of newspapers to
soldiers, 556.
Building vessels of war, 266.
Claim of McDaniel and Ewing,
472.
Congressional elections in Ten
nessee, 324.
Creating office of commanding
general, 215.
Directing how prize money shall
be paid, 216.

594 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Davis, Jefferson, President Confederate
States (Continued):
Veto messages of —
Encouraging manufacture of
small arms, 158.
Establishing court of admiralty
and maritime jurisdiction in
Mississippi, 101.
Exemption of editors and news
paper employees, 465.
Granting furloughs, 162.
Increasing number of midship
men in Navy, 553.
Increasing strength of heavy ar
tillery for seacoast defenses,
320.
Organizing general staff for
armies, reasons for applying
pocket veto, 457.
Pay and allowances of deceased
soldiers, 216.
Payment of arrears due Army
and Navy, 561.
Promotion of officers in certain
cases, 558.
Raising and organizing troops in
Missouri, 160.
Regulating furloughs and dis
charges, 156.
Relief of Bible Society, 267.
Removal of seat of government
from Montgomery to Rich
mond, 100.
Reorganize and promote efficien
cy of Medical Department, 263.
Repealing law authorizing natu
ralization of aliens, 165.
Slave trade, 59.
Veteran Soldiers' Home, 409.
War between the States discussed
hy, 72, 78, 122, 124, 136, 139, 185,
189, 196, 197, 208, 210, 232, 240,
276, 332, 345, 448> 482, 544'
Davis Guards, resolution of thanks
tendered, 424.
Day's Point, referred to, 202.
Debt, Public, discussed, 192, 293, 363,

Deceased Soldiers:
Act relative to pay and allowances
of, vetoed, 216.
Settlement of claims of, referred
to, 305.
Decoration Day.
A day set apart in the United States,
on which to commemorate memories of
the soldiers and sailors who fell in the
Civil War. On this day the people pay
tribute to the dead by processions, public
speeches, and by the decoration of graves
with flowers. The day was first called
Memorial Day. It originated in the
South during the war. May 30 is the
day usually observed. Decoration Day
has been declared by Congress a national
holiday in the District of Columbia and
in the territories.
Defense, Public:
Act- Amending act to Impose regula
tions on foreign commerce to
provide for, vetoed, 466.
Increasing strength and efficien
cy of heavy artillery for sea
coast defense vetoed, 320.
Preparations for, discussed and re
ferred to, 189, 201, 204, 208.
Provision for, recommended, 34, 63,
128, 196,203, 544.
Referred to, 250.
Submarine defenses discussed,
204.
Department of East Tennessee, mar
tial law in, proclaimed, and orders
regarding, 224.
Department of Mississippi and East
Louisiana, report on operations
in, transmitted, 386.
Departments, Executive. (See also
the several Departments.)
Commissioned officers employed
in, at Richmond, Va., referred
to, 514, 552.
Communications from, transmit
ted, 156.
List of employees of, submitted,
261.

Index.

595

Departments, Executive (Continued):
Request of House that President
cause State Department to trans
mit estimate of expenses for dip
lomatic affairs refused, reasons
therefor, 253.
Desertions, reports of courts-martial
in cases of, transmitted, 303.
Dimmock, Charles, mentioned, 181.
Diplomatic Affairs, request of House
that President cause State De
partment to transmit estimate of
expenses for, refused, reasons
therefor, 253.
Diplomatic Relations discussed, 76,
142, 278, 348, 444, 485.
Dixie. A popular name of the States of the
Confederacy. The name Dixie, or Dixie's
Land, was originally applied to New
York, or Manhattan Island, where it had
its origin early in the 19th century. Bry
ant, in n note to "Songs from Dixie's
Land," says, " In the popular mythology
of New York City, Dixie was the negro's
paradise on earth in times when slavery
and the slave trade were flourishing in
that quarter." Dixie owned *i tract of
land on Manhattan Island, and also a
large number of slaves; and his slaves in
creasing faster than his land, an emigra
tion ensued such as has taken place in
Virginia and other States. Naturally,
the negroes who left it for distant parts
looked to it as a place of unalloyed happi
ness, and it was the "old Virginny " of
the negroes of that day. Hence Dixie be
came synonymous with an ideal locality,
combining ineffable happiness and every
imaginable requisite of earthly beatitude.
It has been the subject of several popular
songs.
Dixon, J. E., prisoner at Johnson's
Island, case of, referred to,
315-
Domestic Passport System referred to,
401.
Doughface. A term applied in derision of certain
politicians of the North who it was said
were overanxious to please the Southern
people. John Randolph, of Roanoke, was
the author of the term, or first gave it na
tional significance.

Douglas's Battery, resolution of
thanks tendered, 430.
Dowling, Richard W., resolution of
thanks tendered command of,
424.
Drewry, A., resolution of thanks ten
dered command of, 275.
Drewry's Bluff, Va., defenses of, re
ferred to, 202.
Droop Mountain, W. Va., battle of, re
ferred to, 385.
Drunkenness in Army:
Report of courts-martial in cases
of, transmitted, 255.
Trials and convictions under act to
punish, referred to, 505.
Dunnington, John W., report of, on
engagement at St. Charles, Ark.,
transmitted, 238.
Duties discussed, 361.

East Tennessee, Department of, mar
tial law in, proclaimed, and orders
regarding, 224.
Echols, John, report of, on battle of
Droop Mountain, W. Va., trans
mitted, 385.
Eckert, Thomas T., correspondence
in peace negotiations, 521.
Editors and newspaper employees,
joint resolution exempting, ve
toed, 465.
Election of President and Vice Presi
dent of Provisional Government,
29.
Notification of, 30.
Elkhorn, Ark., Battle of. (See Pea
Ridge, Battle of.)
Emancipation Proclamation.
A proclamation issued by President
Lincoln Sept. 22, 1S62, and which was
supplemented by a second proclamation,
Jany. I, 1S63, declaring the freedom of the
slaves in certain States and counties in
the South, engaged in the war.
Effect of, discussed, 290.
Engineer Bureau, appropriation for,
recommended, 248, 306, 395, 515.

596 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Engineers, Chief of, report of, trans
mitted, 301.
England. (See Great Britain.)
Erlanger & Co., contract with, for cot
ton loan referred to, 383, 390.
Estimates. (See Appropriations.)
European Powers. (See Foreign Pow
ers.)
Evans, Nathan G.:
Report of, on battle of Leesburg,
Va., referred to, 192.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 169.
Ewing, Francis M., joint resolution
directing settlement of claim of,
vetoed, 472.
Exchange of Prisoners of War, ar
rangements for, 237, 492, 501.
Cartel of, transmitted, 241.
Letter of President Davis to Presi
dent Lincoln regarding, 343.
Questions regarding, referred to,
395-
Stephens, A. H., correspondence
regarding appointment of, as
commissioner on subject of,
339-
Suspension of, discussed, 375,
445-
Executive, Chief. (See Davis, Jeffer
son; Lincoln, Abraham.)
Executive Departments. (See also
the several Departments.)
Commissioned officers employed
in, at Richmond, Va., referred to,
514. 552-
Communications from, transmit
ted, 156.
List of employees of, transmitted,
261.
Request of House that President
cause State Department to trans
mit estimate of expenses for dip
lomatic affairs refused, reasons
therefor, 253.
Executive Nominations:
Communication correcting m i s-
takes in, transmitted, 259.

Executive Nominations (Continued):
Constitutional powers of Executive
and Senate regarding, discussed,
388-
Reasons for making certain, trans
mitted, 392, 448.
Renomination of certain officers,
advice of Senate regarding ne
cessity of, requested, 246.
Return of, requested, 148, 241, 537.
Special session message regarding,
J34-
Exemption Law. (See Conscription
Law.)
Exequatur of British Consul revoked,
325-
Referred to, 360.
Expenditures, Public, discussed, 192,
488.
Appropriation for, recommended,
'99. 313, 3!7, 387. 4°2. 4°4, 45 1,
454. 455, 5i7, 539-
Export Duties discussed, 361.
Extraordinary Session Messages, 63,
J34-
Extraordinary Sessions of Congress,
proclamations convening, 60, 133.
Ezra's Church, Battle of.
A battle in front of Atlanta, Ga., on
the right of the Federal army, July 2S,
1S64. The Federals were commanded by
Gen. Logan, and the Confederates, who
made the attack, by Gen. Hood. Confed
erates were repulsed with a loss of about
2,000; Federal loss, about 600.

Fair Oaks, Va., Battle of. (See Sev
en Pines, Battle of.)
Farinholt, B. L., report of, on engage- •
ment at Staunton River Bridge
transmitted, 499.
Farmville, Va., Battle of.
A battle near Farmville, Va., Apr. 7,
1865, shortly after the evacuation of Rich
mond by the Confederates, who were re
treating toward the south. The Feder
als were commanded by Generals Ord
and Sheridan; the Confederates, by Gen.
Lee. Gen. Read, commanding Federal

Index.

597

cavalry, was killed. The Federals cap
tured 6,000 or 7,000 men, the Confederates
continuing their retreat.
Farrand, Ebenezer, resolution o f
thanks tendered command of,
275-
Fasting and Prayer, day of, set apart
by proclamation, 103, 135, 217,
227, 268, 324, 328, 412, 563, 567.
Order regarding, 565.
Faulkner, Charles J., arrest and im-
prisonmentof, by Federal author
ities discussed, 142.
Fearn, Walker, secretary of commis
sion to Russia, nomination of,
3"-
Field Products:
Cotton—
* Accumulated by Treasury De
partment referred to, 390.
Non-destruction of, in Savannah,
Ga., referred to, 533.
Protection for, under control of
Secretaries of Treasury and
War referred to, 503.
Purchased for Government in
Louisiana referred to, 311.
Sale of, in foreign markets under
cover of certificates referred to,
317-
Sale or hypothecation of, or cot
ton certificates in Europe re
ferred to, 319.
Use of, as means of procuring
Army supplies, 530.
Vessels in Chesapeake Bay for
exporting, referred to, 195.
Tobacco —
Rations of, for Army referred to,
455-
Vessels in Chesapeake Bay for
exporting, referred to, 195.
Finances: Act amending act to reduce cur
rency and authorize new issue of
notes and bonds vetoed, 470.
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 77, 123, 139, 191, 235,
2S9, 293, 36l> 446> 488> 532, 545-

Finances (Continued) :
Effect of action of neutral nations
upon, discussed, 362.
Loans —
Appropriation to carry out act
authorizing foreign, recom
mended, 301.
Discussed and recommendations
regarding, 77, 123, 361, 505.
Made by Branch Bank of Tennes
see to Gen. Hindman referred.
to, 255.
Propriety of providing for pay
ment of, by war tax discussed,
259-
Plan of—
Discussed, 489.
First devised discussed, 361.
Finegan, Joseph, resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 480.
Fisher's Hill, Va., Battle of.
A battle near Winchester, Frederick
County, Va., Sept. 22, 1864. The Feder
als, about 20,000, were commanded by
Gen. Sheridan; the Confederates, a much
smaller number, by Gen. Early. Federal
loss, about 1,300; Confederate loss, about
1,000.
Fishing Creek, Ky., battle of, referred
to, 200.
Five Forks, Va., Battle of.
A battle about 11 miles to the south
west of Petersburg* Va., Apr. 1, 1865.
The Federals were commanded by Gen.
Sheridan; the Confederates, being- a por
tion of Lee's army, by Generals Johnston
and Pickett. The Confederates were
driven back to their main works, which
were captured with many prisoners.
Their loss in killed, wounded, and pris
oners was over 5,000; Federal loss, about
1,000.
Flag, Confederate. The flag- of the Confederacy was some
times called the "Stars and Bars." It
was first provided that the flag- should
consist of a red field with a white space
extending- horizontally through the cen
ter, and equal in width to one-third the
width of the flag. The union was a blue
square extending across the upper red
and the white stripe, in which stars rep
resenting the States were arranged in a
circle, each star standing for a State.

598 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Later a white flag with one blue star in
the center was adopted. Battle flags
were also adopted and used by some of
the corps. In 1863, the Congress of the
Confederate States passed the following
act: "That the flag of the Confederate
States shall be as follows : The field to be
white, the length double the width of the
flag, with the union (now used as the bat
tle flag) to be of a square of two-thirds
the width of the flag, having the ground
red, thereon a broad saltier of blue, bor
dered with white, and emblazoned with
mallets or five-pointed stars, correspond
ing in number to that of the Confederate
States."
Flag, United States.
The flag of the United States was first
provided for in a resolution of the Conti
nental Congress, June 14, 1777. That res
olution provided, "That the flag of the
United States be 13 stripes, alternate red
and white; that the union be 13 stars,
white in a blue field, representing a new
constellation." As a new State was ad
mitted, a new star and stripe were added.
The flag was thus increased in size by
the addition of new stripes, which was
objectionable, so that in 1818 it was rees
tablished with 13 stripes, and one star
was added to the original. 13 for each
State admitted into the Union. These
stars are placed on the flag on the 4th of
July succeeding the admission of the
State.
Florida: Military operations in, 448.
Troops of, resolution of thanks ten
dered, 423.
Florida, The.
A Confederate cruiser first called the
Oreto. She was built in England, and
left Liverpool Mch. 22, 1S62, receiving
her armament at the Bahamas Aug. 7.
She was twice seized, but escaped,
changed her name to the Florida^ and in
flicted much damage on the United States
commerce. She was captured, Oct. 7,
1864, in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil, in
violation of the rights of neutrals by a
United States vessel, under the command
of Capt. Collins, and was taken to Hamp
ton Roads.
Flour, impressment of, referred to,
304.
Floyd, John B., relieved from com
mand, 197.

Fontaine, E., communication from,
urging completion of certain rail
roads, 151.
Foote, Henry SM arrest of, by milita
ry officer referred to, 516.
Foreign Commerce:
Act amending act imposing regu
lations on, to provide for public
defense vetoed, 466.
Bill imposing regulations upon,
etc., discussed, 505.
Regulations on, 417.
Foreign Consuls, action taken regard
ing, 360.
Foreign Cotton Loans referred to, 383,
390, 488.
Foreign Powers:
Attitude of, in War between the
States discussed, 278, 348, 444,
485-
Belligerency of the Confederate
States recognized by, referred to,
280.
Blockade of Confederate ports by
United States and attitude of, re
garding, discussed, 142, 282, 349.
Confederate Commissioners to.
(See Commissioners, Confeder
ate States.)
Correspondence whh, discussed,
288.
Diplomatic relations with, d i s-
cussed, 76, 142, 278, 348, 444, 485.
Mexican affairs discussed, 359.
Neutral rights of, request regard
ing, 283.
Neutrality of, in War between the
States discussed, 280, 348, 444.
Partiality in favor of United
States discussed, 280, 348,
444.
Retaliatory measures d i s -
cussed, 358.
Recognition of Independence of
Confederate States by —
Attitude regarding, discussed,
279> 348, 444. 4§5-

Index.

599

Foreign Powers (Continued) :
Recognition of independence of
Confederate States by —
Commissioners sent to request,
76.
Intervention not desired, 487.
Request for, discussed, 142.
Treaties with —
Discussed, 360.
Disregarded by, 444.
Not binding, 360.
Foreign Relations. ( See Foreign
Powers.)
Forrest, Nathan B.:
Report of, on —
Battle of Tishomingo Creek,
Miss., transmitted, 499.
Evacuation and removal of pub
lic property from Nashville,
Tenn., transmitted, 245.
Resolutions of thanks tendered
command of, 337, 433, 481.
Forsyth, John, peace commissioned
to United States:
Conduct of Federal Government
in negotiations discussed, 70.
Correspondence between Secreta
ry Seward, Judge Campbell,
and commissioners, 84.
Transmitted, 82.
Nomination and appointment of,
55, 56.
Fort Donelson, Tenn., Battle of.
A battle at Fort Donelson, a Confed
erate fort on Cumberland River, near
Dover, Stewart County, Tenn., about 60
miles northwest of Nashville. The Fed
erals, 15,000, commanded by Gen. Grant,
invested the fort Feb. 13, 14, 1862. The
fort mounted 65 guns, and was held by
Confederates, commanded by Gen. Floyd,
18,000 effective men. Commodore Foote,
with 6 gunboats, joined with Gen. Grant
in the attack. Gen. Wallace reenforced
Gen. Grant with 13,000 men, increasing
his forces to 27,000. On the 15th the Con
federates advanced and attacked the Fed
erals, but at night fell back within their
works. The fort was surrendered by
Gen. Buckner Feb. 16, his senior officers,
Generals Floyd and Pillow, escaping by

the river. Federal loss in killed and
wounded, 2,832; Confederate loss in
killed, wounded, and prisoners, 14,600,
with 65 guns and many small arms.
Referred to, 189, 196, 207, 245.
Fort Fisher, N. C, Battle of.
A battle at Fort Fisher, which is situ
ated on a peninsula on the south coast of
North Carolina, between the mouth of
the Cape Fear River and the AtlanLic
Ocean, about 18 miles from "Wilmington.
It was occupied by the Confederates with
a garrison of 2,300 men, and its works
mounted with 75 guns. In Dec, 1864, the
Federals sent an expedition against it
commanded by Gen. Butler, of 73 vessels,
carrying 655 guns, and also a land force
of 6,500. The fort was bombarded Dec.
24, without effect: Gen. Butler was re
lieved of command and superseded by
Gen. Terry, with reenforcements, 1,500
men. After desperate fighting on the
15th, in which the vessels as well as the
land forces were engaged, the garrison
surrendered. Federal loss, no killed and
about 600 wounded; Confederate loss, in
cluding killed, wounded, and prisoners,
about 2,000.
Fort Gaines, Ala., Reduction of . (See
Mobile Bay, Battle of.)
Fort Henry, Tenn., Battle of.
A battle at Fort Henry, on the Ten
nessee River, in the northwestern portion
of Tennessee, about n miles from Fort
Donelson. This fort was held by the
Confederates with a. garrison of about
2,700 men, under Gen., Tilghman, the fort
mounting 17 guns. The Federals, 15,000,
commanded by Gen. Grant, with a fleet
of 7 gunboats, commanded by Commo
dore Foote, attacked the fort Feb. 6,
1S62. After a fight of a little over an
hour, Gen. Tilghman surrendered him
self and about 65 men, and probably the
same number of invalids. The remainder
of the garrison forces escaped to Fort
Donelson. Federal loss, 48; Confeder
ate loss in killed and wounded, 21.
Referred to, 207.
Fort McAlister, Ga., Battle of.
This fort was built by the Confederates
during the war on the Ogeechee River,
opposite Genesis Point, Ga., to guard the
approach to Savannah. The fort mount
ed 23 guns and 1 mortar, and was garri
soned by about 300 Confederates. It was
attacked by a portion of Gen. Sherman's
forces, commanded by Gen. Hazen, Dec.

600 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

13, 1864. The small garrison was over
powered, and promptly surrendered.
Resolution of thanks tendered
forces in, 339.
Fort Morgan, Ala. , Reduction of. (See
Mobile Bay, Battle of.)
Fort Pickens, Fla.:
Attempts of United States to reen-
force, 118.
Possession of, recommendations
for obtaining, 56.
Fort Pillow, Tenn., Battle of.
Fort Pillow was built by the Confed
erates during the war on Chickasaw Bluff,
Mississippi River, about 40 miles above
Memphis, Tenn. It was seized and occu
pied by the Federals June 5, 1862. April
12, 1864, the fort was garrisoned by about
20 officers and 500 men, when it was at
tacked by the Confederates under Gen.
Forrest, and was captured with its entire
garrison.
Fort Powell, Ala., Reduction of. (See
Mobile Bay, Battle of.)
Fort Powhatan, Va., defenses of, re
ferred to, 202.
Fort Sumter, S. C:
Hostile expedition sent by United
States to, 118, 279.
Possession of, recommendations for
obtaining, 56.
Fort Sumter, S. C, Battle of.
Fort Sumter was located in Charleston
Harbor, S. C, about 4 miles from the
city of that name, to the southeast. This
was the scene of the first engagement of
the war. The fort was garrisoned by
United States troops, 70 men, under com
mand of Maj. Anderson. On April 11,
]S6i, Gen. Beauregard, commanding the
Confederate forces at Charleston, 7,000
men, demanded the surrender of the fort,
which was refused. The Confederates,
on the 12th, began to bombard the fort,
which was kept up till dark, and was re
newed on the morning of the 13th, and
was continued until Maj. Anderson sur
rendered the fort. He sailed out with his
garrison. There were no casualties on
either side.
Referred to, and discussed, 71, 78,
98. :

Fort Wagner, S. C, Battle of.
Fort Wagner was a fortification on
Morris Island, and one of the defenses of
Charleston Harbor. An attack was made
on this fort, and also on Fort Sumter, by
the United States fleet, monitors and iron
clads, under command of Admiral Du-
pont, Apr. 7, 1S63. This effort to reduce
the forts utterly failed. Another expe
dition was made against the forts by Gen.
Gillmore, with 12,000 men and many guns,
Admiral Dahlgren with his ships and
monitors cooperating in the attack, June
12, 1S63. They were again repulsed. The
attempt to reduce Fort Wagner was re-
newed with another failure and a loss
of 1,200 men, July 18, 1863. These attacks
were continued with greater or less se
verity until Sept. 6, 1S63, when the fort
was evacuated.
Fortress Monroe, Va., Peace Confer
ence at, discussed, 519, 549.
Message and correspondence of
President Lincoln, 521.
Report of commissioners, 520.
Fox, G. V., mentioned, 95.
France: Attitude of, in War between the
States discussed, 278, 348, 444,
4§5-
Blockade of Confederate ports by
United States, and attitude of, re
garding, discussed, 142, 282, 349.
Confederate Commissioner to, 76.
Mission of, discussed, 279.
Seized by United States authori
ties, 141. (See also Trent Af
fair.)
Confederate Minister to, commis
sion to, explanation regarding,
3"-
Correspondence with, discussed,
288.
Expressions of sympathy from, for
Confederate States discussed,
288.
Neutral rights of, request regard
ing, 283.
Neutrality of, in War between the
States discussed, 280, 348,444.
Partiality in favor of United
States discussed, 280, 348, 444.

Index.

601

Stance (Continued) :
Occupation of Mexican capital by
army of, discussed, 359.
Treaties with —
Discussed, 360.
Disregarded by, 444.
Not binding, 360.
Franklin, Tenn., Battle of.
A bailie near the town of Franklin,
Williamson County, Tenn., about lS miles
to the southeast of Nashville, Nov. 30,
1864. The Federals, about 27,000, were
commanded by Gen. Schofield; the Con
federates, by Gen. Hood. The assaults
were made by the Confederates, who
were repulsed with heavy losses, includ
ing Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne, who was
killed. The Federals during the night
retreated to Nashville. Their loss in
killed and wounded was about 2,300.
Confederate loss, much heavier, estimated
at about 6,000.
Frayser's Farm, Va., Battle of.
One of the Seven Days' Battles before
Richmond, Va., about 12 miles to the
southeast of that city, June 30, 1862. The
Federals were commanded by Gen. Mc.
Clellan, and the Confederates by Gen
erals Longstreet and Hill.
Frazer, John W., surrender of Cum
berland Gap, in command of, dis
cussed, 346.
Fredericksburg, Va., Battle of.
A battle near the city of Fredericks
burg, Spottsylvania County, Va., about
50 miles to the southwest of Washington
City, Dec. 13, 1863. The Federals, 110,000,
were commanded by Gen. Burnside; the
Confederates, 80,000, by Gen. Lee. The
Federals were repulsed, and retreated
across the Rappahannock River. Feder
al loss, 1,284 killed, 9,600 wounded, and
1,769 prisoners; total, 12,653. Confederate
loss, 60S killed, 4, 1 16 wounded, and 653
prisoners; total, 5,377.
Referred to, 276, 384.
Fugitive Slave Laws.
These laws were acts passed by Con
gress, which provided in substance, that
on the owner of a slave giving proof of
such ownership before a magistrate of the
locality where the fugitive slave was
found, the magistrate should order the
fugitive to be delivered to his owner
without trial by jury,. and penalties were
fixed for the violation of the laws. These

laws were passed by authority of the
Constitution of the United States, as
shown in article IV, section 3, of that in
strument.
Funds sent abroad for military and
naval purposes referred to, 242,
261.
Furloughs: Act granting, vetoed, 162.
Medical Board of Examiners for
granting, referred to, 240.
Furloughs and Discharges, act regu
lating, vetoed, 156.

Gaines Mills, Va., Battle of. (See
Cold Harbor, Battle of.)
Galveston, Tex., recovery of, from
United States forces, 276.
General, Confederate Army:
Act creating office of commanding,
vetoed, 215.
Creation of grade of, recommend
ed, 80.
General-in-Chief, Confederate Army,
appointment of, 570.
General Staff, organization of, recom
mended, 373, 447.
Act providing for —
Reasons for applying pocket veto
to, 457-
Referred to, 500.
Vetoed, 262.
Geneva Tribunal. (See also Alabama
Claims.) A tribunal organized to arbitrate the
claims of the United States against Great
Britain for injury to, and destruction of,
commerce during the war. The claims,
were known as the Alabama claims. The
tribunal was provided for by the treaty of
Washington.
Georgia: Advance of Gen. Rosecrans's army
into, discussed, 346.
Conscript law, enforcement of, eto<
in, referred to, 250, 387.
Exempts in, referred to, 383, 534.
Legislative action of, referred to,
347-

602 . Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Georgia (Continued):
Military operations in, 448.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks
tendered, 427, 429,
Georgia, The.
A Confederate cruiser built at Glas
gow, Scotland, during the war. She
sailed from that port in Apr., 1863, and
was first called the Japan. After inflict
ing considerable damage to- the United
States commerce, she was seized by Capt.
Craven, commanding the United States
steamer Niagara, and taken to England.
Gettysburg, Pa., Battle of.
A battle near the town of Gettysburg,
Adams County, Pa., about 36 miles to the
southwest of Harrisburg, July 1-3, 1863.
The Federals, 75,000, were commanded by
Gen. Meade; the Confederates, near the
same number, by Gen. Lee. Federal loss,
2,834 killed, 13,700 wounded, 6,643 miss
ing; total loss, 23,177. Confederate loss,
killed, wounded, and missing, about the
same number,
Discussed, 346.
Godwin, A. C, appointed provost
marshal of Richmond, Va., 221.
Gordon, John B., pay of, while invali
dated from service discussed,
4°5-
Gorgas, Josiah, mentioned, 125.
Grand Army of Republic.
A secret fraternal society composed of
veterans who were soldiers or sailors in
the Federal army during the war. It had
its beginning in 1866. The subordinate
bodies are called "posts," and its annual
meetings are known as "encampments."
Grant, Ulysses S.:
Correspondence in peace negotia
tions, 521,
Referred to, 550.
Great Britain:
Attitude of, in War between the
States discussed, 278, 348, 444,
485-
Blockade of Confederate ports by
United States, and attitude of,
regarding, discussed, 142, 232,
349-
Confederate Commissioner to, 76.
Mission of, discussed, 279.
Recall of, discussed, 357.

Great Britain (Continued):
Confederate Commissioner to —
Seized by United States authori
ties, 141. (See also Trent Affair.)
Confederate Minister to, commission
of, explanation regarding, 311.
Consul of, to Confederate States,
exequatur of, revoked, 325.
Referred to, 360.
Correspondence with, discussed,
2S8.
Neutral rights of, request regard
ing, 283.
Neutrality of, in War between the
States discussed, 280, 348, 444.
Partiality in favor of United
States discussed, 280, 348, 444.
Treaties with —
Discussed, 360.
Disregarded by, 444.
Not binding, 360.
Great Southwestern Mail, detention
of, at certain points referred to,
H5-
Green, F. M., nomination of, as colo
nel, and reasons therefor, 448.
Green, Thomas, resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 337.
Greensboro, N. C, railroad from Dan
ville Va., to, recommended, 140,
152-
Grierson's Raid.
A cavalry raid made by the Federals,
commanded by Gen. Benjamin H. Grier-
son, from LaGrange, Tenn., a station a
few miles east of Memphis, to Baton
Rouge, La., in Apr., 1S63. The object
was to facilitate the movements and op
erations of the Federals under Gen.
Grant, in his attack on Vicksburg.
Groveton, Va., Battle of, or Second
Battle of Manassas. (See Bull
Run, Battles of.)
Guerin, H. C, charges and specifica
tions in cases of, transmitted,
406.
Gunpowder. (See also Ordnance and
Ordnance Supplies.)
Act to encourage manufacture of,
in Confederate States vetoed, 158.

Index.

603

Gunpowder (Continued):
Appropriation for purchase of, rec
ommended, 58.
Manufacture of, discussed, 199.

Habeas Corpus:
Judges threatened for maintaining,
discussed, 140.
Suspension of writ of —
and orders regarding, 219, 220,
221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226.
Continuance of, recommended,
4S2-
Copies of orders for, transmitted
and discussed, 259.
Criminal jurisdiction of ordinary
courts not interfered with by,
260.
Power of Executive regarding,
discussed, 122.
Recommended, 395, 498, 548.
Habeas Corpus, Suspension of.
During the war the writ of habeas cor
pus was suspended in the United States
many times by order of the President.
Congress gave him this power by special
acts. Many arrests were made of persons
charged with disloyal practices and other
offenses, and in some places great ex
citement was caused by these arrests.
The Supreme Court of the United States
in 1866 held that the privilege of this
writ could not be suspended iu the case
of a civilian in districts where the action
of the civil courts was not interrupted.
Halleck, Henry W., mentioned, 269,
270.
Halyburton, J. D., mentioned, 183.
Hampton Roads, Va., Battle of.
A famous naval battle in Hampton
Roads, which is the channel connecting
the estuary of James River with Chesa
peake Bay, just south of and near to
Fortress Monroe, Va., Mch. S, 9, 1S62.
On Mch. 8, the Confederate ironclad, the
Merrimac, commanded by Commodore
Franklin Buchanan, came down the Eliz
abeth River, and attacked the vessels of
the United States which were blockading
the mouths of the James and Elizabeth
Rivers. She destroyed the Union frigate,
Cumberland, and burned the Congress.

On the next day, she was engaged for
about 4 hours in a severe fight with the
United States ironclad Monitor. When
the Cumberland went down, over joo
lost their lives, and in the case of the
Congress, only 21S survived in a crew of
434 men. Commodore Buchanan, becom
ing disabled, turned the command, over to
Lieut. Catesby Jones. In his report of the
battle, Lieut. Jones, among other things,
says: "We also engaged the Monitor, and
sometimes at very close quarters. We
once succeeded in running into her, and
twice silenced her fire." In concluding
his report, he says : " The pilots declaring
that we could get no nearer the Minneso
ta, and believing her to be entirely disa
bled, and the Monitor having run into
shoal water, which prevented our doing
her any further injury, we ceased firing at
1 2 o'clock and proceeded to Norfolk. Our
loss is 2 killed and 19 wounded."
Discussed, and reports of, trans
mitted, 197, 210.
Hampton Roads Conference. (See also
Peace Negotiations.)
Discussed, 519, 549.
Message and correspondence of
President Lincoln, 521.
Report of commissioners, 520.
Hanover Court House, Va., Battle of.
A battle near Hanover Court House,
Hanover County, Va., about 17 miles to
the north of Richmond, May 27, 1862.
The Federals were commanded by Gen.
Fitz-John Porter; the Confederates, by
Gen. Branch. The latter were defeated
with loss of 200 killed, and 700 prisoners.
Federal loss, about 400.
Hardee, William J., report of, on bat
tle of Shiloh, Tenn., transmitted,
3°9-
Hardy's Bluff, Va., defenses of, re
ferred to, 202.
Harpers Ferry, Va., report regarding
machinery removed from, trans
mitted, 125.
Harpers Ferry, Va., Battle of.
A battle at Harpers Ferry, Va. (now
West Virginia), about 45 miles northwest
of Washington City, Sept. 15, 1S62. The
Federals were commanded by Col. Dixon
S. Miles; the Confederates, by Gen. T.J.
Jackson. Col. Miles was mortally wound
ed, and surrendered 11,583 men, 73 guns,
and many small arms. Federals killed

604

Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

and wounded, 217. The Confederates
sustained no loss.
Harris, Wiley P., member of Vice
Presidential notification commit
tee, 30.
Harrison, Burton N.:
Secretary to President Davis, ap
pointment of, referred to, 200.
Transcript of Senate journals re
quested by, for President, 570.
Hart's Battery, resolution of thanks
tendered, 427.
Hatchers Run, Va., Battle of.
There were two engagements near
Hatchers Run, to the south of Richmond.
The first occurred Oct. 27, 1864, when the
Confederates, under Gen. Lee, assaulted
the Federals, under Gen. Hancock, and
were repulsed after inflicting on the Fed
erals a loss of about 1,900 men. On Feb.
5, 1865, the Federals, under Gen. Grant,
assaulted the Confederate forces at or
near the same place, and failed of success,
sustaining a loss of about 2,000, the Con
federate loss being about 1,100.
Hatteras Expedition.
An expedition sent from Fortress Mon -
roe, Aug. 26, 1861, against the Confeder
ate forts, Hatteras and Clark, in North
Carolina. The expedition of 10 vessels,
150 guns, and 900 men was -under the
command of Commodore Stringham and
Gen. Butler. The forts were garrisoned
by the Confederates, about 650 men, under
Capt. Barron. Fort Clark was easily re
duced Aug. 27, and the next day, after
heavy bombardment, Hatteras was cap
tured. Capt. Barron and the entire gar
rison "were made prisoners.
Hatteras Inlet, N. C, capture of, by
Federal forces referred to, 129.
Hatteras, The, destruction of, by the
Alabama referred to, 305.
Head, J. W., report of, on affair at
Fort Donelson, Tenn., 245.
Helena, Ark., Battle of.
A battle at Helena, Phillips County,
Ark., on the Mississippi River, about 100
miles below Memphis, July 4, 1863. The
Federals were commanded by Gen. Pren
tiss; the Confederates, by Generals
Holmes and Price. The latter made the
attack and were repulsed, with loss in

killed, wounded, and missing of about
1,600. Federal loss, less than 400.
Referred to, 345.
Henderson, Tenn., operations at, 402.
Hermitage, The.
The home of President Andrew Jack
son, in Davidson County, Tenn., a few
miles eastward from Nashville. Gen.
Jackson lived there when he was elected.
President. He built the house after his
own fashion, and it still remains as when
he occupied it. He died at this place, and
his remains are buried there. The State
of Tennessee has erected a building on a
portion of the farm owned by him which
is used as a home for indigent ex-Confed
erate soldiers.
Heth, Henry, orders to, regarding
martial law in counties of Virgin
ia, 224.
Hindman, Thomas C:
Appropriation to pay interest on
money borrowed from banks in
Tennessee by, recommended,
255-
Orders to, referred to, 242.
Report of, on operations of, in
Trans-Mississippi District, 388.
Hoke, Robert F., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 480.
Holcomb Legion referred to, 456.
Hood, John B.:
Correspondence with, regarding
Army of Tennessee transmitted,
534. 538, 539-
Mentioned, 539.
Hospitals, Military:
Appropriation for, recommended,
127.
In and near Richmond, Ya., re
ferred to, 407.
Referred to, 318.
House of Representatives, Confederate
States:
Employees of, estimate for in
creased compensation of, trans
mitted, 456.
Act relative to, recommendations
regarding, 513.

Index.

605

House of Representatives, Confederate
States (Continued) :
Information requested by, regard
ing naval employees abroad re
fused, reasons therefor, 302.
Members of. (See Representa
tives.)
Request of, that President cause
State Department to transmit es
timate of expenses for diplomat
ic affairs refused, reasons there
for, 253.
Transmission of Army report re
quested by, referred to, 192.
Huger, Benjamin:
Orders to, regarding martial law,
219.
Report of, on affair at South Mills,
N. C, transmitted, 245.
Hunter, David:
Referred to, 339.
United States forces under, defeat
ed at second battle of Manassas,
Va., 241.
Hunter, Robert M. T., peace commis
sioner to United States, report of,
520.
Hyde, Charles K., case of, referred to,
25i-

Imboden, John D.:
Report of, relating to outrages
committed by Gen. Milroy,
transmitted, 298.
Transportation of food prohibited
by, referred to, 401.
Import Duties discussed, 361.
Impressing Officers, instructions to, re
ferred to, 455.
Impressment. (See Private Property ;
Slaves.)
Impressment, Orders of, transmitted,
299.
Inaugural Address of President Davis:
First, 32.
Second, 183.

Inauguration of President Davis:
First, 31.
Second, 181.
Income Tax referred to, 364, 490, 547.
Independence of Confederate States,
recognition of —
Attitude of powers regarding, dis
cussed, 279, 348, 444, 485.
Commissioners sent to request, 76.
Intervention not desired, 487.
Request for, discussed, 142.
Indian Affairs:
Appropriation for, recommended,
J54. 242. 3°°. 382, 386, 503.
Estimate for expenses of army offi'
cers acting as agents transmit
ted, 99.
Indian Affairs, Bureau of:
Appropriation for, recommended,
58. 4°7-
Establishment of, recommended,
58.
Report of, transmitted, 198.
Indian Affairs, Commissioner of:
Appointment of, provision for, rec
ommended, 58.
Report of, transmitted, 198.
Indian Tribes:
Address of President to, 477.
Funds of, in hands of United States,
recommendations regarding, 150.
Hostile attitude of Cherokees dis
cussed, 295.
Policy of Government toward, dis
cussed, 149.
Sums invested or funded for, re
ferred to, 305.
Treaties with —
and other relations discussed,
149, 238, 295.
Faithful observance of, by, 238.
Report on, transmitted, 19S.
Iron and Coal in Alabama referred to,
3°5-
Iron Furnaces and Forges referred to,
532-
Isabel, The, appropriation to owners
of, recommended, 513.

6o6

Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Island No. 10, Tenn., Battle of.
A battle on an island in the Mississippi
River, near the northwestern corner of
Tenn., Apr. 7, 1862. The Federals were
commanded by Gen. Pope, assisted by
Commodore Foote, with 7 ironclads and
other vessels. There were no casualties.
on the Federal side. Confederate loss
about 7,000, including officers and men,
with many guns and small arms.
luka, Miss., Battle of.
A battle at luka, Tishomingo County,
Miss., about no miles east of Memphis,
Sept. 19, 1862. The Federals were com
manded by Gen. Rosecrans, 9,000 men,
and Gen. Ord, 8,000 men; the Confeder
ates, by Gen. Price, who attacked tfie
Federals. Federal loss, 1 battery of ar
tillery and about 750 men, the Confeder
ate loss being heavier.

Jackson, C. F., mentioned in connec
tion with admission of Missouri,
144.
Jackson, Thomas J.:
Report of, on operations in Valley
District of Virginia referred to,
193-
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 230.
Jackson, Miss., Battle of.
A battle near Jackson, Miss., May 14,
1863. The Federals were commanded by
Generals Sherman and McPherson; the
Confederates, by Gen. Jos. E. Johnston.
Federal loss, 300; Confederate loss,
about 800.
Referred to, 345.
James Island, S. C, engagement at,
referred to, 245.
James River, Va., defenses of, dis
cussed, 201.
James River Squadron, resolution of
thanks tendered officers and crew
of, 231.
Jamestown, The, resolution of thanks
tendered officers and crew of,
231.
Jay hawkers. A name given to bands of lawbreakers
who kept up guerrilla warfare in Kansas
about 1860-1S61.

Jenifer, Walter H., report of, on bat
tle of Leesburg, Va., referred to,
192.
Johns, Bishop, mentioned, 183.
Johnson, Edward, resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 169.
Johnston, Albert S.:
Death of, at battle of Shiloh, Tenn.,
discussed, 209.
Resolutions of Congress on, 231.
General, Confederate Army, nomi
nation of, 129.
Report of, on disasters at Forts
Henry and Donelson referred to.
207.
Johnston, Joseph E.:
Correspondence with, regarding —
Army of Tennessee, 534, 535,
S37-
Operations transmitted, 394.
General, Confederate Army, nomi
nation of, 129, 306.
Report of, on operations —
In Department of Mississippi and
East Louisiana transmitted,
386.
In Mississippi transmitted, 385.
Of Army of Tennessee, 514.
Publishing of, disapproved, 514.
Transmitted, 394.
Resolutions of thanks tendered
command of, 133, 421.
Johnston, Robert D., resolution of
thanks tendered command of,
422.
Jones, Catesby Ap R., command of
squadron in battle of Hampton
Roads assumed by, 197, 210.
Jones, Sam, transportation of food
prohibited by, referred to, 401.
Jones, T. M., report of, on evacuation
of Pensacola Navy Yard trans
mitted, 245.
Jonesboro, Ga., Battle of.
A battle near Jonesboro, Clayton Coun
ty, Ga., iS miles to the south of Atlanta,
Aug. 31, 1864. The Federals were com
manded by Gen. Howard; the Confeder
ates, by Gen. Hardee. The laiter at-

Index.

607

tacked and were repulsed with a loss of
about 1,400 in killed and wounded. Fed
eral loss, about 1,200.
Josselyn, Robert, resignation of, as
secretary to President Davis re
ferred to, 200.
Justice, Department of:
Appropriation for, recommended,
383. 387, 5°3, St 8, S32-
Employees in, referred to, 552.
Report, of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 78, 192, 194, 496.
K
Kansas Aid Society.
An association formed in 1854 for the
purpose of aiding and promoting free im
migration into Kansas from Northern
States, in order to prevent the establish
ment of slavery In that State.
Kansas-Nebraska Act.
An act passed by Congress in May,
1854, by the provisions of which Kansas
and Nebraska were separated and organ
ized into two distinct territories, the ques
tion of slavery being left to the people of
the territories for settlement. The im
portance of the act consisted mainlv in
*h3 *a,.c Jiat .1 virtually repealed the
Missouri Compromise.
Kearsarge, The.
A United States man-of-war built at
Portsmouth, N. H., in 1S61. She was
commanded by Capt. Winslow, and car
ried about 160 men and 7 guns. June 19,
1864, she attacked the Confederate war
ship, Alabama, off the harbor of Cher
bourg, France. The Alabama was com
manded by Capt. Semmes, with 60 men
and 8 guns. The Alabama was disabled
and sunk, her captain escaping.
Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., Battle of.
A battle at Kenesaw Mountain, Cobb
County, Ga., about 25 miles northwest of
Atlanta, June 27, 1864. The Federals
were a portion of Sherman's army, com
manded by Generals Thomas and Mc
pherson. Two assaults were made on
the Confederates by them, but they were
repulsed. Federal loss, about 3,000; Con
federate loss, 630.
Kennons Marshes, Va., defenses of,
referred to, 202.
Kentucky: Act amending act to aid, vetoed,
408.

Kentucky (Continued) :
Admission of, into Confederacy,.
recommendations regarding ap
plication for, 145.
Appropriation for carrying into ef
fect act to aid people of, recom
mended, 128.
Banks in, contributing money for
subjugation of people of, dis
cussed, 148.
Commissioner of, on subject of
banks sent to Confederate States,
148.
Commissioners of, on subject of
admission of, into Confederacy
sent to Confederate States, 145.
Invasion of, by Federal forces and
action of Confederate authorities
discussed, 137.
Military operations in, 137, 448.
Neutrality of, not recognized by
Federal authorities discussed,
137-
Kernstown, Va., Battle of. (See Win-
-.bestsr, Battles at.)
Knoxville, Tenn., Battle of.
A battle at Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 17,
1863. The Federals, 12,000, commanded
by Gen. Burnside, were assaulted by the
Confederates, about 16,000, under Gen.
Longstreet. This assault was repulsed,
and again'on Nov. 29 a second assault
was made, without success. Reenforce
ments were sent the Federals from Chat
tanooga, whereupon the Confederates
raised the siege and retired.
Ku-Klux Klan.
A secret organization in some of the
Southern States during the reconstruction
period, a few years subsequent to the
war. It is believed that it was organized
at Pulaski, Tenn., in 1S66. It was claimed
for the order or society that in the be
ginning its object was amusement, but it
was charged against it that it meant to
suppress the negro in politics. Its mem
bers appeared only at night, -generally on
horseback, carrying strange banners and
devices, and dressed in startling and fan
tastic fashions. Congress passed an act
in 1871 to suppress the order, and the
President issued proclamations com
manding them to disband, and they soon
ceased to exist.

6o8

Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Lamar, Lucius Q. C:
Commissioner to Russia, nomina
tion of, 311.
Minister to Russia, commission of,
explanation regarding, 311.
Lamar, Thomas G., Resolution of
thanks tendered command of,
424.
Lamon, Col., mentioned, 94.
Lawton, Alexander R.:
Nomination of, as Quartermaster
General, and reasons therefor,
392-
Pay of, while invalidated from serv
ice discussed, 405.
Lay, George, report of, on condition
of command in Valley District of
Virginia, transmittal of, refused,
and reasons therefor, 193.
Lecompton Constitution. (See also
Topeka Constitution; Wyandotte
Constitution,) A Constitution adopted by a convention
held in Lecompton, Kan., Sept. 5, 1S57.
The convention was controlled by the pro-
slavery party, and the Constitution adopt
ed by it sanctioned slavery in the Territo
ry, and forbade the passage of emancipa
tion acts by the Legislature.
Ledbetter, Daniel A., report of, on op
erations on Tennessee River and
at Bridgeport, Ala., transmitted,
245-
Lee, Robert E.:
Biographical sketch of, 437.
General, Confederate Army, nomi
nation of, 129, 306.
General in Chief, appointment of,
57°-
Mentioned, 269, 270.
Operations of —
Discussed, 346.
Publishing of, disapproved, 454.
Report on, transmitted, 384, 385,
4S4-
Peace negotiations referred to, 550.
Portrait of, 436.
Resolution of thanks tendered
command of, 420.

Lee, Robert E. (Continued):
United States army defeated by
forces under, at second battle of
Manassas, Va., 240.
Lee, Stephen D.:
Report of, on operations of, trans
mitted, 539.
Return of nomination of, as Lieu
tenant General requested, 537.
Lee, W. H. F., commission and pay of,
discussed, 406.
Leesburg, Va., battle of, referred to,
137. i92-
Letters of Marque and Reprisal:
Applications for, invited, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Issuance of, 102.
Act authorizing, 104.
Amendment to, 113.
Form of bond, 112.
President's instructions regarding,
in.
Lexington, Mo., Battle of.
A battle at Lexington, Lafayette Coun
ty, Mo., Sept. 20, 1861. The Federals,
3,000, commanded by Col. Mulligan, oc
cupied and held the town, and were at
tacked by the Confederates, 2S,ooo, com
manded by Gen. Price. The Confeder
ates also had 17 pieces of artillery. The
Federals surrendered unconditionally,
their loss being, in killed, wounded, and
captured, 3,000. Confederate loss in killed
and wounded, about 1,400.
Referred to, 137.
Libby Prison.
A large building in Richmond, Va.,
named for its owner, who had used it for
a ship chandlery prior to the war. The
Confederate Government used it during
the war as a military prison, and there
were confined in it many captured Feder
al soldiers.
Lincoln, Abraham, President United
States:
Declaration of, on slavery, and
rights of States regarding, 291.
Declaration of war by, against Con
federacy referred to, 63, 74.
Letter of President Davis to —
Introducing peace commission
ers, 55.

Index.

609

Lincoln, Abraham, President United
States (Continued) :
Letter of President Davis to —
Regarding treatment and ex
change of prisoners of war,
US, 343-
Referred to, 121.
Mentioned, 273.
Peace negotiations discussed. (See
Peace Negotiations.)
Power of, to suspend writ of habeas
corpus or to delegate power of
suspension discussed, 122.
Little Rock, Ark., retreat of Confed
erate army from, discussed, 345.
Loans: Appropriation to. carry out act au
thorizing foreign, recommended,
301.
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 77, 123, 361, 505.
Made by Branch Bank of Tennessee
to Gen. Hindman referred to, 255.
Propriety of providing for payment
of, by war tax discussed, 259.
Loans, Foreign Cotton, referred to,
383, 390, 488.
Lomax's Cavalry Brigade, resolution
of thanks tendered, 429.
Longstreet, James:
Operations of, discussed, 347.
Peace negotiations referred to, 550.
Resolution of thanks tendered
command of, 434.
Lookout Mountain, Tenn., Battle of.
A battle on Lookout Mountain, Tenn.,
near Chattanooga, Nov. 24, 1863. The
Federals, 16,000, commanded by Gen.
Hooker, advanced up the northern face
of the mountain, and attacked the Con
federates, who were retiring from the
mountain to unite with Gen. Bragg's
forces on Missionary Ridge, and captured
about 1,000 prisoners.
Discussed, 347.
Loring, W. W., referred to, 193.
Louisiana: Appropriation to refund excess of
war tax paid by, recommended,
253- 39

Louisiana (Continued):
Chief collector of taxes in, referred
to, 394.
Cotton purchased in, for Govern
ment referred to, 311.
Marshalship of, referred to, 309.
Military operations in, 386, 448,
482.
Railroad in, construction of, re
ferred to, 256.
Troops of, resolution of thanks ten
dered, 422.
United States armies in, defeated,
345-
Wheat's battalion of, disbanding of,
referred to, 261.
Louisiana, The, construction of, re
ferred to, 240.
Lovell, Mansfield, correspondence
with, regarding defenses of New
Orleans, La., 310.
Lowe, Ex-Gov., mentioned, 181.
Lowry, W. B., rank of, discussed,
448.
Ludlow, W. H., mentioned, 270.
Lynch, P. N., special commissioner
to States of the Church, nomina
tion of, 451.
Lynch, W. F., mentioned, 198.
Lynchburg, Va., flour impressed in,
referred to, 304.
Lyons, Lord, mentioned, 349.
M
McClellan, George B., mentioned, 241,
276.
McClung's Battery, resolution of
thanks tendered, 426.
McCulloch, Ben, resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 134.
McDaniel, Zedekiah, joint resolution
directing settlement of claim of,
vetoed, 472.
McDowell, Irvin, mentioned, 276.
McDowell, Va., battle of, referred to,
320.
McGowan's Brigade, resolution of
thanks tendered, 433.

610 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

McNeil, John, atrocious conduct of,
and murder of prisoners dis
cussed, 289, 379.
McRae, The, mentioned, 79.
Magruder, J. Bankhead:
Mentioned, 202.
Orders to, regarding martial law in
counties of Virginia, 223.
Report of, on operations in Trans-
/ Mississippi Department trans
mitted, 530.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 337.
Mail Contractors, exemption of:
Modification in law regarding, rec
ommended, 312.
Referred to, 383, 531.
Mails. (See Postal Service.)
Major Generals, appointment of, pro
visions for, in certain cases rec
ommended, 260.
Mallory, Stephen R., reports of, on
battle in Hampton Roads, 197, 210.
Malvern Hill, Va., Battle of.
A battle near James River, to the south-
east^of Richmond, Va., July I, 1S62 (the
last of the Seven Days' Battles). The
Federals were commanded by Gen. Mc-
Clellan ; the Confederates, being a portion
of the army of Gen. Lee, by Generals D.
H. Hill and Magruder. The Confeder
ates attacked and were repulsed, and at
night the Federals retreated.
Manassas, Va., provision <for troops
at, referred to, 126.
Manassas, Va., Battles of. (See Bull
Run, Battles of.)
Manly, Basil, mentioned, 29, 31.
Mann, A. Dudley, Commissioner to
Europe, nomination of, 57.
Manufactures discussed, 136.
Marque and Reprisal, Letters of:
Applications for, invited, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Issuance of, 102.
Act authorizing, 104.
Amendment to, 113.
Form of bond, 112.
President's instructions regarding,
in.

Marshall, Humphrey:
Orders to, regarding martial law
in Virginia, 227.
Report of, on attack upon com
mand of Gen. Cox transmitted,
245-
Marshalship of Louisiana referred to,
3°9-
Martial Law extended, and orders re
garding, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223,
224, 225, 226.
Mason, James M., Minister to Great
Britain:
Commission of, explanation re
garding, 311.
Commissioner to Great Britain,
nomination of, 128.
Seizure of, on British ship by
United States authorities dis
cussed, 141. (See also Trent Af
fair.)
Mason and Dixon's Line.
The boundary line between Pennsylva
nia and Maryland. The name comes from
that of the surveyors who marked the line
in 1766. They were Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon, two Englishmen who
had been employed by William Penn and
Lord Baltimore to make the survey and
mark the line.
Mechanicsville, Va., Battle of.
A battle in front of Richmond, Va.,
June 26, 1862. It is called one of the Sev
en Days' Battles. It is also called the
battle of Beaver Dam Creek. The Feder
als were commanded by Gen. Fitz John
Porter; the Confederates, by Generals
Longstreet and A. P. Hill. The Confed
erates attacked and were repulsed with
loss of about 1 ,400. The Federal loss was
less.
Medical Board of Examiners for grant
ing furloughs referred to, 240.
Medical Department of Army, appro
priation for, recommended, 250.
Medical Purveyors, appropriation for
fulfillment of contracts of, recom
mended, 310.
Members of Congress. (See Repre
sentatives.)
Memminger, Christopher G., men
tioned, 29.

Index.

611

Memphis, Tenn., Confederate Con
gress invited to hold session in,
ioo.
Memphis, Tenn., Battle of.
A battle by the Federal fleet, under
command of Commodore Davis, and Con
federate fleet, under command of Commo
dore Montgomery, June 6, 1862. The ves
sels of the latter were destroyed, with but
little loss of life.
Meridian, Miss., railroad from Selma,
Ala., to —
Recommended, 152.
Referred to, 212.
Merrimac, The. (See also Hampton
Roads, Battle of.)
Plan and construction of the Vir
ginia applied to, referred to,
207.
Merrimac-Monitor engagement in
Hampton Roads discussed, 197,
210.
Mexico: Occupation of capital of, by French
army discussed, 359.
Relations with, discussed, 359.
Middle Creek, Ky., Battle of.
A battle at Middle Creek, about 2 miles
from Prestonsburg, Ky., Jan. 10, 1862. The
Federals, 1,800, were commanded by Gen.
Garfield; the Confederates, about the
same number, by Gen. Humphrey Mar
shall. The Federals were reenforced in
the evening, and the Confederates re
tired from the field with aloss of 75; Fed
eral loss, about 50.
Miles, W. Porcher, mentioned, 30.
Military Arrests of citizens of Confed
erate States referred to, 243, 304.
List of prisoners in Salisbury, N.
C, referred to, 308.
Military Chaplains, appointment of,
recommendations regarding, 81.
Military Courts, recommendations re
garding, 448, 538.
Military Hospitals:
Appropriation for, recommended,
127.
In and near Richmond, Va., re
ferred to, 407.
Referred to, 318.

Military Supplies:
Appropriation for, recommended,
58, 78.
Funds sent abroad for, referred to,
242, 261.
Recommendations for procuring,
532,-545. 552-
Transfer of, from State deposito
ries to General Government, rec
ommendations regarding, 56.
Militia Law, General, recommended,
491, 548.
Mill Springs, Ky., Battle of.
A battle at Mill Springs, Wayne Coun-'
ty, Ky., 90 miles to the southeast of
Frankfort, Jan. 19, 1862. The Federals,
8,000, were commanded by Gen.*Thomas;
the' Confederates, by Generals Crittenden
and Zollicoffer, the latter of whom was
killed. The Confederates retreated, los
ing artillery, wagons, and small arms.
Losses in men, about 300 on each side.
Milliken's Bend, La., Battle of.
A battle on the Mississippi River, in
Madison Parish, La., 17 miles north of
Vicksburg, June 7, 1863. The Confed
erates, 3,000, commanded by Gen. McCul
loch, made the attack and were repulsed.
Federal loss, 404 in killed and wounded.
Milroy, Robert H., atrocities commit
ted by, discussed and referred to,
289, 298.
Mining, Bureau of, report of, dis
cussed, 374.
Ministers, Confederate States:
Commissions of, explanation re
garding, 311.
Correspondence with, transmitted,,
155, 196, 313, 315, 499, SOS-
Discussed, 76, 279.
Mission of, discussed, 279.
Nomination of, 57, 128, 31 r.
Reasons for sending, to Russia
transmitted, 315.
Recall of, from Great Britain dis
cussed, 357.
Seized by United States authori
ties discussed, 141. (See also
Trent Affair.)
Minors, act allowing, to hold commis
sions in Army, explanation re
garding, 314.

612 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Missionary Ridge, or Chattanooga,
Tenn., Battle of.
A battle on Missionary Ridge, near the
border line of Tennessee and Georgia, 4
miles from Chattanooga, Nov. 25, 1S63.
The Federals were commanded by Gen.
Grant; the Confederates, by Gen. Bragg.
Federal losses in this battle, and around
Chattanooga in that campaign, about
6,000 in killed, wounded, and missing;
Confederate loss, 9,000, including 6,000
prisoners. After severe fighting during
the 25th, near night, the Confederates re
treated.
Referred to, 347.
Mississippi: Act to establish court of admiralty
and maritime jurisdiction in, ve
toed, 101.
Courts in, discussed, 78.
Military operations in, 385, 386, 44S,
483.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks
tendered, 426, 428, 432.
Mississippi and East Louisiana, De
partment of, report on operations
in, transmitted, 386.
Mississippi River:
Hostile descent of, and prepara
tions for defense of, referred to,
125-
Navigation of, legislation regard
ing, discussed, 77.
War on, 345.
Mississippi, The, construction of, re
ferred to, 240.
Missouri: Act- Declaring relations between
United States and, dissolved
transmitted, 144.
Providing for raising and organ
izing troops in —
Returned, with reasons there-
tor. 155-
Vetoed, 160.
Ratifying Provisional Constitu
tion of Confederate States
transmitted, 144.

Missouri (Continued):
Admission of, into Confederacy —
Consideration of Congress re
specting, requested by Presi
dent, 144.
Proclaimed, 166.
Appropriation for aid of destitute
people in, recommended, 126.
Convention with Confederate
States transmitted, 144.
Military operations in, 137, 483.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks
tendered, 168, 480.
Missouri Compromise.
A compromise or agreement, relative to
the extension of slavery, made in Congress
between the proslavery and the antislav-
ery members. The agreement was embod
ied in an act passed Mch. 2, 1820, and the
act admitting Missouri into the Union in
1S21. In consideration of the admission of
Missouri as a slave State, it was agreed
and enacted that in all the territory ceded
by France, known as the Louisiana Terri
tory, north of 360 30' north latitude, ex
cepting Missouri, slavery should be for
ever prohibited.
Mitchell, John H., findings of court
of inquiry in case of, referred to,
3!9-
Mobile, Ala., naval attack on, 448.
Mobile Bay:
Appropriation for defense of, rec
ommended, 196.
Outer defenses of, capture of, re
ferred to, 483.
Mobile Bay, Ala., Battle of. '
A naval battle in Mobile Bay, Ala., on
Aug. 5, 1S64. The Federals, 7 sloops of
war and 4 ironclads, were commanded by
Admiral Farragut; the Confederates, 1
ironclad ram and 3 gunboats, were com
manded by Admiral Buchanan. Gen.
Gordon Granger was also in command of
about 4,000 land troops of Federals, and
acted in conjunction with the fleet. The
Federal monitor Tecnmseh was sunk.
The Confederate ironclad Tennessee was
surrendered, the Gaines was disabled, the
Selma was captured, and the Morgan es
caped up the Bay. Federal loss, 165
killed, and 170 wounded; Confederate loss,
including the garrison of the forts which
surrendered, 104 guns and 1,500 men.

Index.

613

Monitor, The. (See also Hampton
Roads, Battle of.)
Mentioned, 202.
Monitor-Merrimac engage mentin
Hampton Roads discussed, 197,
210.
Monocacy, Md., Battle of.
A battle near the town of Frederick,
Md., a short distance from the Monocacy
River, July 9, 1864. The Federals were
commanded by Gen. Lew Wallace; the
Confederates, by Gen. Early. The Fed
erals were defeated with loss of 100 killed,
579 wounded, and 1,300 missing. Confed
erate loss, about 700.
Montgomery, Ala., seat of Govern
ment removed to Richmond, Va.,
from, 117.
Resolution providing for, vetoed,
• 100.
Moore, George, British Consul, exe
quatur of, revoked, 325.
Morgan, John H., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 338.
Morgan's Raid.
In the summer of 1S63 Gen. John II.
Morgan, with his command of about 2,500
cavalry, and 1,000 Kentuckians, who
joined him as he passed through that
State from the South, crossed the Ohio
River into Indiana. He passed through
the southern portion of that State in the
direction of Cincinnati, destroying bridg
es and railroads in his line of march. On
July 19 he reached the Ohio River at Buf-
fington Ford, having passed to the north
of Cincinnati. A battle was fought at
the Ford with the Federals and their gun -
boats. About Soo of his command were
made prisoners. He then marched farther
up the river to New Lisbon, where he
was surrounded by the Federals and taken
prisoner. On this raid he lost nearly
2,000 of his men, who were captured and
sent to prison.
Morris, John D., commissioner of
Kentucky to Confederate States
on subject of banks, 148.
Morris Island, S. C, military opera
tions on, 499.
Morton, Jackson, member of Presi
dential notification committee, 30.

Mulberry Island, defenses of, referred
to, 202.
Mumford, Wm. B., hanging of, by Unit
ed States authorities, and retalia
tory measures proclaimed, 269.
Mumfordsville, Ky., Battle of.
A battle at Mumfordsville, Ky., Sept.
17, 1862. The Federals were commanded
by Gen. Wilder, who was in charge of
the post, with about 4,000 men. The Con
federates were commanded by Gen.
Bragg. The post was surrendered with
the entire garrison, 4,000, to the Confed
erates, with many guns, army stores, etc.
Munitions of War. (See Ordnance
and Ordnance Supplies.)
Murfreesboro, Tenn., Battle of. (See
Stone's River, Battle of.)
Myers, A. C, mentioned, 394.
J*
Nashville Convention.
A convention assembled in Nashville,
Tenn., in June, 1S50, with delegates from
all the Southern Stales. It was called to
consider the slavery question, having
been suggested by a convention sitting in
Mississippi the previous year. Resolu
tions condemning the Wilmot Proviso and
the Missouri Compromise were passed.
The convention assembled again in No
vember of the same year, and passed mod
erate resolutions.
Nashville, Tenn., evacuation of, and
removal of public property from,
f referred to, 245.
Nashville, Tenn., Battle of.
'Abattle near Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 15,
16, 1864. The Federals, 56,000, were
commanded by Gen. Thomas; the Con
federates, by Gen. Hood. The attack was
made by the Federals on the 15th and re
newed on the 16th. The Confederates re
treated to the south, with heavy losses of
men and guns.
Nashville, The, report on cruise of,
transmitted, 214.
Naturalization of Aliens, act repealing
laws authorizing, vetoed, 165.
Naval and Military Supplies, funds
sent abroad for, referred to, 242,
261.
Naval Officers. (See Navy, Confed
erate States )

614 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Naval Vessels:
Act for building, vetoed, 266.
Appropriation for purchase of, rec
ommended, 201, 249.
Construction of, discussed, 378.
Fund raised by ladies of South Car
olina for construction of, 451.
Names of officers and contractors
abroad, communication regard
ing, 302.
Purchase and construction of,
abroad referred to, 204, 211.
Communication regarding, 302.
Navigation of Mississippi River, legis
lation for, discussed, 77.
Navy, Confederate States:
Act- Increasing number of acting mid
shipmen in, vetoed, 553.
Providing for payment of arrears
due, vetoed, 561.
Appropriation for purchase of ves
sels for, recommended, zoi, 249.
Increase in, recommended, 194,
201.
Officers in —
Abroad, names of, not communi
cated, reasons therefor, 302.
Appropriation to pay allowances
to, recommended, 407.
Instructions to, regarding evacu-.
ation of Norfolk and New Or
leans referred to, 240.
Nomination of, 454.
Renomination of certain, advice
of Senate regarding, requested,
246.
Statement regarding, transmit
ted, 240.
Operations of, discussed, 138, 197,
210, 332.
Purchase and construction of ves
sels for, abroad referred to,
204, 211.
Communication regarding, 302.
Navy Department:
Appropriation for, recommended,
205, 213, 317, 408, 502, 518, 531.

Navy Department (Continued) :
Number of men between 18 and 45
necessary in, 531.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 79, 138, 190, 193, 195, 237,
29S, 313. 378, 49°-
Navy, Secretary of:
Appropriations recommended by.
(See Appropriations.)
Communication of, regarding pub
lic defense transmitted, 208.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 79, 138, 190, 193, 195, 237,
29S< 3 '3. 378, 496.
Navy, Volunteer, act establishing, re
ferred to, 319, 378.
Negroes. (See African Slave Trade;
Fugitive Slave Laws; Slave Rep
resentation; Slavery; Slaves.)
Nelson, Samuel, mentioned, 94,95,96.
Neutrality of —
Foreign powers in War between the
States discussed, 280, 348, 444.
Partiality of, in favor of United
States discussed, 280, 348,
444.
Retaliatory measures dis
cussed, 358.
Kentucky in War between the
States, and action of Confederate
generals regarding, discussed,
137-
New Echota, Treaty of, referred to,
306.
New England Emigrant Company.
A corporation formed in Boston, in
1855, to assist antislavery emigration
from the Northern States into Kansas, the
object being to make Kansas a free State.
New Hope Church, or Pumpkin Vine
Creek, Ga., Battle of.
A battle near New Hope Church, in
Paulding County, Ga., 4 miles from Dal
las, May 25, 1864. The Federals were
commanded by Gen. Sherman; the Con
federates, by Gen. Johnston. Loss on
each side, about 2,500.
New Madrid, Mo., Battle of.
A battle at New Madrid, New Madrid
County, Mo., about 50 miles to the south

Index.

6i5

of Cairo, Mch. 14, 1862. The Federals,
20,000, were commanded by Gen. Pope;
the Confederates, a much smaller num
ber, by Gen. McCown. The latter retired
at night with small loss. Federal loss, 51 .
New Orleans, La.:
Defenses of, referred to, 310.
Evacuation of, instructions to offi
cers regarding, referred to, 240.
New Orleans, La., Capture of.
The city of New Orleans was attacked
by the Federals, with a fleet under com
mand of Admiral Farragut, in April,
1S62. The forts protecting it were Fort
Jackson and Fort St. Philip. It was de
fended also by an ironclad ram, Manas
sas, and a floating battery, the Louisiana,
commanded by Commodore J. K. Mitch
ell. The Federal fleet consisted of 6
sloops of war, 16 gunboats, and 21 schoon
ers. The bombardment was continued
for several days. On May 1 the Federals
occupied the city. Loss of life light on
each side.
Proceedings of court of inquiry re
garding, transmitted, 457.
Newbern, N. C, Capture of.
A battle at Newbern, Craven County,
N. C, Mch. 14, 1S62. The Federals were
commanded by Gen. Burnside. They as
saulted the Confederate works and cap
tured the city, many of the Confederates
retreating. Federal loss, about 100 killed
and 470 wounded ; Confederate loss, killed,
wounded, and prisoners, about 2,500.
Referred to, 212.
Newspapers: Act authorizing free mailage of, to
soldiers vetoed, 556.
Joint resolution in regard to ex
emption of editors and employees
of, vetoed, 465.
Nominations, Executive:
Communication correcting mis
takes in, transmitted, 259.
Constitutional powers of Executive
and Senate regarding, discussed,
388.
Reasons for making certain, trans
mitted, 392, 448.
Renomination of certain officers,
advice of Senate regarding ne
cessity of, requested, 246.

Nominations, Executive (Continued) :
Return of, requested, 148, 241, 537.
Special session message regarding,
134-
Norfolk, Va.:
Evacuation of, instructions to offi
cers regarding, referred to, 240.
Martial law in, proclaimed, and or
ders regarding, 219.
Norfolk, Va., Surrender of.
The Confederates were .in occupation
of Norfolk, Va., in 1861. May 10, 1S62,
an expedition was sent by the Federals,
under Gen. Wool, from Fortress Monroe
to attack the city. The Confederates
withdrew, and the city was surrendered.
North Anna, Va., Battle of.
A battle at North Anna, Va., north of
Richmond, May 23, 1864. The Federals
were commanded by Gen. Grant; the Con
federates, by Gen. Lee. After heavy
fighting, the Federals were repulsed, -with
a loss of over 1,600 killed and wounded.
North Carolina:
Admission of, into Confederacy re
ferred to, 117.
Contemplated, 98.
Appropriation to pay claims of, for
supplies furnished troops recom
mended, 304.
Appropriation to refund excess of
war tax paid by, recommended,
239-
Commissioner of, on subject of ad
mission of, into Confederacy ac
credited to Confederate States, 98.
Confederate Constitution adopted
by, 117.
Conscript law in, enforcement of,
referred to, 387.
Exempts in, referred to, 3S3.
Conspiracy in, discussed, and rec
ommendations regarding, 498.
Landing of Federal troops on coast
of, referred to, 129.
Legislative action of, referred to,
347-
Military operations in, 29S, 448.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks ten
dered, 422, 424, 427, 430, 432, 479-

616 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

North Carolina Railroad, connection
with Richmond and Danville
Railroad referred to, 212, 242.
O
Odium, Frank H., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 424.
Officers, Army :
Absence of —
Act to prevent, referred to, 388.
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 372.
Act- Authorizing appointment of ad
ditional artillery, for ordnance
duties vetoed, 466.
Providing for promotion of, in
certain cases vetoed, 558.
Appointed under act approved Oct.
13, 1862, referred to, 400.
Appointed under act to raise
troops, approved Oct. 11, 1862, re
ferred to, 392.
Communication of, serving in
cities, 300.
Deprived from purchasing ra
tions, recommendations regard
ing. 447-
Employed in Departments in Rich
mond, Va., referred to, 514, 552.
Estimate of expenses of, acting as
Indian agents, 99.
Guilty of absence without leave and
desertion pardoned, 329.
Incompetent —
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 257.
List of retired, transmitted, 453.
New mode of withdrawing com
missions of, recommended, 236.
Increase of allowances to, traveling
under orders recommended, 448.
List of —
In artillery of Provisional Army
for performance of ordnance
duties transmitted, 384.
Referred to, 251.
Retired, transmitted, 453.

Officers, Army (Continued):
Pay and allowances of general,
while invalidated from service
discussed, 405.
Provision for appointment of brig
adier and major generals in cer
tain cases recommended, 260.
Provision for invalid, resigning
from service recommended, 447.
Renomination of certain, advice of
Senate regarding necessity of, re
quested, 246.
Sale of cloth and clothing to, re
ferred to, 504.
Sick and wounded, accommoda
tions for, referred to, 519.
Tenure of office of, in Provisional
Army, recommendations regard
ing. 447-
Officers, Impressing, instructions to,
referred to, 455.
Officers, Naval :
Abroad, names of, not communica
ted, reasons therefor, 302.
Appropriation to pay allowances
to, recommended, 407.
Employed in Departments at Rich
mond, Va., referred to, 514.
Instructions to, regarding evacua
tion of Norfolk and New Orleans
referred to, 240.
Nomination of, 454.
Renomination of certain, advice of
Senate regarding necessity of, re
quested, 246.
Statement regarding, transmitted,
«40.
Officers, Ordnance, examination and
appointment of, referred to, 300.
Officers, Public, compensation of, re
ferred to, 490.
Offices, Public, vacancies in, recom
mendations regarding, 260.
Olustee, Fla., Battle of.
A battle at Olustee, Baker County,
Fla., 50 miles west of Jacksonville, Feb.
20, 1S64. The Federals were commanded
by Gen. Seymour, with 5,000 men, 20
steamers, and 8 schooners. The Confed-

•Index.

617

erates were commanded by Gen. Finne-.
gan, who, after fierce fighting, defeated
the Federals, the latter losing 5 pieces of
artillery and about 2,000 men.
Opequan, Va., Battle of. (See Win
chester, Battles at.)
Ord, E. 0. C, correspondence in peace
negotiations, 521.
Referred to, 550.
Ordnance and Ordnance Supplies ;
Act- Authorizing appointment of ad
ditional artillery officers for
ordnance duties vetoed, 466.
Encouraging manufacture of
small arms, etc., within Con
federate States vetoed, 158.
Appropriation for, recommended,
249.
Contracts for, discussed, 79.
Gunpowder —
Appropriation for purchase of,
recommended, 58.
Manufacture of, discussed, 199.
Machinery removed from Harpers
Ferry, report regarding, 125.
Manufacture of, recommendations
regarding, 194, 199.
Purchase of, abroad referred to,
204.
Transfer of, from State depositories
to General Government, recom
mendations regarding, 56.
Ordnance Bureau :.
Appropriation for, recommended,
2i3. 299, 3°9-
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 301, 374.
Ordnance', Chief of, report of, trans
mitted and discussed, 301, 374.
Ordnance Officers, examination and
appointment of, referred to, 300.
Orr's Rifles, resolution of thanks ten
dered, 433.
Ould, Robert, mentioned, 270.
Outrages committed by United States
authorities and soldiers, 115, 119,
127, 128, 137, 140, 184, 233, 289,
298, 329> 376, 379. 443. 493. 564-

Outrages (Continued):
Retaliatory measures —
Discussed, 234,
Proclaimed, 269.
Discussed, 289.
Threatened, 115, 120, 141.
I*
Palmetto Light Artillery, organization
and disbanding of, referred to, 456.
Pannill, William, orders to, regarding
martial law in Petersburg, Va.,
222.
Paris, Congress of, principles of war
declared by, discussed, 283, 349
358, 359-
Paris, Declaration of.
A convention was held in Paris, partici
pated in by many leading nations, Mch.
3°. I856', in which a treaty was conclud -
ed, and a declaration made with regard to
the conduct of war. The declaration was:
first, privateering is, and remains, abol
ished. Second, neutral goods in enemies'
ships, and enemies' goods in neutral
ships, except contraband of war, are not
liable to capture. Third, jmper blockades
are unlawful. While other nations agreed
to the declaration, the United States de
clined to do so, refusing to consent to the
abolition of privateering.
Parke, John G., correspondence in
peace negotiations, 522.
Parker, W. H., mentioned, 198.
Passport System, Domestic, referred
to, 401.
Passports issued youths to leave Con
federate States referred to, 516.
Patent Office discussed, 78, 192.
Patent Rights for foreigners, recom
mendations regarding, 78.
Patents, Bureau of, establishment of,
recommended, 78.
Patrick Henry, The, resolution of
thanks tendered officers and-
crew of, 231.
Pea Ridge, Ark., Battle of.
A battle at Pea Ridge, Benton County,
Mo., Mch. 7-8, 1S62. The Federals, about
11,000, were commanded by Gen. Samuel
R. Curtis; the Confederates, by Gen. Van
Dorn. With the forces of the latter were

•618 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

about 5,000 Indians, commanded by Gen.
Albert Pike. The fighting continued
through one day and a portion of the sec
ond, when the Confederates retreated,
their loss being about 1,300, including
Generals McCulloch and Mcintosh, who
were killed; Federal loss, in killed,
wounded, and missing, 1,351.
Peace Commissioners to Washington.
(See also Peace Negotiations.)
Conduct of Federal Government
in negotiations discussed, 70,
.85.
Correspondence between Secretary
Seward, Judge Campbell, and,
84.
Transmitted, 82.
Letter of President Davis to Presi
dent Lincoln introducing, 55.
Nomination and appointment of,
55> 56.
Peace Conferences.
A conference of the representatives of
21 States met in Washington, Feb. 4,
1S61 . This conference was called by reso
lution of the Legislature of Virginia. It
sat 2 weeks, and proposed an amendment
to the Constitution of the United States
on the slavery question. No action was
taken by Congress to pass the amend
ment. In July, 1864, Horace Greeley, rep
resenting President Lincoln, met C. C.
Clay, Jr., of Ala., J. P. Holcombe, of Va.,
and others, at Niagara Falls, in confer
ence, but without result. A third con
ference was held at Hampton Roads, Va.,
in Feb., 1S65, between President Lincoln
and Secretary of State W. H. Seward,
representing the United States, and Alex
ander H. Stephens, John A. Campbell,
and R. M. T. Hunter, the Confederacy,
This conference also was without result.
(5IQ. S49-)
Peace Negotiations:
Conduct of Federal officials regard
ing, discussed, 70.
Correspondence between Confed
erate commissioners, Secretary
Seward, and Judge Campbell,
s4.
Transmitted, 82.
Discussed, 497, 519, 549.
Hampton Roads Conference dis
cussed, 519, 549.

Peace Negotiations (Continued):
Hampton Roads Conference —
. Message and correspondence of
President Lincoln, 521.
Report of commissioners, 520.
Military convention for, referred
to, 55°. 552-
Refusal of United States to enter
into, discussed, 70, 82, 381, SIQ>
SSO-
Willingness of any State of United
States to enter into convention
regarding, referred to, 500.
Peach Tree Creek, 6a., Battle of.
A battle in front of Atlanta, Ga., July
20, 1S64. The Federals were commanded
by Gen. Sherman; the Confederates, by
Gen. Hood. The latter made the attack,
which fell mainly on the troops of Gen.
Newton. After a severe engagement,
the Confederates withdrew into their en
trenchments, with a loss of 500 dead and
1,000 wounded; Federal loss, in killed,
wounded, and missing, 1,500.
Pee Dee Artillery, resolution of thanks
tendered, 433.
Pegram, Robert B., report of, on
cruise of the Nashville transmit
ted, 214.
Pemberton, John C:
Orders to, regarding martial law in
South Carolina, 226.
Report of, transmitted, on —
Battle of Port Gibson, Baker's
Creek, and siege of Vicksburg,
386.
Engagement on James Island,
245-
Operations of, 385.
Pensacola, Fla.:
Bombardment of, referred to, 200.
Evacuation of forts, etc., at, re
ferred to, 245.
Pensions, appropriation for, recom
mended, 79.
Perkins, John, Jr., member of Vice
Presidential notification commit
tee, 30.
Perryville, Ky., Battle of.
A battle at Perryville, Boyle County,

Index.

619

TCy., Oct. 8, 1862. The Federals, 58,000,
were commanded by Gen. Buell; the Con
federates, 40,000, by Gen. Bragg. The
battle lasted allday.and at night the Con
federates retired toward the south and
were not pursued. Federal loss, 916
killed, including Gen. Jas. S. Jackson and
William T. Terrill, 3,000 wounded, and
500 missing; Confederate loss, killed,
wounded, and missing, 3,300.
Personal Liberty Laws.
These were laws passed by many of the
States of the North, prior to the war,
through their Legislatures, impeding and
hindering the operation of the provision
of the Constitution of the United States
which provided for the surrender of fugi
tive slaves. The Constitution of the
United States, in section 2 of article 4,
provided in substance that slaves escaping
from one State intoanothcrsbould, onap-
plication of the owner thereof, be sur
rendered and delivered up to him. It was
contended that these laws, known as per
sonal liberty laws, were directly in con
travention of the provision of the Consti
tution above cited.
Petersburg, Va.:
Flour impressed in, referred to,
3°4-
Martial law in, proclaimed, and or
ders regarding, 221.
Restrictions on transportation of
food to, referred to, 517.
Petersburg, Va., Battle of.
A battle at Petersburg, Dinwiddie
County, Va., 23 miles south of Rich
mond. The Federals were commanded
by Gen. Grant, and besieged Petersburg,
which was defended by the Confederates,
under Gen. Lee. June 16, 1864, an attack
was made by the Federals, Gen. Smith's
corps. The assaults -were continued with -
out success for 4 days, with a Federal loss
of about 7,Soo. July 4, anotherunsuccess-
ful assault was made by the Federals,
50,000, commanded by Generals Burnside,
Warren, and Ord, with loss of over 4,000.
The city was held by the Confederates
until Apr., 1865, when it was evacuated by
them, and on the 3d was surrendered.
Phoenix, The, appropriation to owners
of, recommended, 499.
-Pickens, Francis W., mentioned, 92,
94. 95-
Pickett, J. T., mentioned, 88, 91.

Pike, Albert, treaties with Indians
concluded by, 149.
Report submitted, 151.
Pillow, Gideon J.:
Relieved from command, 197.
Report of, on fall of Fort Donelson
referred to, 207.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 168.
Pittsburg -Landing, Tenn., Battle of.
(See Shiloh, Battle of.)
Pleasant Hill, La., Battle of.
A battle at Pleasant Hill, La., about 20
miles to the south of Sabine Cross Roads,
April 9, 1864. The Federals were com
manded by Generals Banks and A. J.
Smith; the Confederates, by Generals E.
Kirby Smith and Dick Taylor. The Con
federates made the attack, which was
continued until night. Gen. Banks re
treated toward Red River, having lost
heavily in this campaign.
Poague's Artillery Battalion, resolu
tion of thanks tendered, 432.
Pocket Veto, bill to provide and organ
ize general staff for armies, 457.
Polk, Leonidas :
Report of, on Battle of Shiloh,
Tenn., transmitted, 309.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 168.
Pope, John, mentioned, 276.
Popular Sovereignty.
Prior to the war, when the slavery issue
was dividing the people, the question as
to whether the Territories should be free
or slave was prominent, and different
methods were suggested ' and discussed
as to how the issue should be determined.
Many public men insisted that Congress
should make the decision, while others
contended that it should be kept out of
the Congress, and "left to the people in
their respective local governments. " The
term " Popular Sovereignty " was given
to the latter doctrine.
Port Gibson, Miss., Battle of.
A battle in Mississippi, on the river be
low Vicksburg, May 1, 1863. The Fed
erals, 25,000, commanded by Gen. Grant,
were pursuing the Confederates, 12,000,
commanded by Gen. Pemberton, who was
moving toward Vicksburg. The Con
federates assaulted were under the imme-

620 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

diate command of Gen. Bowen. The at
tack was resisted successfully during the
day, but at night the Confederates con
tinued their march to Vicksburg. Federal
loss, 131 killed, and about 800 wounded and
missing ; Confederate loss, about the same.
Referred to, 386.
Port Hudson, La., Surrender of.
Port Hudson was a fortified point on
the Mississippi River, in La., about 20
miles above Baton Rouge. It was garri
soned and held by the Confederates under
Gen. Gardner until July 9, 1863. It was
assailed by the Federals, 12,000, under
Gen. Banks, and a fleet under Admiral
Farragut, Mch. 8, 1863. They were re
pulsed and the attack failed. May 23,
same year, the attack was renewed by
Generals Banks and Auger, 18,500 men,
and Farragut's fleet, and again failed.
The Federals then made siege of the
place until after the surrender of Vicks
burg, when, on July 9, it was surrendered
with about 6,000 men and So guns.
Referred to, 345.
Port Republic, Va., Battle of.
A battle at Port Republic, Rockingham
County, Va., about 90 miles northwest of
Richmond, June 9, 1862. The Federals,
commanded by Gen. Shields, attacked the
Confederates, commanded by Gen. T. J.
Jackson, and were defeated, with a loss of
500 men, with many small arms and con
siderable ammunition.
Port Royal, S. C, Expedition.
Port Royal is at the mouth of Broad
River, southern coast of South Carolina,
and was fortified and held by the Confed
erates, 1,700 South Carolina troops, com
manded by Generals Drayton and Rip
ley, Nov., 1861, The Federals, 10,000,
commanded by Gen. W. T. Sherman, as
sisted by a Federal fleet, under Commo
dore Dupont, made the attack. After se
vere fighting, the garrison retreated, with
a loss of 40 guns.
Port Royal Ferry, S. C, engagement
at, referred to, 200.
Portsmouth, Va., martial law in, pro
claimed, 219.
Postage, rates of, recommendations
regarding, 80.
Postal Contractors, exemption of —
Modification in law regarding, rec
ommended, 312.
Referred to, 383, 531.

Postal Service :
Constitutional question of appro
priating money for, referred to
Congress, 252.
Discussed, 79, 138, 192, 237, 296, 377,
378-
Exemption law, modifications in,
so as not to affect postmasters
and postal contractors, recom
mended, 312.
Frauds perpetrated on revenues of,
by Southern Express Co. referred
to, 211.'
Mails —
Carrying of, in certain sec
tions prevented, referred to,
247.
Detention of Southwestern Mail
referred to, 245.
Transmission of, in Richmond,
Va., referred to, 452, 453.
Merging of telegraphic service in,
discussed, 307.
Postmaster General, report of, trans
mitted and discussed, 79, 138, 192,
'95. 237, 29°. 3°4> 378, 496.
Postmasters :
Exemption law, modifications in, so
as not to affect, recommended,
312-
Removal of certain, from office- re
ferred to, 318, 553.
Post Office Department :
Appropriation for, recommended,
99. 128, 3°6-
Auditor, of Treasury for, recom
mended, 80.
Employees in, referred to, 552.
Frauds perpetrated on revenues of,
by Southern Express Co. referred
to, 211.
Legislation for, recommended, 80.
Number of men between 18 and 45.
necessary in, 531.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 79, 138, 192, 195, 237, 296,
304, 378, 496.

Index.

621

T»ost Office Department (Continued) :
Revenues of, discussed, 80, 192,237,
252- 296, 378.
Constitutional question of appro
priating money for, referred to
Congress, 252.
Third auditor for, recommended,
379-
Powder. (See also Ordnance and
Ordnance Supplies.)
Act, to encourage manufacture of,
in Confederate States vetoed, 158.
Appropriation for purchase of, rec
ommended, 58.
Manufacture of, discussed, 199.
Powers, Foreign :
Attitude of, in War between the
States discussed, 278, 348, 444, 485.
Belligerency of Confederate States
recognized by, referred to, 280.
Blockade of Confederate ports by
United States, and attitude of, re
garding, discussed, 142, 282, 349.
Confederate commissioners to.
(See Commissioners, Confederate
States.)
Correspondence with, discussed,
288.
Diplomatic relations with, d i s-
cussed, 76, 142, 278, 348, 444, 485.
Mexican affairs discussed, 359.
Neutral rights of, request regard
ing, 283.
Neutrality of, in War between the
States discussed, 280, 348, 444.
Partiality in favor of United
States discussed, 280, 348,
444.
Retaliatory measures dis
cussed, 358.
Recognition of independence of
Confederate States by —
Attitude regarding, discussed,
279. 348. 444. 485-
Commissioners sent to request,
76.
Intervention not desired, 487.
. Request for, discussed, 142.

Powers, Foreign (Continued):
Treaties with —
Discussed, 360.
Disregarded by, 444.
Not binding, 360.
Prairie Grove, Ark., Battle of.
A battle at Prairie Grove, Ark., Dec.
7, 1862. The Federals, commanded by
Generals Blunt and Ilerron, attacked the
Confederates, under Gen. Hindman. The
latter were defeated and retired at night,
with a loss of about 1,300; Federal loss,
near the same.
President. (See Davis, Jefferson; Lin
coln, Abraham.)
Preston, William, death of Gen. Al
bert S. Johnston reported by, 209.
Price, Sterling:
Report of, on operations in Trans-
Mississippi Department trans
mitted, 530.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 168, 232.
Printing, Public, referred to, 192.
Printing, Public, Superintendent of,
appropriation requested by, 146.
Prisoners, Civil, exchange or release
of, transported from Confederacy
referred to, 316.
Prisoners of War :
Enlistment of, taking oath of al
legiance to Confederate States,
501.
Exchange of, arrangements for, 237,
492, 501.
Cartel of, transmitted, 241.
Letter of President Davis to
President Lincoln regarding,
343-
Questions regarding, referred to,
395-
Stephens, A. H., correspondence
regarding appointment of, as
commissioner on subject of,
339-
Suspension of, discussed, 375,445.
Rations furnished to, 376, 502.
Relief of, arrangements for, re
ferred to, 502.

622 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Prisoners of War (Continued):
Treatment of —
Discussed, 120, 127, 128, 289, 376,
493-
Letter of President Davis to
President Lincoln regarding,
US-
Referred to, 121.
Retaliation —
Measures of, proclaimed, 269.
Discussed, 289.
Threatened, 115, 120, 141.
Private Armed Vessels :
Commissions to, 102.
Act authorizing issuance of, 104.
Amendment to, 113.
Form of bond, 112.
Applications for, invited, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Discussed, 281, 349.
President's instructions to, in.
Private Property seized by Govern
ment authorities:
Belonging to alien enemies re
ferred to, 308.
Brandy referred to, 515.
Claims for, referred to, 401.
Appointment under act for pay
ment of, referred to, 502.
Appropriation to pay, recom
mended, 247, 296, 395, 499,
513.
Recommendations regarding
payment of, 546.
In Petersburg and Lynchburg re
ferred to, 304.
Pay ment of assessments of damages
by officers without intervention
of courts-martial or boards of sur
vey referred to, 390.
Referred to, 247, 262, 301, 308, 310,
3"-
Taxes due on, referred to, 153.
Temptation to hoard supplies
checked by impressment, 374.
Privateering discussed, 281, 349.
Prize Honey, act directing mode of
payment of, vetoed, 216.

Proclamations. (See also Addresses.
of President.)
Admission of Missouri into Con
federacy, 166.
Banishing alien enemies, 131.
Belligerent expedition, 565.
Conscription, 326.
Declaring Benjamin F. Butler an
outlaw, etc., 269.
Extraordinary sessions of Congress.
convened, 60, 133.
Fasting and prayer, 103, 135, 217,.
227, 268, 324, 328, 412, 563, 567..
Order regarding, 565.
Habeas corpus, writ of, suspended,
219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225,
226.
Inviting applications for letters of
marque and reprisal, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Measures of retaliation for crimes.
committed by United States offi
cers, 2C9.
Organization of Arizona Territory,,
167.
Pardoning soldiers guilty of ab
sence without leave and deser
tion, 329.
Revoking exequatur of British
consul, 325.
Savannah commissioned private-
armed vessel, 102.
Thanksgiving. (See Fasting and
Prayer, hereunder.)
Treaty with Virginia, 102.
Produce Loan Bureau, returns of, dis
cussed, 490.
Products. (See Field Products.)
Property, Private, seized by Govern
ment authorities:
Belonging to alien enemies referred
to, 308.
Brandy referred to, 515.
Claims for, referred to, 401.
Appointment under act for pay
ment of, referred to, 502.
Appropriation to pay, recom
mended, 247, 296, 395, 499, 513..

Property, Private, seized by Govern
ment authorities (Continued):
Claims for —
Recommendations regarding
payment of, 546.
In Petersburg and Lynchburg
referred to, 304.
Payment of assessments of damages
by officers without intervention
of courts-martial or boards of
survey referred to, 390.
Referred to, 247, 262, 301, 308, 310,
311-
Taxes due on, referred to, 153.
Temptation to hoard supplies
checked by impressment, 374.
Property, Sequestered. (See Proper
ty, Private.)
Provisional Army. (See Army, Con
federate States.)
Provisional Congress. (See Congress,
Confederate States.)
Provisional Constitution. (See Con
stitution, Confederate States.)
Provisions, restrictions on transporta
tion of, referred to, 401, 517.
Provost Marshals, appointment and
pay of, referred to, 242.
Public Building, appropriation for
construction of, in Richmond,
Va., recommended, 318.
Public Credit discussed, 192, 293.
Public Debt discussed, 192, 293, 363,
488.
Public Defense:
Act- Amending act to impose restric
tions on foreign commerce to
provide for, vetoed, 466.
Increasing strength and "efficien
cy of heavy artillery for sea
coast defense vetoed, 320.
Preparation for, discussed and re
ferred to, 189, 201, 204, 208.
Provision for, recommended, 34, 63,
128, 196, 203, 544.
Referred to, 250.
Submarine defenses discussed, 204.

Index. 621
Public Expenditures discussed, 192,

Appropriation for, recommended,
'99. 3!3. 3'7. 387. 4°2. 4°4. 45i.
454. 455. Si 7. 539-
Public Officers, compensation of, re
ferred to, 490.
Public Offices, vacancies in, recom
mendations regarding, 260.
Public Printing referred to, 192.
Public Printing, Superintendent of, ap
propriation requested by, 146.
Public Revenue:
Collection of, on frontier referred
to, 77.
Discussed. (See Finances.)
Pumpkin Vine Creek, Ga., Battle of.
(See New Hope Church.)

a

to,

Quartermaster General referred
3S4-
Quartermasters :
Act abolishing office of certain, etc.,.
vetoed, 559.
List of, transmitted, 530.
Number of, on duty in Richmond,
Va., referred to, 305.
Quartermaster's Department :
Men liable to conscription removed
from, referred to, 391.
Officers of, failing to render ac
counts referred to, 407.

Railroad Facilities :
Constitutional questions arising out
of construction of railroads dis
cussed, 140, 152.
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 81, 139, 151, 236, 249,
295, 492. S33, 53°.
Railroad Presidents, Convention of:
Referred to, 81.
Resolutions adopted at, requesting
aid from Government for con
struction of lines transmitted,
IS2-

624 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Ramseur, Stephen D., resolution of
thanks tendered command of, 424.
Randolph, George W., Secretary of
War, mentioned, 535.
Raymond, Miss., Battle of.
A battle at Raymond, Hinds County,
Miss., 12 miles to the southwest of Jack
son, May 12, 1863. The Federals were
commanded by Gen. McPherson; the
Confederates, by Generals Gregg and
Walker. After severe fighting for 3
hours, the latter retreated. Federal loss,
70 killed, and 360 wounded and missing ;
Confederate loss, about 700 killed, wound
ed, and missing.
Recognition of Independence of Con
federate States :
Attitude of powers regarding, dis
cussed, 279, 348, 444, 485.
Commissioners sent to request, 76.
Intervention not desired, 487.
Request for, discussed, 142.
Reconstruction. After the termination of the war, the
question as to how the Southern States
should be restored to the Union was an
important one. President Lincoln pro
ceeded upon the idea, or theory, that,
upon the cessation of hostilities, and the
laying down of arms by the soldiers of
the South, nothing remained but for the
loyal friends of the Union to assemble in
their respective States, reorganize their
governments, and take their former places
in the Union. President Johnson fol
lowed the same general plan of dealing
with the Southern States. This policy
was opposed by a majority of the Con
gress in both Houses, the contention being
made that the Southern States could be
readmitted only on the terms Congress
might impose. The latter policy pre
vailed, and the term "Reconstruction"
was applied to the return or restoration
of the seceding States to the Union.
Removals from Office referred to, 318,
553-
Representatives :
Act providing for holding elections
for, in Tennessee vetoed, 324.
Estimates for increased salary and
mileage of, transmitted, 456.
Act relative to, recommendations
regarding, 513.

Resaca, Ga., Battle of.
A battle at Resaca, Ga., on the rail
road about 15 miles south of Dalton, May
14, 1864. The Federals were commanded
by Generals Sherman and McPherson;
the Confederates, who were retreating, by
Gen. Johnston. The former attacked, and
were repulsed. On the 15th there was
skirmishing all day, and at night the
Confederates continued their retreat.
Federal loss, about 4,500; Confederate
loss, about 2,500.
Resolutions of Thanks tendered —
Alabama troops, 423, 428, 431.
Arkansas troops, 480.
Borcke, Heros von, 421.
Commands of —
Baker, Samuel E., 428.
Battle, Cullen A., 423.
Beauregard, P. G. T., 114, 133,
231, 338, 425.
Brown, Isaac N., 275.
Buchanan, Franklin, 230.
Cheatham, Benjamin F., 168.
Cleburne, Patrick R., 425.
Cockrell, Francis M., 480.
Cooke, James W., 480.
Dowling, Richard, 424.
Drewry, A., 275.
Evans, Nathan G., 169.
Farrand, Ebenezer, 275.
Finegan, Joseph, 480.
Forrest, Nathan B., 337, 433, 481.
Green, Thomas, 337.
Hoke, Robert F., 480.
Jackson, Thomas J., 230.
Johnson, Edward, 169.
Johnston, Joseph E., 133,421.
Johnston, Robert D., 422.
Lamar, Thomas G., 424.
Lee, Robert E., 420.
Longstreet, James, 434.
McCulloch, Ben, 134.
Magruder, J. Bankhead„337.
Morgan, John H., 338.
Odium, Frank H., 424.
Pillow, Gideon J., 168.
Polk, Leonidas, 168.
Price, Sterling, 168, 232.
Ramseur, Stephen D., 424.

Index.

625

Resolutions of Thanks tendered (Con
tinued)—
Commands of —
Rodes, R. E., 424.
Semmes, Raphael, 275.
Sibley, Henry H., 231.
Smith, E. Kirby, 431.
Smith, Francis W., 426.
Smith, Leon, 337.
Stuart, J. E. B., 434.
Taylor, Richard, 481.
Van Dorn, Earl, 232.
Watkins, Oscar M., 338.
Wheeler, Joseph, 338.
Wood, John T., 430.
Cooke's Brigade, 430.
Davis Guards, 424.
Defenders of Fort McAllister, 339.
Douglas's Battery, 430.
Florida troops, 423.
Georgia troops, 427, 429.
Hart's Battery, 427.
Lomax's Cavalry, 429.
Louisiana troops, 422.
McClung's Battery, 426.
McGowan's Brigade, 433.
Mississippi troops, 426, 428, 432.
Missouri troops, 16S, 480.
North Carolina troops, 422
427. 43°. 432, 479-
Officers and crew of the —
Patrick Henry, Jamestown,
er, and other vessels, 231
Sumter, 275:
Orr's Rifles, 433.
Pee Dee Artillery, 433.
Poague's Artillery, 432.
South Carolina troops, 114,427,433.
Surry Light Artillery, 433.
Tennessee troops, 421, 427.
Texas troops, 337, 430, 480, 481.
Virginia troops, 426, 427, 428, 429,
432-
Women of Confederacy, 230.
Returning Boards.
A name given certain boards established
by the Legislatures of Florida, Louisiana,
and South Carolina, respectively, to can
vass and certify the votes and returns of
40

424,

Teas-

election in those States. These boards
were given both judicial and ministerial
functions. They were brought into great
prominence in the Presidential election
of 1S76.
Revenue, Public:
Collection of, on frontier referred
to, 77.
Discussed. (See Finances.)
Rheatown, Tenn., operations at, 402.
Rhett, R. Barnwell, member of Presi
dential notification committee, 30.
Rich Mountain, W. Va., Battle of.
A battle at Rich Mountain, Randolph
County, W. Va., July II, 1861. TheFed-
erals, commanded by Gen. Rosecrans, at
tacked and captured the Confederates,
commanded by Col. Pegram. Federal
loss, in killed and wounded, 50; Confed
erate loss, about 200 killed and wounded.
Richmond, Ky. , Battle of.
A battle at Richmond, Ky., Aug. 29,
30, 1862. The Federals, 16,000, were com
manded by Gen. Manson; the Confeder
ates, about the same number, by Gen.
Kirby Smith. Federals were routed,
with loss of about 5,000; Confederate loss,
considerably less.
Referred to, in proclamation, 268.
Richmond, Va.:
Appropriation for post office build
ing in, recommended, 318.
Army of United States threatening,
defeated, 233, 241.
Referred to; in proclamation,
268.
Civilians in custody in, referred to,
3°4-
Defense of, discussed, 201.
Hospitals in and near, referred to,
407.
Mails in, transmission of, referred
to, 452, 453-
Martial law in, proclaimed, and or
ders regarding, 220.
Officers —
Employed in, referred to, 514, 552.
Sick and wounded in, referred to,
5i9-
Prohibition of transportation of
food from miltary districts to,
referred to, 401.

626 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Richmond, Va. (Continued):
Quartermasters in, number of, on
duty referred to, 305.
Restrictions on transportation of
food to, referred to, 517.
Seat of Government removed to,
117.
Resolution providing for, vetoed,
100.
Soldiers arrested or confined in, re
ferred to, 315.
Threatened capture of, 544.
Richmond and Danville Railroad, con
nection with North Carolina
Railroad referred to, 212, 242.
Rio Grande River, revocation of re
strictions upon commerce across,
referred to, 317.
Ripley, Roswell S., report of, on op
erations of, transmitted, 386.
River Defense Service:
Appropriation for, recommended,
196, 203.
Appropriation to liquidate claims
for, recommended, 314.
Rives, Alfred L., report of, on condi
tion of defenses discussed, 201.
Roanoke Island, N. C, Surrender of.
Roanoke Island is on the eastern coast
of North Carolina, between Albemarle
and Pamlico Sounds. It was defended by
3 earthworks, Pork Point, Weir's Point,
and Fort Blanchard, all commanded by
Gen. Wise, with 2,500 men. It was at
tacked by the Federals, with land forces,
12,000, under Gen, Burnside, and a fleet
of 31 gunboats, commanded by Flag Of
ficer Goldsboro, Feb. 7, 1862. The Island
was the key to the rear defenses of Nor
folk. The earthworks were destroyed
and the garrison captured. Federal loss,
about 250.
Referred to, 189, 207.
Rodes, R. E., resolution of thanks ten
dered command of, 424.
Roman, A. B., peace commissioner to
United States.:
Conduct of Federal Government in
negotiations discussed, 70.

Roman, A. B., peace commissioner to
United States (Continued):
Correspondence between Secretary
Seward, Judge Campbell, and
commissioners, 84.
Transmitted, 82.
Nomination and appointment of,
55. 5°-
Rome, Ga., proposed railroad to Blue
Mountain, Ala., from, 249.
Rosecrans, William S., advance of
army under, into Georgia dis
cussed, 346.
Rost, Pierre A., commissioner to Eu
rope, nomination of, 57.
Ruggles, Daniel, report of, on battle
of Shiloh, Tenn., transmitted, 245.
Russell, Sir John, mentioned, 351,353,
355-
Russia: Confederate commissioner to, 76.
Confederate minister to, commis
sion of, explanation regarding,
Reasons for sending, transmitted,
3*5-
Correspondence with, discussed,
288. S
Sabine Cross Roads, La., Battle of.
A battle in Mansfield, De Soto Parish,.
La., Apr. 8, 1S64. The Federals, 8,000,
were commanded by Gen. Banks; the
Confederates, by Gen. Dick Taylor. The
Confederates attacked and badly defeated
the Federals, pursuing them 3 miles in
their retreat. Federal loss, 3,000 in killed,
wounded, and missing; Confederate loss,
2,000.
Sailors Creek, Va., Battle of.
A battle at Sailors Creek, Va., Apr. 6,.
1865, by Federals, under Gen. Custer, and
a portion of Gen. Lee's army, as it re-
treated from Richmond. The Confeder
ates, under Gen. Ewell, were surrounded
and surrendered, with loss of about 7,00c-
prisoners, many wagons and guns.
St. Charles, Ark., engagement at, re
ferred to, 238.
Salisbury, N. C, civilian prisoners in
custody at, referred to, 308.

Index.

627

Santa Rosa Island, Fla., Battle of.
A battle on Santa Rosa Island, in the
harbor at Pensacola, Fla., Oct. 9, 1861.
The Confederates attacked the Federals,
Wilson's Zouaves, and captured Maj.
Vogdes and the garrison, with small loss;
Federal loss, about 60 in killed and
wounded.
Savage Station, Va., Battle of.
One of the Seven Days' Battles, in
front of Richmond, Va., June 29, 1862.
The Federals were commanded by Gen.
Sumner, and were attacked by Confeder
ates, under Gen. Magruder. The Feder
als retreated, with loss of 2,560 sick and
wounded prisoners.
Savannah, Ga., non-destruction of
cotton in, before evacuation of,
referred to, 533.
Savannah, Ga., Fall of. (See Fort
McAllister, Battle of.)
Savannah, The:
Commissioned private armed ves
sel, 102.
Treatment of prisoners of war of,
discussed, 120.
Letter of President Davis to Pres
ident Lincoln regarding, 115.
Referred to, 121.
Sea Coast Defenses, act increasing
strength of heavy artillery for,
vetoed, 320.
Seat of Government, removal of, from
Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond,
Va., 117.
Resolution providing for, vetoed,
100.
Secession. The act of withdrawal from the Union
by the Southern States after the election
of President Lincoln, in i860, was called
"Secession." The States which seceded
contended that they had a right to do so
under the Constitution, and attempted to
withdraw from the Union. To this end,
the people of these States passed ordi
nances of secession, or separation, as fol
lows: South Carolina, Dec. 20, i860; Mis
sissippi, Jan. 9, 1S61 ; Florida, Jan. 10; Ala
bama, Jan. 11; Georgia, Jan. 19; Louisi
ana, Jan. 26; Texas, Feb. 1; Virginia,
Apr. 17; Arkansas, May 6; North Caro
lina, May 20; and Tennessee, June 8.
The United States did not recognize the

action taken by these States in seceding
from the Union as valid or legal, and the
war followed. As early in the history of
the United States as 1S11-14, some of the
New England States made threats of se
cession from the Union, but did not put
these threats into execution.
Rights of States regarding, dis
cussed and referred to, 32, '63, 117,
184, 278.
Secretaries. (See also the several
Secretaries.)
Reports of, transmitted, 156.
Seizures. (See Private Property.)
Selma, Ala., railroad from Meridian,
Miss., to —
Recommended, 152.
Referred to, 212.
Seminole Indians, treaty with, and
other relations discussed, 149.
Semmes, Raphael, resolution of
thanks . tendered command of,
27S-
Senate, Confederate States :
Advice of, regarding necessity of
renominating certain officers re
quested, 246.
Constitutional powers of Executive
and, regarding nominations dis
cussed, 388.
Employees of, estimate for in
creased compensation of, trans
mitted, 456.
Act relative to, recommendations
regarding, 513.
Members of, estimate for increased
salary and mileage of, trans
mitted, 456.
Act relative to, recommendations
regarding, 513.
Transcript of journal of, requested,
S7o-
Senators, estimate for increased sala
ry and mileage of, transmitted,
45°-
Act relative to, recommendations
regarding, 513.
Sequestered Property. (See Private
Property.)

628 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Sequestration Act, amount of funds
paid into Treasury under opera
tion of, referred to; 308.
Seven Days' Battles, Va.
A series of battles between June 26
and July 1, 1862, in the Peninsula cam
paign, in the swamps east of Richmond,
Va. The Federals, 115,000, were com
manded by Gen. McClellan; the Confed
erates, 8o,ooo, by Gen. Lee. These bat
tles are mentioned separately under the
headings, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill,
Savage Station, Frayser's Farm, Malvern
Hill, etc. Federal losses during the 7
days, about 15,000; Confederate losses,
not so great.
Seven Pines, and Fair Oaks, Va., Bat
tle of.
A battle about 7 miles east of Rich
mond, Va., May 31 and June 1, 1862, The
Federals were commanded by Gen. Mc
Clellan ; the Confederates, by Gen. Jos. E.
Johnston, who was wounded the second
day. The Confederates made the attack
on both days, and were repulsed. Feder
al loss, 5,700; Confederate loss, 4,200.
Seward, William H., Secretary of
State, United States:
Conduct of, in peace negotiations
discussed, 70.
Correspondence between Judge
Campbell, Confederate com
missioner, and, 84.
Transmitted, 82.
Correspondence in peace negotia
tions, 521,
Mentioned, 351.
Seymour, L. B., punishment inflicted
on, referred to, 300.
Sharpsburg, Md., Battle of. (See An-
tietam, Battle of.)
Shenandoah, The.
A cruiser of the Confederate States
which sailed from London Oct. 8, 1S64,
under the name of the Sea King> com
manded by Waddell. At Madeira, her
name was changed to the Shenandoah.
She did considerable damage to the United
States vessels, a claim for which com
prised a part of the Alabama claims. At
the close of the war she was surrendered
to Great Britain, and later to the United
States.
Sherman, William T., operations of
army under, 484.

Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, Term.,
Battle of.
A battle on the Tennessee River, near
Pittsburg Landing, Hardin County,
Tenn., Apr. 6, 7, 1862. The Federals,
40,000, were commanded by Gen. Grant
the first day; the Confederates, by Gen.
Albert S. Johnston. The Confederates
made the attack, and in the afternoon Gen.
Johnston was killed, and Gen. Beaure
gard assumed command. Gen. Buell
united his forces with those of Gen. Grant
for the second day's fighting, and at its
close the Confederates retired from the
field. The advantage was clearly with
the Confederates in the first day's battle.
Federal loss, killed, wounded, and miss
ing, 13,500; Confederate loss, 10,600.
Discussed, 208.
General Albert S. Johnston killed
at, 209.
Reports of, transmitted, 245, 309.
Ships. (See Vessels.)
Shorter, John G., member of Vice
Presidential notification commit
tee, 30.
Sibley, Henry H., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 231.
Sigel, Franz, mentioned, 214.
Slave Representation. The representation in the United States
Congress accorded to the slave States, by
reason of persons held in slavery therein.
The Southern people contended that the
slaves should be counted or reckoned in
making up the representation from the
slave States, the same as white persons.
This was denied by many Northern per
sons. It was finally settled by determin
ing that a State's representation should
he ascertained and fixed " by adding to
the whole number of free persons, includ
ing those bound to service for a term
of years, and excluding Indians not taxed,
three-fifths of all other persons" — that is
to say, the slaves.
Slave Trade. (See also African Slave
Trade.)
Act in relation to, vetoed, 59.
Slavery. Slavery in the colonies of America be
gan in 1619, by the importation of a car
go of slaves by a Dutch ship into Virgin
ia, and it spread into all, or nearly all, of
the colonies. Societies were formed in

Index.

629

some of the colonies before the Revolu
tion, and iifterwilrds in several of the
States, *or the amelioration of the condi
tion of slaves. This was followed by the
Northern Mates abolishing slavery out
right, or providing for gradual emancipa
tion. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts
made provision for gradual emancipation
in 17S0; New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
and Connecticut, in i7S4;Vermont, in 1799;
and New York and New Jersey, in 1S04.
Sentiment highly unfavorable to slav
ery developed generally in the Northern
States, and the question provoked great
bitterness between the Northern and
Southern sections of the country. Crimi
nations and recriminations were indulged
between the advocates and opponents of
slavery, until this question overshadowed
all others in politics. Finally, in iSfo,
Mr. Line In was chosen President mainly
on this issue, and the Southern States,
believing that the institution of slavery
was in danger, seceded and set up a gov
ernment of their own. War resulted,
which ended in the final destruction of
slavery in all the States.
Declaration of President Lincoln
on, 291.
Rights of States regarding, dis
cussed, 66.
Slaves: Act in relation to arrest and dispo
sition of, recaptured from enemy
referred to, 400.
Captured by United States, disposi
tion of, referred to, 248.
Employmentof,in Army discussed,
and recommendations regard
ing, 37°. 493-
Arming slaves as soldiers —
Opposed, 495.
Referred to, 547.
Forced into Army of United States
discussed, 380.
Freedom of, proclaimed, effect of,
discussed, 290.
Government liability for impress
ment of, escaping to enemy re
ferred to, 316.
Impressment of, referred to, 501, 514.
Appropriation to pay claims for
loss by, recommended, 395.

Slaves (Continued):
Incited to insurrection by United
States authorities, 233, 290, 495.
Notice to officers regarding act to
protect owners of, employed in
Army referred to, 313.
Number of, in Southern States, 68.
Treatment of negroes by the North
discussed, 380.
Slidell, John, Minister to France:
Commission of, explanation regard
ing, 311,
Commissioner to France, nomina
tion of, 128.
Seizure of, on British ship by
United States authorities dis
cussed, 141. (See also Trent Af
fair.)
Smith, E. Kirby:
Communications to, regarding ad
ministration of Trans-Mississippi
Department transmitted, 517.
Orders to, regarding martial law in
Department of East Tennessee,
225.
Report of, on operations in Trans-
Mississippi Department trans
mitted, 530.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 431.
Smith, Francis W., resolution of
thanks tendered command of,
426.
Smith, Gustavus W., report of, on op
erations in North Carolina trans
mitted, 298.
Smith, Leon, resolution of thanks ten
dered command of, 337.
South Carolina:
Act of Legislature of, offering
guaranty of bonds of Confeder
ate States transmitted, 309.
Conscript law in, enforcement of,
referred to, 387.
Exempts in, referred to, 383.
Funds raised by ladies of, for con
struction of gunboat, referred to.
45'-

630

Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

South Carolina (Continued) :
Martial law in, proclaimed, and or
ders regarding, 226.
Troops of —
Hanged by United States forces
referred to, 127, 128.
Holcomb Legion referred to, 456.
Organization and disbanding of
Co. K, 27th Regiment, referred
to, 456.
Resolutions of thanks tendered,
114,427,433.
South Mills, N. C, affair at, referred
to, 245.
South Mountain, or Boonsboro, Md.,
Battle of.
A battle at South Mountain, near
Boonsboro, Md., Sept. 14, 1862. The
Federals were commanded by Gener
als Hooker and Burnside; the Confed
erates, by Gen. D. H. Hill, and late in the
day were regnforced by Gen. Longstreet.
The fight continued throughout the day,
and at night the Confederates retired.
Federal loss, 325 killed, 1,500 wounded
and missing; Confederate loss, 115 killed,
400 wounded and missing.
Southern Express Company, frauds
perpetrated by, on revenues of
Post Office Department referred
to, 211.
Southern States. (See Confederate
States.)
Southwestern Mail, detention of the,
referred to, 245.
Special Session Messages, 63, 134.
Special Sessions of Congress, procla
mations convening, 60, 133.
Spottsylvania Court House, Va., Bat-
' tie of.
A battle or series of battles near Spott
sylvania Court House, Va., 50 miles to
the northwest of Richmond, May 8-21,
1864. The Federals, 135,000, were com
manded by Gen. Grant ; the Confederates,
100,000, by Gen. Lee. On May S, the
•main fighting was done by Gen. Sheri-
idan'js cavalry and that of Gen. J. E. B.
Stuart, who was killed. On the 9th and
10th, assaults were made by Federals
under Gen. Hancock on the Confederate
lines, without success. On the 12th, Gen.
Hancock was .successful in seizing an im

portant position which had been held by
the Confederates, under Gen. Edward
Johnson, and with it captured 4,000 men.
The Confederates, under Lee, made fre
quent assaults on this point, in the effort
to dislodge the Federals, without success.
On 20th and2ist, Gen. Grant ceased fight
ing and moved southward toward the
North Anna River. Federal losses, from
May 8th to 21st, about 2,800 killed, 13,416
wounded, and 2,258 missing; Confederate
losses, not officially given, but not quite
so heavy.
Springfield, Mo., battle of, referred
to, 137-
Stanton, Edwin M., correspondence
in peace negotiations, 521.
State Department:
Appropriation for, recommended,
251-
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 76, 195, 206, 247.
State of the Confederacy discussed, 32,
63, 117, 136, 184, 189, 232, 276, 296,
345. 443, 482> 544-
State, Secretary of:
Correspondence of, transmitted,
382, 385.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 76, 195, 206, 247.
States. (See Confederate States;
United States.)
Staunton River Bridge, engagement
at, 499.
Stephens, Alexander H., Vice Presi
dent Confederate States:
Biographical sketch of, 173.
Election of, as Vice President of
Provisional Government, 29.
Notification of, 30.
Military commissioner to United
States, correspondence regarding
appointment of, 339.
Peace commissioner to United
States, report of, 520.
Portrait of, 172.
Treaty with Virginia concluded by,
82.
Commission for negotiating, 62.
Discussed, 77.
Proclaimed, 102.

Index.

631

Stone's River, or Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
Battle of.
A battle on Stone's River, near Mur
freesboro, Tenn., about 30 miles to the
southeast of Nashville, Dec. 31, 1S62, and
Jan. 2, 1S63. The Federals, about 47,000,
were commanded by Gen. Rosecrans; the
Confederates, about 36,000, by Gen.
Bragg. The heaviest fighting occurred on
the Confederate left, Wednesday, Dec. 31,
in which the Federal lines were driven
back for more than a mile. Friday after
noon, the fighting was on the Confederate
right, commanded by Gen. Breckinridge.
After the battle, the Confederates retired
to Murfreesboro Jan. 3d, and on the 4th
evacuated the town and retired to the
southward about 25 miles to Duck River.
Federal loss, 1,733 killed, 7,245 wounded,
and about 3,500 prisoners; Confederate
loss, about 9,000 killed, wounded, and
missing. This battle is called by the
Confederates the battle of Murfreesboro.
The Federals call it the battle of Stone
River, although the name of the river on
which it was fought is Stone's River.
Referred to, 317.
Stuart, J, E. B., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 434.
Submarine Defenses discussed, 204.
Submarine Telegraph Cable at
Charleston, S. C, appropriation
for, recommended, 319.
Sumter, The:
Mentioned, 79.
Resolution of thanks tendered offi
cers and crew of, 275.
Superintendent of Public Printing, ap
propriation requested by, 146.
Supreme Court, organization of, rec
ommended, 192.
Surgeon General:
Appropriation for, recommended,
315-
Report of, transmitted, 301.
Surgeons, Assistant, in Army, act for
appointment of additional, ve
toed, 130.
Surry Light Artillery, resolution of
thanks tendered, 433.

Taliaferro, William B., report of, on
action at Carrick's Ford, W. Va.,
transmitted, 198.
Tariff discussed, 361.
Tax, War:
Appropriation recommended to re
fund excess of, paid by —
Louisiana, 253.
North Carolina, 239.
Propriety of providing for payme nt
of loans by, discussed, 259.
Taxation: Constitutional questions regarding,
discussed, 363.
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 139, 259, 293, 361, 489,
490, 547-
Income tax referred to, 364, 490,
547-
Tax in kind —
Collection and distribution of, re
ferred to, 391.
Delivery of, at Government de
pots by producers referred to,
4°3-
Referred to, 364, 499.
Taxes: Assessment and collection of, re
ferred to, 403, 500.
Due on sequestered property re
ferred to, 153.
Taylor, Richard:
Report of, on operations in Trans-
Mississippi Department trans
mitted, 530.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 481.
Teaser, The, resolution of thanks ten
dered officers and crew of, 231.
Telegraph Lines:
Government control of, discussed,
307.
Shares held in, by alien enemies re
ferred to, 308, 309.
Telegraphic Service:
Appropriation for, recommended,
298.

632 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Telegraphic Service (Continued):
Merging of, in postal service dis
cussed, 307.
Tennessee: Act providing for holding Con
gressional elections in, vetoed,
324-
Admission of, into Confederacy re
ferred to, 117.
Appropriation to pay interest on
money borrowed from banks in,
recommended, 154, 255.
Confederate Constitution, adoption
of, by, anticipated, 117.
Conspiracy in, discussed, and rec
ommendations regarding, 498.
Convention with Confederate
States, 99.
Joint resolution of, transmitted, 153.
Martial law in Department of East,
proclaimed, and orders regard
ing, 224.
Military operations in, 448, 483.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks ten
dered, 421, 427.
Tennessee River, operations on, 245.
Texas: Act authorizing acceptance of vol
unteer regiment from, in service
of Confederate States vetoed,
160.
Cotton Bureau in, referred to, 530.
Courts in, discussed, 78.
Military operations in, 482.
Railroad in, construction of, re
ferred to, 256.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks ten
dered, 337, 430, 480, 481.
United States armies defeated on
coast of, 345.
Texas Rangers, resolution of thanks
tendered, 337.
Thanks of Congress. (See Resolutions
of Thanks.)
Thanksgiving Proclamations. (See
Fasting and Prayer.)
Thomas, Richard, case of, referred to,
3°3-

Tishomingo Creek, Miss., battle of, re
ferred to, 499.
Tobacco: Rations of, for Army referred to,
455-
Vessels in Chesapeake Bay for ex
porting, referred to, 195.
Toombs, Robert, member of Presiden
tial notification committee, 30.
Topeka Constitution. (See also Le
compton Constitution ; Wyan
dotte Constitution.)
A constitution adopted by a convention
representing the antislavery population
of Kansas which met at Topeka in Octo ¦
ber, 1855. This convention adopted the
boundaries as fixed by the Kansas-Ne
braska bill, prohibited slavery in the Ter
ritory after July, 1857, and prescribed
qualifications of suffrage in the Territory.
The convention -was dispersed by Feder
al troops. The Territory was not admit
ted into the Union under that constitution.
Torpedoes discussed, 204.
Trans-Mississippi, Army of, money
expended in payment of, referred
to, 504.
Trans-Mississippi Department:
Act fixing salaries in, referred to,
S36-
Appropriation for, recommended,
515-
Contracts for supplies* to be paid for
in cotton in, referred to, 505.
Discussed, 377.
Estimates of appropriations for,
transmitted, 515.
General administration of, referred
to. 447. 5"7-
Means of communicating with, re
ferred to, 516, 518.
Military operations in, 388, 530.
Money forwarded to, referred to,
401.
Postal service for, recommenda
tions regarding, 377, 379.
Transportation Facilities discussed,
and recommendations regarding,
gi. "39. "5". 236, 249, 295, 492,533,
S36.

Index.

633

Treasury, requisitions of heads of
Bureaus on, referred to, 244.
Drawn by Quartermaster General
and Commissary General re
ferred to, 515.
Treasury Department:
Appropriation for, recommended,
207, 257.
Cotton accumulated by, referred
to, 390.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 77, 192, 235, 238, 293, 368,
446, 488.
Treasury Notes:
Act amending act to reduce cur
rency and authorize new issue of
bonds and, vetoed, 470.
Amount in circulation, 365.
Conversion of interest-bearing, into
coupon bonds recommended, 490.
Depreciation in, discussed, and rec
ommendations regarding, 489.
Discussed, and recommendations
regarding, 139, 235, 361,446, 488,
545-
Forgery of, referred to, 233, 235,
471.
Appropriation for detecting per
sons engaged in, recommend
ed, 239.
Funding of outstanding, discussed,
293. 367. 488-
Provision for issue of, 361,446.
Treasury, Secretary of:
Appropriations recommended by.
(See Appropriations.)
Communication of, transmitted,
298.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 77, 192, 235, 238, 293, 368,
446, 488.
Treaties, Confederate States, with —
Foreign powers —
Discussed, 360.
Disregarded by, 444.
Not binding, 360.
Indians —
Discussed, 149, 295. •

Treaties, Confederate States, with
(Continued) —
Indians —
Faithful observance of, by, 238.
Report regarding, transmitted,
198.
Missouri, 144.
Tennessee, 99.
Virginia, 82.
Commission for negotiating, 62.
Referred to, 77.
Discussed, 77.
Proclaimed, 102.
Trent Affair.
The Trent was a British merchant
ship, on which James M. Mason and John
Slidell, commissioners of the Confederate
States, took passage at Havana, Cuba, for
England, in the autumn of 1S61. They
had successfully run the blockade of the
Confederate port, and landed in Cuba.
On Nov. 8, the Trent was stopped in the
old Bahama channel, while en route to
England, by the United States ship, San
Jacinto, commanded by Capt. Wilkes,
and thecommissioners, Mason and Slidell,
were seized and carried as prisoners to
Boston. This act was a breach of inter
national law, and in violation of the rights
of neutrals. The British Government
promptly demanded the release of Mason
and Slidell, and an apology by the United
States. The demand was complied with,
the act of Captain Wilkes disavowed,
the commissioners restored to a British
ship, and landed safely in England.
Discussed, 141.
Troops. (See Army, Confederate
States; Army, United States.)
Tucker, John R., mentioned, 197.
Turchin, John B., atrocious conduct
of, referred to, 379.
V
Uncle Sam. A title given to the United States,
sometimes represented by a person in na
tional colors. An explanation of the ori
gin of this title as applied to the Govern
ment is that the letters " U. S.," which
appeared on large quantities of Govern
ment or army supplies during the war of
1812, were humorously declared to be the
initials of one Samuel Wilson, an inspect
or of these supplies at Troy, N. Y., who

634 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

was familiarly called " Uncle Sam." The
letters " U. S." came to be used by him
as a shipping mark.
United Confederate Veterans.
A federation of all the associations of
Confederate veterans, soldiers and sail
ors. The federation has a written con
stitution which fully sets forth its objects
and purposes. It endeavors to promote
the cultivation of ties of friendship be
tween ex-Confederates, and to aid and
assist their widows and orphans, and also
to assist in the collection of data in re
spect to the war, and the preservation of
the records of the Confederacy. The or
ganization is by camps, which are formed
into brigades, divisions, and departments.
There are 3 departments, called the Army
of Virginia, Army of the Tennessee, and
Army of the Trans- Mississippi.
United States Army. (See Army,
United States.)
United States Constitution. (See Con
stitution, United States.)
United States Flag. (See Flag, Unit
ed States.)
United States of America.
A Federal Republic occupying the cen
tral part of North America. It comprises
(1905) 45 States, 4 Territories, and the
District of Columbia; also Alaska, Ha
waii, Porto Rico, the Philippine archipel
ago, and certain other small islands. The
capital is Washington City, which is lo
cated in the District of Columbia. The
name was adopted in 1776. In its govern
ment there are 3 great Departments, the
Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.
The Executive power is vested in a Pres
ident, chosen every 4 years. He is as
sisted by a Cabinet, the members of which
are appointed by him, by and with the
consent of the Senate. The Legisla
tive authority is vested in Congress, com
prising a Senate and House of Repre
sentatives. The Senate consists of 2 mem
bers from each State, and the House at
present of 3S6" members, chosen by the
electors in the various States, in the pro
portion of one for about every 193,000 in
habitants. The Judicial authority is vest
ed in a Supreme Court and such inferior
tribunals as may be created from time to
time, by Congress, The several States
have each a republican form of govern
ment, administered by a Governor, and a
Legislature composed of two houses, and

each State has extensive independent
powers reserved to it under the Constitu
tion of the United States. The Govern
ment is supreme in all powers delegated
to it by the Constitution, while the sever
al States are supreme in all reserved or
nondelegated powers. Area of 45 States,
4 Territories, and District of Columbia,
3,025,601 square miles; including Alas
ka, 3,557,coo square miles. Population in
1900, of States, District of Columbia, and
4 Territories, 7S.994^S7S-
Army of. (See Army, United
States.)
Attitude of, toward Confederate
States and beginning of war dis
cussed, 32, 63, 117, 184, 277.
Constitution of. (See Constitu
tion, United States.)
Constitutional rights of States dis
cussed, 32, 63, 121, 184, 277.
Debt of, referred to, 186.
Declaration of war against Confed
eracy referred to, 63, 74.
Military preparations of, discussed,
71 (see also 60, 63, 82), 118,
277.
President of. (See Lincoln, Abra
ham.)
Rights and powers of, discussed, 32,
63, 121, 184, 277.

Vacancies in Public Office, recom
mendations regarding, 260.
Van Dorn, Earl:
Report of, on battle with Generals
Sigel and Curtis in Arkansas
transmitted, 214.
Resolution of thanks tendered com
mand of, 232.
Vessels: In Chesapeake Bay for exporting
cotton or tobaccp referred to,
*95-
Restrictions upon, leaving ports of
Confederate States referred to,
147.
Seized for public use referred to,
247.3°$, 3IO» 3"-

Index.

635

Vessels, Naval:
Act for building of, vetoed, 266.
Appropriation for purchase of, rec
ommended, 201, 249.
Construction of, discussed, 378.
Fund raised by ladies of South Car
olina for construction of, 451.
Names of officers and contractors
abroad, communication regard
ing, 302.
Purchase and construction of,
abroad referred to, 204, 211.
Communication regarding, 302.
Vessels, Private Armed:
Commissions to, 102.
Act authorizing issuance of, 104.
Amendment to, 113.
Form of bond, 112.
Applications for, invited, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Discussed, 281, 349.
President's instructions to, in.
Vessels, War. (See Vessels, Naval.)
Veteran Soldiers' Home, act providing
for, vetoed, 409.
Veto Messages:
Abolishing office of certain quarter
masters, etc., 559.
Acceptance of volunteer regiment
from Texas, 160.
Amending act —
Aiding Kentucky, 408.
Establishing and organizing gen
eral staff for Army, 262.
Establishing and organizing Pro
visional Army, 263.
Imposing regulations upon for
eign commerce to provide for
public defense, 466.
Reducing currency and authori
zing new issue of notes and
bonds, 470.
Authorizing —
Appointment of additional artil
lery officers for ordnance duty,
466.
Appointment of additional assist
ant surgeons in Army, 130.

Veto Messages (Continued):
Building vessels of war, 266.
Claim of McDaniel and Ewing,
472.
Congressional elections in Tennes
see, 324.
Creating office of Commanding
General, 215.
Directing how prize money shall
be paid, 216.
Encouraging manufacture of small
arms, etc., 158.
Establishing court of admiralty and
maritime jurisdiction in Missis
sippi, 101.
Exemption of editors and newspa
per employees, 465.
Free mailage of newspapers to sol
diers, 556.
Granting furloughs, 162.
Increasing number of midshipmen
in Navy, 553.-
Increasing strength of heavy ar
tillery for seacoast defenses, 320.
Organizing general staff for armies,
reasons for applying pocket veto,
457-
Pay and allowances of deceased
soldiers, 216.
Payment of arrears due Army and
Navy, 561.
Promotion of officers in certain
cases, 558.
Raising and organizing troops in
Missouri, 160.
Regulating furloughs and dis
charges, 156.
Relief of Bible Society, 267.
Removal of seat of Government
from Montgomery to Richmond,
100.
Reorganizing and promoting effi
ciency of Medical Department,
263.
Repealing law authorizing natu
ralization of aliens, 165.
Slave trade, 59.
Veteran Soldiers' Home, 409.

636

Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

Veto, Pocket, bill to provide and or
ganize general staff for armies,
457-
Vice President, Confederate States.
(See Stephens, Alexander H.)
Vicksburg, Miss.:
Capitulation of, referred to, 345.
Expedition to, repulsed referred to,
276.
Siege of, referred to, 386.
Vicksburg, Miss., Siege and Capture
of. Vicksburg is on the Mississippi River,
and is the largest city in Mississippi. It
was of great strategic importance in the
early part of the war. It was held by the
Confederates, under Gen. Johnston, Dec.
28, 29, 1862, when it was attacked by the
Federals, under Generals Grant and
Sherman. They were unsuccessful May
18, 1S63, and the city was invested by
Federals, 30,000, under Gen. Grant. The
city was garrisoned by Confederates,
about 24,000, under Gen. Pemberton.
After the siege began, Gen. Grant was
reenforced until his forces amounted to
about 70,000. May 22, the Federals as
saulted the Confederate lines, and were re
pulsed with a loss of over 3,000. Failing
to capture the city by assault, the siege
was continued until July 4, when the en
tire garrison, not being able to obtain sup
plies, surrendered. Federal loss from
May i to July 4, killed, 1,500, wounded
and missing, 9,400.
Virginia: Admission of, into Confederacy re
ferred to, 77, 117.
Confederate Constitution adopted
by, 117.
Conscript law in, enforcement of,
referred to, 387.
Conspiracy in, discussed and rec
ommendations regarding, 498.
Impressment of slaves in, referred
to, 501.
Legislative action of, referred to,
347-
Martial law in counties of, pro
claimed, and orders regarding,
219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 226.
Military operations in, 448, 483.

Virginia (Continued):
Secession of, discussed, 77, 117:
Treaty with Confederate States, 82*
Commission for negotiating, 62;.
Referred to, 77.
Discussed, 77.
Proclaimed, 102.
Troops of, resolutions of thanks ten
dered, 426, 427, 428, 429, 432.
Virginia, The: (See also Hampton
Roads, Battle of.)
Engagement with the Monitor dis
cussed, 197, 210.
Plans and construction of, referred
to, 207.
Volunteer Navy, act establishing, re
ferred to, 319, 378.
Votes of Thanks. (See Resolutions of:
Thanks.)

Walker, L. P., Secretary of War,
mentioned, 96.
Walker, Richard W., mentioned, 29.
War between the States.
A four years' war, 1861-1865, between-
the United States and the Southern States
which seceded from the Union in Decem
ber, i860, and the early months of 1861,
and formed a government which they
called the Confederate States of America-
It is also called the Civil War and the
War of the Rebellion. The one leading
cause of the war was slavery, the imme
diate cause being the election of Mr.
Lincoln to the Presidency by the anti--
slavery party in the United States, in No
vember, i860. His election was effected
solely by votes from the Northern States
of the Union and by those who were hos
tile to slavery. The Southern States, be
lieving that the institution of slavery was
in danger, began to secede or withdraw
from the Union. 11 States in rapid suc
cession passed ordinances of secession.
South Carolina was the first to take this
action, Dec. 20, i860, and Tennessee the
last of the 11, June 8, 1861. The United
States Government strenuously resisted
the right of a State to secede. The result
was the war, the first engagement occur
ring at Fort Sumter, S. C, Apr. 12,
1861, when the United States attempt
ed to send supplies, etc., to the gar-

Index.

637

rison there under Maj. Anderson. After
4 years of the fiercest and bloodiest war
in history, it ended in April, 1865, by the
surrendering of the Confederate armies
then in the field. During the conflict the
United States enlisted 3,688,523 men, as
shown in the message of President Grant
to Congress Dec. 2, 1872. The Confed
erate States, as shown from statistics, en
listed between 650, oooand 700,000 men. A
brief mention of the chief battles of the
war will be found in this volume, under
their appropriate names. The exact num
ber of men enlisted by the Confederate
States and their losses cannot begivenhere
for want of the official records. The losses
on the side of the United States for killed,
wounds received in action, etc., were 9,584
officers and 349,944 men. Their public
debt increased from about $90,000,000 in
1861 to over $2,600,000,000 in 1865. The
results of the war were the abolition of
slavery, the failure of the States in their
efforts to secede, and their return to the
Union.
Act recognizing existence of, etc.,
104.
Amendment to, 113.
Alabama, destruction of the Hatter
as by the, referred to, 305.
Alabama, operations in, 483.
Alien enemies —
Banishment of, proclaimed, 131.
Regulations respecting, 132.
Sequestration of estates of, re
ferred to, 308.
Alleghany Mountain, W. Va., bat
tle of, referred to, 154.
Arkansas —
Battles in, referred to, 214.
Invasion of, by United States
forces referred to, 345.
Operations in, 483.
Armistice, violation of, by United
States alleged, 118.
Army, Confederate States, in. (See
Army, Confederate States.)
Attempts of United States to reen-
force Fort Pickens referred to,
118.
Attitude of foreign powers in, dis
cussed, 278, 348, 444, 485.

War between the States (Continued):
Attitude of United States toward
Confederate States and begin
ning of, discussed, 32, 63, 117, 184,
277.
Baker's Creek, Miss., battle of, re
ferred to, 386.
Battles and operations of. (See
also the several battles; ency
clopedic articles.)
Discussed, 72, 78, 122, 124, 136,
139. 185, 189, 196, 197, 208, 210,
232, 240, 276, 332, 345, 448, 482,
544-
Report of —
Publishing of, disapproved,
454. 4SS. 4S7. 498.'
To be transmitted, 147.
Transmitted, 127, 197, 210, 214,
241, 247, 248, 250, 251, 255,
298> 299. 3n, 3'3» 3t6> 384.
385. 386. 39 1 > 4°6. 454. 455,
456. 457. 498, 499, 5°3. 5H>
53°. 534. 535, 537. 538. 539
Belligerency of Confederate States
recognized by foreign powers, re
ferred to, 280.
Belmont, Mo., battle of, referred to,
137-
Big Bethel, Va., battle of, referred
to, 137.
Blockade of Confederate ports —
Binding effect of, and attitude of
foreign powers regarding, dis
cussed, 142, 282, 349.
Proclamation announcing, dis
cussed, 76.
Blue Springs, Tenn., operations at,
402.
Bridgeport, Ala., operations at,
245-
Bull Run, Va., battle of, or first
battle of Manassas —
Dispatch of President Davis to
Congress regarding, 124.
Referred to, 137.
Carrick's Ford, W. Va., action at,
referred to, 198.

638 Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

War between the States (Continued):
Causes leading up to, discussed, 32,
63 (see also 60, 70, 78, 82), 117,
184, 277.
Charleston, S. C—
Defense of, against United States
forces discussed, 345, 403.
Siege of, discussed and referred
to. 7i, 78, 448.
Chattanooga, Tenn., battle of. (See
Lookout Mountain; Missionary
Ridge, hereunder.)
Chickamauga, Ga., battle of, dis
cussed and referred to, 346, 452.
Conscription in, discussed. (See
Conscription Law; Conscription
Service.)
Coosaw River, engagement at, re
ferred to, 200.
Cumberland Gap, Tenn., surrender
of, discussed, 346.
Declaration of war by President
Lincoln referred to, 63, 74.
Destruction of property by United
States forces discussed, 380.
Disaffection and disloyalty in Con
federate States discussed, 395.
Discussed, 72, 78, 122, 124, 136, 139,
185, 189, 196, 197, 208, 210, 232,
240, 276, 332, 345, 448, 482, 544.
Droop Mountain, W. Va., battle of,
referred to, 385.
Fishing Creek, Ky., battle of, re
ferred to, 200.
Florida, operations in, 448.
Fort Donelson, Tenn., fall of, re
ferred to, 1S9, 196, 207, 245.
Fort Henry, Tenn., disaster at, re
ferred to, 207.
Fort Pickens, Fla.—
Attempts of United States to re-
enforce, 118.
Possession of, recommendations
for obtaining, 56.
Fort Sumter, S. C—
Hostile expedition sent by Unit
ed States to, referred to, 118,
279.

War between the States (Continued) :
Fort Sumter, S. C—
Possession of, recommendations
for obtaining, 56.
Reduction of, discussed and re
ferred to, 71, 78, 98.
Fredericksburg, Va., battle of, re
ferred to, 276, 384.
Galveston, Tex., recovery of, from
United States forces, 276.
Georgia —
Advance of Gen. Rosecrans's.
army into, discussed, 346.
Operations in, 448.
Gettysburg, Pa., battle of, dis
cussed, 346.
Habeas corpus, writ of. (See Ha
beas Corpus.)
Hampton Roads, Va., battle of, dis
cussed and reports on, transmit
ted, 197, 210.
Hatteras, destruction of the, by the
Alabama referred to, 305.
Hatteras Inlet, N. C, capture of, re
ferred to, 129.
Helena, Ark., unsuccessful at
tack upon post at, referred to,.
345-
Henderson, Tenn, operations at,
402.
Holcomb Legion referred to, 456.
Jackson, Miss., battle of, referred
t°. 345.
James Island, S. C, engagement
at, referred to, 245.
Kentucky —
Invasion of, by Federal forces
and action of Confederate au
thorities discussed, 137.
Military operations in, 137, 448.
Neutrality of, not recognized by
Federal authorities discussed,
m-
Leesburg, Va , battle of, referred
to, 137, 192.
Letters of marque and reprisal —
Applications for, invited, 60.
Referred to, 75.

Index-

639

War between the States (Continued) :
Letters of marque and reprisal —
Issuance of, 102.
Act authorizing, 104.
Amendment to, 113.
Form of bond, j 12.
President's instructions regard
ing, in.
Lexington, Mo., battle of, referred
to, 137-
Little Rock, Ark., retreatof Confed
erate Army from, discussed, 345.
Lookout Mountain, Tenn., battle
of, discussed, 347.
Louisiana —
Operations in, 386, 448, 482.
United States armies in, defeat
ed, 345.
McDowell, Va., battle of, referred
to, 320.
McRae, the, mentioned, 79.
Manassas, Va., first battle of. (See
Bull Run, hereunder.)
Manassas, Va., or Bull Run, second
battle of—
Discussed, 240.
Referred to in proclamation,
268.
Martial law extended, and orders
regarding, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223,
224, 225, 226.
Merrimac-Monitor engagement in
Hampton Roads, Va., 197, 210.
Military preparations discussed, 78.
Military preparations of United
States discussed, 71 (see also 60,
63, 82), 118, 277.
Military supplies —
Appropriation for, recommend
ed, 58, 78.
Funds sent abroad for, referred
to, 242, 261.
Recommendations for procuring,
532, 545, 5S2-
Transfer of, from State deposito
ries to General Government,
recommendations regarding,
5°-

War between the States (Continued) :
Militia law, general, recommended,
491, 548.
Missionary Ridge, Tenn., battle of,
discussed, 347.
Mississippi, operations in, 385, 386,
448, 483.
Mississippi River, war on, referred
to, 345-
Missouri, operations in, 137,483.
Mobile, Ala., naval attack on, re
ferred to, 448.
Mobile Bay, outer defense of, cap
ture of, referred to, 483.
Monitor-Merrimac engagement in
Hampton Roads, Va., 197, 210.
Morris Island, S. C, operations on,
499-
Murfreesboro, Tenn., battle of, re
ferred to, 317.
Nashville, Tenn., evacuation and
removal of public property from,
referred to, 245.
Navy, Confederate States, in. (See
Navy, Confederate States.)
Negroes in. (See Slaves.)
Neutrality of foreign powers in,
discussed, 280, 348, 444.
Partiality in favor of United
States discussed, 280,348, 444.
Retaliatory measures dis
cussed, 358.
New Orleans, La., capture of, pro
ceedings of court in inquiry re
garding, transmitted, 457.
Newbern, N. C, battle of, referred
to, 212.
North Carolina, operations in, 298,
448.
Number of troops in, furnished by
each State referred to, 246.
Ordnance supplies. (See Ordnance
and Ordnance Supplies.)
Outrages committed by Federal
authorities and soldiers re
ferred to, 115, 119, 127, 128, 137,
140, 184, 233, 289, 298, 329, 376,
379, 443, 493, 564-

640

Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

War between the States (Continued) :
Outrages committed by Federal
authorities and soldiers —
Retaliatory measures —
Discussed, 234.
Proclaimed, 269.
Discussed, 289,
Threatened, 115, 120, 141.
Palmetto Light Artillery, organi
zation and disbanding of, referred
to, 456.
Partiality of foreign powers in fa
vor of United States in, dis
cussed, 280, 348, 444.
Retaliation discussed, 358.
Peace negotiations discussed. (See
Peace Commissioners; Peace
Conferences ; Peace Negotia
tions.)
Pensacola, Fla. —
Bombardment of, referred to,
200.
Evacuation of forts, etc., at, re
ferred to, 245.
Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., battle of.
(See Shiloh, hereunder.)
Port Gibson, Miss., battle of, re
ferred to, 386.
Port Hudson, La., capitulation of,
referred to, 3-15.
Port Royal Ferry, S. C, engage
ment at, referred to, 200.
Prisoners of war —
Enlistment of, taking oath af al
legiance to Confederate States,
501.
Exchange of, arrangements for,
237. 492, 501.
Cartel of, transmitted, 241.
Letter of President Davis to
President Lincoln regarding,
343-
Questions regarding, referred
to, 395-
Stephens, A. H., correspond
ence regarding appointment
of, as commissioner on sub
ject of, 339.

War between the States (Continued) :
Prisoners of war —
Exchange of, arrangements for —
Suspension of, discussed, 375,
445-
Rations furnished, referred to,
37°, 5°2.
Relief of, arrangements for, re
ferred to, 502.
Treatment of —
Discussed, 120, 127, 128, 289,
37°, 493-
Letter of President Davis to
President Lincoln regard
ing, 115.
Referred to, 121.
Retaliation —
Measures of, proclaimed, 269.
Discussed, 289.
Threatened, 115, 120, 141.
Private armed vessels —
Commissions to, 102.
Act authorizing issuance of, 104 .
Amendment to, 113.
Form of bond, 112.
Applications for, invited, 60.
Referred to, 75.
Discussed, 281, 349.
President's instructions to, in.
Privateering discussed, 281, 349.
Prosecution of —
Communication regarding ap
propriation for, 208.
Discussed, 72, 78, 122, 124, 136,
139, 185, 189, 196, 197, 208, 210,
232, 240, 276, 332, 345, 448, 482,
544-
Legislation for, discussed, 234.
Recognition of independence of
Confederate States —
Attitude of powers regarding,
discussed, 279, 348, 444, 485.
Commissioners sent to request, 76.
Intervention not desired, 487.
Request for, discussed, 142;
Resolutions of thanks tendered of
ficers and soldiers in. (See Res
olutions of Thanks.)

Index.

641

War between the States (Continued) :
Rheatown, Tenn., operations at,
402.
Richmond, Ky., battle of, referred
to in proclamation, 268.
Richmond, Va. —
Army of United States threaten
ing, defeated, 233, 241.
Referred to in proclamation,
268.
Threatened capture of, 544.
Roanoke Island, N. C, surrender
of, referred to, 189, 207.
St. Charles, Ark., engagement at,
referred to, 238.
Shiloh, Tenn., battle of —
Discussed, 208.
Gen. Albert S.Johnston killed at,
209.
Reports on, transmitted, 245, 309.
Slaves in. (See Slaves.)
South Carolina volunteers referred
to, 456.
South Mills, N . C, affair at, referred
to, 245.
Springfield, Mo., battle of, referred
to, 137-
Staunton River Bridge, engage
ment at, referred to, 499.
Stone's River, Tenn., battle of, re
ferred to, 317.
Sumter, the, mentioned, 79.
Tennessee, operations in, 448, 483.
Tennessee River, operations on,
245-
Texas, operations in, 482.
Thanks of Congress tendered offi
cers and soldiers in. (See Reso
lutions of Thanks.)
Tishomingo Creek, Miss., battle of,
referred to, 499.
Trans-Mississippi Department, op
erations in, 388, 530.
Transportation facilities discussed,
81, 139, IS1. 23°. 249. 295. 492, 533.
536-
Troops in. (See Army, Confeder
ate States; Army, United States.)
41

War between the States (Continued):
Vicksburg, Miss. — .
Capitulation of, referred to, 345.
Expedition to, repulsed, referred
to, 276.
Siege of, referred to, 386.
Virginia, operations in, 448, 483.
Wilmington, N. C. —
Defense of, referred to, 402.
Running blockade of, referred
to, 382.
War Department:
Appropriations for, recommend
ed, 303, 406, 533, 536.
Clerks in, 303, 503.
Employees in, referred to, 552.
Number of men between 18 and 45
necessary in, 533.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 73, 78, 138, 151, 190, 194,
195, 199. 2°°, 201, 235, 294, 369,
447, 49 1-
War, Prisoners of:
Enlistment of, taking oath of al
legiance to Confederate States,
501.
Exchange of, arrangements for,
237, 492, 501-
Cartel of, transmitted, 241.
Letter of President Davis to
President Lincoln regarding,
343-
Questions regarding, referred to,
395-
Stephens, A. H., correspondence
regarding appointment of, as
commissioner on subject of,
339-
Suspension of, discussed, 375,
445-
Rations furnished, referred to, 376,
502.
Relief of, arrangements for, re
ferred to, 502.
Treatment of — ¦
Discussed, 120, 127, 128, 289, 376,
493-

642

Messages and Papers of the Confederacy.

War, Prisoners of (Continued):
Treatment of —
Letter of President Davis to
P resident Lincoln regarding,
"5-
Referred to, 121.
Retaliation —
Measures of, proclaimed, 269.
Discussed, 2S9.
Threatened, 115, 120, 141.
War, Secretary of:
Appropriations recommended by.
(See Appropriations.)
Communication from, transmitted,
147.
Report of, transmitted and dis
cussed, 73, 78, 138, 151, 190, 194,
'95, 199, 200, 201, 235, 294, 369,
447, 491-
War Tax:
Appropriation recommended to re
fund excess of, paid by —
Louisiana, 253.
North Carolina, 239.
Propriety of providing for payment
of loans by, discussed, 259.
War Vessels. (See Vessels, Naval.)
Washington and New Orleans Tele
graph Company, shares held in,
by alien enemies discussed, 308,
3°9-
Watkins, Oscar M., „ resolution of
thanks tendered command of,
338.
Webb, W. A., mentioned, 19S.
Weed, Thurlow, mentioned, 95.
Weldon Railroad, Va., Seizure of.
While operating against Richmond
and Petersburg, Va., in June, 1S64, the
Federals, under Gen. Grant, attempted to
capture this road from the Confederates,
under Gen. Lee. The latter were attacked
on June 22 by Federals, under the imme
diate command of Generals Birney and
Wright, who were repulsed with heavy
loss. August 18, another attack was made
by forces under Gen. Warren, the Con
federates being under command of Gen.
Mahone, with a Federal loss of 4,500.
On the 25th, at Reams Station, an assault
was made on the Second Army Corps and '

Gregg's cavalry while destroying*' the
railroad, and they were driven off with
heavy losses.
Wheat's Louisiana Battalion, disband
ing of, referred to, 261.
Wheeler, Joseph, resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 338.
Whiting, William H. C:
Correspondence with, regarding
defense of Wilmington, N. C,
transmitted, 402.
Report of, regarding running
blockade of Wilmington, N. C,
transmitted, 382.
Wilderness, Va., Battle of. (See also
Spottsylvania Court House, Bat
tle of.)
A battle in the Wilderness region in
Virginia, south of the Rapidan River,
May 5, 6, 1S64. The Federals, 120,000
men and 300 guns, were commanded by
Gen. Grant and Gen. Meade; the Confed
erates, 65,000, by Gen. Lee. The Confed
erates attacked on the 5th, and the fight
ing was severe through that day and the
next. Federal losses, near 20,000, includ
ing 5,000 prisoners; Confederate loss,
about 10,000. The Federals withdrew,
and marched to near Spottsylvania Court
House. The Confederates met them
there, and the battle of Spottsylvania
Court House was fought.
WiUcox, 0. B., correspondence in
peace negotiations, 521.
Williams, John S., report of, on opera
tions at Blue Springs, Henderson,
and Rheatown transmitted, 402.
Williamsburg, Va., Battle of.
A battle at Williamsburg, Va., May 6,
1862. The Federals were commanded by
Generals Hooker and Heintzelman; the
Confederates, by Gen. Magruder. The
Federals attacked and were repulsed,
with a loss of 450 killed and 1,800 wound
ed and missing; Confederate loss, includ
ing killed and wounded, 1,500.
Wilmington, N. C:
Defense of, referred to, 402.
Running blockade of, referred to,
382.
Wilson's Creek, Mo., Battle of.
A battle near Springfield, Mo., Aug.
10, 1861. The Federals were command
ed by Generals Lyon and Sigel; the

Index.

643

Confederates, by Generals McCulloch and
Price. The Federals made two attacks,
both of which were repulsed, and they
_ were defeated, with a loss in killed,
wounded, and missing of 1,250. Gen.
Lyon was killed. Confederate loss,
about 1,100.
Winchester, Va., Battles at.
Winchester, in the Shenandoah Val
ley, Va., was the scene of several battles.
The first, the Federals were commanded
by Gen. Shields; the Confederates, by
Gen. T.J.Jackson, Mch. 23, 1S62. The lat
ter retired to his main army. Federal
loss, 600 in killed and wounded; Confed
erate loss, about 700. This engagement
is called also the battle of Kernstown.
In the second engagement, June 15, 1S63,
the Federals were commanded by Gen.
Milroyjthe Confederates, by Gen. Long-
street. The Federals were defeated, with
a loss of over 4,000 men and many guns;
Confederate loss, very small. The third
engagement occurred here July 12, 1864,
when Federals, under Gen. Averell, were
attacked by Confederates, under Gen.
Early. The Federals were defeated, with
a loss of about 400. Another engage
ment took place here Sept. 19, 1864, when
Federals, under Gen. Sheridan, attacked
the Confederates, under Gen. Early. The
latter retreated to and beyond Winches
ter, with a loss of 5,500; Federal loss,
about 5,000. This is called also the battle
of Opequan.
Winder, John H., orders to, regarding
martial law in Richmond, Va.,
220.

Wise, Henry A., report of, on fall of
Roanoke Island referred to, 207.
Withers, Jones M., report of, on bat
tle of Shiloh, Tenn., transmitted,
245-
Women of Confederacy, resolution of
thanks tendered, 230.
Wood, John T., resolution of thanks
tendered command of, 430.
Wyandotte Constitution. (See also
Lecompton Constitution ; Topeka
Constitution.) The final constitution adopted for the
State of Kansas at Wyandotte, now a
part of Kansas City, in that State. It was
adopted in October, 1S59; was ratified by
a vote of 10,421 to 5,530, and made Kan
sas a free State.

Yancey, William L., commissioner to
Europe, nomination of, 57.
Yorktown, Va., Siege of.
Yorktown is situated on York River, 50
miles from Richmond. The Federals,
commanded by Gen. McClellan, laid siege
to Yorktown, which was garrisoned by
Confederates, under Gen. Magruder, be
ginning Apr. 4, 1S62. On that day, in an
attack made by the Federals, they lost 35
killed and 120 wounded; Confederate loss,
about 100. May 4, the Confederates evac
uated the place, and retired up the Penin
sula.