Howell Cobb to Office Commandant Of Conscripts For East Louisiana, April 21, 1864

Macon, April 21, 1864.

His Excellency JosmEPH E. Brown, Governor, &c., Milledgeville, Ga.:

Str: I have been assigned by the President to the command of the Georgia reserve force to be organized under the late act of Congress, calling the men between seventeen and eighteen and forty-five and fifty into the service. Impelled by both duty and feeling I desire to make this force as efficient as possible. We are pressed on all sides by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and our own State is threatened both on the sea-board and the northwest. At no time since the war began has there existed so urgent a necessity for calling into the field every man capable of serving the country, and whose services are not more valuable at home than inthe field. It is only necessary to state the proposition to receive your responsive approval. In your recent address to the people of Georgia, of the 9th instant, declaring who are exempt from military service, I find the following paragraph:

I regret to learn that able-bodied young men havein some cases been elected to inferior county, district, or militia offices to the exclusion of old men competent to fill the places; but as the constitution and laws give me no control over the decisions of the people in such cases, and noright to interfere with them in the exercise of the elective franchise, I have no discretion, but am obliged to commission those who are legally elected, and under the general rule of law am obliged to extend to them the same protection which is afforded to other commissioned officers. I know of individual cases where I regret this necessity imposed by a general rule of law, and would give the office to older men over whom they have succeeded, and send them to the Army if I could do so in the legal discharge of ia date But I must yield to the choice of those who have the right to make

This expression of feeling authorizes the conclusion that Your Excelleney desires to place in the military service of the country all that class whom you regret to find avoiding their duty by holding State commissions, but whose presence at home is not required for any State service. This class I fear is large, and with Your Excellency’s co-operation I think can be withdrawn from their official retreats, and be brought into the service of their country, where their presence is called for by every consideration of duty and patriotism.

Allow me to call your attention to the language of the act of Congress under which these exemptions are made. It is as follows:

The Vice-President of the Confederate States, the members and officers of Congress, and of the several State Legislatures, and such other Confederate and State officers as the President or the Governors of the respective States may certify to be necessary for the proper administration of the Confederate or State governments, as the case may be.

You will perceive that Congress intended that those, and those only, should be exempted whom the Governors of the respective States may certify to be necessary for the proper administration of the State governments. I submit that the sweeping exemption of all civil and military officers of the State was never contemplated for a moment in the passage of this act; if so, the law could have so declared; but

the object was to enable the Governor of each State to retain all who, in his judgment, were necessary for the administration of the State government. Hence the law, reposing confidence in the sound judgment and patriotic devotion of the State Executives, put these exemptions under the control of the Governor, whose certificate was alone required to authorize the exemption. If I am right in this view of the subject I should respectfully ask Your Excellency to consider whether all the officers exempted under your certificate are necessary for the proper administration of the State government. Allow me to allude to some of these officers in detail.

First. The number of sheriffs and their deputies, clerks of the superior and inferior courts and their deputies. The business of the courts is almost entirely suspended, and I seriously doubt if there is a county in Georgia where a single deputy is required in either of these offices. Sheriffs require a jailer in each county, but beyond that none of them have the least use for a deputy. In these two offices of sheriffs and clerks of courts there are probably over 400 deputies not needed at home for the business of their offices.

Second. There are in Georgia over 2,000 justices of the peace and over 1,000 constables. I think I may safely say that one justice of the peace can do all the business of any district in the State, and onefourth of the constables could do all that appertains to that office. Could not all these offices be as well filled by men over fifty, and by not exempting any justice of the peace or constable of military age? I am sure no injury would be done to this branch of the State service, whilst the ranks of our Army would be considerably increased. I have been informed of districts where there has not been a justice of the peace for several years, but to obtain exemptions these offices have been sought and are now filled by men both liable and capable of doing military duty.

cate that all civil and military officers of the State were necessary for the proper administration of the State government if, in point of fact, he did not believe that such was the case. They had no right, either legal or moral, to tax your conscience with a certificate which the laws of the country had submitted to your own decision. If, therefore, you believe, as I infer from your published address is your belief, and as I am sure every intelligent and patriotic man in the State will agree with you in saying, that all of these officers are not necessary to the proper administration of the State government, I submit that you would render the country great benefit by so modifying your certificate as to limit the exemption to those officers who are necessary to the proper administration of the State government, and allow and require all others to go into the military service of the country. I feel quite sure from my knowledge of the members of the Legislature that they did not contemplate such a result from their action as it now appears is likely to follow. Your action, I feel confident, in giving to the military service of the country all not necessary for the administration of the State government, will give to the members of the Legislature, in common with your fellow-citizens generally, real and sincere gratification.

It is to be regretted that the condition of the country demands so large a withdrawal of its population from the ordinary pursuits of life, but this is a necessity which cannot be avoided, however much it may be deplored. Besides, it is not justices of the peace, deputy sheriffs, clerks, and militia officers who are needed at home, but farmers and mechanics, and it is far better that as many of the latter and as few of the former as possible be withheld from service, as just as the number of sinecure deputies and militia officers at home inereases, so the necessity for calling into the field more of our farmers and mechanics is increased. As it is important that the reserve force should be efficiently organized at the earliest possible day, I request your early attention to the subject.

very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Major-General, Commanding.

Mobile, April 28, 1864.

Superintendent of Conscription, Richmond, Va.:

COLONEL: I have the honor to state that I have temporarily established my office at this place. I have received reports from some of

my officers exhibiting the fact that conscription in East Louisiana