James A. Seddon to 206 Correspondence, Etc, March 10, 1864
Richmond, Va., March 10, 1864.
His Excellency M. L. BoNHAM, Governor of South Carolina, Columbia, S. C.:
Sir: I have received your letter of the 2d instant with regard to the discharge of soldiers appointed cadets in the military academy and inclosing resolutions of the Legislature of your State by the appointment of such cadets.
In reply I have the honor to say that the State cadets appointed by Your Excellency in pursuance of the resolutions of the General Assembly will be permitted to attend such military institutions within the State as may be designated by you.. I had not previously been aware of the limited scope of the appointing power, or that when applied to youths in service it was intended as a reward for peculiar merit. At the same time, as many other States have military institutions, and it will be difficult to make generally known the difference between these special instances and the other cadets whom I have refused to discharge, I would earnestly recommend that appointments be made, as far as possible, from those not in service. Greater dissatisfaction than Your Excellency is aware of is frequently engendered in a command by a discharge which seems based on partiality or a special exception.
I have also received your letter of the 4th instant* urging the propriety of stationing in the upper part of your State a force sufficient for its protection in the event that General Longstreet should evacuate East Tennessee. The contingency referred to by Your Excellency has not yet arisen, and I trust there will be no occasion for the employment of troops within the important section mentioned for its defense from raids of the enemy. :
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Secretary of War.
* See Series I, Vol. LITI, p. 314.
Additional regulations to carry into effect the act entitled ââAn act to
impose regulations upon the foreign commerce of the Confederate
States to provide for the public defense,â approved February 6, 1864.
IIl.âOVERLAND COMMERCE WITH MEXICO.