Edwin M. Stanton to 166 Correspondence, Etc, February 28, 1864

Richmond, Va., February 28, 1864.

His Excellency J. E. BRown, Governor of Georgia, Milledgeville, Ga.:

Sir: Your letter of the 29th ultimo has been received. The important business that has engaged the attention of the Department during the present month, in connection with Congress, has prevented me from affording a reply to it before this time. The reply shall be made without any reference to the acrimonious language you have thought proper to address to the Department.

The severe losses sustained in different portions of the Confederacy during the campaign of the last spring, from the cavalry raids of the enemy, and the critical condition of our affairs in Mississippi and Tennessee, impressed me with the conviction that a thorough organization of the reserve forces of every State had become necessary to avert similar disasters.

On the 6th of June last I addressed a communication to the Executive of each of the States east of the Mississippi River inviting their co-operation in the attainment of this desirable object. The plan of organization proposed was described in that letter; also, in a letter of the 19th of June, and in the published orders of the Department of the 22d of June ultimo.

The plan was to organize all the population not liable to military service under the acts of Congress, usually designated as conscription acts, in companies and regiments under the acts of Congress to provide for the local defense. The companies thus formed were not to be called into service unless they were actually needed; were to serve only while the emergency lasted, and were then to be dismissed to their homes. To secure these organizations a requisition was made for a quota of militia from each of the States, but with the declaration that these militia troops were not preferred, and that the call for militia would be fully answered if companies for the local defense were organized. In my telegram to you of the 12th of June I say:

Organizations under the law of the Provisional Congress are preferred mainly because of their longer term of duration and greater adaptation for ready call, or temporary service, and then for dismission to their ordinary pursuits. The militia called out for even a limited time would be continuously in the field. Besides militia corps, if they could be called out so temporarily, might be considered by the enemy as State troops, not, in their construction, entitled to exchange. If, however, the organizations are not formed in adequate numbers, militia, on the plan proposed by you or in the usual way, will be accepted.

On June 16 I informed you that the privilege of organizing companies for local defense, and of tendering them to the President for acceptance, is allowed to the people by the act of Congress. I am not authorized to restrict or deny it. If you will undertake to direct such organizations, and can thus obtain the whole number required

CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES. 165

in Georgia for the purpose explained, I will thankfully accept your aid, and from this time leave the matter in your hands for execution.

The authority thus confided was confided at your request, and the organizations completed in Georgia have been made under your superintendence. That the expectations of the Department were not fully answered as to the character of the organization to be formed is quite apparent, and the returns of the muster-rolls for Georgia have been so tardy that the Department has been left in ignorance for much of queue as to the nature and strength of the organizations actually made.

For a portion of the time you have claimed that these organizations were militia organizations, and were to be commanded by State officers.

The Department has accepted, with thankfulness, the co-operation you proffered, and that it has not realized from it its entire expectations or hopes has been rather a matter of regret than for censure or complaint. That an organization of the whole military strength of Georgia had become necessary for the defense of the State, the events that have occurred since June last sufficiently attest. The fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson; the defeat sustained by our troops at Jackson and Gettysburg; the evacuation of Tennessee by Generals Bragg and Buckner; the accumulation of force by the enemy on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, and the concentration of the army of General Grant at Chattanooga, have all contributed to menace Georgia with an invasion of a very formidable character. The invasion actually took place; and but for the advantage obtained by our troops at Chickamauga the most fatal consequences may have ensued. Nor has the Department at any time felt that degree of security in respect to the sea-coast of Georgia that authorized any diminution of the force collected for the defense of Savannah. The situation on the frontier of Georgia for the last six months has all the time been so critical that a judicious administration did not justify the disbanding of any troops under the control of the Department.

I have no disposition to depreciate the importance of a full supply of provisions for the Army and people. No one can be more profoundly impressed with the existence of the necessity than myself. The duty imposed upon the Department of reconciling the claims of the different branches of service for support is among the most difficult and delicate that it has to perform. That undue preference has not been given to the Army is evinced by the fact that the disasters it has sustained have been owing principally to the deficiency of its numbers. In consequence of the inability of this Government to maintain the numbers of the Army to that standard that would enable it to compete with that of the enemy we must ascribe the lamentable condition of many parts of the Confederacy at this time which are in his occupation. Congress, in view of this fact, have been continually employed in increasing the draft from those employed in industrial pursuits to fill the diminished ranks of the Army. The Department may regret the necessity for this, but unless the cause of the Confederacy is to be abandoned it can see no other course for it to pursue than to execute the laws passed by Congress in the spirit with which they have been made. A cordial acquiescence and support of that legislation is called for by every motive of patriotism, every sentiment of loyalty, and every consideration of public honor and private interest.

Very respectfully, yours, JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

Columbus, February 23, 1864.
Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON,
Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.:
Sir: Allow me to urge upon your consideration the policy and justice of placing conscripts in the oldest and veteran regiments, so far
as South Carolina is concerned. Whilst I would not desire to make