Beschreibung:

Letter signed as Confederate Secretary of War to Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown requesting that the state transfer troops into Confederate service.
Montgomery, [AL]: 8 March 1861. 2 pp., (251 x 200 mm). Condition: lightly toned at margins. first confederate secretary of war writes the governor of georgia asking for state troops to be transferred to the provisional confederate army. The Provisional Army of the Confederate States was authorized by an act of the Confederate Congress on 28 February 1861, the week prior to this important letter. Walker here asks Brown to give permission for the militia of his state to be transferred into the newly-formed army: "I had the honor, some days since, to enclose to your Excellency a copy of an Act of the Congress providing for the transfer of the troops now in the service of your State, to the Provisional Army of the Confederate States. The third section of that Act refers to the troops already in the service of the State Governments, who must be tendered by the respective State authorities, and also to such troops, not in the service of the States, as may volunteer with the consent of the States. Your Excellency is aware that the process of organizing the Regular Army of the Confederate States must necessarily be slow and unsatisfactory, and wholly inadequate to the present emergencies of our situation. Under these circumstances, the main reliance of this Government, at this time, must be in the State forces now in service, and such volunteer organizations in the respective States, as may be desirous of being incorporated into the Provisional Army. The President, therefore, instructs me to express the hope that Your Excellency appreciating, as, I doubt not you do, the necessity for immediate military organization subject to the control of this Government - will tender, for the Provisional Army, the troops now in the service of your State … Believing that your Excellency fully appreciates the imminent necessity for prompt action, and trusting that these suggestions will receive immediate consideration…" This was the first call for troops made by the Confederate government to the states. At the time, no Southern state was in a better position to defend its borders than Georgia. Nevertheless, Brown was reluctant to cede control of Georgia forces to the Confederate government for the common defense of the Southern states. His response to Walker's request for troops was conditional, and marked the beginning of the long and often bitter conflict between Brown and the Confederate government over its authority over Georgia troops and, more generally, the rights of states. See Hill's Joseph E. Brown and the Confederacy, pp. 51-54 for a lengthy discussion of Brown's response to this call.