USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume I > Part 53
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On the 14th of May, 1861, General Order No. 8, of the State Exeen- tive Department was issued by authority of Governor Joseph E .. Brown. the purport of which is in this language: "Companies will not be per- mitted to carry with them beyond the limits of the State of Georgia. without the consent of the commander-in-chief, any arms or accontre- ments of any kind, furnished to them by the state under his orders, or which belong to the state, or have been provided * * at the ex-
pense of the state." The reason for the issuing of that order was generally believed to be the fact that Captain Francis S. Bartow, of the Savannah Military Company, the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, organized in 1856, had offered the services of his command to President Jefferson Davis as part of the Confederate army for.the whole period of the war. and his determination to go in spite of the refusal of Governor Brown to consent to his taking the company ont of the state of Georgia, T :. editor of the Savannah Republican, commenting on the order, on Frid .... the 17th, said, in part: "Whether the Governor designs to refuse his consent in all cases, or merely to require that a proper respect should be shown him by those companies which leave the state under orders from the Confederate Goverment does not appear. In the former
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event, the order is likely to produce no little confusion in the move- ments of our armies. The Confederate States have existed but for a day, and we have no thought that they are prepared to furnish arms, and in the time required, particularly under anything like an emergency. They would then rely upon the several states, and though some con- fusion may exist, owing to the variety of arms in the service, it will be far less than that to be occasioned by the presence of troops in time of battle without arms or accontrements at all. Governor Brown may be technically right in this order, but he has at least selected an unfor- tunate time for using it the present is no time for standing on mere technicalities and punctilio. They have already been carried too far for the effectiveness of the service and the credit of the state, and, if necessary. we should not hesitate at sacrifices to preserve harmony between the local and Confederate authorities. We hear of no trouble elsewhere, and cannot see why the state of Georgia should be the only captious member of the Confederacy."
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Gov. JOSEPH E. BROWN'S HEADQUARTERS
Representing Chatham county in the secession convention, Bartow was the natural choice of the people as congressman from the first dis- trict at Montgomery, Alabama, retiring on the acceptance of the services of his company by President Davis. He left with the Oglethorpe Light Infantry for the seat of war, and on the same day Governor Brown addressed a letter to him which brought forth a most scathing reply. The correspondence produced great excitement at the time and the matter is of such interest, considering the standing of the parties in relation to the public and especially Bartow's citizenship in Savannah,. that, without hesitation, his epistle is herewith given in full. As the writer quotes the words of Governor Brown on every point to which he deemed an answer necessary, the letter of the latter is not reproduced.
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BARTOW'S WARM AND MANLY REPLY TO GOVERNOR
Writing from Camp Defiance, Harper's Ferry, June 14th, 1861, Captain Bartow said :
"To Governor Joseph E. Brown :
"Sir-I received your letter of the 21st of May ult., while at Richmond. Since the date of its reception I have been so constantly engaged in the duties of the service I have undertaken that I have found no time which could be devoted to an acknowledgment of your communication. I now write amidst the hurry and confusion of the camp, being about to march from this point, we trust, to meet the enemy.
"I have little time and less inelination to reply in detail to the in- solent missive you thought proper to publish in my absence. Respect. however, for the good opinion of the people of Georgia induces me in a few words to set right my conduct which you have taken so much pains to asperse, and to correct the mis-statements and false imputations with which your letter abounds.
"You say that I have 'commenced my military career by setting at defiance the orders of the officers upon whom the constitution of my state has conferred the right to command me.' I am not aware that you have any such right, unless I were actually enlisted in the service of the state of Georgia, in a contingency which, under the constitution, would give the state the right to raise and maintain troops.
"I commenced my military. career. as you are pleased to term it, . under the flag of the Confederate States, and I recognize, not you, but the president of the Confederate States, as the officer upon whom (to which Georgia is a party) 'was conferred the right to command me.' It is true that I tendered, under instructions from my company, their services to the Confederate States through you, in the first instance : this, however, was simply because the president had adopted that mode of obtaining troops as a matter of public convenience, and not because there ever was any constitution or law which required him to appeal to the state executives: still less is there any ground for your asser- tion that the rights of the states are violated by the president receiving troops directly, without the intervention of the governor.
"You labor, and have constantly labored, under the impression that you are the STATE OF GEORGIA. I beg leave to protest against this conclusion, in which I assure yon I can never concur. By the con- stitution of the Confederate States, to which Georgia has agreed, the Confederate government is alone chargeable with questions of peace and war, and has the exclusive right, except in case of invasion, to raise and maintain armies. The congress, and not the governors of the states, are empowered to raise these armies: and as the constitution is broad and unqualified in this grant of power, the congress is un- restricted in the mode in which it shall be exercised. The president of the Confederate States is the commander-in-chief of these armies. thus raised for a common cause, and the governors of states have not. so far as I am aware, any jurisdiction or power over this subject, ercept so far as patriotism may induce them to co-operate with the general government in times of great emergeney and danger. Your conclusion. therefore, that 'the act of congress under which I go is a palpable en-
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croachment upon the rights of states' does not in the least disturb me. Neither upon reason nor authority do I consider the opinion of mueh value. I think most people will prefer the judgment of the Confederate congress and the president of the Confederate States, who gave the act their deliberate sanetion.
"You have fallen into another error upon this subject. You say 'that I proceeded to the Confederate congress, of which I am a mem- ber, and, that a bill was passed. you suppose chiefly by my influence, which authorized the president to receive military powers over the head and independent of state authority.' You further say that 'un- der this act I was accepted into service without your consent and per- mitted to leave Savannah and go to Virginia.' I assure you, in pass- ing. that I shall never think it necessary to obtain your consent to enter the service of my country. God forbid that I should ever fall so low.
"But to your charge. I know not to what act you refer as the one under which I was accepted into service; but I will inform you that the act under which I serve is entitled . An act to raise additional troops to serve during the war.' This act, to the best of my remembrance, contains no allusion to state authority, nor does it allude in any part to the governors of states. It is simply an act authorizing the presi- dent to accept the services of volunteers for the war, and to appoint their field officers, and in these two respects alone it differs from other acts under which volunteers have been accepted. This bill was intro- duced into congress by the Hon. Mr. Wigfall. of Texas, without any consultation with me, referred to the military committee, of which I was chairman, perfected by it, and passed by the congress. It met the approval of the more distinguished leaders of the states rights school in the congress, and was regarded by congress as the best means to raise an efficient army so absolutely required by the wicked in- vasion set on foot by the North. Mr. Wright, of Georgia, introduced a bill which does authorize the president, without calling upon the governors of the states, to accept the services of volunteers at the times he may prescribe; but with this bill I had no connection, nor am I in service under its terms, nor had I any agency in procuring its introdne- tion or enactment.
"You go on to say 'that I must be presumed to be the leading spirit in procuring the passage of this bill, and that I was the first to avail myself of its benefits by accepting a high command under it.' You remark 'that it is said I am to have a colonel's commission.' Now, sir, the facts are, that under the former bill, by which twelve months' vol- unteers were raised for the war, the president had as much power to accept them directly as he had under this act, for the war; and it is a mere matter of discretion with him under both acts, whether he will or will not use the intervention of state executives; and yet. while step- ping out of the way to stab me in the back you seem criminally ignorant of what you ought to know.
"You have also insinuated in this charge and elsewhere in your letter that I have been misled by motives of personal ambition. The . attribution of low motives of conduet to others is most frequently the. result of long familiarity with such principles of action. It is danger- ons for any man to attribute motives, lest he fall under the condem- nation of 'bearing false witness against his neighbor.' In relation to
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myself I desire to say but little. I prefer to be judged by my actions. It is not true that I availed myself of the benefits of the aet of eon- gress to which you refer by seeking a high command under it. I offered service and was accepted as captain of my company, without any pledge or understanding, directly or indirectly, that I was to have any other commission. My present office of colonel of this regiment has been con- ferred upon me through the voluntary confidence of the president, and through the wish. as I have reason to believe, of every officer and pri- vate under my command. I have desired no office, preferring, for many reasons, to remain at the head of my company, between which and my- self there has existed a deep-seated attachment, and it was only by their eonsent that I agreed to command the regiment. My reasons for entering the service are very simple. I had labored as much as any man in Georgia to effect the secession of the state: I had pledged my- self to meet all the consequences of secession. I am bound, therefore, in honor, and still more strongly by duty, to be among the foremost in aeeepting the bloody consequences which seem to threaten us. My life ean be as well spared as any other man's, and I am willing and ready to devote it. You taunt me with deserting my home and the defence of my fireside 'to serve the common cause in a more pleasant summer climate.' I wish you were here to witness the realities of this serviee you deem so pleasant. It would eure you, I think, of some of your malicious propensities. You taunt me with having imposed upon others the duty of defending the post which I have deserted, and yet when you penned this you knew that you had steadily refused to call the volunteer troops of Savannah into service of any kind, and that you had called 'many of our bravest young men from other parts of the state to fill our places,' and defend our homes while we were permitted to rest in inglorious ease. The volunteer troops of Savannah are now in serviee, not through you, but by the direct order of the commander- in-chief of the Confederate forces. All that you say upon this subject is Jesuitical, designed to subserve a purpose rather than narrate the truth. I have the same right to judge that you have as to the probability of an attack upon Savannah. There is scarcely a seaboard eity along the Atlantic coast that has not its representatives here in Virginia. Why should Savannah be an exception ? Surely one company eould be spared, at least to show that her heart beat true to the common eause, and that her youth were ready to court danger upon the very frontiers of the war. Such a spirit is not what you have characterized it. It is probably above your comprehension, but the generous and noble- hearted of my native state will know how to appreciate it.
"And now as to my arms. I did not ask von to arm and equip me. I had already received from the late goverment of the United States, through you. arms and equipments which cost the state of Georgia noth- ing. They were delivered to me, and yon took my bond for their safe keeping, unless destroyed in the public service. You have threatened ine with the penalty of that bond. Take it if you can get it. That is your remedy. If I have been wrong in taking away the arms from Georgia, I am a trespasser, and, of course, responsible. I think the power you claim to disarm companies once armed and under bonds, at your will, is, to say the least, doubtful. As I have already said, in a former letter, I would not make this issue if I could find my way
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to avoid it. I would rather yield than have a controversy with any man where the public interests are involved. But situated as I was. I prefer disobedience, if you please, rather than to jeopard the honor and safety of one hundred men confided to my care. You seem to think I am arrogant in claiming our humble share in representing the State of Georgia in this field of action. You say that you are not aware of the state authority to which I am called to represent the State of Georgia in Virginia. You make here again your common error of supposing that you are the State of Georgia-a mistake in which I do not partiei- pate. You will not be permitted to alienate from us the esteem and affection of those we leave behind. and whom we love so dearly. I am sorry that you have undertaken so ungracious a task.
"You say 'that at present I am beyond the reach of state authority. and state lines, so far as I am concerned, are obliterated. How long this may remain so,' you say,' 'depends upon the developments of the future.' I trust, if God spares my life, I shall set foot again upon the soil of Georgia, and be well assured that I no more fear to meet my enemies at home than I now do to meet the enemies of my country abroad.
"With due respect, I have the honor to be your non-obedient servant. 'FRANCIS S. BARTOW."
HIS DEATH WHILE " ILLUSTRATING GEORGIA"
Alas! "the bloody consequences which seemed to threaten" the writer of that letter were shortly verifed, and he was killed in the first battle of Manassas on the 21st of July, hardly more than a month after its date. On leaving for the seat of war on the 21st of May he made a speech in which he proudly said, "I go to illustrate Georgia!" And his record thenceforth until he fell, exclaiming "They have killed me, boys, but don't give up the field!" was one continued effort which proved that his pledge was gloriously redeemed.
The state convention, as already said. reassembled in Savannah on the 7th of March, and the next day the Confederate flag was raised over the custom-house by Maj. W. J. Melntosh, when it was saluted with the firing of seven guns-corresponding with the number of states that had at that period seceded. Civil government was promptly established in Georgia in comformity with the status of the state in the Confederacy, and the Hon. Henry R. Jackson was appointed judge of the district court of the Confederate states for the district of Georgia. He held the office but a short while, as he preferred a military appointment, and he was succeeded by the Hon. Edward J. Harden, who was sworn in on the 17th of August, 1861, and served until the end of the war. In the arrangements made at an early period in reference to military affairs in and around the city, Col. A. R. Lawton was commissioned as brigadier- general, and his place was filled as commander of the first regiment by Col. Hugh W. Mereer, who was afterwards made a brigadier-general. At the same time William S. Rockwell was appointed lieutenant-colonel and Charles H. Olmstead major. Edward Lawton was the regimental adjutant.
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The Oglethorpe Light Infantry, on reaching Virginia, became a part of the Eighth Georgia Regiment, and was engaged in the first battle of Manassas on the 21st of July, 1861. At that time the lamented Francis S. Bartow was commanding a brigade composed of the Seventh. Eighth, Ninth and Eleventh Georgia and the First Kentucky Regiments. He was killed while bearing the standard of the Seventh Georgia and endeavoring to silence, by command of General Beauregard, a battery of the enemy at Stone Bridge. Receiving a slight wound, and having his horse killed under him, he elung to the standard, mounted another horse, and, waving his cap, called to his troops to follow him, which they did. Struck to the heart by another ball. he fell, exclaiming, "they have killed me, boys, but never give up the field." The company which he took with him to Virginia suffered terribly in that conflict when some of Savannah's choieest young men gave up their lives at that early period of the struggle for southern independence. Those young men were J. S. Branch. William H. Crane, George Butler, Bryan Morel, Julius Ferrill, and Thomas Purse. Jr.
The military, besides taking Fort Pulaski, also occupied Fort Jackson and Oglethorpe Barraeks. The companies of the First Regiment were sent separately to different points along our coast, and wherever situated erected fortifications. Besides the points already mentioned they were stationed at Causton's Bluff, Green Island. Thunderbolt, the Isle of Hope, Beaulieu. Rose Dew, Coffee Bluff. White Bluff, and other places. Earthworks were thrown up all around the city. some of them being works of considerable size. as Forts Boggs and Bartow.
The city government did all that could possibly be done to aid the Confederate government in the matter of the defense of Savannah. As early as November 30, 1860, council ordered the purchase of a large quantity of fixed ammunition, so as to provide for every member of the volunteer companies, and the money for the same was paid out of the city treasury: and when the state convention adjourned at Milledgeville to meet in Savannah in March of the next year it did so by invitation of council, the city paying for the entertainment of the delegates.
Resolutions were adopted on the 22d of May authorizing the mayor to call a publie meeting of citizens to name a committee to receive doua- tions for the relief of all volunteers going into active service, and to levy, if necessary, a tax to seeure a sum sufficient to support the families of such volunteers as should need help, and an appropriation of $2,500. was made from the public funds. Other provisions were made in the nature of sympathy for the cause of the South. and, following the sng- gestion of President Jefferson Davis, the mayor appointed the 13th of June as a day of fasting and praver.
HONORING BARTOW'S REMAINS
On learning of the killing of General Bartow, commeil met on the 25th of July and ordered the conneil chamber put in proper condition for his remains to lie there in state as long as they remained unburied. and a call was issued to the military then in the city to join in giving him a public funeral. Three aldermen, Solomon Cohen, John F. Wheaton, and John L. Villalonga, were sent to Charleston to eseort the
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body to Savannah, and the mayor and aldermen attended the funeral in a body.
Mr. Thomas Purse was elected mayor of Savannah in October, 1861, and council authorized him to consult with the commanders of the Confederate army and navy at this point and to co-operate with them in any measures looking to the protection of the city. Alderman Robert Lachlison, by action of council, was provided from that body to assist General Lawton in carrying out any plan that might be agreed upon for obstructing the channel of the river, and the result was that much work was done in that way. After the battle of Port Royal, in South Carolina, it was feared that the enemy would attempt to come up the Savannah river, and obstruetions were sunk in order to prevent sueh trouble. Among other such obstaeles the brig Santa Clara, and the ships Sebasticook and A. D. Thompson, which had been captured by
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Confederate privateers and condemned, were secured, and, after their cargocs had been sold, their hulks were sunk at proper points in order to make the obstruction as complete as possible. At the same time that council made preparation to look after the closing of the river, Alder- men John L. Villalonga, John F. Tucker and E. A. Soullard were, by conference with the commanding officer, to exercise authority in the matter of closing the bar-rooms. The result was an order requiring them to be closed from 5 o'clock P. M. to 8 A. M.
The city authorities deemed it a privilege to show respect to the memory of the young men of the city who lost their lives for the South in the battle of Manassas, and when the bodies of those brave soldiers were brought back for interment in January. 1862, the offer of the serviecs of the Olmstead Rifles as honorary escort was accepted, and the other volunteer companies were asked to take part in the ceremonies. Couneil appointed a committee to meet the bodies at Charleston and escort them to Savannah. and Aldermen Villalonga, Soullard and A. A. Solomons, by appointment, arranged for the funeral, and couneil attended in a body.
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GEN. R. E. LEE IN COMMAND AT SAVANNAH
Gen. Robert E. Lee having been assigned to the command of this military district. Mayor Thomas Purse consulted him with referenee to the proper defense of the city on the land side, and as an aid thereto council generously donated the sum of $2.000 to the payment of expenses ineurred in that matter. and. on the 30th of Jamary, on the assertion of General Lee that men were needed to throw up breastworks, council authorized the military committee to employ three hundred hands, or inore, if necessary, to carry out the plan inaugurated by that officer. Labor for building a battery defense was also provided for in case the government of the Confederate states should agree to supply it with guns.
Again, in March, an appropriation of $2.000 was made for the relief of families of soldiers at the front, and an appeal was made to the justiees of the inferior court to levy a tax to raise money for the same purpose, and a meeting of eitizens was held to consider the matter of asking the city to appropriate an amount sufficient to build a gunboat.
Couneil approved the decision of General Lawton, conveyed to it by that offieer on the 29th of April, 1862, to resist to the nttermost any demand for the surrender of the city should the enemy, by any possi- bility, pass the batteries and reach a point opposite the river and threaten a siege.
NON-COMBATANT CITIZENS ARMED FOR DEFENSE OF CITY
Shortly afterwards General Pemberton, who had been assigned to the command of this district, advised the city council to request the secretary of war to declare martial law in Savannah, and proposed that the women and children be taken out of the eity. It was his opinion also that the buildings on the river front be demolished. He was unnecessarily alarmed, as events proved that the enemy had no intention to make an attack on the city in the manner indicated by his suggestions. Council did not agree with him, and declined to aet as he proposed, thus showing their good sense and at the same time saving a large amount of property from destruction. While it was wisely decided not to use sueh radical measures, let it be understood that the situation was considered to be grave, and every step was taken to defend the city in the event of a siege. General Lawton, on the 21st of May, urged upon council the advisability of having as many armed men in readiness for trouble as it was possible to gather within the city's limits, and suggested the propriety of organizing for defense all male citizens not regularly mustered into service to be used as a police foree. The suggestion found a ready response, and by resolution council invited all citizens to enroll themselves for service, and it is needless to state that, as usual, the people promptly responded and did their full anty. General Pemberton. early in June, withdrew a large part of the military force from Savannah, thus showing the wisdom of the action of General Lawton. Gen. IIngh W. Mereer shortly afterwards snceceded General Pemberton in command, and he adopted measures for the protection of the city which showed a sound knowledge of the situation and of what was then required.
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