The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-27
The Georgia Exempts
Dahlgren.

LETTER FROM GOVERNOR brown, or GEORGIA.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Macon, Georgia,
December 9, lS6i.-HDn. Walter II. .aplCs, Of
Virginia Sir ;-In what purp1rts TO be pub.
lished synopsis of recent discussion in the
House of Representatives, in Congress, you are
reported to have stated that the number of per-
sons exempt from cons TipuOn by me in this
State, including the militia in State service,
amounts to about fifteen tn lusand men.
As this publ has produced a very crro
neous impression upon the pubic mind, aud a9
/ cannot suppoe YOU intend tO misrepresent or
to do Injustice to a State which has done her
whole dUty to the cause and to the Coufederacy,
and which, think may say without dispardgc-
mCnt, has had under arms during the pas sum
mcr and fall larger portion of her white male
population than any other State in the COltede-
TaCy take liberty 10 pub i>h this note addressed
to you, to correct an error into which you have
fallen.
Ottbe fifteen thousand men TO whom You refer,
all but about fourteen hundred and fifty IRE the
militia who now are, and most of them for
months past have b. en- in active military service
under the command and control of u Confederate
general, confronting the enemy.
These fourteen hundred and hity are comprised
of Jndges of Supreme and Superior Courts, jas.
tCes of the inferior courts, sAerifs clerks, ordi.
Mares, tax collectors and receivers, and are apsO-
lutely ne, essary TO tue existence OF the State
Government. lUrge proportion Of them arc
over fifty yers of age and would not, If put out
OF unCe, be subject 10 Confederate COnsCriptiOn.
The militia organized, and in service, are com
posed partly of county officers under ttty years
OF age, partly of Confederate bonded eXempts,
and partly OF mtn detailed by the Confederate
Government as agriCuturalists, etc, VINO are
held by the Supreme Court Of this State TO be
subject to militia duty, and have been ordered by
me into active service as part OF the militia.
Much the larger part, however, is com
posed Of boys between sixteen and seventeen,
and old men between fifty and tittytye years
of age, who, under the laws of Congress, are not
subject 20 Confederate ,eryCe. All these must
in xf,r1- net ftrfaaf ln gnt nv tha
Governor from service in the Confederate armies,
when they are, IN fact, exempt both by the laws
Of Congress aud of the State Legislature. l will
remsrk further, in this connection, thai the state
officers IN Georgia are declared eXenp. from con
scripuOn, not by authority Of the Governor, but
by joint resolution OF the General Assembly Of
the State.
Georgia seeded from the old Union to protect
her rights and maintain her Sovereignty, aud she
will, in her new alliance, neither permit the "eu-
tire machinery Of her State government to be
stopped" ber 'courts OF justice to be closed, the
authority Of her magistrates suspended" nor her
Estate lines to be oblitera ed.'
Nearly fifty regiments of her sons have spent
years under arms IN Virginia. and those of them
who survive are now defending the capital OF
that glorious old commonwealth, while p)wer-
ful army marches through their own beloved
State; occupies and deescrae5 their own capital
burns their cities and villages; destroys hun
drtds Of miles of the railroads of their state, aud
plumbers them Of their property, leaving their
wives and children without bread.
Their Executive asks for aid, and especially
that the sons Of Georgia may be permitted to re.
turn and strike a bow in her defense. IL is
denied, and she Is left without au infantry force,
while her capital is the headquarters OF General
Sherman, 10 confront his powerful army, except
the Confederate Reserves in the STATE, aud the
State officers and militia reserve, amounting In
the aggregate 10 a few Thousand men, many Of
them with but little physical strength 10 endure
the hardships OF the camp.
Not thousand men Of all her large number Of
splendid regiments and battaliOns OF veteran
infantry, in Confederate service, were left upon
her soil or permitted, prior 70 the occupancy Of
her capital by the enemy, % return TO her when
her territory was being Oycrrun, her cites, towns
villages land private dwellings sacked aul burned
With these facts before you, leave it 70 your
own Judgment ag a man Of candor, which
your character, as q Virginia representative,
authorizes me TO assume, whether your pub
lished remarks do justice 10 State whose
sons have acied as CALAMITY and made as great
EacTifces as Others upon the soil of Virginia, and
whether my S,ate should, with her late sad
experience turn over TO Confederate control her
State officers, and her old men and boys, TO be
taken from her limits; which would leave her
perfectly poweIless even TO ward OFF the blows
from vial points, should the armies of the enemy
again pass over her territory.
Had the sons of Georgia been permitted to
return TO the soil Of Georgia, as asked by her
Executive a short time since, the army of Gene
raj Sherman would never have passed over II nor
desecraled her capital. Very respectfully, &c.
JOSEPH E. BROWN,