The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-09

war against another State at any lime.
The cause OF truth needs expression.
March LIST, 1874, thirteen days after Fresi-
dent Davis I sok thu oath of office, Gtv-
ernor Andrew B. Moore Of Alabama re-
cclved the following letter from Leroy
Pope Walker, Secretary of War:
Confederate States OF America
WAR Department, Montgomery, March
LIST, 1851.
'sir-The Congress have passed an act
to raise provisional forces for the Con-
fsderate States Of America and for other
purposes 1 beg leave to enclose copy
Of the act.
"1yndcr this act the PRESIDENT directs
mo to ir,fci m you that he has assumed
control of all military operations In your
state having reference to or connected
with questions between your State and
powers foreign to It.
HE also directs me to request that
YOU will commu aicate without delay the
, quantity and character Of arms ana NIL
nitions Of war acquired from the United
States and which ars now in the forts,
arsenals and navy yards of your state:
and all other arms which your State may
| desire to turn over and make chargeable
to this Government
1.-The President further lIrects me to
say that he will proceed with as little
delay as possible to organize the provi-
sional forces of the respective States, as
provided for in the third and fourth sec
tons of said act.
II have the honor to be, very respect
fully, Your obedient servant,
IL. P. Walker,
Secretary of War.
His Excellency, A. B. Moore.
Montgomery. Ala
Governor Moore forwarded this letter
to the Constitutional Convention (Seces-
sion Convention) then in session and the
convention formally accepted the order of
the Secretary of War. All troops and
munitions of war in Alabama were turned
over to the Confederate States.
1T is too manifest for argument that
the only belligerents, from 1861 to 1865,
inclusive were the Confederate States and
the United States; there could have been
no war in America in that period save
the war of these belligerents between
themselves. Therefore the phrasef'War
between the States is first untrueto the
fact, ungenerous to the two great Gov
ernments which prosecuted war and an
intolerable Islander against tho soldiers
at least of the Confederate States.
The Confederate States made formal
declaration of war May 6. 1861, against
the United States and soon thereafter
fnSldnu anu TeCOsillACN tiiO 'A'tN
ity of that declaration. No State de-
clared war against any other State in
that period. The United States recog-
nized the Confederate States by %
blockade of the seaports thereof against
all treaty rights before May 8, 1861. the
United States guaranteed to all friendly
powers of the earth; ~ the United states
recognized the flag of the Confederate
States in exchange of prisoners OF war
and in various other ways, on land ana
sea- but no State flag was ever so recog-
nized by the United States OF any other
nation whatsoever in the period named.
THE history of the Confederate soldier
Is compassed within four years and the
limit of time is wholly irrelevant to the
honor due his memory There is neither
abstract Justice nor the truth 'iue to gen.
eral history, in prolonged and systema-
tized denial of the Government from
which he received his orders and which
gave him his right to bear its own colors
upon the field of war; 1t was his Gov
eminent There was war between the
Confederate States and the United States
and none other"
This letter was found by Floride Canty
of Camden, 8. c., at the Yankee camp,
that city. 1t is directed to Mrs. Thomas
l. Myers, Boston, Mass, and corroborates
what was believed at the timc, that ON
GERS wore citizens and privates dress In
order to rob without compromising their
shoulder straps. This was copied from
the journal of Miss Canty, who found
the original, which was sent to the HIS
torical Society at Richmond:
February 25th, 1865.
my Dear Wife, have no time for par
ticulars We have had a glorious time
in this State. Universal license to burn
and plumber was the order of the day.
The chivalry have been stripped of most
of their valuables. Gold watches, silver
pitchers, spoons, forks, etc, are as COM
mon in camp as blackberries The terms
of plumber are as follows: The valuables
procured we estimate by companies each
is required to exhibit the result
of its operations at any given place |
One-hfth and first choice falls to the |
share of commander n-chief: TO STAFF Of |
fcers one-fifth, to field officers of regi- |
ment one-ffth. two-flfths to the company |
Officers are not allowed to join these ex-
petitions without Disgusting themselves
as privates. One of our corps command
ers borrowed a suit of rough clothes from
one of my men and was successful in
this place. We got a large quantity of
silver (among other things an old time
milk pitcher and very fine gold watch
from a Mr.. Desauseur of this place. De-
sauseur is one of the F. F. VS. of South
Carolina. and was made to fork over lib
orally. officers of the rank Of captain are
not made to put their plumber in the es-
Innate for general distribution; this is
very unfair and for that reason in order
10 protect themselves, subordinate officers
and privates keep back everything that
they can carry about their persons such
rs rings. earrings. breastpins, of which
f l ever live to get home have about a