EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
Harrisburg, Pa.,
August 21, 1861.
To the PRESIDENT:
SIR: The government of Pennsylvania is and has been
earnestly desirous of doing its full duty to the Commonwealth and the country.
It has done and will continue to do everything in its power to fulfill the
requisitions and facilitate the operations of the Government of the United
States, without presuming to criticise or find fault, even when they may appear
to be irregular or indiscreet. What I am about to say will therefore not be
understood as said in the way of complaint, but merely for the purpose of calling
attention to some arrangements, the effect of which has probably been
overlooked by the authorities at Washington.
It appears clearly from the acts of Congress of 22d and 25th
of July last that the President has power to accept volunteers otherwise than
through the State authorities only in cases where those authorities refuse or
omit to furnish volunteers at his call or on his proclamation. The act of
Assembly of Pennsylvania of 15th of May last contains, among others, a
provision, “That it shall not be lawful for any volunteer soldier to leave this
Commonwealth as such unless he shall have been first accepted by the Governor
of this State upon a call, under a requisition of the President of the United
States, made upon the Governor direct, for troops for the service of the United
States.” Thus Congress and the State Legislature appear to be agreed upon the
inexpediency of attempting the formation of volunteer organizations
simultaneously under the control of different heads and on the propriety of
leaving such organizations to be formed under the requisitions of the President
by the State authorities.
Notwithstanding this common action of Congress and the State
Legislature, a course has been pursued by the Government of the United States which
is not in accordance with it, and which has already produced much embarrassment
and must tend to greatly retard the fulfillment of the objects of the
Government. On the 26th day of July last a requisition was made on the
Executive of this State for ten regiments of infantry in addition to the
forty-four regiments already furnished, twenty-five of which had been called
for three months’ service and had been discharged at the expiration of their
time. Active measures were immediately taken to comply with the requisition,
but unfortunately the Government of the United States went on to authorize
individuals to raise regiments of volunteers in this State. Fifty-eight
individuals received authority for this purpose in Pennsylvania. The direct
authority of the Government of the United States having been thus set in
competition with that of the State, acting under its requisition, the
consequence has been much embarrassment, delay, and confusion. It has happened
in one instance that more than twenty men in one company, brought here as
volunteers under the State call for the United States, have been induced to
abandon that service and join one of the regiments directly authorized by the
United States. In other cases companies ready to march, and whose transportation
had been provided, were successfully interfered with in like manner. The
inclosed letter is but a sample of the many of like character that have been
received.*
As the call of the State is for the service of the United
States, no military obligation can be imposed on the men until they are
mustered into the service of the United States, and there are therefore no
means of preventing them from joining independent regiments or even deserting
their colors entirely. The few mustering officers that can be found have
refused to muster in less than a whole regiment of infantry. Part of these
evils, it is understood from a telegraphic dispatch received to day, will be
alleviated by a general order from the War Department, which was suggested by
me yesterday. Still there remains the great evil of the unavoidable clashing of
two authorities attempting at the same time to effect the same object among the
same people through different and competing agencies. The result is what might
have been expected – that after the lapse of twenty-six days not one entire
regiment has been raised in Pennsylvania since the last requisition. There are
fragments of some seventy regiments, but not one complete; yet men enough have
been raised to form near thirty complete regiments, and if the State had been
left to fulfill its duties in accordance with the acts of Congress and of
Assembly referred to, it is confidently believed that the ten regiments called
for on the 26th of July would by this time have been fully raised.
That the course thus pursued is in violation of the law,
both of the United States and of Pennsylvania, is a consideration not unworthy
of notice. At the same time the Executive of this State will leave the
authorities of the United States to construe their own law, and so far as
regards the law of Pennsylvania, will take the responsibility of disobeying it
rather than fail in any effort that may be required to array her military force
in the present emergency in such manner as the Government of the United States
may point out; and the Executive, in so doing, will rely on the Legislature to
ratify his acts, dictated as they are by an earnest desire to aid the
Government of the United States promptly and efficiently, without stopping to
discuss the legality of any form in which that aid may be demanded. But where
the law is so clearly in accordance with true policy and expediency, it is
hoped that the Government of the United States will adhere to it. At all events
it is earnestly suggested that the double system which has been adopted can
lead to nothing but continued embarrassment and confusion, and that it would be
better to rely exclusively either on requisitions on the State government, or
on the authority given to individuals. It is also suggested that it would be
expedient to make requisitions on the State for companies and not for
regiments. Under the act of Congress of 22d of July last the President has
authority to form them into regiments, and the field officers could then be
appointed by the Governor, in accordance with the same act. Some of the
advantages to be derived from this course are—
First. That men enlist more readily when they know that they
are to enter on active service without delay.
Second. That they would have the benefit of drill by officers
of the United States and in their camps, in direct contact with troops already
drilled, instead of being kept in temporary camps during the time requisite for
filling a whole regiment.
Third. That company officers could be examined as they come
in, and the incompetent ones replaced during the same interval, and thus time
be saved and the effectiveness of the troops enhanced.
There are other reasons which will readily occur to you.
With great esteem,
your obedient servant,
A. G. CURTIN.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume
1 (Serial No. 122), p. 439-41
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