Colonel Jefferson Davis to John Jenkins, August 4, 1847

(From Vicksburg Sentinel, August 18, 1847.)

4th August, 1847.

Dear Sir: I send you herewith the correspondence between the Secretary of War and our Governor, in relation to the arms of the first Mississippi Rifles.

One of the letters passed out of my possession at New Orleans, to satisfy the United States Mustering officer of our right to retain the Rifles, and has been recently recovered, or I should have presented this correspondence to you earlier, and asked its insertion in your paper. The prompt and early attention of Gov. Brown to a feeling so deep in our Regiment, has received as it deserved, our especial thanks; and it has seemed to me worthy of being made public.

Very respectfully,

Your friend, &c.,

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

SOURCE: Dunbar Rowland, Editor, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches, Volume 1, p. 89