Lieutenant-Colonel William W. Mackall to Brigadier-General Leroy P. Walker, October 22, 1861

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,

Bowling Green, Ky., October, 22, 1861.

Brig. Gen. L. P. WALKER, Huntsville, Ala.:

GENERAL: By General Johnston I am instructed to inform you that the enemy are advancing on General Zollicoffer. Two regiments were within 12 and 15 miles of his position at London, Ky., yesterday. From other sources he is led to believe that this advance is in force, and for the purpose of dividing us from the east by an attack through Cumberland Gap.

Nothing more need be presented to show you the necessity of the immediate employment of every man for the defense of the line, and to explain to you the propriety of sending your command to Knoxville instead of drawing it to this place, as was the wish and intention of the general.

He now directs you to send forward your command, now armed and organized, to Knoxville, as fast as possible, and have the detachments reported to General Zollicoffer as fast as they arrive at that point.

You will remain in charge of the organization of the remainder of your forces and superintendence of their movements or proceed with the advance of your command, as the interests of the force prepared and unprepared may require.

The general has seen your requisition for clothing, made on Quartermaster Stevenson. He regrets he could not have it filled. Only half the number of blankets called for by you are in store, subject to his order, for the whole of the command. A large stock on which his quartermaster counted has been diverted by the Government. He now, having shown you his deficiency in this article (and in all others the deficiency is great), begs you to limit your call to the most absolute wants of your men. He has himself, when similarly situated, found the advantage of requiring the captains when the men asked for clothing to examine into their condition, and compare that condition with the state of clothing in the company, and supply those most in want.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. W. MACKALL,        

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 470-1

Leroy P. Walker to Major-General Leonidas Polk, September 4, 1861

RICHMOND, September 4, 1861.

General POLK, Memphis, Tenn.:

News has reached here that General Pillow has landed his troops at Hickman, Ky. Order their prompt withdrawal from Kentucky.

L. P. WALKR,        

Secretary of War. 

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 180

Leroy P. Walker: Special Orders, No. 149, September 10, 1861

SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 149}

ADJ'T AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE,        

Richmond, Va., September 10, 1861.

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14. General Albert Sidney Johnston, C. S. Army, is assigned to the command of Department No. 2, which will hereafter embrace the States of Tennessee and Arkansas and that part of the State of Mississippi west of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern and Central Railroad; also, the military operations in Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, and the Indian country immediately west of Missouri and Arkansas. He will repair to Memphis, Tenn., and assume command, fixing his headquarters at such point as in his judgment will best secure the purposes of the command.

By command of the Secretary of War:

JNO. WITHERS,        

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 405

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 14, 1864

Bright, pleasant day. The city is full of generals—Lee and his son (the one just returned from captivity), Longstreet, Whiting, Wise, Hoke, Morgan (he was ordered by Gen. Cooper to desist from his enterprise in the West), Evans, and many others. Some fourteen attended St. Paul's (Episcopal) Church yesterday, where the President worships. Doubtless they are in consultation on the pressing needs of the country.

About noon to-day a dispatch came from Lieut.-Col. Cole, Gen. Lee's principal commissary, at Orange Court House, dated 12th inst., saying the army was out of meat, and had but one day's rations of bread. This I placed in the hands of the Secretary myself, and he seemed roused by it. Half an hour after, I saw Col. Northrop coming out of the department with a pale face, and triumphant, compressed lips. He had indorsed on the dispatch, before it came—it was addressed to him—that the state of things had come which he had long and often predicted, and to avert which he had repeatedly suggested the remedy; but the Secretary would not!

No wonder the generals are in consultation, for all the armies are in the same lamentable predicament—to the great triumph of Col. N., whose prescience is triumphantly vindicated! But Gen. Wise, when I mentioned these things to him, said we would starve in the midst of plenty, meaning that Col. N was incompetent to hold the position of Commissary-General.

At 2 P.M. a dispatch (which I likewise placed in the hands of the Secretary) came from Gen. Pickett, with information that thirteen of the enemy's transports passed Yorktown yesterday with troops from Norfolk, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Washington City, etc.—such was the report of the signal corps. They also reported that Gen. Meade would order a general advance, to check Gen. Lee. What all this means I know not, unless it be meant to aid Gen. Kilpatrick to get back the way he came with his raiding cavalry—or else Gen. Lee's army is in motion, even while he is here. It must do something, or starve.

L. P. Walker, the first Secretary of War, is here, applying for an appointment as judge advocate of one of the military courts.

Gen. Bragg is at work. I saw by the President's papers today, that the Secretary's recommendation to remit the sentence to drop an officer was referred to him. He indorsed on it that the sentence was just, and ought to be executed. The President then indorsed: “Drop him.—J. D.”

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 170-1

Acting Adjutant General George Deas to Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg, March 7, 1861

WAR DEPARTMENT, Montgomery, March 7, 1861. 

Brig. Gen. BRAXTON BRAGG,
Provisional Army, C. S. A., Comdg. Troops near Pensacola, Fla.:

SIR: By the inclosed order you will perceive that you have been signed to the command of the troops at and near Pensacola, Fla. It is of the greatest importance that the Government here should be accurately informed of the state of affairs in that quarter. The Secretary of War, therefore, desires that you will as soon as possible forward to this office a comprehensive report of whatever may come under your observation, especially in regard to affairs immediately connected with Fort Pickens. You will also be pleased to make reports to this Department as often as it may be convenient for you to do so. Very little information in respect to the nature of the service and its requirements at the station to which you have been assigned to command has reached this Government. The Department is anxious to know accurately the condition of things there and the necessities of the service, so that it can act with full intelligence, which is so much wanting at present. A return of your command is required.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. DEAS,     

Acting Adjutant-General. 

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 448; Don Carlos Seitz, Braxton Bragg, General of the Confederacy, p. 31 

Adjutant-General George Deas to Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg, March 7, 1861

WAR DEPARTMENT, Montgomery, March 7, 1861. 

Brig. Gen. BRAXTON BRAGG,
    Provisional Army, C. S. A., Comdg. Troops near Pensacola, Fla.:

SIR: By the inclosed order you will perceive that you have been signed to the command of the troops at and near Pensacola, Fla. It is of the greatest importance that the Government here should be accurately informed of the state of affairs in that quarter. The Secretary of War, therefore, desires that you will as soon as possible forward to this office a comprehensive report of whatever may come under your observation, especially in regard to affairs immediately connected with Fort Pickens. You will also be pleased to make reports to this Department as often as it may be convenient for you to do so. Very little information in respect to the nature of the service and its requirements at the station to which you have been assigned to command has reached this Government. The Department is anxious to know accurately the condition of things there and the necessities of the service, so that it can act with full intelligence, which is so much wanting at present. A return of your command is required.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

GEO. DEAS,    

Acting Adjutant-General. 

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 448; Don Carlos Seitz, Braxton Bragg, General of the Confederacy, p. 3

Leroy P Walker’s Special Orders, No. 1, March 7, 1861

SPECIAL ORDERS, NO. 1} 

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,     

Montgomery, Ala., March 7, 1861. 

1. Brig. Gen. Braxton Bragg, of the Provisional Army, Confederate States of America, is assigned to the command of the troops in and near Pensacola, Fla., to which station he will proceed without delay.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *

By command of the Secretary of War:

GEO. DEAS    ,

Acting Adjutant-General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 448; Don Carlos Seitz, Braxton Bragg, General of the Confederacy, p. 30

Leroy P. Walker to Governor Francis W. Pickens, March 1, 1861

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,     

Montgomery, March 1, 1861.

GOV. F. W. PICKENS, Charleston, S. C.:

Your letter to President received. This Government assumes the control of military operations at Charleston, and will make demand of the fort when fully advised. An officer goes to-night to take charge.

L. P. WALKER,    

Secretary of War.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 259

Leroy P. Walker to Governor Francis W. Pickens, March 1, 1861

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,    

Montgomery, March 1, 1861.

His Excellency F. W. PICKENS, Governor, &c.:

SIR: Your letter of the 27th ultimo addressed to the President has been referred by him to this Department for reply.

In controlling the military operations in the harbor of Charleston the President directs me to say that everything will be done that may be due to the honor and rights of South Carolina.

The President shares the feeling expressed by you that Fort Sumter should be in our possession at the earliest moment possible. But this feeling, natural and just as it is admitted to be, must yield to the necessity of the case. Thorough preparation must be made before an attack is attempted, for the first blow must be successful, both for its moral and physical consequences, or otherwise the result might be disastrous to your State in the loss of many of those whom we can least afford to spare. A failure would demoralize our people and injuriously affect us in the opinion of the world as reckless and precipitate.

Entertaining these opinions, the President directs me to say that he is engaged assiduously in pressing forward measures to effect results in which all are interested. Under the fourth section of an act of Congress to raise Provisional Forces for the Confederate States of America, and for other purposes, a copy of which I have the honor to inclose in another communication of this date, the President has appointed Peter G. T. Beauregard brigadier-general to command the Provisional Forces of this Government in the harbor of Charleston. General Beauregard will be accompanied by an adjutant, whose duty it will be to receive into the Provisional Army, with their officers, under the provisions of the act aforesaid, the forces of your State now in Charleston.

General Beauregard has the entire confidence of the President and of this Department, and I beg to commend him as possessing every soldierly quality.

I have the honor to be, with high regard, your obedient servant,

L. P. WALKER,    

Secretary of War.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 259-60

Jeremiah Clemens to Leroy P. Walker, February 3, 1861

HUNTSVILLE, ALA., February 3, 1861.

Hon. L. P. WALKER, Montgomery:

MY DEAR SIR: There is at Pensacola an immense quantity of powder, shot, and shells, which ought to be removed to the interior at the earliest possible moment. Where they now are they are constantly exposed to the danger of recapture, and if they are permitted to remain, one of Lincoln's first movements will be to concentrate a sufficient force at that point to retake them.

In my judgment there is no hope of a peaceful settlement of our difficulties with the Government of the United States, and all our calculations should be made with reference to the breaking out of a war of vast magnitude and almost unparalleled ferocity. We had the subject of these munitions before the military committee of our Convention, but as they were on the soil of Florida, and beyond our jurisdiction, we could do nothing. Your convention will have more extensive powers.

There is still much discontent here at the passage of the ordinance of secession, but it is growing weaker daily, and unless something is done to stir it up anew will soon die away.

Last week Yancey was burned in effigy in Limestone, but I suppose it was rather a frolic of the "b'hoys" than a manifestation of serious feeling on the part of the older citizens.

I shall be glad to hear from you from time to time during the session of the Convention. 

Very truly and respectfully, your friend and obedient servant,

JERE. CLEMENS. 

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 447; Don Carlos Seitz, Braxton Bragg, General of the Confederacy, p. 29