Summary:
This June, 1861, report of a Virginia state governmental committee advises
Governor Letcher on procedure for transferring Virginia's officers, soldiers,
and military property to Confederate control. It also advises establishing a
telegraph line from Staunton to Charleston in the Kanawha Valley.
His Excellency JOHN LETCHER,
Governor of the State:
RICHMOND,
June 2, 1861.
I have the honor to acknowledge yours of yesterday, inclosing two advisory
communications from your council to yourself as the basis of your tender to the
Confederate States, by regiments, of all the volunteer forces which have been or
may be mustered into the service of Virginia and all seamen and marines in said
service, and all quartermaster's and commissary stores now in possession of said
State, and also to tender the use of all the public property, naval stores,
munitions of war, &c., acquired from the United States and now in
possession, except the machinery for the manufacture of arms captured at
Harper's Ferry. Thanking Your Excellency and council for the readiness with
which you have met the wants of the common defense, most pressing upon us
because of the invasion of Virginia, I hope to be pardoned for suggesting that
the machinery at Harper's Ferry is essential for the speedy preparation for both
repair and construction of small-arms, and if it can be used for that purpose
more beneficially to the public interest by retaining it in the possession of
the State to urge upon you a more effectual protection for it than it now
enjoys. Public buildings and all other public property captured from the United
States must be the subject of future settlement with the United States
Government, should negotiations ever take place between the two Governments. The
machinery at Harper's Ferry in that respect will not constitute an exception,
and unless the officers and employees of Virginia can, better than those of the
Confederate States, secure it and make it tributary to the public interest, I
respectfully submit whether it had not better be put in the general condition
which you have given to other public property similarly situated. In relation to
the proposition concerning officers who have left the service of the United
States and entered the Army or Navy of Virginia, I can only say that the
Congress of the Confederate States secured by law to officers of the Army thus
entering the service, so far as they were of the same grade, they should have
the same relative rank in this service as the one they left. The reason of the
rule would equally apply to officers of the Navy, and I do not anticipate its
being either disregarded or violated. But the Confederate authority has been
invested with discretionary power both as to the acceptance of the services of
officers who may resign from the United States and in filling original
vacancies. To determine the grade which should be given to such officers, I can
only say that it is not probable that any officer thus accepted will be
appointed to a lower grade than that he held in the service of the United
States. The only right, however, which I can recognize is that of transfer,
according to the existing law of Congress, of officers with the troops to which
they have been appointed.
Yours, most respectfully,
JEFF'N DAVIS.
After considering these papers, the council adopted the following advice: Advised unanimously that the Governor of Virginia forthwith direct by general orders a transfer to the authorities of the Confederate States, be regiments, of all the volunteer forces which have been mustered into the service of the State, and direct a like transfer by regiments of all other volunteers or militia as the same shall be formed and their services may be required.
It is further advised that the Governor direct by general order as transfer to the authority of the Confederate States of all the officers, seamen, and marines of the Provisional Navy of Virginia for service in the Confederate States.
Waiving for the present any objection to the constitutionality of so much of the ninth section of the act of the Provisional Congress, approved March 6, 1861, as provides for the appointment by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Congress, of regimental staff officers of the volunteers and militia when called into the service of the Confederate States, it is further advised that, inasmuch as the State of Virginia has put into efficient organization the various departments of the military staff essential for the comfort and efficiency of an army in the field, the Governor tender to the President of the Confederate States the services of the officers of their various departments for duty in the Confederate service, temporarily or permanently, as the exigencies of the public service may require. It is further advised that the Governor submit to the President a respectful request that he will facilitate the prompt removal to Fayetteville, N. C., of the rifle machinery captured at Harper's Ferry, loaned by the State of Virginia to the State of North Carolina. It is further advised that the Governor tender to the President the services of the Provisional Army of Virginia, to be incorporated, in whole or in part, into the Army of the Confederate States upon such terms as may be deemed proper by the President and not inconsistent with the terms of the convention between the State of Virginia and the Confederate States and may best subserve the pubic interest, or to be used as the other forces of the State are used, in the common defense.
The following was proposed to be adopted; The council advise that the Governor be authorized to contract for erecting a telegraph line from Staunton to Charleston in the Kanawha Valley, provided that the average costs shall not exceed $62.50 per mile. Whereupon, on motion of Mr. Montague, the proposed advice as laid on the table, Messrs. Smith and Maury voting against laying it on the table.
The following was then proposed and adopted, Messrs. Allen and Haymond dissenting; Advised that the Governor contract for the erection the same may be done at a cost not exceeding $62.50 per mile.
Advised unanimously that the companies of Texas Rangers now in this city be ordered, under the command of some suitable officer, to the defense of the Kanawha Valley, and that the officer commanding, in that section be further directed to call out volunteers from the counties of Greenbrier, Fayette, Nicholas, Logan, Wyoming, Boone, Cabell, Wayne, and Raleigh for the defense of that region, said volunteers to be armed with their own rifles or such weapons as may be collected for this service.
JOHN L. ALLEN.
FRANCIS H. SMITH.
M. F. MAURY.
RO. L.
MONTAGUE.
T. S. HAYMOND.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 51, Serial No. 108, Pages 133-134, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
