242 



CONFEDERATE STATES. 



ing to it a most hearty support. The influence 

 of such views upon the minds of the people 

 must have been very favorable to the cause of 

 the Confederacy, for they are advanced by Pres- 

 ident Davis on every opportunity. 



Three days after the inauguration, a Message 

 on the State of Affairs was sent to Congress by 

 President Davis, in which he says: " Since my 

 Message at the last session of the Provisional Con- 

 gress, events have demonstrated that the Gov- 

 ernment had attempted more than it had power 

 successfully to achieve. Hence in the effort 

 to protect by our arms the whole territory of 

 the Confederate States, seaboard and inland, 

 we have been so exposed as recently to en- 

 counter serious disasters." To withstand these 

 diasters, and to secure its successful existence, 

 the only hope of the Confederate Government 

 now was founded upon its own efforts and the 

 mistakes of its adversary. Its efforts soon be- 

 came of the most vigorous nature. The sys- 

 tem of voluntary enlistments had furnished all 

 the soldiers required during the first months of 

 the war. These, however, had volunteered for 

 short terms, under, the expectation that there 

 would be an early peace. To supply their 

 places, as the term of enlistment expired, the 

 Provisional Congress, in January, passed an 

 act providing for receiving individual volun- 

 teers as they might offer their services without 

 requiring a whole company to be formed and 

 organized before they could be mustered in. It 

 provided subsistence, transportation, and pay 

 from the day of enlistment. Additional in- 

 ducements were held out to those who might 

 raise companies, battalions, or regiments. About 

 the 1st of February a call upon the States for 

 troops was made by President Davis, which he 

 expected would be answered in full by the 

 close of March. On the 25th of February the 

 number of Confederate troops in the field was 

 four hundred regiments of infantry, with a 

 proportionate force of cavalry and artillery. 

 The true position of the military at this time is 

 found in these remarks of President Davis, 

 made at the same date: "I deem it proper to 

 advert to the fact that the process of furloughs 

 and reenlistments in progress for the last 

 month had so far disorganized and weakened 

 our forces as to impair our activity for sucess- 

 ful defence; but I heartily congratulate you 

 that this evil, which I had foreseen and was 

 powerless to prevent, may now be said to be 

 substantially at an end, and that we shall not 

 again during the war be exposed to seeing our 

 strength diminished by this frightful cause of 

 disaster short enlistments." 



The Confederate army of 1861 was composed 

 chiefly of men enlisted for twelve months. 

 These enlistments commenced immediately 

 upon the secession of the States to which the 

 troops belonged. The expiration of their terms 

 of service therefore took place during the first 

 months of 1862. 



To meet this decrease of the army, the Pro- 

 visional Congress offered, as above stated, in- 



ducements to volunteers, and the President call- 

 ed upon the respective States to fill up their 

 quotas of men to serve during the war. The 

 number which had been demanded from each 

 State was such as to make the proportion of 

 troops in the field from each nearly equal. The 

 minimum number for companies when mustered 

 in as such was sixty-four privates and twelve 

 officers. The call upon Mississippi was for 

 seven regiments; on Alabama for twelve regi- 

 ments ; on Georgia for twelve thousand men ; 

 on North Carolina for five additional regi- 

 ments. If the quota was not made up by vol- 

 unteers, drafting was threatened by the Gov- 

 nors of the States. 



These men, with those in service for the war 

 and volunteers for twelve months who were 

 expected to reenlist, were intended to form 

 the armies of 1862. By the 1st of April the 

 Government expected the whole body of new 

 levies and reenlisted men to be ready in the 

 ranks. The Federal Government, however, 

 had brought its troops into camp during the 

 latter part of 1861, and immediately commenced 

 to organize and drill them, and prepare the 

 immense materials necessary for an active 

 campaign. It was thus at least four months 

 in advance of the Confederate Government. 

 The army of Gen. McClellan before "Wash- 

 ington, hanging like an ominous cloud near 

 the horizon, created much uneasiness at Rich- 

 mond, but so long as the Confederate army 

 remained at Manassas, no vigorous and ac- 

 tive measures for future military operations 

 were made. Amid this position of affairs, the 

 Federal movements were ordered to be com- 

 menced on the 22d of February. Forts Henry 

 and Donelson were captured, Bowling Green 

 and Columbus evacuated, and Nashville sur- 

 rendered. The entire Confederate line of de- 

 fence in the "West was swept away, and a 

 march by the Federal troops into the heart of 

 the Southwestern States was threatened. Con- 

 sternation seized the Southern people. The 

 Government was aroused to action, and the 

 President sent the following cautious Message 

 to Congress: 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Con- 

 federate States : 



The operation of the various laws now in force for 

 raising armies has exhibited the necessity for reform. 

 The frequent changes and amendments which have been 

 made have rendered the system so complicated as to 

 make it often quite difficult to determine what the law 

 really is, and to what extent prior amendments are 

 modified by more recent legislation. 



There is also embarrassment from conflict between 

 State and Confederate legislation. I am happy to as- 

 sure you of the entire harmony of purpose and cordi- 

 ality of feeling which has continued to exist between 

 myself and the executives of the several States ; and it 

 is to this cause that our success in keeping adequate 

 forces in the field is to be attributed. 



These reasons would suffice for inviting your earnest 

 attention to the necessity of some simple and general 

 system for exercising the power of raising armies, 

 which is vested in Congress by the Constitution. 



But there is another and more important considera- 

 tion. The vast preparations made by the enemy for a 

 combined assault at numerous points on our frontier 



