GEORGIA. 



495 



scription act to call into the field and retain in her ser- 

 vice any portion of her organized militia, or any part 

 of the material of which it is composed, to defend her- 

 self against the invader at a time when the Confeder- 

 ate force within the State is inadequate to the task, the 

 War Department has withdrawn from the general in 

 command the powers to retain the labor necessary to 

 complete the fortifications which are indispensable to a 

 successful defence. I submit the question to the ac- 

 tion of the General Assembly, and recommend that 

 prompt provision be made to the extent of the ability 

 of the State for the carrying out your resolution for the 

 defence of the city to the last extremity. 



In view of the fact that Georgia has furnished about 

 seventy-five thousand troops to the Confederacy, who 

 have rendered the most distinguished services on al- 

 most every battle field of the war, I cannot forbear the 

 expression of my deep regret that so few of them 

 should be permitted to return to her bosom to strike 

 for their homes at a time of so much peril, when the 

 right even to supply their place in the field, upon her 

 soil, with others now at home, is denied to the State. 



Three days later, on the 13th, the governor 

 sent to the Legislature another communication, 

 accompanied by a letter from Col. Henry H. 

 Floyd, of Camden county, complaining that on 

 the 4th of November three companies of ne- 

 groes landed at St. Marys, and after insulting 

 the few ladies remaining there, and perpetrat- 

 ing many thefts, retired to the gunboats with- 

 out the slightest molestation. On the same 

 day all the salt works in the county were de- 

 stroyed. Col. Floyd asked for an order to call 

 out the militia for three or six months. Ad- 

 joining counties on the coast could add to those 

 in Camden county sufficient to make a consid- 

 erable force, who, being well acquainted with 

 all the localities, could make a better defence 

 than strangers. The governor also adds, as 

 follows : 



It cannot be denied that the State owes it to her cit- 

 izens, so long as she claims their allegiance, to aflbrd 

 them all the protection in her power. 



The Constitution of this State having invested me 

 for the time with the chief command other militia, I 

 should, under ordinary circumstances, have had no 

 hesitation in issuing an order calling out the whole 

 militia of the county, and of the adjoining counties, if 

 necessary, to protect our citizens, and especially the 

 women, against the outrages of invasion, robbery, and 

 insult by negroes. 



Under the acts of the Confederate Congress, and the 

 late decision of our Supreme Court, the authority to 

 command the militia of the State, even for the protec- 

 tion of our mothers and wives, our sisters and daugh- 

 ters, against the brutality of our own slaves in a state 

 of insurrection, seems to be denied to the Governor, as 

 each man composing the militia of the State, except 

 the officers, is declared to be subject to the command 

 of the President without the consent of the Executive 

 of the State. It follows, therefore, that if the Gover- 

 nor should order out the militia in this pressing emer- 

 gency, which admits of no delay, to protect those citi- 

 zens of Georgia to whom no protection is afforded by 

 the Confederacy, the President may countermand the 

 order, and compel each person so called out to leave 

 the State and go to the utmost part of the Confederacy 

 to protect those who are not citizens of this State. 

 The State has reserved to herself the right under the 

 Constitution to " engage in war " when " actually in- 

 vaded," and to "keep troops" while she is invaded. 

 That authority which has the right to take from her 

 this power, without which no State can exist, has the 

 power to destroy her. 



I believe it is admited, however, by high authority 

 in this State, that the creature has no power to destroy 



the creator, the child no power to destroy the parent, 

 and the parent no right to commit suicide. If this be 

 true, the Confederate Government, which is admitted 

 to be the creature of the States, can certainly have no 

 power to deny to the States, which are the creators, 

 the use of their own militia to protect their own inhabit- 

 ants against the invasion of the enemy, and unbridled, 

 savage cruelty of their slaves in actual insurrection ; 

 nor can that Government, as the child, destroy the 

 parent by paralyzing her right arm when raised to 

 ward off a blow struck at her very vitals ; nor, indeed, 

 can the parent, which is the State, commit suicide by 

 surrendering the command of her entire militia when 

 she is invaded, and her people are left without other 

 sufficient protection, nor by removing her obligation 

 to protect her citizens, and thereby forfeiting their al- 

 legiance. 



Placed as I am in this embarrassing condition, when 

 helpless innocence calls upon the State for protection, 

 and when the Constitution of this State and the Con- 

 federate States seems to point clearly to the path of 

 t duty upon the one hand ; but when the acts of Congress, 

 and the decision of our own Supreme Court, rendered 

 under heavy outside pressure, and, if not ex parte, un- 

 der most peculiar circumstances : when the counsel on 

 both sides, who had brought the case before the Court, 

 agreed that in their individual opinions the decision 

 should be as it was made, I deem it my duty to submit 

 the question to the General Assembly, who as a co- 

 ordinate branch of the Government represent the 

 sovereign people of the State, and to ask your advice 

 and direction in the premises. 



If you should hold that the Governor no longer has 

 the right to command the militia of the State for the 

 protection of> her people, it only remains for me to in- 

 form the people of Camden, and" the ladies of St. Marys 

 that, while the State collects taxes and requires them 

 to bear other public burdens, she withdraws her pro- 

 tection from them, and leaves them to the mercy of ne- 

 gro invaders, who may insult and plunder them at pleas- 

 ure. Should you hold, on the contrary, that the Gov- 

 ernor still has the command of the militia of the State, 

 and that she has the right to use her own militia for 

 the protection of our homes, I shall not hesitate to call 

 them forth, and to hold them in service as long as the 

 coast is invaded, and our people are subject to the in- 

 sult, robbery, and merciless cruelty of the enemy. 



The action of the Legislature upon the sub- 

 ject resulted in the adoption of the following 

 resolution : 



Resolved, That the Governor be and he is hereby au- 

 thorized to call out such parts of the militia as he may 

 think necessary to protect the citizens of Camden 

 county, and other counties on the coast similarly ex- 

 posed, against the invasion being made by companies 

 of negroes, sent by the abolitionists to make raids upon 

 our citizens, and to continue them in service as long 

 as the emergency may require. 



The Legislature also passed resolutions au- 

 thorizing the governor to contract for slave 

 labor to complete the defences of Savannah ; if 

 it could not be obtained by contract, he was 

 authorized then to impress slaves for the 

 purpose. It also appropriated two millions of 

 dollars to relieve the families of soldiers who 

 had enlisted from the State into the Confeder- 

 ate service. 



The term of the governor, Joseph B. Brown, 

 expires in November, 1863. The election for 

 State officers is held on the first Monday in 

 October, once in two years. The governor 

 had been reflected to a second term. The 

 senators from the State to the Confederate Con- 

 gress in 1862 were John "W. Lewis and B. H. 

 Hill. The former having been appointed by 



