ALABAMA. 



and ruin upon our cause. The soldier must be 

 fed and his family provided for, and our home 

 population, white and black, must be support- 

 ed. The experience of the past and the neces- 

 sities of the present give serious and solemn 

 warning as to the future. Let not our armies, 

 which have hitherto, by the blessing of God, 

 proved invincible, be conquered or disbanded 

 by the want of subsistence in their camps, or 

 be demoralized by the presence of famine in 

 their homes. These results can and will be pre- 

 vented if the planting community realize their 

 heavy responsibility, and discharge their full 

 duty to the country. The Legislature of Georgia 

 is called to reassemble to reconsider its late ac- 

 tion upon this important subject; and the Con- 

 federate Congress, perceiving the danger, have 

 given timely notice of its approach by an earnest 

 appeal to the whole country. The indications 

 of a continuance of the war are so unmistak- 

 able, and the necessity of providing the means 

 indispensable to its prosecution so urgent, that 

 I have thought it not improper to unite in the 

 appeal to that class of our population through 

 whose active energies and foresight alone these 

 means can be supplied." An address was also 

 made to the people by the Senators and Kepre- 

 sentatives of the State in Congress, urging 

 them to plant corn and raise hogs and cattle. 

 At this time bands of deserters from the South- 

 ern army and Union men were organized in the 

 northern part of the State. In Wayne and the 

 adjoining counties they were quite numerous. 



After the losses at Gettysburg and the re- 

 treat of Genera] Lee from Pennsylvania, ex- 

 traordinary eflforts were made to recruit the 

 Southern armies. On the 20th of July, Gov- 

 ernor Shorter issued a call for an extra session 

 of the State Legislature to be convened Aug. 

 17th. The reason for this session was to pro- 

 vide for the better defence of the State. 



In his message to the Legislature the Gover- 

 nor confined his remarks to the subject of mili- 

 tary defence. He examined the question rela- 

 tive to the classes exempt under the State and 

 Confederate enactments, and being without 

 means of ascertaining the number of exempts, 

 he supposed there were several thousand. lie 

 recommended that all persons between the 

 ages of sixteen and sixty, including those hav- 

 ing substitutes, those of foreign birth domiciled 

 within the State, and all who had evaded the 

 full requirements of the Confederate Govern- 

 ment, should be embraced in an amendment to 

 the militia laws as liable to military duty ; also 

 that the officers of the State should be charged 

 with the duty of arresting stragglers and de- 

 serters, and that the judicial officers should be 

 held to a rigid enforcement of the penalties 

 against their abettors. He concluded as fol- 

 lows : 



Alabama has and will cheerfully respond to every 

 demand upon her, so long as the unnatural foe perse- 

 veres in his unholy crusade. May the invaded people 

 not give way to alarm and false security, but nerve 

 themselves to an undying resistance to the despotism 

 which has decreed the emancipation of our slaves, the 



confiscation of our lands, and the subjugation of a free 

 people. God in his providence will not permit such a 

 calamity. 



The Senate adopted the following resolu- 

 tion: 



Resolved, That the people of Alabama and the State 

 hereby pledge the entire resources of the State, to the 

 last dollar and the last man, to a successful prosecution 

 of the war now being waged by the North for the sub- 

 jugation of the people of the Confederate States, and 

 that we will never yield the contest until the achieve- 

 ment of the acknowledgment of our independence as a 

 separate people. 



A joint resolution relative to the employ- 

 ment of slaves was adopted as follows : 



Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to provide 

 by law for the employment in the service of the Con- 

 federate States of America, in such situations and in 

 such numbers as may be found absolutely necessary, 

 of the able bodied slaves of the country, whether as pio- 

 neers, sappers and miners, cooks, nurses or team- 

 sters. 



On the 22d of August, Eobert Jemison, jr., 

 was elected to fill the unexpired term of William 

 Yancey, deceased, in the Senate of the Confed- 

 erate Congress. He was a member of the con- 

 vention which passed the ordinance of Seces- 

 sion, and at that time a " cooperationist " (see 

 ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, 1861. ALABAMA), but be- 

 came "a firm and uncompromising supporter 

 of the war." For many years he had been a 

 member of the State Legislature from Tusca- 

 loosa county. 



At the election for State officers in August, 

 1863, Governor John G. Shorter and Thomas 

 H. Watts were the candidates for the office of 

 governor. The result in fifty-two counties was : 

 Watts, 22,223 votes; Shorter, 6,342 votes. 

 The former was elected by a large majority. 



Governor Watts had been one of the electors 

 named on the Bell and Everett ticket at the 

 presidential election in 1860. Soon after his 

 election it was stated that he was in favor of a 

 reconstruction of the Union. A letter was ad- 

 dressed to him on this subject, to which he 

 made the following reply : 



CONFEDERATE STATES or AMERICA, I 



DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, RICHMOND, Sept. 13th. f 



Hon. Ira Foster, Quartermaster- General of Georgia, 



Atlanta, Georgia : 



DEAR SIK : I have to-day received your letter of the 

 1st inst., forwarded tome from Montgomery, Alabama, 

 and hasten to reply. You say that my name, since the 

 Alabama election, has been freely used by many in 

 connection with "reconstruction?' meaning thereby 

 that some people in Georgia suppose I am in favor of 

 re-union with the Yankee Government of the North. 

 I am surprised and mortified that any body in the 

 South should so interpret the Alabama election. If 

 those who claim my election as indicating any such 

 feeling in Alabama had read my letter of the 21st March 

 to Gen. Lawler, and my short address to the people of 

 Alabama, dated 6th June last, they would never have 

 entertained such false notions. It is due to the gallant 

 people of my State to call attention to the resolutions 

 of the recent called session of the Legislature, passed 

 unanimously, pledging all the men and resources of 

 the State to prosecute the war until the independence 

 of the Confederate States is fully established. For my- 

 self, I will not forfeit my self-respect by arguing the 

 question of " reconstruction." He who is now, deliber- 

 ately or otherwise, in favor of " reconstruction " with 



