14 



ALABAMA. 



then the Court would be protecting the enemy. 

 He thought the case a leading one, and there- 

 fore important. 



The Court confessing that the anomalous 

 state of political and inter-State affairs sur- 

 rounded the question with embarrassment, D. 

 C. Green, in order to release the Court from all 

 responsibility, discharged the prisoner from 

 custody. The counsel for the defence insisted 

 upon the Court's passing judgment, but his de- 

 mand was not acceded to, and Capt. Jones was 

 released. 



The reputed owners of the sloop refused to 

 receive her, intending to hold the captors re- 

 sponsible for all loss incurred. 



Subsequently, in the month of June, after 

 the relations of the North and South had 

 changed, the Grand Jury of the District' Court 

 of the Confederate States found a true bill 

 against three other persons, charging them 

 with treason against the Confederate States, in 

 having traitorously carried and delivered a 

 cargo of fruit to the enemy's fleet off Pensa- 

 cola. The Court, in its charge to the jury, 

 stated the law to be, that furnishing provisions 

 or important intelligence to the enemy was 

 treasonable. The penalty for that offence, on 

 conviction, was death. 



The military operations consisted merely in 

 enlisting and equipping soldiers, and sending 

 them forward to the positions occupied by the 

 Confederate forces in the other seceded States. 

 No hostile soldier put his foot on the soil of 

 Alabama during the year. This was entirely 

 in consequence of her position. She is bound- 

 ed by the other Confederate States except on 

 the South, where her sea coast is small and less 

 important than other points. 



At the time of the secession of the State a 

 small force was sent to aid the volunteers in 

 Florida to capture and hold the Navy Yard and 

 forts at Pensacola. On the 10th of April, 

 President Davis made a requisition on the Gov- 

 ernor for three thousand soldiers. On the 1st 

 of May, the first battalion of the Third State 

 Regiment left for Virginia; and on the 15th 

 more troops were sent to Pensacola. Indeed, 

 the business of preparing for the war became 

 the all-engrossing subject in the principal cities, 

 but especially Mobile. One of the public citi- 

 zens, in rather enthusiastic language, describes 

 the alacrity of the people : 



" The like, where it has been left to the free 

 volition of the people without any extraneous 

 appliances to stir enthusiasm, and without the 

 slightest compulsion of Government, the world 

 has never witnessed. We saw men coming, 

 when the news had been scattered abroad that 

 their company had received ' marching orders,' 

 by ones, twos, threes, to the place of rendez- 

 vous, on foot, on horseback, in mule wagons, 

 and every way, without the slightest command 

 or compulsion, save the commands of patriot- 

 ism. They gather noiselessly at the electric 

 summons of patriotism as the storms gather 

 down behind the horizon of a clear, still day, 



ALBERT, PRINCE. 



when mustering for a tornado, and their still- 

 ness to us is as portentous. Can a people moved 

 by snch stern, quiet impulses of patriotism be 

 conquered ? Never ! " 



Forts Morgan and Gaines were taken posses- 

 sion of by State troops under orders from the 

 Governor, on the 4th of January, while the 

 State continued a member of the Union. (See 

 FORTS.) 



On the 19th of January, four days after 

 Secretary Dix took charge of the Treasury De- 

 partment of the United States, he sent the Chief 

 Clerk of the First Comptroller's Office, W. H. 

 Jones, to Mobile and New Orleans, to save, if 

 possible, the two revenue cutters stationed at 

 those places. At Mobile Mr. Jones could not 

 find the captain (Morrison) of the cutter Lewis 

 Cass, but he discovered in the cabin the follow- 

 ing letter, which explains the surrender of the 

 vessel to the Alabama authorities : 



STATE OF ALABAMA, Collector's Office. 

 J. J. Morrison : 



SIR : In obedience to an ordinance recently adopted 

 by a convention of the people of Alabama, "l have to 

 require you to surrender into my hands, for the use of 

 the State, the revenue cutter Lewis Cass, now under 

 your command, together with her armaments, proper- 

 ties, and provisions on board the same. I am instruct- 

 ed also to notify you that you have the option to con- 

 tinue in command of the said revenue cutter under 

 authority of the State of Alabama, in the exercise of 

 the same duties that you have hitherto rendered to the 

 United States, and at the same compensation, report- 

 ing to this office and to the Governor of the State. 

 In surrendering the vessel to the State, you will fur- 

 nish me with a detailed inventory of its armaments, 

 provisions, and properties of every description. You 

 will receive special instructions from this office in re- 

 gard to the duties you will be required to perform. I 

 await your immediate reply. 



Your obedient servant. 



T. SANFORD, Collector. 



The number of troops furnished by the State 

 to the Confederate army during the year has 

 been estimated at eighteen regiments, besides a 

 number of companies of infantry and artillery. 

 These independent or separate companies were 

 sent to Pensacola, Charleston, and elsewhere, 

 with too much despatch to admit of their re- 

 maining until a full regiment was formed. 



The commerce of the State was paralyzed by 

 the events of the year. The blockade was so 

 effective that very few vessels were successful 

 in entering or leaving the harbor of Mobile. 

 The internal trade suffered from the same 

 causes. The crops were as favorable as in any 

 former year, but having no market for cotton 

 which could be reached, no return was received 

 from its cultivation, and it became valueless 

 during the continuance of the blockade. 



ALBERT, PEINCE, consort of Victoria, 

 Queen of Great Britain, Duke of Saxe-Co- 

 burg-Gotha, born at Rosenau, Aug. 26, 1819, 

 and died at London Dec. 14, 1861. He was the 

 second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg- 

 Gotha, under whose superintendence he re- 

 ceived an admirable education, which he com- 

 pleted by attending for three sessions at the 

 university at Bonn. In July, 1838, he visited 



