OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. [CHAP.XII.
WAR DEPARTMENT, C.S.A.,
Richmond, July 31,1861.
General WILLIAM T. WITHERS, Camp Boone, near Clarksville, Tenn.:
SIR: In reply to yours of the 24th instant, relative to the arms brought into the Confederate camp, the Secretary of War directs me to say that the only question is, do they belong to the State of Kentucky? If they do, they should be returned; if not, they should be retained and used, preserving an inventory and valuation.
Respectfully,
A.T. BLEDSOE, Chief of Bureau of War.
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
Frankfort, August -,1861.
HonorableJEFFERSON DAVIS, Richmond, Va.:
SIR: Since the commencement of the present unhappy difficulties yet pending in the country, the people of Kentucky have indicated a steadfast desire and purpose to maintain a position of strict neutrality between the belligerent parties. They have already striven by their policy to avert from themselves the calamity of war and protect their own soil from the presence of contending armies. Up to this period they have enjoyed comparative tranquillity and entire domestic peace.
Recently a military force has been enlisted and quartered by the United States authorities within his State. I have on this day addressed a communication and dispatched commissioners to the President of the United State, urging the removal of these troops from the soil of Kentucky, and thus exerting myself to carry out the will of the people in the maintenance of a neutral position. The people of this State desire to be free from the presence of the soldiers of either belligerent, and to that end my efforts are now directed.
Although I have no reason to presume that the Government of the Confederate States contemplate or have even purposes any violation of the neutral attitude thus assumed by Kentucky, there seems to be some uneasiness felt among the people of some portions of the State, occasioned by the collection of bodies of troops along their southern frontier. In order to quiet this apprehension, and to secure to the people their cherished object of peace, this communication is to represent these facts, and elicit an authoritative assurance that the Government of the Confederate States will continue to respect and observe the position indicated as assumed by Kentucky.*
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
B. MAGOFFIN.
RICHMOND, August 1,1861.
F.K. ZOLLICOFFER, Brigadier-General, &c.: Retain at Bristol under your orders such of the Tennessee regiments now there or that may arrive there until further advised. You are assigned to the command of the District of East Tennessee.
S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.
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*Answered August 28, p.396.
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