[CHAP. LXIV.

you, as containing all the information which it is nw in his power to give. The Secretary furtther instructs me to suggest that you will readuly see that as the act referred to provides for a contingence which has not yet occurred, and which may possibly never occur, it is hardly necessary in advance to do more than cite you to its provisions, with the remark that all troops raised under them must be mustered in and officered in strict accordance thereto. In the event that the condition of affairs shall require the services of the regiment you represent, and which has been so gallantly tendered, the Secretary of War will specifically advise you as to points of difficulty, if any, in the construction of act mentioned.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. J. HOOPER,

Private Secretary.

[4.]

MONTGOMERY, April 6, 1861.

General BRAGG,

Pensacola:

Answer my dispatch of last night fully.*

L. P. WALKER.

[1.]

Nashville, April 6, 1861.

Honorable L. P. WALKER,

Secretary of War, C. S. A.:

DEAR SIR: I had intended to be in Montgomery before this, but the absence of Mr. Trousdale and sickness in my family have prevented my leaving home. I have desited to confer with your Department for the purpose of asceraining what you thought best to be done by those of is in Tennessee who are willing to pledge to the cause of the Southern Confederacy in the event of war " our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." If I understand correctly you acts of Congress, neither companies, battalions, nor regiments could be received from this State unless they become a part of your regular army. As a matter of course we would much prefer to serve as volunteers. As we cannot be received into your Provisional Army, and as we do not desire to enlist as " regulars " except as a dernier resort, I presume we could, by paying our own way, be permitted to place ourselves in an emergency under the command of your general officers, and at least be allowed to guard the baggage. If war occurs, and I do not think it can be avoided, how can we best promote your, or rather our, cause? For it is the cause of the whole South. Several plans have suggested themselves to me. One is to raise the standard of rebellion against Lincoln's Government here in Nashville, and at once issue a call for those Tennesseeans who are willing to act with us to assemble armed and equipped. Another is to issue such a call for Tenesseeans to assemble at Dalton, Ga., Stevenson, Ala., or some other point in the Confederate States, and there await orders from your Department. Bearing no commission from your Governemt, I should have to make such call upon my individual responsibility, relying upon the partitic impulses of the Tennessee secessionists, and they relying upon what they know of me to find a place where they may be serviceable. It is certain time that such things as these should be thought of and some plan of action determine upures

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* See Walker to Bragg, April 5, and Bragg to Walker, April 6, VOL. I, p. 456.

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