EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Montgomery, Ala., May 23, 1863.

Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.:

SIR: I have the honor to hand you inclosed a copy of a telegram under date of 15th instant, from Brigadier General W. W. Mackall, chief of staff of General Braxton Bragg, to Colonel Clanton, respecting a portion of his command, and also a copy of an official letter to General Mackall from this department, under date of the 18th instant, to all of which I respectfully invite your eanrest attention. I do not deem it needful to add anything to what is contained in that letter, except the expression of the hope that the brigade may not be materially interrupted until it shall have been fully organized (for, if present plans are not broken up, it will be a perfect success), and the further hope that it may not be removed beyond the command or control of the commander of the Mobile department.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

John GILL SHORTER,

Governor of Alabama.

[Inclosure Numbers 1.]

TULLAHOMA, [TENN.,] May 15,1 863.

General CLANTON,

Montgomery, Ala.:

General Pillow informs me that you have nearly 2,200 men armed and mounted, which are not needed just now for the service for which raised. Will your orders and your condition enable you to put yourself now into service under General Bragg?

W. W. MACKALL,

Chief of Staff.

[Inclosure Numbers 2.]

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Montgomery, Ala., May 18,1 863.

Brigadier General W. W. MACKALL,

Chief of Staff, Tullahoma, Tenn.:

SIR: Having heard that you had telegraphed General Clanton as to the brigade he is now raising in Alabama, I requested him to show me your dispatch, which he did, and also advised me of the telegram he sent you in reply. As he stated in his reply that he would write you, I proposed to relive him of that necessity, as I intended to write you myself, for reasons which will appear in this letter, to which he assented. This explanation will show why he did not write. I desire to state to you how the troops under command of General Clanton have been raised, their present status and condition, and the deep interest I feel as Governor of the State of Alabama in their remaining within the borders of the State, so long as it remains exposed to the sudden raids and depredations of the enemy, or to an apprehended attack, either upon Mobile or up the valley of the Tennessee River. When General Clanton first commended raising his present force he was authorized by the Secretary of War to raise a regiment of mounted men above the conscript age for six months' service on the coast of Florida. The success which followed rapidly upon his undertaking and the avidity with which reluctant conscripts who were hiding from and dodging the conscript officers came forward to join his command induced the Secretary of