II. The following-named officers are announced as the personal staff, viz: First Lieutenant B. Ridley, aide-de-camp; First Lieutenant Robert C. Stewart, aide-de-camp.

III. The general staff, as previously announced, remains unchanged.

ALEX. P. STEWART,

Lieutenant-General, Commanding.

[38.]

RICHMOND, VA., July 8, 1864.

Right Rev. STEPHEN ELLIOTT,

Bishop of Georgia:

MY DEAR SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind invitation to attend the funeral services over the body of our dear friend, Lieutenant General L. Polk. I did not know until your letter reached me, on the very day of the funeral, when or where that ceremony would be performed. It was therefore impossible for me to be present with you. And if I had received the notice in time to undertake the journey, I very much doubt whether my pressing public duties would have allowed me to leave Richmond then for the purpose of gratifying even such feelings as that solemn occasion elicited. My relations with Bishop Polk were very near and affectionate when we were cadets together int the army, and the years which have passed since have only served to increase my regard for him. It would therefore have afforded me a mournful satisfaction to assist at the last rites over his remains; and I regret that circumstances did not permit me to do so. With his family I sympathize very deeply in their bereavement. I feel much concerned for the loss the Army has sustained in his death. And I beg you, sir, to believe that I sorrow with his brothers in the ministry, who will now miss his manly counsel and co-operation.

With highest esteem, I am, very truly, yours,

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

[38.]

PROCLAMATION.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Milledgeville, Ga., July 9, 1864.

To the RESERVED MILITIA OF Georgia:

A late correspondence with the President of the Confederate States satisfies my mind that Georgia is to be left to be left to her own resources to supply the re-enforcements to General Johnston's amry, which are indispensable to the protection of Atlanta, and to prevent the State from being overrun by the overwhelming numbers now under command of the Federal general upon our soil. The officers, civil and miltary, who constitute in a great degree the remaining active militia force left to the State by the different acts of conscription, have already been called out and have rendered effective service, while they, as well as the two regiments of the State Line, have dintinguished themselves by cool courage and intrepid valor when attacked by the enemy. But there is need of further re-enforcements, as will be seen by the accompanying letter* of General Johnston, and while a very large proportion of the gallant and chivalrous sons of Georgia are on distant fields defending the soil of

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* See VOL. XXXVIII, Part V, p. 867.

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