Letter from M.S. Ward to E. Surget; February 21, 1865
Title
Letter from M.S. Ward to E. Surget; February 21, 1865
Subject
Clark, Charles, 1811-1877; Confederate States of America. Army.; Military deserters.; Mississippi. Governor;
Description
From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Clark Collection. Letter from M. S. Ward, commander of the Post at Enterprise, Mississippi, to E. Surget concerning the use of exempt county officials to capture deserters from the army.
Creator
Ward, M. S.
Publisher
Mississippi Department of Archives and History. (electronic version); Mississippi Digital Library. (electronic version)
Date
1865-02-21
Contributor
Funding for this project provided by The Dale Center for Study of War and Society-USM, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Digital Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Watson-Brown Foundation
Rights
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Language
English
Identifier
mdah_768-950-06-15
Coverage
1865
Text
Page 1:
Hd Qrs Military Post
Enterprise Miss Feby 21st 1865.
Colonel, Sir I respectfully ask permission to bring to the notice of the Lieut General commanding this Department the subject of returning men to the field, who are absent from their commands. The lack of mounted men to arrest these absentees is a serious draw back on those who have the matter in charge. To remedy this want, to some extent, the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, have heretofore passed an act requiring all state officers, who are exempted from conscription by order of the Governor; to arrest all absentees from the army, found in their counties. The penalty for neglect of this duty, is that they shall be reported to the Grand jury, and upon conviction, their office to be declared vacant, and the party conscribed. But their being no courts held in two thirds of the counties, this penalty amounts to nothing, and the law is not inforced—in fact it cannot be with any prospect of imediate remedy, for the reason that in ordi-nary times, it would require two years to convict a man under the law. There ^are^ from thirty to fifty men exempted in each county in the state, who in fact have nothing to do an official ch[strikethrough]unknown[strikethrough]achter, that requires three days in a month These men all have horses, and can travel over their counties five days in a week, and still perform all their official duties—they know every man in the county—where he lives, to what part of the army he belongs, and when he is at home: so that if they would perform their duty, it would give a respectable sized company of mounted men in each coun-ty. To remedy this defect and to provide a speedy and ef-fective penalty against against these exempts, I must respectfully submit, the propriety of Lieut Genl Taylor, inviting the at-tention of the Governor and Legislature, now in session to the subject, and suggest ^that^ the passage of law, authorizing the Enrolling officer in each county to call upon these exempts
Page 2:
and require them to give a certain portion of their time to this duty, and upon neglect or failure to comply, that the officer report the fact to the Governor, who shall revoke their exemptions, and place them immediately sent to the field:— would [reside?] the present law effective and be the means, of obviating the necessity of making details from the army to perform this police duty.
I hope Sir, you will not consider me as presuming, in offering these suggestions to my supervise officer, un-asked, but receive them as the convictions that have presented themselves to my mind, in the discharge of my official duties.
I am Sir—very Respectfully
Your Obedient Servant
M S Ward
Major Comd Post.
To
Colonel E Surget.
A. A. G.
Meredian Miss
Page 3:
Hd. Qrs. Military Post.
Enterprise Miss Feby 21st, 1865
Major M. S. Ward
Comd.g .Post
Calling attention to the subject of returning ab-sentees to the army, and making some suggestions thereon.
Hd Qrs Dept Ala Miss & E. La
Meridian Feby 23d 1865
Respectfully referred to His Excellency Gov Clark for his consideration, It would doubtless be to the interest of the service should the Legis[gap]lature take some such action as is suggested by Maj Ward.
R. Taylor
Lieut Genl
#
35 [?]
Hd Qrs Military Post
Enterprise Miss Feby 21st 1865.
Colonel, Sir I respectfully ask permission to bring to the notice of the Lieut General commanding this Department the subject of returning men to the field, who are absent from their commands. The lack of mounted men to arrest these absentees is a serious draw back on those who have the matter in charge. To remedy this want, to some extent, the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, have heretofore passed an act requiring all state officers, who are exempted from conscription by order of the Governor; to arrest all absentees from the army, found in their counties. The penalty for neglect of this duty, is that they shall be reported to the Grand jury, and upon conviction, their office to be declared vacant, and the party conscribed. But their being no courts held in two thirds of the counties, this penalty amounts to nothing, and the law is not inforced—in fact it cannot be with any prospect of imediate remedy, for the reason that in ordi-nary times, it would require two years to convict a man under the law. There ^are^ from thirty to fifty men exempted in each county in the state, who in fact have nothing to do an official ch[strikethrough]unknown[strikethrough]achter, that requires three days in a month These men all have horses, and can travel over their counties five days in a week, and still perform all their official duties—they know every man in the county—where he lives, to what part of the army he belongs, and when he is at home: so that if they would perform their duty, it would give a respectable sized company of mounted men in each coun-ty. To remedy this defect and to provide a speedy and ef-fective penalty against against these exempts, I must respectfully submit, the propriety of Lieut Genl Taylor, inviting the at-tention of the Governor and Legislature, now in session to the subject, and suggest ^that^ the passage of law, authorizing the Enrolling officer in each county to call upon these exempts
Page 2:
and require them to give a certain portion of their time to this duty, and upon neglect or failure to comply, that the officer report the fact to the Governor, who shall revoke their exemptions, and place them immediately sent to the field:— would [reside?] the present law effective and be the means, of obviating the necessity of making details from the army to perform this police duty.
I hope Sir, you will not consider me as presuming, in offering these suggestions to my supervise officer, un-asked, but receive them as the convictions that have presented themselves to my mind, in the discharge of my official duties.
I am Sir—very Respectfully
Your Obedient Servant
M S Ward
Major Comd Post.
To
Colonel E Surget.
A. A. G.
Meredian Miss
Page 3:
Hd. Qrs. Military Post.
Enterprise Miss Feby 21st, 1865
Major M. S. Ward
Comd.g .Post
Calling attention to the subject of returning ab-sentees to the army, and making some suggestions thereon.
Hd Qrs Dept Ala Miss & E. La
Meridian Feby 23d 1865
Respectfully referred to His Excellency Gov Clark for his consideration, It would doubtless be to the interest of the service should the Legis[gap]lature take some such action as is suggested by Maj Ward.
R. Taylor
Lieut Genl
#
35 [?]