Letter from General J. Z. George to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; March 4, 1863

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Letter from General J. Z. George to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus; March 4, 1863

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People

Avent, John A.Banks, E. A.Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889 Dunn, Unknown Ellis, P., Jr.George, James Z. (James Zachariah), 1826-1897 Givin, Unknown Hale, Unknown Liddell, C. J.Loring, William Wing, 1818-1886 Pemberton, John C. (John Clifford), 1814-1881 Pettus, John Jones, 1813-1867 Reynolds, Arthur E.Tilghman, Lloyd, 1816-1863 Turner, George A.Van Dorn, Earl, 1820-1863

Events

Crime Criminal Procedure--Arrest Criminal Procedure--Imprisonment

Military Units

Confederate States of America. Army Mississippi. Militia Mississippi. Militia. Cavalry Regiment Under Review Under Review--Brigades United States. Army

Organizations and Businesses

Confederate States of America--Commissary Confederate States of America--Quartermaster Courts Courts--Courts-martial and courts of inquiry Headquarters, Military Watercraft Watercraft--Cotton Plant (Ship)

Occupations

Clerks Police

Places

Grenada (Miss.)

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[seal]

Grenada March 4^th. 1863

To His Excellency
Jno J Pettus

On the morning of the 2^ond Inst I was ordered under arrest by Brig Genl L Tilghman, The cause of this Proceeding I may safely assume to be an alledged disobedience of orders though as yet I have not been favored with a copy of the charges

A Just self respect & a natural & laudable desire not to forfeit the confidence you have ~~placed~~^reposed^ in me seem to demand that I should lay before you a current summary of the Proceedings & transactions which have ended in my being deprived of my command & Placed under arrest as an alleged criminal against the laws of my Country. From this you can ~~you can~~ determine whether my arrest is legal & Proper or on the contrary illegal arbitrary & oppressive

Between the hours of 9 & 10 O clock on the night of the 1^st Inst the Following note was sent to & received by Maj C J Liddell my Adjutant General

Office of Post Quartermaster
Grenada Miss March 1^st 1863

Gen^l

I am Instructed by maj E A Banks chief Qr Master to ask you for a Detail from your Command of 100 men to

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report at once at the Steamer Cotton Plant

I am Genl
Very Respectfully
Yr obt servt
Geo A Turner
Maj & Qr Master

To
Genl J Z George
Comdg Post
Grenada

Maj Liddell informs me that he sent a verbal message to Maj Turner to the effect, that most of the Militia were old men & unfitted for such duty & that a compliance with the order would require the detail for duty that night of men who had been on Guard duty during a portion of the day; but that if the detail was indispensable in the opinion of Maj Turner & he would so advise Maj Liddell he would refer the matter to me Maj T sent no other message to Maj T & hence the above note was not refered to me for my action, On the next morning and near the hour of 9 O clock the following Extraordinary & illegal order was Placed in my hands

Hd Qrs 1^st B, 1^st D & C
Grenada March 2^ond 1863

Ex
Special Orders
No. 31

III Brig Genl George will detail (100) one Hundred men in companies with all their officers for Fatigue duty to report at these Hd Qrs by 9 ¹/₂ O clock

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this morning

By Order Brig Genl L. Tilghman
P Ellis Jr A A Genl

In a few minutes thereafter I wrote the following note to Genl Tilghman & sent it to him by my Aid Capt Hale.

Head Qrs 1^st Brigade M S T
2^ond March 1863

Genl

An order from you directing me to detail (100) men in Companies with all their officers has Just been recd I beg Most respectfully to State that I have but two small Rgts of Infantry & a small fragment of a Cavalry Co Present & that I have been compelled to furnish for the last month & am now furnishing 80 men daily for Guard duty in Town besides the ordinary Police Camp Guard & details for procuring wood this duty as you will perceive is Very heavy, Before the return of ^any of^ the Confederate Troops to this Place I also furnished frequently heavy details for fatigue duty,

I learn there are two Rgts of Confederate troops here now, & I had hoped that my command would be relieved from Either fatigue or Guard Duty

I presume ^that^ it had not occured to you when you ordered the detail

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that the above Mentioned duties were imposed on my command & I would for the reasons above Stated Respectfully ask to be relieved from the detail ordered

Respectfully
J Z George
Brig Genl &c

To
Brig Genl
L Tilghman

To this letter seting forth the claims of my Command to be relieved from the detail ordered Genl Tilghman for some cause unknown to me neglected to reply Sometime after it was receaved by him (perhaps an hour) his Aid Lt Givin came to me & asked If I had ordered the detail. I replied to him that I had writen to Genl Tilghman asking to be relieved from the detail and that I had receaved no Answer. Lt Given then suggested that Genl Tilghman had probably not receaved the note, My Aid (Capt Hale) then remarked that he Knew that Genl Tilghman had receaved it for he had delivered it himself Lt Givin then expressed the opinion that Owing to Genl T'^s engagements he had not read it & suggested the propriety of my going to see Genl T in Person in relation to the matter, It was necessary for me to se Genl Tilghman for instructions on another matter which called for my immediate action & I accordingly went to his Hd Qrs

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with the double purpose of geting the instructions above refered to & adjusting the matter in refference to the detail ordered,

After I had receaved the instructions which I desired Genl Tilghman told me that he wanted the detail which had been ordered, I told him that I had writen him a respectful note on that subject asking to be relieved from furnishing the detail and that I was entitled to a respectful answer but that he had not replied to it I proposed then to make an oral Statement of the Ground upon which I rested my aplication for a relief from the detail &c & did proceed to some extent in making a Partial Statement of them, he peremptorily in a short & domineering tone refused to listen to me saying that he hat no time to hear me that I must furnish the detail at once as he wished to have the Steam Boat unloaded and that he would hear me at some other time I claimed the right to be heard in defence of the Just rights of my command he again refused peremptorily to hear me I then Stated to him if you will not hear me I shall be compelled to refuse the detail he thereupon ordered me under arrest,

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I might also state that in this conversation and before I refused to make the detail he charged me indirectly with attempting to dictate to him & that I disclaimed any such intention I do not pretend to give the words of the conversation but I have given the substantial & material part of it I endeavored to be respectful all the time & believe I was not betrayed even by his improper maner into saying anything insconsistent with my relation to him as a subordinate officer From the foregoing Statement the following facts appear

That Genl Tilghman Issued to me an illegal & improper order & apparently oppressive & unjust to my command & refused to listen to my objections proposed respect=fully to be urged with the View of obtaining Justice for those who were under my command

It was illegal in this

1^st The said order required me to detail (100) one Hundred men in companies with all the officers including Captains This is an express Violation of Paragraph 552 of the Army Regulations

The 3^rd Clause of which declares that the Captains form one Roster & are

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exempt from Fatigues except to supperintend issurs the duty here ordered here as Gen^l T. informs me before I refused to obey the order was not to superintend issurs but to unload a Steam Boat Here was a direct attemp to degrade the Captains of the State Service ordering them to perform fatigue duty from which they were exempt by the Army Regulations.

2^nd said order was also illegal in this.

That it was in direct violation of Clauses One & Two of said Paragraph 552. which declars that Lt from one Roster and that 1^st & 2^nd Lt are entered on it alternately the senior 1^st Lt is the first on the roster and the senior 2^nd Lt is the second &Co Officers can not be compelled to serve on fatigue or general duty unless in accordance with the roster and when it is their Regular tour to perform the duty no other rule can be adopted by which ~~parties~~ Justice and fairness in the apportionment of duties can be secured or injustice from the caprice or malice of superior officers can be prevented I was here ordered to select officers for this duty not with refferance to the roster by an arbitrary and illegal standard set up by Gen^l Tilghman which was in express violation of the Army Regulations and subversive of the just rights of

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The Officers under my command. I was required to send all the officers of the companies selected without refferance to seniority or the alternation of 1^st & 2^nd Lt^s or to the credits or debits for, and againts the officers as shown by the roster,

It being uterly imposible to comply with the order without disregarding the Just rights of the officers secured to them by law it was my duty to disobey it and my refusal to comply with it so far from being a crime is a meritt for which I may justly claim comm-endation.

Since writeing the above the charges which Gen^l Tilghman has profered againts me have been sent to me, the third charge is for a violation of the 1^st Paragraph of the 1^st article of the Army Regulations this charge in connection with what has been shown above may well excite the enquiry wither Gen^l Tilghman is not as much bound by the Army Reg-ulations as I or any other officer or is it true that he alone enjoys an immunity from the obligations of Law and Justice and may he set aside at will the provisions of that code for an alleged violation of which he deprives me of my Command & places me under arreast

(3^rd) Third the said order was farther illegal in this

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That it violates the last clause of said Paragraph 552 of the Army Regulations which secures to Seargents Corporals & Privates the privalige of a roster by which their tours for duty is to be regulated. This order directing me to dital the men by Companies with all the Officers shut out all enquiry as to the rights of any member of the Companies they must all go wether it was their tour of duty or not according to that standard which the law has fixed to determine their rights in this respect,

There is but on kind of fatigue duty which can be performed by details of Companies and that is expressly commanded to be done by Paragraph 783 of the Regulations when work is to be performed by a beseiging army on trenches before a beleagured fortification the reason of this is apparent arrising from the nature of the sevice the workmen being engaged in front of the enimy and liable to be attacked at any moment, Hence they are requird to go in their propper organizations and with their arms and to be posted as far as possible according to the position of their Regiments in order of battle, see Para-graph 792, 793, 794, & 802 Army Regulations but in all other cases of fatigue duty even in a beseiging army the details

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are expressly required to be taken from the roster for fatigue duty and not by Companies as in case of work in the trenches see Paragraph 786 Army Reg^s,

I have above shown conclusively & beyond a shawow of a doubt that said Order of Gen^l Tilghman is and was illegal in express violation of the Army Reg^s. and a comt^empt^uous disregard of the rights of those officers of my command who were liable according to the terms of the order to be assigned to the fatigue duty required, but in addition to this it was an illegal and capricious inteferance by him with the Just rights of controle and discipline necessarily pertaining to myself and the officers under my command,

It is one of the ordinary if not the most com^m^on mode of enforcing discipline to impose by sentence of Court Martial on delinquents extra guard and fatigue duty this mode of punishment is at the same time the most efficacious in its consiquences and the most usefull to the service the enforcement of such orders would in effect deprive subordinate officers of the power of inflicting such punishments by depriving them of all power to select the men who should be required to do the duty all the power that Gen^l Tilghman had was to call on me

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For a specified number of men and officers.

Said order was oppressive and unjust to my command Gen^l Tilghman had two regiments I had two I was then furnish-ing eighty men daily for guard duty. and had been for a month these men were doing a duty which was com-mon to and obligatory on both his command and mine his command was doing no guard duty.

On the 2^nd March he orders me to furnish One hundred additional men thus requiring of me One hundred and eighty men for the Common duty and he furnishing none this was an apparent outrage and a groce impo-sition upon my command, The form of his order showed that the detail was not made in accordance with but in violation of the Regulations requiring that a roster should be kept I felt that it was oppressive and hoped that it had occured through inadvertance, I wrote him a respectfull letter asking for relief he did not condesend to reply to it I was informed by his Aid that he had probably not read the letter and requested me to see him in person I called on him sought respectfully to represent

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The grievance and to get Justice for my Command I was refused a hearing charged with an attempt at dictation and finally arrested for declining to be his blind instru-ment in the execution of an illegal and oppressive Order, "my sin that this extent no more"

I will now make a brief Statement of Gen^l. Tilghman^s previous conduct towards me & my command which will tend to throw light upon his conduct on the occasion more particularly under Consideration,

he has persistently and Constantly ign-ored my rank & attempted to deprive me of my just powers as an Officer

on the seventh of February last he issued the following order,

Head Quarters Grenada
Feby 7^th 1863

Special order
N^o, ,,

Brigadier Gen^l, George commanding state Troops will furnish Co^l. A. E. Reynolds Commandant of the post such details as he may call for

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Co^l, Reynolds will make his orders direct by Order

Brig. Gen^l, L, Tilghman
P. Ellis Jr A A. G

I had previously as I now remember refused to furnish details upon the order of Co^l, Reynolds, I could not see what right he had to Command me his Superior in rank here was a deliberate attempt on the part of Gen^l, Tilghman to deprive me of my just powers and to place me under the Command of an Officer inferior to me in rank I was ordered to Obey the orders of ^Col, Reynolds^ made to me direct there never was a more glaring attempt to usurp powers in violation of law, and to degrade an Officer by forcing him to do the bidding of his inferior in rank But he was not satisfied with this on the day before he surrendered to me the Com-mand at this post, he issued another order for my Goverment, whilst in command here by which he directed me to obey all the orders of the Q. M. (& I believe Commissaries) at this post for details from my Command upon reading this document I naturally supposed that it was issued without due reflection and I accordingly called on him for an Explan-ation, he made it I was gravely informed that it was my duty to obey and that I was bound by orders issued by these Officers on the subject of details from my command when it was therein stated to be by order of

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Gen^l. Tilghman or by order of Gen^l, Pember-ton although these Generals were on Hundred miles distant

Of Course I paid no attention to his expositions of military law or to his illegal and presumptuous order, the Q. M. and Commissaries had the decency not to act on Gen^l. Tilghman^s orders or this theory of military law they made respectful request for details which ~~they~~ were always furnished when the Condition of my Command would admit of it.

This extraordinary order I have lost and it seems that a Copy can-not be found in general Tilghman^s Office but in confirmation of my recollection I submit herewith a Copy of a statement made by Major Liddell and Cap^t. Dunn

From this statement it will appe^a^r that Gen^l Tilghman sent for my Adjutant to teach him his duty as Adjutant Gen^l in relation to requests and orders emenating from Q. M. on the subject of details.

Major Liddell had declined to order a detail of (100) men requested by Major Turner (See Major T, note herein before copied on page one) without a previous reference of the matter to me his Commanding Gen^l. Gen^l. Tilghman instructs him that it is his duty to obey such orders and comply with such request, and informs him that these staff Officers have all the powers of the Gen^ls. who placed them in position at this post he must obey without

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Reference to me he is to issue orders in my name not only without my knowledge but even against my consent,

I find it difficult to use language which justly characterizes this Conduct and at same time comes within the rule of Respect & deference required of an Inferior Officer in Communications respecting his superior ^in^ rank.

I may however be permitted to say without a breach of military etiquette that this attempt of Gen^l, Tilghman to substitute staff Officers for their Genl^s, and his efforts to invest them so far as the state troops is concerned with all the powers of the Commanders under whose orders they act are as ridiculous and absurd as they are disrespectful to me and my Command by the same logic he can easily arrive at the ~~same~~ Conclusion that he is invested with all the powers of the president of the Confederate States or even of the Almighty himself I might leave this part of the subject without the Citation of authority but for greater Certainty and to show conclusively the Arbitrary Conduct of Gen^l, T, I beg Respectfully to refer your Excellency to paragraph 13 of Army Regulations which expressly declares that Q. M. & Commissary^s shall not assume the Command of troops unless put on duty under orders which specially so direct by Authority of the president of the Confederate states unfortuntaely for Gen^l Tilghman

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the Paragraph does not contain his supplementary clause "or by Authority of" "Brig,^r Gen^l. Tilghman"

I mention these last named orders verbal and written not so much in the way of Complaint as of useful Commentaries by the light of which his conduct in the main transaction is to be considered unjudged these orders are harmless only because they are to ridicu-lous and to clearly illegal to deceive or mis-lead any one, I have never paid any attention to them and I would not now remember them if they were not important links in the chain which Gen^l T. has attempted to forge for the purpose of degrading me and my Com-mand and driving me from the service of my Country.

It may not be impropper for me to mention another Circumstance f which plainly indicates the spirit by which Gen^l T has been animated in his intercourse with me and my Command,

I refer your Excellency to the written statement of John A, Avent a Clerk in the Q M. Office of my Brigade from that it will appear that Gen^l. Tilghman arbitrarily and illegally ejected my Q M from an Office which he had rented for his own use

This last named outrage with many others heretofore mentioned,

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I submitted to quietly hoping by deference to him as my superior Officer these outrages would at ^last^ cease and that discord and division between us would be prevented in this I have been mistaken my Quiet submission to wrong has but invited other aggressions until at last I have been arrested as a Criminal for a refusal to be a participant with him in the perpetration of a not less outrage upon the Officers and men under my Command

I am glad to be able to say that in my intercourse with Gen^l Pemberton Vandorn & Loring under each of whom I have served I have receeved nothing but courtesy and respect that I have always yielded a prompt and ready Obedience to their orders I have done the same to Gen^l Tilghman whilst his orders were legal

I send you a Copy of the Charges & Specifications from which it will be seen that my Offence is neglect and refusal to Comply with the illegal and oppressive Order herein before Copied if I have been fortunate to show that said order is illegal then i am exoner-ated for I am required ^only^ to obey the lawful orders of my Superiors

(See paragraph 1 of Reg,) I therefore ask to be released from arrest at once and restored to my Command where my services is much needed it would be unjust to me & injurious to the service to detain me

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In arrest and to subject me to the inconv-enience and temporary disgrace of a trial when it appears upon the face of the papers that I have committed no offence it is as much my duty to refuse Obedience to an illegal order as to obey a legal one

And I hope I may be pardoned for saying that my past life furnishes a guarranty that I would not fail to discharge any duty however painful ~~and~~ unpleasant whatever sacrifices the Condition of my Country call upon her sons to make I will cheerfully throw upon her altar she does not require of me to violate but to observe her laws she does not demand of me to yield Obedience to illegal orders or respect to the Capricious theories of any of her Officers whatever may be their rank

I Am Very Respectfully
J. Z George