Letter from Judge Robert S. Hudson to Mississippi Governor Charles Clark; October 26, 1864

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Letter from Judge Robert S. Hudson to Mississippi Governor Charles Clark; October 26, 1864

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People

Clark, Charles, 1811-1877 Harmons?, Unknown Hudson, Robert S.Rentfrow, Unknown

Events

Confederate States of America--Draft Confederate States of America--Draft. Evasion Crime Criminal Procedure Criminal Procedure--Arrest Criminal Procedure--Imprisonment Criminal Procedure--Indictments Criminal Procedure--Pardon Distillation Legislation. Mississippi Legislation. Mississippi. An act to prevent the distillation of spirituous liquors (Approved April 5, 1864)Legislation. Mississippi. Chapter XXIII (1863)Political elections

Military Units

Confederate States of America--Military Service (Branch Unspecified)Confederate States of America. Army Confederate States of America. Army. Cavalry Mississippi. Militia United States. Army

Organizations

Boards of Police Courts and Judicial Systems Courts and Judicial Systems--Grand jury Mississippi--Judicial Districts Mississippi--Legislature Mississippi--State Penitentiary (Jackson)

Businesses

Distilleries

Occupations

Judges Law Enforcement Law Enforcement--Police Medical Profession Medical Profession--Pharmacists Medical Profession--Physicians Selling--Liquors

Places

Mississippi--Attala County Mississippi--Holmes County Mississippi--Leake County. Edinburg Mississippi--Madison County Mississippi--Yazoo County

Social Identifiers

Draft Resisters Impoverished People Imprisoned people Military Deserters Military Families Unionists (United States Civil War)

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[note] E 66 [/note]

Edinburgh. Leake Co. Miss. Oct 26/64

Gov Chas Clark,

D^r Sir—I have recently held my Court in the Coun-ties of Attala, Leake, & Madison, I shall hold the Court in Holmes on 1^st Monday Nov. and in Yazoo on the 4^th Monday Nov. if not prevented by the enemy—thus completing my fall circuit. In Leake I had a good grand jury—and all civil officers in default in the arrest of deserters &c were duly indicted—In Madisin there were no deserters, and hence the civil officers were not in default—In Attala, the County is groaning under the flood of deserters, the civil officers have made no attempt to make any arrest, but the grand jury refused to indict any of them—altho I labored hard & sermonized the grand jury at much length & warmth. This failure is easily acconted for. The grand jurors are selected by the Police Members, and the Police Members are subject to the duty of arresting deserters, and upon failure, to indictment therefor—Knowing their default & liability and looking to their own safety, they selected men, who approved their infidelity and sympathized with the deserters & tories—so far as to prevent any indictments, I therefore suggest the necessity of some change in the laws, to the effect that parties who may be liable to indictment shall not have the power of selecting the grand jurors to pass upon their own offences—this same is being played in Judge Harmons? District, and probably in all the Districts of the State—A proper remedy is loudly demanded by

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the public good. I simply declare the evil and leave you to present the remedy to the legislature at its next session—

The offence of Distilling spiritous liquors, was fully in-vestigated in each County—Two in Leake, Seven in Attala and three in Madison, were the number of offences in those Counties against the law of Jany 3^d 1863 and were discontinued after the Act of 5^th April 1864. I am advised that no one is distilling in any one of those counties—but the failure of the state to distribute spirits and supply the medicinal wants of the country from his distilleries is depriving the country of indespensible remidies, and causing very general complaint against existing legislation or those entrusted with that busi-ness, even by our best most prudent men—By existing laws, no druggest, physician or apothecary can sell liquor, nor can any one else, except the duly authorized agents of the State for that purpose, and they only of the State liquor—and hence none can be had for any purpose, however great the necessity or emergency—If some remedy is not early given, the opposition to the laws upon this subject will soon become so great, general & popular that all efforts at judicial proceedings against offenders wil prove abortive—I there-fore respectfully suggest early relief—

I again respectfully call your attention to the early arrest of deserters—They are daily increasing in number and outrages, and constitute by far the greatest common & public nuisance in the land—hardly inferior to so many

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yankee troops in the country. The exegencies of the Confederate service are so great and constant as to preclude the Confedera-cy from from arresting them. By the 5^th Section of the law of 1863 in [pamphlited?] acts on page 66, will be found both the remedy and the power with you to rid our state of this vile & recreant base and increasing class of beings. In as much as our State Resources are already and perhaps filled with one half of persons liable to general confederate service between the ages of 18 & 45—it becomes the greater duty of the state to oust these deserters—There seems at present a calm in this state, and during that time I earnestly sug-gest that you call out the entire militia force of each county at the same time to arrest deserters &c, for 30 days, or until the last one is secured & sent beyond the state—the militia will cheerfully do it. They will do it sooner, better and more permanently than any strangers, and will abstain from the lawless acts usually perpetrated by Confederate cavalry upon the good citizens—I know of no service so important to the country—There are at least 5000 to 8000 deserters in this state to day. They are not only absent from the army, but are a great curse to home and the community where they prowl—and should the yankees visit the interior, they will be joined as guides, informants & plunderers by the last one of them—Every motive, interest and honor demand their immediate expulsion, and I pray you to proceed at once by every lawful ways and means to eradicate them from our country—It is the earnest

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prayer of every good man & woman in the State—Please put our house in order, so that if the enemy comes, we shall have no base Traitor Therein—This is the accepted time, Now is the day of our salva-tion—The power is Thine, and the remedy is Thine.

Another great and crying sin is that the Commissioners of the poor families of soldiers are distributing the soldiers relief fund & aid equally among the families of deserters who have been long & continously in desertion, thus actually supporting the deserters—I know this to be true, to the great aid and comfort of deserters and the great grievance of the honest soldier & his family and to the poor taxpayer. Suppose you issue your orders to the Police Courts & Commis-sioners on this subject—It should be remedied at once.

I trust you will pardon me for plainly & earnestly calling your attention to these things—I have no motive or apology beyond a desire to see the right prevail and our country redeemed.

There are many militia-men who did not respond to your last call—and never will, if they are not promptly dealt with for their default—Many who did respond will not do so again as those who did not, are not duly punished—As yet no one has been disturbed here for his recreancy. Our good men hate to go out to battle, and leave only deserters & tories in their rear to outrage their families & property, and hence they will cheerfully catch all deserters, if ordered out by you for that purpose, In the late election in this County, the deserters ran their candidates, and at one box, 27 armed with guns, pistols &

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[note] E 66 [/note]

bowie knives marched out of the woods to one precinct & voted for their men—This occured about ten miles from me at Rentfrows box in Leake County—In other places in other counties they have run their men, united upon and elected them—They have tried hard to control the Police & Beat Elections—so as to insure the election of officers who will not arrest them, who will select tory grand jurors and who will distribute the soldiers fund among them.

The law of Jany 3^d 1863 makes the distilliation of spirits from Corn, Rye or other grain, Sugar & Molasses indictable—the law of 5th April 1864, prohibits the distilling of grain of any kind, peaches, apples, fruits, berries and vegitables of any kind but does not make it indictable to do so nor does it impose any penalty for doing so beyond abatement by certain persons or officers—they might possibly be indicted as nuisances, but the terms of the act and the requirements of certain officers seem to exclude that idea—as nuisances are not by the act made indictable, and the judgement upon such an in-dictment could only be to abate the nuisance, and that is already required to be done by the only person that the court could order to do it, and by many others—It is clear that the penalties of the act of Jany 1863 do not apply to the law of 5^thApril 1864—I merely call your attention to this point that you may suggest further legislation, if deemed important—Some proceeding by indictment

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against distillers for offences against the act of 1864, might be well, as well as by the indictment against the officer who fails to supress or abate the nuisance—

I deeply regret that no law has been made to indict deserters, and those who in any way give them aid & comfort. If there was such a law, and the offence was declared as "~~infamous~~ "high crime" ^or misdemeanor"^ and punishable by im-prisonment in the penetentiary, there such convicts might be deprived, as they should be, of the right of voting in any election, unless pardoned by the governor. and the offence would not be so frequent & general—See Art 7. General Provisions Sec 4. State Constitution—

Accept for yourself assurances of my
Kind regard and best wishes
Truly &c

Robt. S. Hudson