Letter from Captain William N. Monroe to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames; January 5, 1876

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Letter from Captain William N. Monroe to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames; January 5, 1876

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People

Ames, Adelbert, 1835-1933 Munroe, William N.Orr, J. A.Rhodes, Travis

Military Units

United States. Army United States. Army. Artillery

Organizations

Courts and Judicial Systems Courts and Judicial Systems--Circuit Courts Mississippi--Executive Department United States--War Department

Occupations

Judges Mechanics Politicians Secretaries

Places

Alabama--Mobile County. Mobile Louisiana--Orleans Parish. New Orleans Mississippi--Lowndes County. Columbus

Page 1

Columbus Miss January 5^th 1876

To his Excellency Adelbert Ames
Governor of the State of Mississippi

Dear Sir

In calling Your attention to the claims which the Columbus Light Artilery have to Your favorable consideration. [gap] It affords us pleasure to have those claims presented & endorsed by our honorable Circuit Judge J A Orr.

We address You with confidence knowing that as a Military Man by choice & education Your Excellency will be better able to estimate the justice of our claims, than most men. Mississippi as a state has never encouraged, and as a con-sequence never had any Artilery among her Citizen soldiery. The cause of this error may be in the fact that she has no large Citys or centers of trade & commerce like Alabama & Louisiana where her mechanical population could perfect such an organization. But in the absence of large Cities like Mobile & New Orleans, she has enterprising small towns where her mechanics if not able to perfect organizations like the Washington Artilery in point of numbers, Could man half Batterys & Sections which would be organised into Companies & Battalions on the roll of the State.

Such an organisation has been in a measure

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formed & its Officers commissioned in Columbus, its members composed almost exclusively of Mechanics, who as a class have more at stake in the preservation of law & order than any other class in the community.

For this reason as the Judge will explain to you, whatever our politics may be, we claim to be to conservative to rejoice or take part in anything calculated to array one portion of our population against the other. In view therefore of our being the first Artilery company in the State and from the fact that we are composed of, elliments eminently calculated to handle this important arm of the Military service more efficiently than any other class of our Citizens [gap] We beg leave to urge on Your Excellency as commander in Cheif.

The arming of this company with at least Two Field Guns as soon as possible, not as a political organisation but simply as a company of Citizen Soldiery who have a decided preferance for this arm of the service. And thus you will afford a common center arround which our Mechanics can rally in an organisation almost entirely their own, thus affording an elivateing means of instruction and and amusement to a class of our people, who are left to much to their

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own recourses for amusement & instruction

With Respect I am Your Obt Servt

W^m_" N Munroe
Capt
pr H La

It affords me great pleasure in being made the intermediary of this Communication between The Columbus Artillery Company and His Excellency.

The Company has been organized by the mechanics of this city, and a more worthy set of men cannot be found. There is not a man among them who is a politician. They are a set of honest, industrious mind-their-own-business men with the intelligence & & physical capacity to make a No. 1. Artillery Company, and I do earnestly unite with them in the request that they be furnished with guns if it can be done.

Respectfully

J. A. Orr

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE,
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI,
Lowndes County,

From Cap't. W^m_" N. Monroe
Address Columbus
Dated Jan'y. 5, 1876.
Received ,, 20^th ,,
Answered [gap]

SUBJECT:

Asking for 2 Field Pieces for a Section of Light Artilery organized at Columbus with endorsement by Judge Orr, asking favorable consideration of the application.

(Inclosures [gap] )

No action

ADELBERT AMES,
Governor.

TRAVIS RHODES,
Private Secretary.