Today in History:

492 Series I Volume I- Serial 1 - Charleston

Page 492 THE SECESSION OF LOUISIANA. Chapter VI.


No. 4. Report of Ordnance Sergeant D. Wilber, U. S. Army, of the seizure of Fort Macomb.

FORT MACOMB, LA., January 31, 1861.

SIR: I have the honor to report myself at this point. I will also report that Lieutenant R. C. Capers, with a detachment of the First Regiment Louisiana Infantry, took charge of this post of the 28th instant. I turned over all the property under protest, closed my public accounts, transmitted them to the departments to which they belong, and, as there is no use at present for an ordnance sergeant at this post, I will request leave of absence for three months to visit my family in Portland, Me.

Respectfully, I am, sir, your most obedient servant,

D. WILBER,

Ordnance Sergeant, U. S. Army.

Colonel S. COOPER,

Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.


No. 5. Reports of Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel Abraham C. Myers, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Army, of the seizure of public property in the hands of Army officers at New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS, January 28, 1861.

The State of Louisiana has this day taken possession of the public property in the custody of the U. S. Army officers stationed in New Orleans.

A. C. MYERS.

The ADJUTANT-GENERAL U. S. ARMY.

NEW ORLEANS, LA., January 28, 1861.

COLONEL: I herewith inclose you, for the information of the Secretary of War, a copy of an order addressed to me as an officer of the United States Army by the governor of the sovereign State of Louisiana.

I will forward receipts to the proper staff departments of the U. S. Army at Washington for all public property in my custody for which I am accountable, and the public funds in my hands I will turn over to the assistant treasurer of the United States in New Orleans, furnishing his receipts for the same.

South Carolina, the State where I was born, and Louisiana, the State of my adoption, having in convention passed ordinances of secession from the United States, I am absolved from my allegiance to the Federal Government. My resignation as an officer of the U. S. Army is accepted for me by the States above named. I beg that the settlement of my accounts will be made up as soon as possible. I shall make it a point of honor scrupulously to discharge every item of accountability arising from any differences in the official statements and my own in connection


Page 492 THE SECESSION OF LOUISIANA. Chapter VI.