CHAP.XII.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - CONFEDERATE.

by you, both in kind and quantity, and see of it that the deeds of transfer are rightly drawn and executed; all of which you will report to this Department.

Respectfully,

L.P. WALKER, Secretary of War.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Nashville, August 16,1861.

HonorableL.P. WALKER, War Department, Richmond:

SIR: I am satisfied from the movements of the Union men of East Tennessee that more troops should be stationed in that division of the State. If you would establish camps of instruction at different points in East Tennessee, and order to them such troops as you may have in camps in States south of us to the extent of 5,000 or 7,000 men, the presence of such a force would give perfect security to our railroads and prevent the organization of a rebel army, while the presence of the force we have there at present has the effect of irritating without being sufficient to awe or subdue.

Twelve or fourteen thousand men in East Tennessee would crush out rebellion there without firing a gun, while smaller force may involve us in scenes of blood that will take long years to heal. We can temporize with the rebellious spirit of that people no longer. If you can order a sufficient number of troops from State south of us to that point, the adoption of a decided and energetic policy (which I am resolved upon so soon as I have a sufficient force to sustain it), the arrest and indictment for treason of the ringleaders, will give perfect peace and quiet to that division of our State in the course of two months. If I had the arms I could raise troops enough within one or two weeks to answer all purposes there, but having armed the provisional force and transferred it to the Confederate States, I have no arms to put into the hands of the regiments here seeking service and anxious to get into the field. Having sent from Middle Tennessee three regiments to East Tennessee and five to Western Virginia, and General Polk and General Pillow having moved some 6,000 men from West Tennessee to Missouri, it leaves us very much exposed upon the Kentucky border-too much so if our Kentucky friends should attempt any hostile movement; but if you can arm the brigade at Camp Boone, under General Withers, I can take care of Middle Tennessee with the troops now here; but until matters assume a more peaceful attitude in Kentucky, I do not think it prudent or safe to send troops from here. If the suggestion with regard to East Tennessee is to be acted upon at all, it should be done at once, as every moment's delay put increases the danger of an outbreak there.

Very respectfully,

ISHAM G. HARRIS.

WAR DEPARTMENT, C.S.A.,

Richmond, August 20,1861.

His Excellency ISHAM G. HARRIS, Governor of Tennessee:

SIR: Your letter of August 16 has just been received by the hands of Major Bradford. The importance of the present attitude of East Tennessee is not unknown to this Department, and the necessity of