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vision, who will accept their services in the manner and on the principles specified in a former part of this proclamation.

Those of the third division, will report to Major General Bradley, at Franklin, who will likewise give due attention to this order in the manner pointed out. All letters announcing the existence and formation of companies tendering their services, in the event of a requisition, which have been received by me, or the Adjutant General of the State, will be handed over to the Major General of the proper division, in order to enable him to give to the companies, in whose behalf they were written, the full benefit of their patriotism and zeal.

Volunteer companies from the fourth division, (Western District,) will report themselves to Major General Hays, at Jackson, who will accept of their services by the rules and on the principles herein stated, and notify by express, when necessary, such companies; and on receiving such notice, all the companies (infantry and cavalry) will march to Memphis, the place of their rendezvous and further organization, on the 15th June. Any deficiency which may occur in raising the required number of companies from his division, the Major General will report to the Executive, that the same may be received from some other portion of the State.

The seven infantry companies from the second and third divisions, (Middle Tennessee,) will be expected to be at Nashville by the 8th of June, where suitable and proper arrangements will be made for their transportation to Memphis, the place of general rendezvous, on the 15th of June, where the whole force will be further organized into regiments as prescribed by the laws of the State. The cavalry companies, from every part of the State, will proceed by land to Memphis.

Gen. Levin H. Coe, Inspector General of the State, is hereby instructed, unless superseded in that duty by some officer charged with the same by the United States, to select a suitable encampment in or near Memphis, and cause an adequate supply of rations and supplies to be engaged for the subsistence of said troops whilst at that place, and employ suitable assistants for that purpose.

Volunteer companies, after they have been accepted by the Major Generals, will be at liberty to arm themselves with

"Hall's rifles," or muskets, or other arms, at the depots in the several divisions of the State, either in whole or in part, so as to go to the field with arms in as good condition as possible, and the keepers of the public arms are hereby directed to deliver such arms to the Captain of any ACCEPTED COMPANY, taking his receipt for the same.

All companies from the second and third divisions will be mustered into the service of the United States at Nashville, and all others at Memphis."

The East Tennessee troops will arrive at Memphis as soon after the said 15th of June as practicable.

The Executive has witnessed, with the proudest satisfaction, the zeal and alacrity with which the citizens of Tennessee have rallied to the standard of the country. He has endeavored to give all parts of the State an equal chance to engage in the service, and has gone into all the above details, in order to save time and to give the utmost possible expedition to the departure of the troops.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, LS and caused the great seal of the State to be affixed, on this the 24th day of May, 1846.

By the Governor,

JNO. S. YOUNG, Sec'y of State.

AARON V. BROWN.

ADDRESS

Of Gov. Brown, transferring the third Regiment of Volunteers

to the United States.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
NASHVILLE, June 3, 1846.

To COL. WM. B. CAMPBELL:

SIR: The first regiment of the Tennessee Infantry Volunteers, which you have the honor to command, being now fully organized and mustered into the service of the United States, in pursuance of a requisition made on me by the Secretary of War, dated 16th May, 1846, you will proceed with it, by means of the steamboats chartered for that purpose, to the city of New Orleans as speedily as practicable, and report yourself to Major General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, for further orders.

In surrendering the State authority, and passing you over, during the term of your service, to that of the United States, I cannot permit the opportunity thereby afforded to pass by, without submitting a few observations to you and the brave and gallant men under your command. You have been called on at a moment of great emergency to engage in the service of the country. The requisition on me arrived by one mail; mine on you was sent forth by the next. In the short space of one week you nobly responded to my call, and are now here from the different portions of a widely extended country with a promptitude and alacrity which has never been surpassed in the volunteer service of the country. It would have been impossible to have given greater celerity to the movement, with

out having taken the requisition from a few of our principal towns and nearest counties of the State, without giving the balance of it any opportunity to participate in the glorious privilege of defending the country. This I could not consent to do; and in order to give all parts of the State over which I preside an equal opportunity, I caused the requisition to be apportioned among the different military divisions established by law. But such has been the patriotic ardor of my countrymen, that at least five times as many companies offered themselves as it would take to fill up the requisition. I could not take all, for reasons hereafter mentioned, and I therefore directed the four Major Generals of the State to select, according to the rules laid down, the companies to be received from their respective divisions. It would have been impossible for me to have made the selection with propriety amongst companies formed all over the State, with which the Major Generals may well be presumed to have much better acquaintance than any body else. I directed them to receive the old armed companies under the fortieth section of the militia laws of the State, and wherever there was a conflict between other companies described, to decide the same fairly by ballot. I know of no mode more equitable than that. The Major Generals of the second and third divisions have reported to me that they have selected you (the twelve companies now present) as the fortunate ones on whom the glorious privilege of defending the rights and honor of the country has finally devolved.

Others, no doubt, may feel some disappointment and mortification, that they, too, cannot share with you at this time in the toils, and dangers, and honors of the present campaign.Many have petitioned and entreated me to take them also into the public service. Most heartily would I have consented to do so, if it had been in my power. But the requisition was expressly limited to three regiments, and no more. Besides this, the Secretary of War, after learning that Gen. Gaines had called for a much larger requisition, and when he knew every thing known to us, as to Gen. Taylor's condition, expressly and *promptly required me not to comply with it. Moreover, after the requisition was made, authorizing companies to contain as many as eighty privates, the Secretary of War desired that

they should be reduced so as not to exceed sixty-four privates, thereby considerably diminishing the number of the first call. Under these circumstances, I felt constrained to decline accepting more than would fill the requisition. The requisition from which all my authority is derived, was against it. The letter of the Secretary of War, commanding me not to comply with the larger requisition of Gen. Gaines, was against it.His letter to reduce the size of the companies, if not too far advanced in organization, was against it, and nothing in favor of it, but the patriotic eagerness of my countrymen to repel the insolent invader of our soil.

The letter of Gen. Gaines was one of advice, in anticipation of a call, and not a requisition at all. If considered as mandatory, it was void for want of authority. If (as it declares in express terms) it is regarded as advisory only, it turns out that I acted precisely in accordance with the wishes of the general government, in not complying with it. And more than all, suppose I had yielded to the enthusiasm of the moment, and instead of two thousand or three thousand men, I had sent five thousand or six thousand, what assurance have we that any more than the requisition would have been received? None, whatsoever; and we might have been doomed to see or hear of hundreds and thousands of our fellow-citizens rejected in New Orleans, without provisions, and many without money, to grope their way back to Tennessee, cursing the folly of her Governor, in having disobeyed all the orders and admonitions of the constituted authorities of the general government.

And now, Sir, having explained to you and the regiment under your command, and to our fellow-citizens at large, the principles on which you have been selected rather than others, to bear the time-honored standard of Tennessee to the field of battle and of glory, I have only to say, Go, gallant sons of gallant fathers, go and join with others of your countrymen, in driving back, if not already done, the insolent invader of our country, and if need be, to carry home the war into the very heart of his territory. Go, under that beautiful banner, which innocence, virtue, and beauty have presented to you. Never permit it—and I know you will not-never permit it to be lowered in the face of the enemy, whilst your regiment has one

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