Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/114

 I04 Docwneiits addressed lias been cut from the manuscript. From internal evi- dence and from the fact that, with the exception of the last paragraph and the signature, it is written in the handwriting of a clerk, it may be inferred that it was one of several copies sent out by Secretary Mallory for purposes of local vindication. Stephen R. Mallory, born in the island of Trinidad in 1813, was United States senator from Florida from 1851 to 1861. When se- cession began he was chairman of the Senate committee on naval affairs. Throughout the existence of the Confederacy he was its Secretary of the Navy. He died in 1873. Montgomery Ala. Mar. 22. 1861. My dear sir, Though busily engaged in organizing the Navy Department here and aiding to launch our new Ship of State, I have desired for several days to write you and have stolen an hour this Sunday morning to do so. As it specially concerns myself however I must apologize in ad- vance for what I fear may prove tedious if not an infliction upon you, but I have determined to state facts to honorable men here and there in our State, as my time may admit of, whose judgment I respect and whose confidence irrespective of private friendship I am of course solicitous to obtain. You are one of these. It was my good fortune in Washington throughout my last term there and up to the day of my departure to cooperate with the Senators from the Border States, (in caucus) and with other good and true men in ad- vancing the common interests of our Section. On opinions as to the course of the Buchanan Administration, and as to those which it was ex- pedient for the Seceding States to pursue there was a happy unanimity. Pensacola was an interesting point, and with regard to our course there I was frequently brought into action,' receiving as I did telegraphic news from Chase^ in command there, and from other friends and laying these before our Southern friends in caucus. It was a fatal error not to have taken " Pickins ""' I did what I could to bring this about, I telegraphed Gov. Perry^ and Major Chase both upon the subject and also a friend in Pensacola and from thence Capt Bright of the Guard sent him a telegraphic request for permission to take it. He may not have received either, but at all events he acted from the best lights in his possession and let that pass. When the U. S. forces moved into Pickins, Chase telegraphed me he could not take the work without assault at an immense sa[c]rifice of life and total annihila- tion of the garrison. I at once showed it to my colleague Mr. Yulee ' Colonel William H. Chase, commanding the Florida forces at Pensacola ; formerly an officer of engineers in the United States army. - On Lieutenant Slemmer's move from Fort Barrancas to Fort Pickens, see Lieutenant-colonel J. H. Oilman's article, " With Slemmer in Pensacola Harbor ", in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, L 26-32. = Governor M. S. Perry of Florida.