Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/13



N the nth day of March, 1861, the delegates from the seceded States, in session at Montgomery, Ala., adopted the "Constitution for the provisional government of the Confederate States of America," and this Constitution, as well as the one afterward adopted as "the permanent Constitution of the Confederate States," empowered Congress to "provide and maintain a navy," and made the President commander-in-chief of the army and navy.

South Carolina seceded December 20, 1860, and was followed by Mississippi, January 9, 1861; Florida, January 10, 1861; Alabama, January 11, 1861; Georgia, January 19, 1861; Louisiana, January 26, 1861, and Texas, February 1, 1861.

As the different States seceded, many of the officers of the United States navy belonging to those States resigned their commissions and offered their services to the Confederacy. Although many of these officers were informed by Mr. Gideon Welles, the secretary of the United States navy, that their names were "dropped from the rolls," and up to the present time they are marked on the official documents as "dismissed," yet, as a matter of fact, when they resigned their commissions the President could not, in accordance with the custom of the navy, do otherwise than accept them. The right of an officer to resign has never been disputed, unless the officer is at the time under arrest and liable to charges. Many examples could be cited to establish this point;