Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/14

4 but it is not necessary, as the Congress of the United States passed in 1861 an act to the effect that officers resigning would not be considered out of the service until their resignations were accepted by the President. This act is as follows:

The necessity for passing such an act proves the point just stated. Before 1861 the waiting for an acceptance of a resignation was simply an act of courtesy.

The Southern army officers were better treated. All resignations from the army were accepted. But many navy officers, in consequence of this spiteful and illegal action on the part of Secretary Welles, are now marked on the official list as "dismissed"—not a pleasant thing for their descendants to contemplate—for which no atonement can ever be made these officers. It is only one of the many sacrifices of the Confederate navy. The Naval Academy Association of Alumni, with a higher sense of honor and justice than Mr. Welles manifested, ignores this action of his in dismissing officers. It cordially admits these officers to membership, though officers legally dismissed are not admitted.

According to Col. J. Thomas Scharf's valuable history of the Confederate States navy, the statistics show that by June 3, 1861, of 671 officers from the South, 321 had resigned and 350 still remained in the United States navy. As the war progressed, however, many more Southern officers resigned.

Whatever has been said or written since that time of the action of the Southern officers, it is unquestionably true that it was the general belief of the Southern officers in the navy in 1861, that allegiance was due the State, and