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 PERKINS LIBRARY 
 
 
 
 Duke University 
 
 
 
 Kare Dooks 
 
 
 
 
 
CIRCULAR, 
 
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 4SS5. 
 
 At the recent conference, at this place, between the Lieutenant- 
 General commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, and the Governors 
 aDd other officials of the States comprised in it, the following resolution 
 was unanimously adopted: 
 
 Resolved: That to harmonize, and infuse vigor iuto, the patriotic efforts 
 of the people, diffuse correct information, and discourage disloyalty , an 
 organization should be instituted, as follows: 
 
 "The Governors, for the time being, of the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
 ment should, unofficially, compose a Oommittee of Public Safety, with a 
 Chairman to call it together, when necessary, and act as its agent, and 
 should provide for Committees of Correspondence in each county and 
 parish, to correspond with the Governor of their State, and with the 
 Committee. 
 
 "The people of each county and parish should form a voluntary Con- 
 federate Association, to cooperate with the Trans-Mississippi Committee 
 of Public Safety, and the corresponding committees." 
 
 The Committee of Public Safetv having been immediately organized, 
 as recommended in that resolution, the undersigned was ehoaen its Chairman. 
 
 The conference unanimously took a cheerful and hopeful view of the 
 condition of our affairs. A free interchange of opinions and information 
 disclosed many preparations and resources which the wise secresy charac- 
 teristic of our military leaders lias kept, and must continue to keep, from 
 the knowledge of the public. The Confederate and State governments 
 have directed their efforts, with considerable success, towards enabling 
 this department to meet its own military wants. Letters from the Presi- 
 dent and Secretary of War, written since their knowledge of the fall of 
 Vicksburg and Port Hudson, show that constant and strenuous efforts will 
 continue to be made by the Confederate authorities to extend us liberal and 
 effective aid. 
 
 The loss of our Mississippi strong-holds « as followed by unwarrantable 
 apprehensions in some portions of this department, The comparison of 
 intelligence from all quarters shows that our population is still not only 
 true but confident of final success. Those apprehensions arose mainly 
 from ignorance of our own resources, an impression that we might be 
 deprived of the aid of the Confederate government, want of correct 
 intelligence of passing events, difficulty of communication between the 
 inhabitants of our sparsely settled country, but above all else, from the 
 absence of concert of action among zealous patriots and the seemingly 
 systematic diffusion of false and discouraging rumors by the public enemy 
 and the few traitors whom the generous liberalism of our institutions per 
 mits to continue unchecked within our borders. 
 
 Phe .ii.inuiii exists among a few, . but more fixedly in the other section 
 of our Confederacy than in our own, i and is sedulously propagated by the 
 enemy, that a feeling is spreading in tins department in favor of separation 
 from our eastern si-ins, ami even the erection of a Mississippi Valley 
 Republic. Investigation has shown this opinion to be unfounded: no indi- 
 vidual who avows a preference for any such project can be discovered. — 
 Occasionally, some person suspects some other ot favoring it; invariably, 
 that other denies the charge. Such an origin of a false alarm is familiar in 
 the history of the strategetic an ,.f military lying. The few disaffected in 
 our land who d sin ■ reconstruction of Federal tyranny ovcrus.in.i istriously 
 sprea.1 rumors of such plans, in ihe hope thereby to distract learten 
 
 us Urn the innate silliness of dividing the South in the 1 enemy 
 
 who boasts that he .an sul. .In, ns though united, will b ry such 
 
 scheme from the minds of patriots. 
 
 Besides tl imaginary apprehensions there arc o- I real, hin- 
 
 drances to a muted, \ jgorOUS an. 1 enthusiastic prosed," war. The 
 
 wh perils his life in battle, cannot feel coutei . anyshould 
 
 shirk their dun m absences without leave, or evade the utmost ,'igilance of 
 the conscription ..Miens. The citizen who lib, .rail'. ir army at 
 
 moderate rates it disgusted at the sight of men devising schemes to avoid 
 their due shares ol the public burthens, or to increase tacit wealth by specu- 
 lating on the necessities of the government or ol indi li [Tie sternest 
 regulations fail to prevent occasional insolence or tyrat nj officials, or in- 
 . leasable violations ol private rights bj thoughtless 01 in lubordinate strag- 
 glers. These evils it is difficult entirely t.> prevent in time of war; but to the 
 . xt. in t.. uln.-Ii thej . xiat, the) tend to diminish thi zeal ol our people in 
 defence of their independence. 
 
 icwspapers have unavoidably become few and of diminished dimen- 
 sions; prude joins on them silence in regs matters, — 
 Communication by mail is difficult. Thus deprived ..I much of tho light 
 xvhich.in time of peace, enterprising public journals and private correspon- 
 dence can throw on the conditio'.-., resources and wants ol every locality, the 
 -vil aud nidit ir luthoritii s frequently fail to obtain, that oiinuie and regular 
 
 information which would enable them to act promptly with a thorough 
 knowledge both of the temper of the public mind, and of the means at their 
 disposal to conduct the war. The impaired efficiency aud activity of the usual 
 police authorities is, in some districts, inadequate to the task of keeping a 
 proper xvatch upon the elements of disorder which abound in every country 
 in time of xvar, and xvhicb must also exist in ours. 
 
 The remedy for the ailments thus debilitating the body politic is Vol 
 lntarv Organization of the people, not to do anything whatever above or 
 against the l.axv, but to aid and sustain, by lawtul means, legally constituted 
 authorities in the performance of their arduous duties. Already, in several 
 portions of this department this idea has germinated in the niiuds of ardent 
 patriots. The design of the Marshall conference is simply to accelerate, and 
 gi\'e the sauctiou of the regular constitutional authorities to, a movement 
 which promised speedily to become general aud spontaneous among the 
 people. 
 
 The name "Confederate Association" has been adopted as indicative ol 
 the purpose of the organization to sustain the cause of the Confederate 
 States. As it is designed to embrace all citizens true to the cause, a formula 
 of membership has been suggested which is believed to be comprehensive 
 yet unexceptionable. The purposes and organization of the Association 
 being divested of all secresy, and membership being wholly voluntary, no 
 reasonable objection can be made to if. A candid explanation of its nature 
 and objects will, it is confidently expected, make it generally acceptable, and 
 the wider the extension of it, the greater will be the security for a discreet 
 management of its affairs. The formula of membership is appended to this 
 circular; when any member is prevented from affixing his signature in person, 
 the list should show die individual by whom the signature is written; the 
 postotlice of each member should be stated to facilitate the distribution of 
 documents by th." Association and the Committee of Public Safety 
 
 The details of organization of each Association are left to the discretion 
 of its members; a president and secretary are, of course, indispensable. It 
 may be divided into precinct associations, where practicable. To facilitate 
 its extension no general contribution should be expected from members, but 
 the few expenses necessary should be paid by the liberality of the wealthy. 
 As soon as a considerable proportion of the citizens present in a county or 
 parish shall have joined the Association, it should be organized. It should 
 also select tyvo or three of its most active members, men of sound judgment 
 and having the coutidcuce of their community, as members of a Committee 
 of Correspondence; these, with such others as the Governor of their State 
 I, ,i .the deem it advisable, add to their uumber, will compose that Cora 
 mittee. The names and postofflce addresses of the officers of the Associa- 
 tion, and the members of its Committee of Correspondence, should be imrae- 
 .liai.lv communicated to the Governor of their State, and also to the Chair 
 man of the Committee of Public Safety. 
 
 Every Confederate Association is expected to exert itself in keeping 
 alive the fervid patriotism of the people by meetings at suitable times, fre- 
 quent informal gatherings, and occasional public speeches. Its officers 
 should pay- special attention to the dissemination of accurate intelligence of 
 current events; one of the main duties of the Committee of Public Safety 
 will be to initiate measures for promptly furnishing these officers xvith such 
 intelligence. They should also endeavor to correct, and prevent the diffusion 
 of, exaggerated or false reports coming from the enemy's lines or originating 
 with his spies and secret agents among us. To these ends they should aid in 
 extending the circulation of reliable newspapers thoroughly devoted to 
 our cause, and counteract the baleful influe.ice of tho'e in which are to be 
 found the croaking* or evil suggestions which alarm timid hearts. Where 
 the conduct of a suspected spy or secret agent of the enemy is such that the 
 layv can reach him, the Association or its officers should collect the evidences 
 of such conduct, and promptly communicate them to the proper civil or 
 military authorities. Each member should consider it his special duty to be 
 vigilant in discovering the discontented or wavering, andin persuading them 
 into a just appreciation of their duties as citizens; In visiting soldiers who 
 are absent without leave and persons who avoid conscription, and in urgiug 
 them to hasten to their camps. Where reasoning fails, the men thus neg- 
 lecting their military obligations should be reported to the proper officer. 
 
 The Association can be of great use in giving to quartermasters and 
 other government officials, and their agents, accurate intelligence concerning 
 the resources of its neighborhood. Especially when impressments are ne- 
 cessary, it may by timely communication xvith the officer enable him to make 
 them in the manner least inconvenient to the people, axoid throwing iLc 
 whole burthen on liberal men, and prevent the cunning or sordid from es- 
 
tion should collect the evidence and make the charge before the proper au- 
 thority, military or civil. By thus aiding good officers, and reporting the 
 worthless or evil disposed, the Association can powerfully contribute towanls 
 diminishing the expenses of the war, and weeding out inefficiency, the great 
 curse of our military establishment. 
 
 This organization might thus become, in the true sense of the word and 
 without conflict with the law, a Committee of Vigilance to watch over the 
 public safety. No false sense of delicacy should, in this time of peril, hinder 
 any one from aiding the public authorities by giving them the full intelligence 
 without which they might be unable to execute the laws rigidly ami im 
 partially. 
 
 In the counties and parishes exposed to incursions or occupation by the 
 enemy the Association might assume the duty of acting with the authorities 
 in preventing false alarms, obtaining and circulating correct information, 
 organizing for local defence, and in giving order and security to the removal 
 of families and property out of reach of the enemy. 
 
 No Association should permit its organization to become languid although 
 it may for along time find very little to do. It cannot know at what moment 
 it may be callea on to exert its utmost energies; let it be always ready to 
 answer the call. The system is designed to continue throughout the war; a 
 main object of it is to organize thoroughly adi ana of any emergency, for 
 when the emergens comes, there may be no time to organize. It is no un- 
 tried plan, but is borrowed from the system of local organization which car- 
 ried our forefathers successfully through the first years of the revolution of 
 1776. Mad we had such an organisation in the parts of the Confederacy 
 which have been overrun by the enemy, their fate might have been far differ- 
 ent from what it is. Let us take warning from their calamities. 
 
 The duties of each Committee of Correspondence will be few but very 
 important. It should keep itself informed ot the eenditiou of its countv 01 
 parish, and by conci* IB&aecuratt letters maintain a regular but not burthen- 
 some correspondence with the Governor of its State. A similar correspon- 
 dence, un matters of general interest to the departmeit. should be kept up 
 with the Chairman of the Committee of Public Saret-v. who will remain, as 
 far as his official duties will permit, near the general commanding this de 
 purtment. Letters to him can be addressed to the departmental headquar- 
 ters. Such correspondence, conducted with disparch and conscientiousness, 
 mav furnish a most valuable fund of information to our civil and military 
 authorities. 
 
 This circular will be forwarded to a few citizens, indicated by the Gov- 
 ernor of the State, in each locality, as a call on them, to proceed immediatclv 
 to the organization of a "Confederate Association." You are among the citi 
 zens so selected and it is hoped that you will undertake that labor, calling 
 your patriotic neighbors to your aid. Yon and they, by completing that or- 
 
 fanization will establish a just claim to the grateful reurembtaoce of all true 
 earted Confederates. 
 
 I am, Sir, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant. 
 
 *#£•. £ 
 
 •Ste^s 't *■ / **£s 
 
 Chmrman, Trans-Mississippi Committee ef Pobli'" Safety 
 
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 We the undersigned, have become Members of the CONFEDERATE ASSOCIATION of 
 
 County, State of , and solemnly pledge ourselves to each 
 
 other and to our country, that we will support and defend, to the utmost of our ability, the independence of said State 
 and the Confederate States of America. 
 
 Signature: 
 
 Post-office: 
 
 Date of Sicnati're: 
 
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