William Porcher Miles to Howell Cobb.
Charleston [S. C], Jan. 14th/61.
Dear Sir: I received your letter yesterday (Sunday) and this morning directed copies of all the ordinances passed and resolutions and addresses adopted by the convention of our state to be forwarded you at Macon. I will bear in mind your further request to telegraph you anything important which may transpire. I think there is more possibility of a peaceful solution of our difficulties here. It does not seem likely that the Administration, now that so many states have seceded, while Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas are on the eve of following suit, will attempt to reinforce Anderson—especially as we have proved that we can make pretty tolerable resistance to the entrance of vessels with either troops or supplies. Moreover we are better prepared now than when the Star of the West attempted to get in, to give Uncle Sam a warm reception.
Nothing but special spite and malice can induce the Government at Washington to confine its attentions to our harbor when the fortifications along the entire Southern coast have been seized by the authorities of the several states within whose limits they lie. I have always thought that the forts and navy yard at Pensacola were of so much consequence (if they purpose to wage war upon the South) that their most vigorous efforts would be to secure or retake them. Mr. Buchanan will in all likelihood seek to temporise—to delay positive action as long as possible. . . .
Your letter was very cheering. First because you hold out the hope that the Georgia convention will secede immediately and un-conditionally, and secondly because you speak of “perpetual sepa ration.” I must confess that on this latter point I have had some nervous anxiety lest after we are all out there may be a disposition to reform the old Confederacy. While I would be most sincerely desirous of forming an alliance offensive and defensive with the Northern Confederacy and entering into a treaty commercial on the most favorable terms, I feel utterly unwilling ever again to live under a common government with the free-soil states. Our pride is enlisted to prove to them and to the world that the South is not so poor, weak and destitute of resources as to be unable to hold her own in the great community of nations. Let us inaugurate on this side of the Atlantic a great free-trade government and perfect the grand commercial idea of the nineteenth century—untrammelled exchange of the productions and manufactures of the world.
Wishing you God speed in the Empire State in carrying on the work of Southern Independence.
From Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1911.
William Porcher Miles (July 4, 1822 – May 11, 1899) was among the ardent states’ rights advocates, supporters of slavery, and Southern secessionists who came to be known as the “Fire-Eaters.” He is notable for having designed the most popular variant of the Confederate flag, originally rejected as the national flag in 1861 but adopted as a battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee before it was reincorporated.
Howell Cobb was an American political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and Speaker of the House from 1849 to 1851. He also served as the 40th Governor of Georgia and as a Secretary of the Treasury under President James Buchanan. Cobb is, however, probably best known as one of the founders of the Confederacy, having served as the President of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States.