Monday, May 27.—News received this morning of the appearance at Pass à l’Outre yesterday of the U. S. S. Brooklyn, and of the establishment of the blockade. Work is progressing satisfactorily upon the Sumter and I expect to be ready for sea by Sunday next. News of skirmishing in Virginia and of fresh arrivals of [...]

Headquarters Department Of Virginia, Fort Monroe, May 27, 1861. Lieutenant-General Scott. Sir : * * *Since I wrote my last dispatch (May 24) the question in regard to slave property is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are using their negroes in the batteries and are preparing to send the women [...]

May 24, 1861—7.15 p. m. [Col. J. B. Magruder.] Sir: I regret to inform you that Lieutenant-Colonel Ewell was taken prisoner at Fort Monroe; under what plea I have not been able to understand. I had requested an interview with Major-General Butler (now in command ) this morning which was granted at 3.30 p.m. My [...]

Headquarters Department Of Virginia, Fort Monroe, May 24, 1861. Lieut. Gen. Winfield Scott: (Note: this is an excerpt from a longer correspondence begun on May 24, 1861, reporting Butler’s arrival at Fort Monroe) * * * * * * * * * * * Saturday, May 25.— I had written thus far when I was [...]

By command of the Secretary of War.

Custom-House, Collector’s Office, New Orleans, May 25, 1861. Hon. L. P. Walker, Secretary of War, Montgomery, Ala.: Sir: Your dispatch of yesterday came to hand last night. My purpose was quickly taken, viz, to ask unlimited control of the light schooner W. R. King; to transfer her to a British subject, and clear her under [...]

Galena, Ill., May 24, 1861. Colonel L. Thomas, Adjutant-General U . S. Army, Washington, D. C . : Sir: Having served for fifteen years in the Regular Army, including four years at West Point, and feeling it the duty of every one who has been educated at the Government expense to offer their services for [...]

Montgomery, May 24, 1861. Governor John Letcher, Richmond : Can you arm 5,000 troops from Confederate States? L. P. WALKER. _________________ Richmond, May 24, 1861. Hon. L. P. Walker: We can arm 5,000 troops with flint-lock muskets. JOHN LETCHER.

Montgomery, May 24, 1861. Collector F. H. Hatch, New Orleans: Ship Windsor Forest cleared from Liverpool on 27th of April, with munitions of war for this Government. Her charter was for Quebec; really, however, for Southern port. Her real course to the Gulf lies by the south side of Cuba. She will be near Cape [...]

New Orleans, May 24, [1861]—A month has elapsed since I began the preparation of the Sumter for sea, and yet we are not ready. Leeds & Co. have not given us our tanks, and we only received the carriage for the 8-inch gun to-day. The officers are all present and the crew has been shipped, [...]

Report of Captain Ritchie, U. S. Navy, senior officer present in Bay of Panama, relative to mail steamers. U. S. S. Saranac, Bay of Panama, May 22, 1861. Sir: Communications from the Department of dates April 27 and May 1 have been received, together with the President’s proclamation in regard to pretended letters of marque. [...]

Secretary of War Walker explains the evolution of the length of service requirements of the CSA to the Governor of Georgia. Confederate States Of America, War Department, Montgomery, May 22, 1861. His Excellency Joseph E. Brown, Governor of Georgia: Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge Your Excellency’s favor of the 15th of May, and [...]

Report of Captain Nicholas, U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S. Constellation, of the capture by that vessel of the American brig Triton (slaver). U. S. S. Constellation, Congo River, West Coast of Africa, May 22, 1861. Sir: I have the honor to report to you that I yesterday captured at Punta da Lenha the [...]

AN ACT to provide for the cession, on the part of the State of Arkansas, of the arsenal at Little Rock, and of Fort Smith at the city of Fort Smith, in the State of Arkansas, to the Confederate States of America, and the acceptance of the same by the said Confederate States. Whereas, by [...]

A RESOLUTION to provide for the removal of the seat of Government. Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That this Congress will adjourn on Tuesday next, to meet again on the 20th day of July, at Richmond, Va.; and that a committee of three members of this Congress be appointed to [...]

Headquarters of the Army, Washington, May 21, 1861, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, U. S. Army, Commanding, &c.: Sir: Considering that Cumberland, in Maryland, is not within your command, and is under the immediate consideration of Major-General Patterson and the authorities here (all of us much nearer at hand), we are surprised at your repeated [...]

“I regard these (shot proof) boats as an indispensable element in any system of operations, whether offensive or defensive.” Headquarters Department of the Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 21, 1861. Col. E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General: Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of May 15, sent by Lieutenant Williams, and [...]

Cincinnati, Ohio, May 21, 1861. Col. E. D. Townsend, If I have to move into Western Virginia or Kentucky, as may any day become necessary, the Ohio contingent is not sufficient. I have no accouterments, no means of transportation, and no money. The Adjutant-General refuses recruits from Newport Barracks for the companies from Randall. Without [...]

Letter from Secretary of the Navy to the governor of New Jersey regarding protection for that State. Navy Department, May 21, 1861. Sir: I have received your letter of the 15th instant on the subject of protecting the inlets on the New Jersey coast, and would respectfully state in reply that the coast guard of [...]

(By the end of the war, Caleb Huse would have spent  £10,000,0001 on arms for the Confederacy.) London, England, May 21, 1861. Officer of Artillery in Charge of Ordnance Bureau, C. S. A.: Sir: In compliance with instructions from the War Department I left Montgomery on the ____ of April, on my way to Europe, [...]

Headquarters Of The Army, Washington, May 20, 1861. General George B. McClellan, U. S. Army, Cincinnati, Ohio: Your letter of May 14 is received. The General-in-Chief says you have by this time General Orders, No. 19, extending your command over Western Virginia and Pennsylvania north of the Great Kanawha, &c. Your authority is ample within [...]

Surgeon-General’s Office, Washington, May 20, 1861. In reference to the national reputation of Miss Dix as connected with objects of philanthropy and usefulness, she is authorized to exercise a general supervision of the assignment of nurses to the hospitals, general and regimental, occupied by the troops at Washington and its vicinity, subject to the advisement [...]

Letter from Messrs. D. R. King & Co., Philadelphia, to Secretary of the Nary, requesting naval convoy or armament for California steamers. Philadelphia, May 20, 1861. Dear Sir: We have for several years past been in the habit of making large and regular shipments to California in Vanderbilt’s steamers, but at present fear the risk [...]

Estimate of the amount requiring to send an agent abroad to purchase vessels and arms per act approved May 10, 1861. Navy Department, May 20, 1861. For the purchase of six steam propellers1, with armaments, small arms, ordnance stores, and other munitions of war, per act approved May 10, 1861. ……………………………………..$1,000,000 One million of dollars. [...]