Executive Department,
Milledgeville, Ga. , May 13 , 1861.
Hon. L. P. Walker,
Secretary of War, Montgomery, Ala.:
Sir: In reply to your note of the 7th instant, in which you say “I wish to know if Your Excellency will feel authorized to transfer to the Confederate Government the sulphur and saltpeter purchased some time since for the State of Georgia and still in your possession, provided cash payment be made for it,” I would state that I will feel authorized to make such transfer, provided the Confederate Government will at the same time and on the same terms accept the transfer of all the ordnance, shot, and shell which have been procured by this State from the Tredegar Works since the beginning of our present troubles, and also the steamer Huntress, recently purchased from parties in New York at the price of $ 15,000, with the necessary attending expenses incurred in bringing her to Savannah. This steamer was purchased to be used in our coast defense, but has been as yet mostly used in transporting troops and military stores between Savannah and the forts and coast below. It is true this steamer is not altogether such a boat as I would have purchased had I been unlimited in my selections, but at the time the selection was the best that could be made, and with some alterations will, it is thought by competent judges, be useful along our coast and inlets. The ordnance proposed to be transferred is mostly—I believe entirely—of heavy caliber, suited only for sea-coast defense; all which, together with said steamer, now that the Government of the Confederate States has assumed by authority all control over the forts and military operations in Georgia, have become, to the State separately, of no value. Hence I consider it but just that in transferring the powder materials above alluded to (and which are now worth, and would undoubtedly command in the market, a much larger sum than they cost), the Confederate Government should accept also the said ordnance, shot and shell, and the steamer at what they actually cost the State.
If your proposition thus modified shall meet the approval of the Confederate Government, I shall hold myself in readiness to cause the transfer to be made at any moment designated. Some days since I caused to be sent to you by the adjutant and inspector general a statement of the quantity and cost of the said powder materials, from which you will perceive they were bought at a low price.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOSEPH E. BROWN.
P. S.—The cost of mounting the guns above alluded to of course will be also taken into the account in making the transfer.