Howell Cobb to His Wife.
Montgomery [Ala.], 6 Feby., 1861.
My Dear Wife, Since my election as President of the Congress I have been engaged all the time and had no chance to write.
We have gone into secret session, and on pain of expulsion not permitted to divulge anything that is going on. The details would not however be interesting. I can say to you that whilst there are differences of opinion, there will in the end be great unanimity and our final action will prove satisfactory. I feel the greatest confidence in the entire success of our great movement. The newspaper men are annoyed at their exclusion from our sessions and hence you may expect to see all sorts of rumours in the papers. Our friends may rest satisfied that everything is going on well and will end well.
Little or nothing is said about President of the Confederacy, and yet we shall elect one in a day or two, perhaps before you get this letter. So far from making an effort to obtain that position, I have frankly said to my friends that I greatly prefer not to be put there. All that I have seen and learned since I got here has satisfied me that it is a most undesirable position. I rather think that Jeff. Davis will be the man, though I have not heard any one say that he is for him. The truth is—and it is creditable to our public men here— there is no effort made to put forward any man, but all seem to desire in everything to do what is best to be done to advance and prosper the cause of our independence. I cannot better give you an idea of the sentiment of the Congress than to say that my speech on taking the chair is approved by everybody—Stephens, Hill, Wright and Kenan are as strong against reconstruction[i] as any of us. The two first made strong speeches yesterday on that line. The delegation from Georgia are acting with perfect unanimity on all questions.
[i] I. e., delegates who had previously opposed secession now advocated permanent independence for the South.
From Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1911.
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.