Message of Isham Green Harris, 24 April 1861. TNGenNet Inc. TNGenWeb Project, Autobiographies, Biographies, and Diaries of Our Ancestors.

Under your joint resolution adopted the 10th of February inst., providing ‘that the Governor and Heads of Executive Departments may at any time during the present war, by proclamation of the Governor, temporarily change the seat of Government, remove the papers and records of the Executive Departments, and the Governor by proclamation shall convene the legislature when he deems it necessary, at a place determined upon as the temporary seat of Government;’ And the report of a legislative Committee from the House which called upon me on the 16th inst. to inform me that the Legislature was ready to meet at such time and place as I might designate-I deemed it my duty to remove the records of the Government to, and convene the Legislature at this City, for the following reasons:

The disaster to our arms at Fishing Creek had turned the right flank of our army, and left the country from Cumberland Gap to Nashville exposed to the advance of the Federal Army.

The fall of Fort Henry had given the enemy the free navigation of the Tennessee river, through which channel he had reached the southern boundary of Tennessee, and the fall of Fort Donelson, left the Cumberland river open to his gunboats and transports, enabling him to penetrate the heart of the State, and reach its Capitol at any time, within a few hours, when he should see proper to move upon it.

Immediately upon hearing of the fall of Fort Donelson, I called upon General Johnston to tender to him all the resources of the State which could be made available, with my full co-operation in any and all measures of defense of our State and Capitol. General Johnston informed me that under the circumstances which surrounded him, with the small force then under his command, he regarded it as his duty to the army he commanded and the government he represented, to fall back with his Army south of Nashville, making no defense of the City, and that he would do so immediately upon the arrival of the army from Bowling Green.

The necessity for this retrograde movement, I am certain, was deeply regretted by General Johnston. None could have deployed it more Seriously than Myself.

You have for months past, witnessed the constant and earnest efforts which I have made to raise troops, collect arms, and prepare them for the field, for the defense of our long line of frontier, but it is evident that the Country has not been sufficiently aroused to a full sense of the dangers with which it was Menaced.

While it is true that Tennessee has sent large numbers of her sons to the field, who are performing their duty nobly and her people have shown a high degree of energy in developing all the resources of the State, which could aid the Government in this struggle, it is equally true that there is scarcely a locality within our limits which could not have done, and which cannot now do more.

Many weeks before this crisis in our affairs, Gen. Johnston sent a highly accomplished officer and able engineer, Major Gilmer, to Nashville, to construct fortifications for the defense of the City, Laborers were needed for their construction. I joined Major Gilmer in an urgent and earnest appeal to the people to send in their laborers for this purpose, offering full and fair compensation.

This appeal was so feebly responded to that I advised Gen. Johnston to impress the necessary labor, but owing to the difficulty in obtaining the laborers, the works were not completed; indeed some of them little more than commenced when Fort Donelson fell.

Under the act of 6th May, 1861, 1 raised, organized, armed, and equipped ft large volunteer force, but under the Military league and the act of the General Assembly it was made my duty to transfer that army, with all of our Munitions, to the government of the Confederate States. Which I did on the 31st day of July 1861.

Since that time I have had no authority to raise, or means of subsisting a State army, being only authorized to raise, organize, and put into the field such troops as were demanded of the, State by the government of the Confederate States, that government having control of the devices of the State as well as our Munitions and Means of defense.

Since the passage of the act of May, 1861, 1 have organized and put into the field for the Confederate service fifty nine regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, eleven cavalry battalions, and over twenty independent companies, mostly artillery.

The Confederate government has armed about fifteen thousand of these troops, but to arm the remainder of this large force, I have had to draw heavily upon the sporting guns of our Citizens.

Having bent every energy to fill the requisition made by the Confederate States for troops, when Fort Donelson fell there was not a single organized and armed company in the State subject to my command, the only force under my control being an undisciplined, unarmed Militia, which, under our inefficient and sadly defective Militia system, I have had no power to discipline, drill and prepare for service in the field. Under these circumstances, when the Confederate army fell back from the Capitol, leaving it exposed to the assaults of a large army of the enemy, it would have been worse than folly on me to have attempted its defense.

There was no alternative left but for the Officers of the Government to remove the public records to a place of greater security, or to allow themselves and the records to fall into the hands of the Federal army, resulting in the Subversion of the State Government and the establishment of a Military despotism or a provisional government, under Federal authority, over the people of the State. I could not doubt or hesitate as to my duty under such circumstances.

Having assembled here at a period when a part of our territory is overrun, and other portions seriously threatened by the invader, the one great duty which devolves upon us is the immediate adoption of such Measures as will concentrate every possible energy and all the resources of the State in a determined effort to drive back the invader, redeem every inch of our soil, and maintain the independence of our State.

By a majority approximating unanimity, we have voted ourselves a free and independent people. Shall we falter now in maintaining that declaration at any cost, or at any sacrifice. The alternative presented to us is, the maintenance of our independence, however long or bloody the struggle, or subjugation, dishonor, and political slavery.