Joseph T. Derry , A. M. , Author of School History of the United States; Story of the Confederate War, etc., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 6, Georgia
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[54] the instruction and preparation of troops with great activity and energy. The troops remained in camp from the 11th of June till the 2d of August. They were a noble, patriotic, chivalrous band of Georgians, and I hazard nothing in saying, military men being the judges, that no brigade in the Confederate service was composed of better material, or was better trained at that time for active service in the field. The season having so far advanced that it was not probable that our coast would be invaded before cold weather, I tendered the brigade to President Davis for Confederate service in Virginia. The President refused to accept the tender of the brigade, but asked for the troops by regiments. Believing that a due respect for the rights of the State should have prompted the President to accept those troops under their State organization, and if any legal obstacle in the way of accepting a brigade existed that it should have been removed by the appointment of the general who had trained the men and who was their unanimous choice, to continue to command them in active service, I at first refused to disband a State organization, made in conformity to the statute, and tender the troops by regiments; more especially as the President only demanded the two regiments, which would have left the three battalions to be disbanded or maintained as battalions through the balance of the season by the State. Finally the President agreed to accept the battalions and regiments, and in view of the pressing necessity for troops in Virginia, I yielded the point, and accepted General Phillips' resignation, and permitted the troops to be mustered into the Confederate service by regiments and battalions.

About the time these troops left, the secretary of war also ordered out of the State the regiment of regulars under Colonel Williams, and the Second regiment of volunteers commanded by Colonel Semmes, both excellent regiments, well drilled and armed. This left the coast almost entirely defenseless. By that time I had permitted nearly all the arms of the State to go into the Confederate service, and it has been a very difficult matter to get arms enough to supply the troops since ordered to the coast.

At the time Fort Pulaski was by an ordinance of our State convention turned over to the Confederate government, the number and size of the guns in the fort were