RSG00248_f10_Q0000135013_Q0000135014

Letter from Levi W. Lawler in Mobile, Alabama, to Governor A. B. Moore.

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1861 February 16

Levi W. Lawler writes to Governor A.B. Moore on February 16, 1861, explaining the delay in raising the $100,000 for the state's defense, noting that only $60,000 was collected due to the Legislature's assembly and the suggestion to wait for the sale of state bonds. He expresses his disappointment in the delay but reaffirms his readiness to assist in the defense and supports the secession movement, urging the border slave states to join the Confederacy.

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Alabama Department of Archives and History. (electronic version)

Bryson Jackson

Mobile, 16 Feby 1861

Gov. A B Moore

Dear sir -

I owe you an apology
for my silence in reference to the one hundred
thousand dollars proposed to be raised here
and loaned to the State. Allow me to
briefly state the facts attending the matter.
Mr C P Gage & myself, on the street
assigned us by the Committee of 12
raised the first day $30.000. The list
was handed to other members of the
Committee, but few of whom have acted,
and the whole amount subscribed
is only $60.000. I promised to collect
and deposit it as soon as the amt
was raised, but the assembling of the
Legislature in the mean time caused
the Committee to relax their efforts
under the impression, as they state,
that the necessity for a temporary
loan had ceased. It was also
suggested that it would perhaps be
better to suspend further action
until the Bonds of the State were
ready for Sale, as a larger amount
could be sold if the subscription
were merged in the effort to sell Bonds
here. This explains what has no
doubt seemed to you to be indifference
on the part of Mobile to her own defence.
I confess my disappointment at the
failure to raise the $100.000 promptly,
under your patriotic call for means
to defend the people & property of the city.
So far as myself & the other members
of my firm are concerned, we are
ready at any time to aid the state
in providing the means of defence.

We shall soon have a culmination
of the secession movement. The border
slave states must soon decide to
go with us and maintain their in-
-dependence, or remain where they
are as political vassals - I hope
they will not much longer hesitate
to adopt the only course which
their honor and their safety point
out - union with the "Confederate States
of America". ~

Very Respectfully
Levi W. Lawler
~

[Left margin:]
L. W. Walker

Lawler, Levi W.
Moore, A. B. (Andrew Barry), 1807-1873
Governors--Alabama
Alabama--Economic conditions
Alabama--Politics and government--To 1865
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Economic aspects
Mobile (Ala.)
Mobile County (Ala.)