GEORGIA GOVERNOR JOSEPH BROWN SIGNED TWICE – JANUARY 18, 1861 REQUISITION TO THE “REPUBLIC OF SOUTH CAROLINA”, ISSUED THE DAY BEFORE GEORGIA SECEDED

GEORGIA GOVERNOR JOSEPH BROWN SIGNED TWICE – JANUARY 18, 1861 REQUISITION TO THE “REPUBLIC OF SOUTH CAROLINA”, ISSUED THE DAY BEFORE GEORGIA SECEDED

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Item Code: 1309-445

A remarkable three-document extradition file from the secession winter, signed twice by Georgia's war governor, Joseph E. Brown. On January 18, 1861, Brown asked the governor of South Carolina to surrender a fugitive charged with attempted murder in Savannah. Georgia was still in the Union that day. South Carolina had been out of it for a month. The next day, January 19, the Georgia secession convention in Milledgeville voted to leave the Union.

The centerpiece is Brown's printed requisition on blue paper, headed "State of Georgia. Joseph E. Brown, Governor of said State," with the engraved state arms at upper left. It is addressed in manuscript "To His Excellency the Governor of the Republic of South Carolina." The filled-in text states that on the 14th of January, in Chatham County, one Daniel Moses committed an assault with intent to murder upon one Lizzie Jackson, and that Moses has fled and taken refuge in the "Republic of South Carolina." Brown requests that Moses be delivered to Wm. Wray, constable, to be returned to Georgia and dealt with according to law.

What makes the document extraordinary is how the clerk had to alter the printed form. The standard requisition invoked "the provisions of the Constitution and Laws of the United States," which govern extradition between states. That phrase is struck through. In its place is written that the request is made "by virtue of the Comity of Nations, the State of Georgia being willing to reciprocate in all such cases." In other words, Georgia was treating South Carolina as a foreign country. The clerk also struck the printed date line "and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-," leaving only "one thousand eight hundred and sixty one." The form is signed in full by Joseph E. Brown and countersigned "By the Governor" by H. H. Waters, Secretary of the Executive Department. A left-margin docket records the fee received and is signed as entered by P. Thweatt, Comptroller General of Georgia.

Accompanying it is the original manuscript affidavit and warrant from Savannah, the "annexed papers" the requisition refers to. Before John A. Staley, Justice of the Peace for Chatham County, Lizzie Jackson swore on January 15, 1861 that on the morning of the 14th Daniel Moses made a violent assault on her with intent to murder, cutting her in several places about the body with a sharp instrument likely to produce death, and that he intended to take her life. She signed by her mark. Below, on the same sheet, Staley issued his warrant to the sheriff and all lawful officers of Chatham County, commanding them to arrest Moses and bring him before him. Both the affidavit and warrant are signed by Staley, the warrant with his "L.S." seal.

 

The third document is Brown's printed certificate of authentication, dated at Milledgeville on January 18, 1861. It certifies that John A. Staley was a duly commissioned Justice of the Peace for Chatham County and that full faith and credit should be given to his attestation. It bears Brown's second full signature, the countersignature of the Secretary of State, the embossed Great Seal of Georgia, and a registration notation signed by H. H. Waters. The outside is docketed "Demand of the Governor of Georgia for the apprehension of Daniel Moses."

Brown was among the most aggressive secessionist governors. Two weeks before signing these papers, he had ordered Georgia troops to seize Fort Pulaski, in the same Chatham County where this crime took place. This file captures the brief, strange moment when the old legal machinery between the states had already broken down, and a Georgia clerk had to improvise the language of international diplomacy to get a man arrested across the Savannah River.

Contents: Printed requisition, filled in by hand; manuscript affidavit and arrest warrant; printed certificate of authentication with embossed state seal

Date: January 15 and 18, 1861

Dimensions Measured Folded Vertically at Center: 8” x 9.75”; 8” x 12”

Signed: Joseph E. Brown (twice); H. H. Waters (twice); John A. Staley, J.P. (twice); P. Thweatt, Comptroller General; Secretary of State (countersignature on certificate)

Condition: Blue and gray-blue papers with original folds and light, even toning. Small chips and short separations at the fold ends and edges, and scattered foxing. A small brown spot on the lower margin of the requisition. The reverse of the certificate has a dark stain at lower left, in a blank area. All text and signatures are bold and fully legible, and Brown's signatures are strong and dark.    [cm][ph:L]

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