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War Department  
March 26th 1841 
 
Sir, 
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 9th and 16th instant, in relation to the exposed condition of the inhabitants of Ware County and requesting that a further militia force may be called out and stationed at Fort North for their protection.  
The Department is without the means to authorize it to comply with this application, Congress having made no appropriations for the payment of militia. Nor would this measure be justified by the present state of affairs in Florida: intelligence just received from there authorizes the hope that the negotiations now going on with the Indians for their emigration will prove entirely successful. Instructions have, however, been given to the proper officer in Florida to provide such additional protection as may be necessary for the section referred to, by means of the regular troops, or, if advisable, by putting the four companies of Georgia militia, or a portion of them, in better positions for this purpose.  
Should the negotiation with the Indians unfortunately fail, the most effectual measures in the power of the Department will be adopted for the protection 
 
 
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and security of the country.  
 
Very respectfully 
Yr Mo Obt Serv [Your Most Obedient Servant]  
[Signed] Jno: [John]  Bell  
His Excellency Charles J. McDonald Governor of Georgia Milledgeville Georgia. 
 
 
 
 
 
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Hon John Bell 
Sec [Secretary]  of War 
 
1841