December 14, 1860. |
December 19. |
December 22. |
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[127]
The appeals of Major Anderson and the urgent recommendations of General Scott produced much feeling in the Cabinet at Washington.
General Cass, the Secretary of State, warmly urged the President to order re-enforcements to be sent at once, not only to Charleston, but elsewhere.
Most of the other members of the Cabinet, being conspirators yet hidden from public view, opposed the measure.
This opposition, and the threats of the South Carolina delegation in Congress, as we have observed,1 caused the President to refuse such order.2 It was on account of that refusal that Cass withdrew,
after which the Cabinet was almost a unit in sentiment for about a fortnight, when, as we shall observe presently, there was a grand disruption of the ministry.
For this patriotic act, the Charleston Mercury, ungrateful for the steady support which Mr. Cass had given to the policy of the Southern leaders during Buchanan's administration, denounced him
as a “hoary-headed trickster and humbug,” who had retired from the Cabinet “because war was not made on South Carolina.”
3
Anderson found it necessary for him to assume grave responsibilities, for he was evidently abandoned to his fate by his Government.
He sent engineers and. workmen to repair Castle Pinckney, and, as vigorously as possible, he pushed on the labor of strengthening Fort Moultrie.
When the Ordinance of Secession was passed, still more menacing became the actions of the South Carolinians.
Anderson knew that commissioners had been appointed to repair to Washington, to demand the surrender of the. forts in Charleston harbor; and he was conscious that preparations for seizing them, the very moment when the expected refusal to surrender should be made known, were in active progress.
He knew, too, that if he should remain in Moultrie, their efforts would be successful; and two days after the passage of that ordinance, he wrote to the Department,
saying:--“I have heard from several sources that, last night and the night before, a steamer was stationed between this island and Fort ”
1 See page 102.
2 The President offered as a reason for his refusal to give orders for the re-enforcement of Major Anderson the fear of giving offense to the South Carolinians, and bringing on a collision. Apparently unsuspicious that the politicians of other States were equally determined to commence a rebellion at a favorable moment, he professed to believe that if the Government did not begin actual hostilities, South Carolinians would keep the peace, for fear of provoking the other Cotton-producing States. If, on the contrary, the Government should provoke the South Carolinians to strike, those of the other States would join them. Mr. Buchanan also offered as a reason, that there were not sufficient troops at command, at any time, to garrison the forts. His mistake is apparent when we consider the ease with which Forts Sumter, Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson held out with very small garrisons against all the forces that the insurgents could bring. Anderson could have held out in Sumter for a long time with less than one hundred men, if he had possessed food and water for them.
3 A public banquet was given to Secretary Floyd at Richmond, on the 11th of January, 1861, and, in an after-dinner speech, he stated some interesting matters concerning the proceedings of the Cabinet in relation to the forts in Charleston harbor. He said the President was at first anxious to send re-enforcements. “I would rather be at the bottom of the Potomac,” he said, “than that these forts should be in the hands of those who intend to take them. It will destroy me — it will cover your [Floyd's] name with infamy, for you will never be able to show that you had not some complicity in it.” Floyd called in to his aid Jefferson Davis, James M. Mason, and R. M. T. Hunter, “with other patriots, Northern and Southern.” The President yielded, and said, “I am content with your policy — we will send no more troops to the harbor of Charleston.” But General Cass was firm. “These forts,” he said, “must be strengthened. I demand it.” The President replied, “I am sorry to differ with the Secretary of State, but the interests of the country do not demand a re-enforcement of tho forts at Charleston. I cannot do it. I take the responsibility.” This was on the 18th of December--General Cass resigned the next day.--Report of Floyd's Speech, in the Richmond Enquirer, January 12, 1861.
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