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| Charleston riflemen. |
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| Meagher Guard. |
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（Macbeth), and other leading citizens of Charleston assured him that the forts “must be theirs, after secession.”
1 All this he reported promptly to the Government, and was mocked by renewed assurances of the safety of the forts from attack, and the wisdom of the policy of not adding to the military force in Charleston harbor, for fear of increasing and intensifying the excitement of the South Carolinians.
He was even instructed to deliver over to the authorities of South Carolina “any of Captain Foster's workmen,” should a demand be made for them, “on the ground of their Being enrolled into the service of the State.”
2 These men, intimately acquainted with every detail of knowledge concerning the forts, would be of infinite service to the conspirators.
Whilst Anderson was
thus left to rely on his own feeble resources, he discovered that many men under his command had been tampered with by the conspirators.
This fact he promptly communicated to the Government, saying:--“Captain Foster informed me yesterday that he found that fifty men of his Fort Sumter force, whom he thought were perfectly reliable, will not fight if an armed force approaches the work; and I fear that the same may be anticipated of the Castle Pinckney force.”
3 And thus he continued reporting almost daily the condition of the fortifications and of his forces, the movements of the South Carolinians, and the almost hourly accumulation of evidence that the seizure of Fort Sumter would be soon attempted.
That stronghold lost, all would be lost.
But his appeals for men and arms were in vain.
His warnings were purposely unheeded.
The burden of responses to his letters was :--Be prudent; be kind: do nothing to excite the South Carolinians.
It will not do to send you re-enforcements, for that might bring on hostilities.
At the same time, he was instructed “to hold possession of the forts, and, if attacked, to defend himself to the last extremity.”
4
Time after time, from October 29th until the close of December, General Scott urged the Government to re-enforce the forts on the coasts of the Slave-labor States.
He laid before the President facts showing their nakedness (the Secretary of War having denuded the whole Atlantic coast of troops, and sent them to Texas, and the Territories north of it), and that they
were completely at the mercy of insurgents.
On the 31st of October he asked permission to admonish the commanders of Southern forts to be on the
1 Letter to Adjutant-General Cooper, December 6, 1860: Anderson's Ms. Letter-book.
2 Adjutant-General Cooper to Major Anderson, December 14, 1860: Anderson's Ms. Letter-book.
3 Letter dated December 6, 1860: Ms. Letter-book.
4 Copy of a memorandum of verbal instructions from the Secretary of War, signed “D. C. Buell, Assistant Adjutant-General.” This officer (afterward a major-general in command in Kentucky and Tennessee) was sent to Major Anderson with verbal instructions from his Government, and, after his arrival at Fort Moultrie, he committed them to writing. They were afterwards modified by the Secretary of War, so as to more closely restrict Major Anderson. Buell arrived at Fort Moultrie on the 11th of December.
The wife of one of the officers of the garrison wrote as follows, at this time:--“I feel very indignant. I can hardly stand the way in which this weak little garrison is treated by the head of the Government. Troops and proper accommodations are positively refused, and yet the commander has orders to hold and defend the fort. Was ever such a sacrifice — an intentional one--known? The Secretary has sent several officers, at different times, to inspect here, as if that helped. It is a mere sham, to make believe he will do something. In the mean time a crisis is very near. I am to go to Charleston the first of the week. I will not go farther, if I can help it. Within a few days, we hear — and from so many sources, that we cannot doubt it — that the Charlestonians are erecting two batteries, one just opposite to us, at a little village — Mount Pleasant-and another on this end of the island; and they dare the commander to interfere, while they are getting ready to fight sixty men. In this weak little fort, I suppose, President Buchanan and Secretary Floyd intend the Southern Confederation to be cemented with the blood of this brave little garrison. Their names shall be handed down to the end of time. When the last man is shot down, I presume they will think of sending troops. The soldiers here deserve great credit. Though they know not but an unequal number is coming to massacre them, yet they are in good spirits, and will fight desperately. Our commander says, he never saw such a brave little band. I feel desperately myself. Our only hope is in God.”
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