Confederate preparations at Cummings Point, Morris Island. The inclined Ironclad Battery is at the left. From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 30, 1861.
In the face of war preparations, wives and children leave Fort Sumter, February 3, 1861. From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 23, 1861.
“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect, and defend’ it.”
The Sumter situation was placed squarely before Lincoln on the day he assumed office. On the morning of Inaugural Day the outgoing Secretary of War received a dispatch from Major Anderson at Fort Sumter indicating that the remainder of the “issue” rations brought over from Fort Moultrie in December would last only a few more weeks. Meanwhile, in the face of local preparations, an estimated force of 20,000 men would now be needed to reenforce and supply Fort Sumter. It was clear that if Anderson’s local “fresh food” supply were cut off, he would soon be in a desperate state. At the same time, it seemed almost equally clear that a relief expedition would be an impossibility. The entire Army of the United States numbered less than 16,000 men. “Evacuation seems almost inevitable,” wrote General Scott; the majority of Lincoln’s Cabinet agreed. But Lincoln investigated further. In the meantime, reassured by Secretary of State Seward as well as by others, the South came to believe Fort Sumter would be evacuated.
Brig. Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Courtesy National Archives.
On April 4, President Lincoln sent word to Major Anderson that an attempt would be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions “and, in case the effort is resisted ... to reenforce you.” Convinced from “on the spot” reports that such an expedition was feasible, and that there was no Union sentiment in South Carolina to which to appeal, Lincoln had decided upon the nearest thing to preserving the status quo. Merchant steamers under cover of ships of war would carry “subsistence and other supplies” to Anderson; the ships of war (with troop reenforcements) would be used only if a peaceable landing were opposed. Capt. G. V. Fox, long an advocate of a relief expedition, would command. Meanwhile, in accordance with pledge already given, the Governor of South Carolina would be carefully informed in advance.
The announcement of the expedition to supply Fort Sumter was the spark that set off the explosive forces which had been building up since 1850. The Confederate capital at Montgomery was informed. Anderson’s “fresh” provision supply had already been cut off on the 7th; now, his mail was seized.