Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 2 (of 2)

by George Ticknor Curtis

CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. STANTON, MR. HOLT, GENERAL DIX AND OTHERS.

After his retirement to Wheatland, Mr. Buchanan received many letters from three members of his cabinet, all of whom afterwards held high office under President Lincoln,—namely, Mr. Stanton, Mr. Holt, and General Dix. His relations with Judge Black, Mr. Toucey and Mr. King continued to be very intimate, but the letters of the three other gentlemen should specially receive the attention of the reader, because their subsequent positions render them peculiarly important witnesses to the course of Mr. Buchanan’s administration. The letters received or written by Mr. Buchanan during the remainder of the year 1861, are here given in their chronological order; but it should be noted that this period is divided by the bombardment of Fort Sumter, which began on the 11th of April, 1861.

[MR. STANTON TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

Washington, Sunday, March 10, 1861.

My Dear Sir:—

The dangerous illness of my youngest child for the last three days must be my apology for not writing to you until to-day. I shall now endeavor to give you as full information as I possess of the state of public affairs in Washington. At the depot, on the afternoon of your departure, I parted with Mr. Holt and Mr. Toucey, and have not seen them since then. The cabinet was, as you know, nominated and confirmed that day. The next morning Mr. Seward took possession of the State Department, and Mr. Bates was shortly afterwards qualified and commissioned as Attorney General. Before this was done, Mr. Seward sent for me and requested me to draw up a nomination of Mr. Crittenden for Judge of the United States Court. I did so, and gave it to him. My understanding was that the nomination would be immediately sent in. But it has not been sent, and the general understanding is that it will not be. The rumor is that the red blacks oppose it, and also many of the Democrats, and that Mr. Holt will be nominated. He appears now to be the chief favorite of the Republicans. At the time that Mr. Seward sent for me, he also gave me some comments of General Scott’s on the report made by Mr. Holt in relation to Major Anderson and Fort Sumter. The remarkable character of these comments induced me to ask permission (which was granted) to show them to General Dix; and I designed also to procure a copy of them for you, if possible, but I have not been able to see Mr. Seward since he sent for the paper. These comments stated that they were written at night, at the General’s quarters, and in the absence of his papers. This may account for what I suppose to be errors in respect to material facts. These errors relate

1st. To the sending of the Star of the West. This is attributed to Mr. Toucey’s being unwilling to furnish the Brooklyn for that expedition. My understanding was that Mr. Toucey wanted to send the Brooklyn, and that General Scott and Mr. Holt preferred the other mode, and overruled Mr. Toucey.

2d. The second point was that on subsequent consultations General Scott urged the sending of a military and naval force to relieve Major Anderson, but that Mr. Toucey made such difficulty about furnishing the ships that it was abandoned. My understanding was that General Scott never urged the sending of any force to Sumter, but only to be ready to do so if necessary; and that he agreed with you in opinion that the state of political affairs in the border States, and the reports of Major Anderson, made it expedient not to send any force unless Sumter was attacked.

3d. A third point relates to what General Scott calls an informal truce entered into by you with certain persons from seceding States, under which the reinforcement of Sumter and Fort Pickens was suspended. My recollection in respect to that transaction is that Mr. Holt and General Scott concurred with you in that arrangement, which, when proposed in cabinet, was opposed by Judge Black and myself.

In his conversation with me, Mr. Seward mentioned that Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet, when this subject came up, would desire me to be present, and also Mr. Holt. I told him that if all of the late cabinet were requested to be present I would have no objection, but I did not think it proper unless all were present. He said that of course the invitation would be extended to all. As I never heard any thing more on the subject, I suppose that they have found it only necessary to consult Mr. Holt, who continued acting as Secretary of War. Mr. Seward has been sick for several days, but the first time that I see him my intention is to ask for a copy of General Scott’s comments for you.