Yours truly,
Edwin M. Stanton.
[MR. BUCHANAN TO J. BUCHANAN HENRY.]
(Without date.)
. . .
The Confederate States have deliberately commenced the civil war, and God knows where it may end. They were repeatedly warned by my administration that an assault on Fort Sumter would be civil war, and they would be responsible for the consequences. The last of these warnings happens to be before me, and is contained in the last sentence of Mr. Holt’s letter to Mr. Hayne, of February 6th, 1861. It is as follows: “If, with all the multiplied proofs which exist of the President’s anxiety for peace, and of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that State shall assault Fort Sumter and peril the lives of the handful of brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our common country into the horrors of civil war, then upon them, and those they represent, must rest the responsibility.”
I have been entirely well since my return home, until within the last few days, when I have suffered from sharp twinges of rheumatism in my legs.
With my kindest regards to your wife, I remain, very affectionately,
Your friend,
James Buchanan.