[156]. In the 1st vol. of Mr. Jefferson Davis’s work, “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,” will be found a full statement of the Confederate side of the story relative to the intercourse between the commissioners and Mr. Seward. I refer to it without either assent or dissent, as it is not my province to examine the truth or falsity of the charge made against the Lincoln administration. It will be seen from the letters written by Mr. Stanton to Mr. Buchanan during March and the early part of April (quoted post), what opinion Mr. Stanton formed from all the information that he could obtain, respecting the course of the new administration.
[157]. Mr. Hunter, of Virginia.
[158]. Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, vol. i., p. 264.
[159]. As Mr. Crawford had no interview with President Buchanan, he could have had none but hearsay evidence of Mr. Buchanan’s state of mind.
[160]. I have had occasion heretofore to speak of the multitudes of letters received by the President from all quarters of the country, after the promulgation of his annual message of December 3d. The inundation was scarcely less during the months of January and February; and as a general rule, when an answer was necessary or expedient, he made the original draft of it himself. In almost all cases, he noted on the back of letters or other papers which he received, the name of the writer, the date, and the date of the answer. But was he wasting his energies, it may be asked, in the duties of a mere clerk? Turn to his messages; consider the almost daily cabinet consultations, and the incessant attention which he had to give to the state of things in the South, the proceedings of Congress, the condition of public opinion in the North, and the deliberations of the Peace Convention, as well as to the ordinary business of the Government.
[161]. Regular troops present in the City of Washington, February 27, 1861.
| Officers. | Enlisted men. | |||
| Field and Staff | 4 | 4 | ||
| 1st Artillery, Light Battery, I | 4 | 81 | ||
| 2d Artillery, Light Battery, A | 4 | 78 | ||
| West Point, Light Battery | 4 | 12 | 70 | 229 |
| 1st Artillery, Foot Company, D | 3 | 50 | ||
| 2d Artillery, Foot Company, E | 2 | 72 | ||
| 2d Artillery, Foot Company, H | 2 | 65 | ||
| 2d Artillery, Foot Company, K | 3 | 52 | ||
| Engineer, Sappers, and Miners | 3 | 13 | 81 | 320 |
| Det. Mtd. Recruits | 3 | 81 | ||
| Recruits attached | 23 | |||
| Total | 32 | 653 | ||
| Respectfully submitted for the information of the President, | ||||
| Adj. Genl,. Office, | S. Cooper, | |||
| February 28, 1861. | Adj. Genl. | |||
[162]. The War Department having considered the celebration of this national anniversary by the military arm of the Government as a matter of course.
[163]. A copy of this correspondence was sent by General Dix to Mr. Buchanan, after the latter had retired to Wheatland. See post.
[164]. President Buchanan kept before him all the while a table of the Southern States, with the dates of their several secessions, their populations, resources, and other facts, noted by himself, discriminating the cotton and the border States in separate groups.