Mystic Chords
From the editor: The daunting task facing Abraham Lincoln, as he prepares his inauguration speech, is greater than that faced by any American president since George Washington. James Buchanan’s assertion that secession is illegal, but that the president has no authority to act against it, is no longer tenable and the eighty-two men marooned in Fort Sumter cannot hold out indefinitely without reinforcements and supplies. In fact, Major Robert Anderson only has enough provisions to last another six weeks and the new Confederate commander, G.T. Beauregard, has lost little time in preparing for offensive operations. Lincoln has been working on the speech for weeks and, with the help of Secretary of State William Seward, has attempted to soften any rhetoric that may be perceived as threatening. However Lincoln’s main theme, his determination to preserve the Union, is inherently threatening to states that have already seceded. Though Lincoln can proclaim “we must not be enemies” and hearken back to “the mystic chords of memory,” the time for effective rhetorical devices has long since passed. Now is the time for action. (1)
March 03 1861 (Sunday)
Rumors are swirling around Washington, D.C., about President-elect Abraham Lincoln’s plans for dealing with Fort Sumter. Aspiring journalist and hard line secessionist, Littleton Q. Washington, a distant relative of George Washington, writes to Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker: “I understand that it is spoken of in Army circles to re-enforce Sumter by sending in men in whale-boats by night. This will probably be attempted in the first instance.” George T. Atkins, a New Yorker who favors the Confederacy, has information that Lincoln plans to reinforce Fort Sumter soon after his inauguration. He writes: “The order is not expected to be given to sail ere Tuesday, but it may come Monday night. She cannot get there ere Wednesday night anyway, and by that time you will have this and can defeat her purpose if you aim well.”
NEW YORK, March 3, 1861.
FRIEND SERVICE: I have positive information this evening that a plan has been fixed up by the incoming administration and [Commodore Kidder R. Breese] (who has returned from Washington) to re-enforce Sumter immediately and secretly. Application was made to [Captain Charles Fauntleroy], of Virginia, U.S. Navy, to conduct the expedition, but he declined the honor, remarking that the administration could take his ship, &c., first, or words to that effect. An order was given yesterday to ship 125 men. They intend to ship them on the Crusader (which draws seven feet of water), and run into harbor at night under steam. She carries but four guns, and cannot fire over two rounds, as the recoil would knock her sides out, she being naught save a damned coal-boat. The above information is correct and reliable, and is far in advance of the act and the local press; communicate it to headquarters at once. Yours,
GEO. T. ATKINS.
March 04 1861 (Monday)
Wearing “new black clothes” and carrying “a gold-headed ebony cane,” President Abraham Lincoln delivers his inaugural address. Seeking to mollify the Southern states, Lincoln declares: “I have no purpose to…interfere with the institution of slavery.” Lincoln further asserts that, as President, he has “no lawful right” and “no inclination” to make slavery illegal. (2) However, the ears of the South only hear Lincoln’s pledge to “hold, occupy and possess” all “property and places belonging to the government,” including Fort Sumter. Southern supporter Littleton Q. Washington consults with an array of “Southern gentlemen,” including Martin Crawford, Commissioner for the C.S., Virginia Congressmen Roger A. Pryor, Muscoe Garnett, Daniel C. De Jarnette, and Texas Senator Louis Wigfall. He writes: “We all put the same construction on the inaugural, which we carefully went over together. We agreed that it was Lincoln's purpose at once to attempt the collection of the revenue, to re-enforce and hold Fort Sumter and Pickens, and to retake the other places.” Washington concludes: “He is a man of will and firmness. His Cabinet will yield to him with alacrity.”
WASHINGTON, March 4, 1861.
Gov. [Francis] W. PICKENS, Charleston, S.C.: Do not permit any attack on Sumter without authority of Government of Confederated States. This is all important. Inaugural means war. There is strong ground for belief that re-enforcements will be speedily sent. Be vigilant.
LOUIS T. WIGFALL.
Shortly after Lieutenant Thomas M. Jones, Eighth U.S. Infantry, arrives at Paymaster Major Sackfield Maclin’s residence in San Antonio, Texas, he is relieved of his cargo of “seven large boxes and two bags,” containing “over $30,000, in gold and silver coin.” The money had been sent from New Orleans “for the payment of the troops” in the department,” prior to the secession of Texas. Captain William M. Edgar, commanding the City Guards, reports, “I was ordered to make a detail of twenty-five men…and to proceed to the residence of Major Maclin, when Dr. [Phillip] Luckett [Texas Commissioner] stepped forward and demanded the funds in the name of the State of Texas, and after a few minutes' consultation they were delivered up and conveyed to the office of the commissioners on behalf of the State of Texas.” Department of Texas commander Colonel Carlos A. Waite strenuously objects to loss of such a large amount of money. He writes: “The detention of the funds will be great injustice to the soldiers.”
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS, San Antonio, March 4, 1861.
Messrs. [Thomas] J. DEVINE, P.N. LUCKETT, [Samuel] A. MAVERICK, Commissioners, &c., San Antonio, Tex.
GENTLEMEN: My views in relation to the seizure and retention of moneys belonging to the United States are fully expressed in my communication of the-21st ultimo…. This case, however, presents some different features. The funds alluded to did not arrive within the limits of the State of Texas until the 24th ultimo, several days after the agreement entered into by General [David] Twiggs to deliver up the public property, &c., was signed and went into effect. That agreement is limited strictly to the property then within the borders of Texas; consequently it cannot by any possible construction include money or property subsequently brought into the State. I have, therefore, to require that the $30,000 above mentioned may be immediately returned to the United States authorities. I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
C.A. WAITE, Colonel, Commanding Department.
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. President Lincoln announces the members of his cabinet: Ed. Bates (Missouri) is Attorney-General, Gideon Welles (Connecticut) is Secretary of the Navy, S.P. Chase (Ohio) is Secretary of the Treasury, Montgomery Blair (Missouri) is Postmaster General, W.H. Seward (New York) is Secretary of State, and Simon Cameron (Pennsylvania) is named Secretary of War.
2. Congress (U.S.) passes the Corwin Amendment (24-12) that, if ratified in the Senate, would guarantee constitutional protection for slavery.
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. Virginian R.A. Pryor resigns his seat in Congress (U.S.) to join the C.S. Army.
2. The Arkansas Secession Convention convenes in Little Rock.
3. The Missouri Secession Convention re-convenes in Saint Louis.
March 05 1861 (Tuesday)
Although the seven states of the Deep South have officially seceded from the United States, and numerous Federal installations have been seized, Northern companies continue to do business with their Southern counterparts. Currently Rafael Semmes is touring the North looking “to make purchases and contracts for machinery and munitions, or for the manufacture of arms and munitions of war.” Following the advice of President Jefferson Davis, Semmes enlists the help of “Capt. [Gustavus W.] Smith and Captain [Mansfield] Lovell, late of the U.S. Army, and now of New York City.” Currently Smith is the Street Commissioner in New York City, and Lovell is working for a company shipping large orders of “provisions, stores, arms, &c” to the South on a daily basis. G.T. Beauregard, C.S.A., has also enlisted their aid in procuring “the apparatus for ten first-class [calcium oxide] Drummond lights” for the Charleston Harbor. He advises, “Be particular in the selection of said apparatus, and let the whole matter be as secret as practicable.” The Kentucky-born Smith explains why he hasn’t already joined the Confederacy. “My wife's mother is at the point of death. My brother-in-law has broken his leg, and we fear amputation will be necessary. My little nephew, namesake (one year and a half old), has been at death's door, but is improving.”
NEW YORK, March 5, 1861. General G.T. BEAUREGARD, Montgomery, Ala.:
MY DEAR BEAUREGARD: Neither G.W. nor I can attend to a matter of this kind without at once attracting attention, and I (G.W.) have selected H. Livingston & Co…as thoroughly competent and reliable. Mr. Harmon Livingston is an old and much esteemed friend of mine…. The ten Drummond lights will cost from $1,600 to $1,800, say, and H. Livingston & Co. will draw upon L.P. Walker for the amount. I mention this that you may advise him thereof. The collectors will of course be warned of this shipment, and directed from your end of the line what to do, whose orders to obey, &c…. I expect every hour to hear that Abolition Republican rule is struck down and wiped out of the Southern Confederacy; that Sumter and Pickens are taken, and the whole South aroused to their true interests, and united from Mason and Dixon's line to the Gulf. Lovell joins me in kindest regards and best wishes for yourself and inquiring friends. Success attend you. As ever, your friend,
G.W. SMITH.
March 06 1861 (Wednesday)
In Fort Sumter, South Carolina, Major Robert Anderson, First U.S. Artillery, notices that activity has been picking up in Charleston Harbor. He reports, “A very large re-enforcement was landed last night at Cummings Point…Three other guns were mounted in No. 10, thus completing its armament of four heavy pieces…. A party has also been at work this morning on the Fort Moultrie glacis.” He concludes, “Everything indicates activity and determination.” G.T. Beauregard takes formal command in Charleston and appoints Captain David R. Jones as his assistant adjutant-general, Captain Stephen D. Lee, as his assistant quartermaster-general, Captain [Samuel] W. Ferguson as his aide-de-camp, and Joseph J. Legaré as his private secretary. Beauregard also orders the construction of “a series of small batteries of heavy guns” on Morris Island, “an additional battery” of two mortars near Fort Johnson, and an additional “a four-gun concealed battery” on Sullivan’s Island.”
HEADQUARTERS C.S. ARMY, Charleston, S.C., March 6, 1861.
General L.P. WALKER, Secretary of War, Montgomery, Ala.
SIR: I am of the opinion that, if Sumter was properly garrisoned and armed, it would be a perfect Gibraltar to anything but constant shelling, night and day, from the four points of the compass. As it is, the weakness of the garrison constitutes our greatest advantage, and we must, for the present, turn our attention to preventing it from being re-enforced. This idea I am gradually and cautiously infusing into the minds of all here; but, should we have to open our batteries upon it, I hope to be able to do so with all the advantages the condition of things here will permit. All that I ask is time for completing my batteries and preparing and organizing properly my command, which is still in a more or less confused state, not having yet my general staff officers around me. So soon as I shall have here a competent engineer officer, I will send to the department a plan of this harbor, with the position, &c., of all the works marked thereon. Those Drummond lights, ordered from New York, will be here in about ten days. I remain, sir, very respectfully,
G.T. BEAUREGARD, Brigadier-General, Commanding.
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. The Provisional Congress (C.S.) passes an Act “to provide for the public defense,” authorizing President Davis “to employ the militia, military and naval forces of the Confederate States of America, and to ask for and accept the services of any number of volunteers, not exceeding 100,000.”
March 07 1861 (Thursday)
Captain John G. Foster, Engineer Corps, notes that the “increased activity” exhibited in Charleston Harbor is continuing. He reports, “Generally speaking, there is more earnestness exhibited now than for several days previous.” Foster also notes that “General Beauregard is, it is understood, in command of the forces here under the authority of the Confederation.” Captain Joseph J. Pope, Jr., commanding Fort Palmetto, “at the entrance of the Stono and Folly Rivers,” is responsible for some of the activity. He reports, “In the firing at this post…the 18-pounder guns, which are the largest at this post, were found entirely insufficient to command the Stono Channel of this entrance. At an elevation of five degrees the balls failed to reach the Stono Channel. I take occasion, therefore, again to call this matter to your attention, and to request that two 32-pounders, or, at all events, two 24-pounders, be ordered to this post.”
HDQRS, ARMY OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, Charleston, S.C., March 7, 1861.
Maj. [Walter] GWYNN, Corps of Engineers:
MAJOR: The general commanding desires that the embrasure enfilading battery, and the mortar battery beyond Moultrie, be constructed first…, and, instead of adding those two 32-pounders from Moultrie to the five-gun battery, as ordered, he intends to add them to the first-named mortar battery, with a strong traverse between them and the mortars. They must also have strong flank traverses…. I am, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S.W. FERGUSON, Captain, and Aide-de-Camp.
P.S.--At Cummings Point on Morris Island he wishes all work to be stopped at present, except at the iron battery (finishing the work he ordered there) and at the condemned mortar battery (which he ordered to be changed into a bomb-proof).... Should Captain Lee, the local engineer, who has received instructions from Major Whiting, require assistant engineers, you will transfer to him one or two from Major [James H.] Trapier, should the latter be able to spare them. Very respectfully, S.W.F.
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. The Ringgold Barracks and Camp Verde, Texas, are abandoned by Federal troops.
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. Braxton Bragg is appointed brigadier-general and assigned to command the troops at Pensacola, Florida. In addition, W.J. Hardee is appointed colonel of the 1st Regiment of Infantry in the C.S. Army, to command in Mobile, Alabama.
2. Sixty-three year old Colonel Sam. Cooper, serving as adjutant-general for Winfield Scott, resigns from the U.S. Army.
March 08 1861 (Friday)
Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker informs President Davis that, in his estimation, he will need an additional “appropriation by Congress of $5,000,000” to organize and equip the C.S. Army. He also writes to governors of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida, to begin the process of transferring militia units into the Provisional Confederate Army. “To save the delays of special application and permission it is hoped that Your Excellency will publish a general order that such companies, battalions, and regiments as may be organized in your State and volunteer for service in the Provisional Army may do so.”
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT, Montgomery, March 8, 1861.
His Excellency THOMAS O. MOORE, Baton Rouge, La.:
SIR: Your Excellency is aware that the process of organizing the regular Army of the Confederate States must necessarily be slow and unsatisfactory, and wholly inadequate to the present emergencies of our situation. Under these circumstances the main reliance of this Government at this time must be on the State forces now in service, and such volunteer organizations in the respective States as may be desirous of being incorporated into the Provisional Army. The President therefore instructs me to express the hope that Your Excellency, appreciating, as I doubt not you do, the necessity for immediate military organizations subject to the control of this Government, will tender for the Provisional Army the troops now in the service of your State…. Believing that Your Excellency fully appreciates the imminent necessity for prompt action, and trusting that these suggestions will receive immediate consideration, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
L.P. WALKER, Secretary of War.
(The same, mutatis mutandis, to the Governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi.)
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. Captain A.W. Reynolds, the new Q.M. in San Antonio, Texas, reports the “public chest” containing “Government funds,” confiscated four days ago by Texas Militia troops, has been returned. He finds a deficiency of $2,943, which is the “amount the commissioners on the part of the Convention of the people of the State of Texas presented me with a receipt.”
2. Captain O.L. Shepherd, 3rd U.S. Infantry, reports that Fort Duncan, Texas, on the Rio Grande River, has been evacuated and the “public property has been turned over to Mr. John C. Crawford, agent for the State of Texas.”
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. Secretary of War L.P. Walker offers D.E. Twiggs an appointment as brigadier-general in the C.S. Army, to command Forts Jackson and St. Phillip, outside New Orleans, Louisiana.
March 09 1861 (Saturday)
Major Fitz-John Porter, A.A.G., reports that “the steamer Daniel Webster lies off Brazos Santiago” and is awaiting a “supply of water.” He writes to Major William H. French, First U.S. Artillery, at Fort Brown, Texas. “I am directed to take on board as many infantry as the steamer can carry to Key West.” Porter believes the ship will be “crowded for three or four days,” and has made arrangements for “medical supplies” and “a hospital steward” to be left at Fort Taylor.
FORT BROWN, TEX., March 9, 1861.
COMMANDING OFFICER FORT BROWN, TEX.: Capt. [William] B. JOHNS, Third Infantry, Commanding Fort Brown, Tex.:
SIR: I today notified the commander of the artillery battalion to embark on the steamer Daniel Webster; that I desired...to embark with him the two companies of infantry now here, and a third company, should it arrive in time to cause no delay, unless the commander of this post shall require them to secure this post and the supplies needed for troops en route to it until all shall be ready to embark. I do not insist upon removing these infantry companies, though I am anxious to do so, and will be much gratified to know that I can remove them without fear of a collision between the future garrison and the authorities of Texas. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
F.J. PORTER, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Other Union activity reported on this date:
1. From Fort McIntosh, Texas, on the Rio Grande River, Major C.C. Sibley, 3rd U.S. Infantry, reports the garrison will be “in readiness” to leave in two days. Sibley is taking rations for a thirty-days march (230 miles) to Fort Brown.
Other Confederate activity reported on this date:
1. President Davis appoints Texan W.S. Oldham as a “special commissioner of this Government to the State of Arkansas.”
2. The Governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, are requested to raise “for immediate service,” 1,000 troops for Fort Morgan, Alabama, 5,000 troops for Pensacola, Florida, 700 for Forts Jackson and Saint Philip, Louisiana, and 1,000 for Fort Pulaski, Georgia.
Sources: Week 10:
1. Shelby Foote, The Civil War, a narrative, vol. 1 (New York, NY 1986), p 40.
2. Ibid, p. 39.