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On 4 March 1861, shortly after delivering his first inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) received word that Fort Sumter, located in Charleston harbor, South Carolina, would have to be resupplied sometime in the next six weeks. The alternatives were surrender or evacuation. The situation placed Lincoln in a quandary. In his recent address, the president had vowed to retain all federal property, avoiding bloodshed if possible; however, he was being overwhelmed by the pace of events. He had only a vague idea of how the central government worked, and not one member of his cabinet had been confirmed by the Senate. It was a confusing state of affairs, and nearly four weeks passed before he sent to Maj. Robert Anderson (1805-1871), commander of the Fort Sumter garrison, the meager assurance of support shown here in this 4 April 1861 document, which went out under the aegis of Secretary of War Simon Cameron (1799-1889).
Even then, several of Lincoln's closest advisors favored inaction. Complicating matters was Lincoln's decision to notify South Carolina governor Francis W. Pickens (1805-1869) of an impending expedition to provision the fort, an action that Lincoln said would not involve bringing any additional men or arms into the garrison. The state's secession government feared a ruse, and Lincoln's message to Pickens undermined any advantage of surprise the federal forces may have had. On 11 April, South Carolina requested Maj. Anderson's surrender, which he refused to do, and on 12 April, as the relief fleet neared, Confederate general G. T. Beauregard (1818-1893) opened fire on the fort. The next day, the fort surrendered and the nation was at war. Lincoln later took the position that he had maneuvered the Confederates into attacking Sumter, which allowed him to label them as traitors and aggressors. As he explained to Orville Hickman Browning (1806-1881), a longtime friend and political advisor: "They attacked Sumter--it fell, and thus, did more service than it otherwise could."1 But Lincoln spoke defensively and from hindsight.
1. Abraham Lincoln as quoted by Orville Hickman Browning in The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, ed. Theodore Calvin Pease and James G. Randall (Springfield, Illinois: Illinois Historical Society), 1:477.
John R. Sellers, Manuscript Division
For Additional Information
For additional information on the Abraham Lincoln Papers, you can leave this site and read a summary catalog record for the collection.
Reproduction Number:
A105 (color slide; page 1); A106 (color slide; page 2)
Related Terms:
Anderson, Robert (1805-1871) | Army officers | Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant) (1818-1893) | Browning, Orville Hickman (1806-1881) | Cameron, Simon (1799-1889) | Charleston (S.C.) | Civil War, 1861-1865 | Fort Sumter (Charleston, S.C.) | Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865) | Pickens, F. W. (Francis Wilkinson) (1805-1869) | Presidents | South Carolina
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