EXECUTIVE OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF WAR,
Charleston, S.C., March 3, 1861.
Peter G. T. Beauregard having been appointed brigadier-general of the Confederate States of America, and having been ordered to assume command of the troops in and near Charleston Harbor, will be obeyed and respected accordingly, and all State officers of the volunteers, enlisted men, and militia, on duty, are commanded to obey all orders emanating from him.
D. F. JAMISON.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
Montgomery, March 2, 1861.
Brigadier-General BEAUREGARD,
Commanding at Charleston:
GENERAL: The Secretary of the Treasury has directed Governor Pickens to transfer to your credit, as commanding officer at Charleston, the sum of $20,000, to meet your present necessities. Other arrangements are in progress, with every prospect of speedy success, to place to your credit such sums as you may need from time to time. If you have failed to secure the services of a competent assistant adjutant and quartermaster, let me know it without delay, as I can now supply you with these officers. As there may be some temporary dissatisfaction with the State troops at Charleston, owing to the fact that you have superseded their commanding officers, it might be proper for you, soon as possible, to muster one or more companies at least into the Provisional Army. This would give you an organized and independent action.
I suggest, unless in your opinion it is absolutely necessary, that you decline to receive any cavalry into the Provisional Army, as you are aware the cost of this arm of the service is very heavy, and it is more than probable that the necessities of your position at Charleston will not require this outlay.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
L. P. WALKER,
Secretary of War.
WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,
Montgomery, March 1, 1861.
Brig. Gen. P. G. T. BEAUREGARD:
SIR: You will proceed without delay to Charleston and report to Governor Pickens for military duty in that State.
You are authorized by your appointment as brigadier-general, under the provisions of the third section of an act of the Congress to raise Provisional Forces for the Confederate States, to receive into the service of this Government such forces as may be tendered or may volunteer, not to exceed five thousand men, as you may require, or for whom you can make suitable provision. A copy of the act referred to has been this day transmitted to Governor Pickens.
You will report to this Department your arrival at Charleston, and give such information with respect to the defenses of that harbor as you may consider important. You will also secure, if possible, the services of a competent adjutant, and report your action in that behalf to this Department.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
L. P. WALKER,
Secretary of War.
WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,
Montgomery, March 1, 1861.
His Excellency F. W. PICKENS, Governor, &c.:
SIR: Your letter of the 27th ultimo addressed to the President has been referred by him to this Department for reply.
In controlling the military operations in the harbor of Charleston the President directs me to say that everything will be done that may be due to the honor and rights of South Carolina.
The President shares the feeling expressed by you that Fort Sumter should be in our possession at the earliest moment possible. But this feeling, natural and just as it is admitted to be, must yield to the necessity of the case. Thorough preparation must be made before an attack is attempted, for the first blow must be successful, both for its moral and physical consequences, or otherwise the result might be disastrous to your State in the loss of many of those whom we can least afford to spare. A failure would demoralize our people and injuriously affect us in the opinion of the world as reckless and precipitate.
Entertaining these opinions, the President directs me to say that he is engaged assiduously in pressing forward measures to effect results in which all are interested. Under the fourth section of an act of Congress to raise Provisional Forces for the Confederate States of America, and for other purposes, a copy of which I have the honor to inclose in another communication of this date, the President has appointed Peter G. T. Beauregard brigadier-general to command the Provisional Forces of this Government in the harbor of Charleston. General Beauregard will be accompanied by an adjutant, whose duty it will be to receive into the Provisional Army, with their officers, under the provisions of the act aforesaid, the forces of your State now in Charleston.
General Beauregard has the entire confidence of the President and of this Department, and I beg to commend him as possessing every soldierly quality.
I have the honor to be, with high regard, your obedient servant,
L. P. WALKER,
Secretary of War.
U. S. ENGINEER OFFICE,
Savannah, January 28, 1861
GENERAL: I arrived here this evening from Fort Clinch. I left that post in charge of Mr. James A. Walker as fort keeper. A copy of my instructions to him is forwarded herewith.
Previous to leaving Fernandina I received verbal assurance from a member of the governor’s council that the property at Fort Clinch would not be disturbed by the State, and that the work would be allowed to remain in the charge of the United States fort-keepers in statu quo. On my arrival here I found that the authorities of the State of Georgia had taken possession of all the works under my charge iu the State, and had formally assumed the control of Oglethorpe Barracks. I forward herewith a copy of a letter addressed to me by Colonel A. R. Lawton, of the Georgia troops. Ordnance Sergeant Burt having refused to surrender, his storeroom was taken possession of, and on his reporting to me I gave him orders to make no further resistance. Both Ordnance Sergeant Walker, late at Fort Pulaski, and Ordnance Sergeant Burt are now at the barracks, where they are permitted to remain. My command having been forcibly interrupted, I can give them no further orders, and must leave the disposition of them to headquarters.
……….Very respectfully,
WM. H. C. WHITING, ……..
Captain of Engineers.
General J. G. TOTTEN, Chief of Engineers.
.
[Inclosure]
.
SAVANNAH, January 28, 1861.
Captain WHITING, U. S. Engineers:
SIR: I am instructed by the governor and commander-in-chief of the State of Georgia to take possession of Oglethorpe Barracks, in the name of the State of Georgia, and in your absence from this city possession has been taken. The occupants will not be disturbed at present, and you will please consider yourself at liberty to occupy, with your employés, such apartments as are necessary for your convenience while you are closing up your business here. The steamer Ida and appurtenances have also been taken possession of under the same authority. This, I believe, includes all the property held by you in the State of Georgia, as military engineer of the United States, but does not include any light-house property.
You have been already notified, informally, that Forts Pulaski and Jackson had been occupied by the troops of the State of Georgia under my command.
……….Very respectfully,
A. R. LAWTON,
Colonel, Commanding.
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
Charleston, S.C., February 27, 1861.
The PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES, &c.,
Montgomery, Ala :
DEAR SIR: I received yours dated the 22d instant by Colonel Lucas, inclosing the resolution of Congress expressly taking charge of the military operations in the harbor of Charleston. I have the fullest confidence that you and Congress will do everything that may be due to the honor and the rights of South Carolina.
Of course we feel that our honor and safety require that Fort Sumter should be in our possession at the very earliest moment possible. We have had great difficulties to contend with. By the extraordinary movement of the United States garrison from Fort Moultrie we were suddenly and unexpectedly precipitated into a situation which created the most hostile feelings, and were at the outset involved in the most scientific and expensive branches of modern warfare, where the most exact military knowledge and experience were required.
I felt this, and therefore telegraphed you to come by Charleston on your way to Mississippi, in order to consult on military matters, &c. I again sent to the governor of Georgia for General Twiggs, and then sent to you for a military engineer, as I desired the highest military approbation. Before taking the last step I earnestly wished the best military counsels.
Major Whiting is here, and thinks our energies have been too much directed to attacking Fort Sumter, and not enough to the defenses of the harbor, so as to prevent re-enforcements, &c. You will see him, and, of course, now we will await your orders and the directions of Congress, as we feel that our cause is common, and that it is due to our common government that we should do nothing to involve all the States united in a permanent war by any separate act of ours, unless it shall be necessary in self-defense or to prevent re-enforcements; but in the mean time I will go on with the same activity as ever in preparing our defenses and our men for any event that may arise.
We would desire to be informed if when thoroughly prepared to take the fort shall we do so, or shall we await your order; and shall we demand the surrender, or will that demand be made by you?
An answer to this by telegram is desired.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
F. W. PICKENS.
MONTGOMERY, ALA.,
February 23, 1861.
Maj. W. H. C. WHITING:
MY DEAR SIR: You will proceed to Charleston and deliver the note addressed to Governor Pickens, which you will find herewith inclosed. After conferring with him as to the time and mode of visiting the different posts in Charleston Bay, you will enter upon a reconnoissance of the harbor of Charleston and its approaches. You will inspect the various works in our possession and gain such knowledge as circumstances will permit of Fort Sumter. In inspecting the works of the Confederate States you will bear in mind the double relation they may have as works of offense and of defense. You will make an inventory of the armament and of the munitions at the forts and in store, noting particularly the different qualities of cannon powder, as indicated by grain. Generally, I desire you to perform all the duties which devolve upon an engineer charged with the examination of works, and the preparation for active operations under circumstances such as those of Charleston, in this emergency.
Very respectfully, truly, yours,
JEFF’N DAVIS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, February 23, 1861.
Maj. ROBERT ANDERSON,
First Artillery, Commanding Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, S.C.:
SIR: It is proper I should state distinctly that you hold Fort Sumter as you held Fort Moultrie, under the verbal orders communicated by Major Buell, subsequently modified by instructions addressed to you from this Department, under date of the 21st of December, 1860.
In your letter to Adjutant-General Cooper, of the 16th instant, you say:
I should like to be instructed on a question which may present itself in reference to the floating battery, viz: What course would it be proper for me to take if, without a declaration of war or a notification of hostilities, I should see them approaching my fort with that battery? They may attempt placing it within good distance before a declaration of hostile intention.
It is not easy to answer satisfactorily this important question at this distance from the scene of action. In my letter to you of the 10th of January I said:
You will continue, as heretofore, to act strictly on the defensive, and to avoid, by all means compatible with the safety of your command, a collision with the hostile forces by which you are surrounded.
The policy thus indicated must still govern your conduct.
The President is not disposed at the present moment to change the instructions under which you have been heretofore acting, or to occupy any other than a defensive position. If, however, you are convinced by sufficient evidence that the raft of which you speak is advancing for the purpose of making an assault upon the fort, then you would be justified on the principle of self-defense in not awaiting its actual arrival there, but in repelling force by force on its approach. If, on the other hand, you have reason to believe that it is approaching merely to take up a position at a good distance should the pending question be not amicably settled, then, unless your safety is so clearly endangered as to render resistance an act of necessary self-defense and protection, you will act with that forbearance which has distinguished you heretofore in permitting the South Carolinians to strengthen Fort Moultrie and erect new batteries for the defense of the harbor. This will be but a redemption of the implied pledge contained in my letter on behalf of the President to Colonel Hayne, in which, when speaking of Fort Sumter, it is said:
The attitude of that garrison, as has been often declared, is neither menacing, nor defiant, nor unfriendly. It is acting under orders to stand strictly on the defensive, and the government and people of South Carolina must know that they can never receive aught but shelter from its guns, unless, in the absence of all provocation, they should assault it and seek its destruction.
A dispatch received in this city a few days since from Governor Pickens, connected with the declaration on the part of those convened at Montgomery, claiming to act on behalf of South Carolina as well as the other seceded States, that the question of the possession of the forts and other public property therein had been taken from the decision of the individual States and would probably be preceded in its settlement by negotiation with the Government of the United States, has impressed the President with a belief that there will be no immediate attack on Fort Sumter, and the hope is indulged that wise and patriotic counsels may prevail and prevent it altogether.
The labors of the Peace Congress have not yet closed, and the presence of that body here adds another to the powerful motives already existing for the adoption of every measure, except in necessary self-defense, for avoiding a collision with the forces that surround you.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. HOLT.
CONGRESS, February 22, 1861.
Mr. Bartow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported the following resolution, which was adopted, viz:
Resolved, That the President of the Confederate States be requested to communicate, in such manner as he may deem expedient, to the governors of South Carolina and Florida the resolution of Congress concerning Forts Sumter and Pickens.
[Copy of the resolution above referred to.]
RESOLUTION in relation to the occupation of Forts Sumter and Pickens.
Resolved by the Confederate States of America in Congress assembled, That it is the sense of this Congress that immediate steps should be taken to obtain possession of Forts Sumter and Pickens, by the authority of this Government, either by negotiations or force, as early as practicable, and that the President is hereby authorized to make all necessary military preparations for carrying this resolution into effect.
Passed February 15, 1861.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
New York, February 22, 1861.
[COL. L. THOMAS, A. A. G. :]
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential letter of the 21st instant, conveying instructions of the General-in-Chief. I have already taken steps towards executing those instructions, by conferring with Captain Ward, of the Navy, and the quartermaster and commissary of subsistence on duty in this city. I shall see Major Thornton to-morrow. Captain Ward will not be able to take any bales of hay for bedding purposes, and at his suggestion I propose to send mattresses to Fort Sumter instead, unless objected to by the General-in Chief. Captain Ward will provide the coal and wood which Lieutenant Hall’s memorandum calls for. In relation to clothing, I am unable to make out what the memorandum requires. Instead, therefore, of writing myself to Philadelphia, I beg that the necessary orders may be given from Washington to the clothing officers in Philadelphia to send to Colonel Tompkins here the clothing required by the memorandum, and the garrison flag and cord for lanyards on this same memorandum. I shall see that everything else on the memorandum is provided here, including such groceries as might be for sale to officers, &c. The clothing should be put up in small bales, so that it may be distributed among the vessels. Colonel Tompkins will attend to its proper marking after its arrival here. Please let me know as soon as you give the order to the clothing-department. I saw Commodore Bruce, who will do all that he can, but hopes to receive instructions.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. L. SCOTT.
—–
P. S.–I have arranged with Captain Ward to send all the stores, &c., on board the North Carolina, addressed to him. He will attend to their distribution among his vessels.
H. L. S.,
Lieutenant-Colonel.
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