Washington, December 21, 1860.
To His Excellency F.
W. Pickens,
Governor of South Carolina:
Sir: Your confidential letter to the President was
duly delivered to him yesterday by D. H. Hamilton, Esq., according to your
instructions. It was withdrawn (no copy having been taken) this morning by me,
under the authority of your telegraphic despatch. Its withdrawal was most
opportune. It reached here under circumstances which you could not have
anticipated, and it produced the following effect upon the President:
He had removed Colonel Gardiner from command at Fort
Moultrie, for carrying ammunition from the arsenal at Charleston; he had
refused to send reinforcements to the garrison there; he had accepted the
resignation of the oldest, most eminent, and highest member of his Cabinet,
rather than consent to send additional force; and the night before your letter
arrived, upon a telegraphic communication that arms had been removed from the
arsenal to Fort Moultrie, the Department of War had issued prompt orders, by
telegraph, to the officer removing them, to restore them immediately. He had
done this upon his determination to avoid all risk of collision, and upon the
written assurance of the majority of the Congressional Delegation from the
State that they did not believe there was any danger of an attack upon the
forts before the passage of the
Ordinance, and an expression of their trust and hope that there would be
none after, until the State had sent Commissioners here. His course had been
violently denounced by the Northern press, and an effort was being made to
institute a Congressional investigation. At that moment he could not have gone
to the extent of action you desired, and I felt confident that, if forced to
answer your letter then, he would have taken such ground as would have
prevented his even approaching it hereafter — a possibility not at all
improbable, and which ought to be kept open. I considered, also, that the
chance of public investigation rendered the utmost caution necessary as to any
communications from the State; and having presented the letter, and ascertained
what the nature of the reply would be, you had all the advantage of knowing the
truth, without the disadvantage of having it put on record. Besides this, the
President seemed to think that your request was based upon the impossibility of
your restraining the spirit of our people — an interpretation which did you
injustice, and the possibility of which I deemed it due to you to avoid. He
also appeared to labor under the impression that the representations of the
Members of Congress and your own differed essentially, and this, I thought, on
account of both, should not be stated in any reply to you. I was also perfectly
satisfied that the status of the garrisons would not be disturbed.
Under these circumstances, if I had been acting under formal
credentials from you, and the letter had been unsealed, I would have delayed
its presentation for some hours until I could have telegraphed you; but that
was impossible. As Major Hamilton, therefore, had brought with him General
McQueen and General Bonham, when he called upon me and delivered the letter,
and had even gone so far as to express the wish that they should be present
when he delivered it to the President—a proposition which they declined,
however — I deemed it not indiscreet, nor in violation of the discretionary
confidence which your letter implied, to take their counsel. We agreed
perfectly, and the result was the telegraphic despatch of last night. The
withdrawal of the letter was a great relief to the President, who is most
earnestly anxious to avoid an issue with the State or its authorities, and, I
think, has encouraged his disposition to go as far as he can in this matter,
and to treat those who may represent the State with perfect frankness.
I have had, this morning, an interview with Governor Floyd,
the Secretary of War. No order has been issued that will at all disturb the
present condition of the garrisons; and while I cannot even here venture into
details, which are too confidential to be risked in any way, I am prepared to
say, with a full sense of the responsibility, that nothing will be done which
will either do you injury or properly create alarm. Of course, when your
Commissioners have succeeded, or failed to effect their negotiations, the whole
issue is fairly before you, to be met as courage, honor and wisdom may direct.
My delay in answering your telegram concerning Colonel Huger
was caused by his absence from this place. He came, in reply to my telegram,
last night, and this morning I telegraphed you his decision, which I presume he
has explained by a letter of this same date. As Major Hamilton leaves this
evening, I have only time to write this hurried letter, and am, sir,
Very respectfully,
wm. Henry Trescot.
I inclose your confidential letter in this.
SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the
Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 85-6
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