Simon Cameron to Major Robert Anderson, April 20, 1861

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, April 20, 1861.

Maj. ROBERT ANDERSON,

Late Commanding at Fort Sumter.

MY DEAR SIR: I am directed by the President of the United States to communicate to you, and through you to the officers and the men under your command, at Forts Moultrie and Sumter, the approbation of the Government of your and their judicious and gallant conduct there, and to tender to you and them the thanks of the Government for the same.

I am, sir, very respectfully,

SIMON CAMERON,

Secretary of War.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 16; Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 450.