Washington, D. C, Jany. 8th, 1861.
To H1s Excellency
James Buchanan, President U. S.
Sir: It is
with extreme regret I have just learned that additional troops have been
ordered to Charleston. This subject has been frequently discussed in Cabinet Council;
and when on Monday night, 31st of December ult., the orders for reinforcements
to Fort Sumter were countermanded, I distinctly understood from you, that no
order of the kind would be made without being previously considered and decided
in Cabinet. It is true that on Wednesday, Jany. 2nd, this subject was again
discussed in Cabinet, but certainly no conclusion was reached, and the War
Department was not justified in ordering reinforcements without something
[more] than was then said.
I learn, however, this morning, for the first time, that the
steamer Star of the West sailed from New York on last Saturday night with Two
Hundred and fifty men under Lieut. Bartlett, bound for Fort Sumter.
Under these circumstances I feel myself bound to resign my
commission as one of your constitutional advisers into your hands.
With high respect,
your obdt. svt.
J. Thompson.
SOURCE: John Bassett More, Editor, The Works of
James Buchanan, Volume 11, p. 100; Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 181
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