Washington, 9th January, 1861.
Sir: I have
received and accepted your resignation on yesterday of the office of Secretary
of the Interior.
On Monday evening, 31 December, 1860, I suspended the orders
which had been issued by the War and Navy Departments to send the Brooklyn with
reinforcements to Fort Sumter. Of this I informed you on the same evening. I
stated to you my reason for this suspension, which you knew, from its nature,
would be speedily removed. In consequence of your request, however, I promised
that these orders should not be renewed “without being previously considered
and decided in Cabinet.”
This promise was faithfully observed on my part. In order to
carry it into effect, I called a special Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 2
January, 1861, in which the question of sending reinforcements to Fort Sumter
was amply discussed both by yourself and others. The decided majority of
opinions was against you. At this moment the answer of the South Carolina “Commissioners”
to my communication to them of the 31st December was received and read. It
produced much indignation among the members of the Cabinet. After a further
brief conversation I employed the following language: “It is now all over, and
reinforcements must be sent.” Judge Black said, at the moment of my decision,
that after this letter the Cabinet would be unanimous, and I heard no
dissenting voice. Indeed, the spirit and tone of the letter left no doubt on my
mind that Fort Sumter would be immediately attacked, and hence the necessity of
sending reinforcements thither without delay.
Whilst you admit “that on Wednesday, January 2d, this
subject was again discussed in Cabinet,” you say, “but certainly no conclusion
was reached, and the War Department was not justified in ordering
reinforcements without something [more] than was then said.” You are certainly
mistaken in alleging that “no conclusion was reached.” In this your
recollection is entirely different from that of your four oldest colleagues in
the Cabinet. Indeed, my language was so unmistakable, that the Secretaries of
War and the Navy proceeded to act upon it without any further intercourse with
myself than what you heard or might have heard me say. You had been so emphatic
in opposing these reinforcements, that I thought you would resign in
consequence of my decision. I deeply regret that you have been mistaken in
point of fact, though I firmly believe honestly mistaken. Still, it is certain
you have not the less been mistaken.
Yours very
respectfully,
James Buchanan.
Hon. JACOB THOMPSON.
SOURCE: John Bassett More, Editor, The Works of
James Buchanan, Volume 11, p. 100-1; Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 181-2
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