Saturday, August 23, 2014

James Buchanan to Jacob Thompson, January 9, 1861

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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