fort Sumter, S. C, January 6, 1861.
Col. S. Cooper,
Adjutant-General:
Colonel: Through the courtesy of Governor Pickens I
am enabled to make this communication, which will be taken to Washington by my
brother, Larz Anderson, Esq. I have the honor to report my command in excellent
health and in fine spirits. We are daily adding to the strength of our position
by closing up embrasures which we shall not use, mounting guns, etc. The South
Carolinians are also very active in erecting batteries and preparing for a
conflict, which I pray God may not occur. Batteries have been constructed
bearing upon and, I presume, commanding the entrance to the harbor. They are
also to-day busily at work on a battery at Fort Johnson intended to fire
against me. My position will, should there be no treachery among the workmen,
whom we are compelled to retain for the present, enable me to hold this fort
against any force which can be brought against me, and it would enable me, in
the event of a war, to annoy the South Carolinians by preventing them from throwing
supplies into their new posts except by the out-of-the-way passage though Stono
River. At present it would be dangerous and difficult for a vessel from without
to enter the harbor, in consequence of the batteries which are already erected
and being erected. I shall not ask for any increase of my command, because I do
not know what the ulterior views of the Government are. We are now, or soon
will be, cut off from all communication, unless by means of a powerful fleet,
which shall have the ability to carry the batteries at the mouth of this
harbor.
Trusting in God that nothing will occur to array a greater
number of States than have already taken ground against the General Government,
I am, Colonel,
respectfully, your obedient servant,
Robert Anderson,
Major, First
Artillery, Commanding.
SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the
Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 127
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