Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, February 17, 1861

Mr. Reuter sends me a telegram from Queenstown of the American news. 1. The conference invited by Virginia met on the 4th, and re-assembled with closed doors on the 5th at Washington. 2. Slidell and Benjamin have withdrawn. 3. A truce between Lieutenant Slemmer and State forces at Pensacola Navy-Yard, followed by surrender to latter. 4. North Carolina resolves unanimously to go with the other slave States if adjustment fail. 5. United States revenue cutter Lewis Cass treacherously surrendered to Alabama. 6. Fifty thousand people starving in Kansas. 7. Secession of Texas definitive. 8. The President has refused to surrender Fort Sumter on Colonel Hayne's demand; an attack expected. 9. Attempt on Fort Pickens abandoned. No blood yet spilt.

SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 436

1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer to Lieutenant-Colonel Lorenzo Thomas, March 18,1861

FORT PICKENS, FLA., March 18, 1861.

Lieut. Col. L. THOMAS, Assistant Adjutant-General, U. S. Army:

SIR: I have the honor to report that since my last report nothing has happened to disturb the peaceable relations existing between the United States forces and those opposing us. I have placed the fort in condition for defense as well as the means in my power would permit. The contractor has refused to furnish fresh beef, alleging that he is without funds for purchasing cattle. The United States is indebted to him for three months' supply.

If the intention of the Department is to place re-enforcements in the fort, I would recommend that subsistence stores be sent immediately.

On the morning of the 12th instant four negroes (runaways) came to the fort, entertaining the idea that we were placed here to protect them and grant them their freedom. I did what I could to teach them the contrary. In the afternoon I took them to Pensacola and delivered them to the city marshal, to be returned to their owners. That same night four more made their appearance. They were also turned over to the authorities next morning.

On the evening of the 12th I received this communication:

• Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg to Adam J. Slemmer, March 13, 1861

As I was absent at Pensacola delivering up the negroes, I did not see Captain Wood. I made the following answer, accompanying it with copies of the agreement entered into by Colonel Chase and the War Department, with copies of such other papers as would enable the general to understand our positions:

• 1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer to Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg, March 13, 1861

To which I received the following reply:

• Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg to 1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, March 13, 1861

The battery which the general mentions has no reality, and I so requested his aid, Lieutenant Gaines, to inform him.

On the 15th I made the following answer:

• 1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer to Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg, March 15, 1861

I sent yesterday by mail (via New Orleans) my monthly returns and muster rolls for February. I hope they will arrive safely. I was then not aware that Commander Adams would send a special messenger.

I would most respectfully call the attention of the commanding general to the fact that there is mention of a notification being given as to the termination of the agreement on either side.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

ADAM J. SLEMMER,    

First Lieutenant, First Artillery, Commanding.

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. 361-3; Don Carlos Seitz, Braxton Bragg, General of the Confederacy, p. 32

Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg to 1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, March 13, 1861

HEADQUARTERS TROOPS OF CONFEDERATE STATES,    

Near Pensacola, Fla., March 13, 1861. 

To the U. S. OFFICER commanding Fort Pickens, Fla.:

SIR: The bearer of this communication, Capt. R. C. Wood, Army of the Confederate States, waits upon you in my behalf with the purpose of obtaining information necessary to enable me to understand our relative positions. He will communicate to you my views, and receive such reply as you may be pleased to make.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

BRAXTON BRAGG,    

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: 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. 362

1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer to Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg, March 13, 1861

FORT PICKENS, FLA., March 13, 1861. 

General BRAXTON BRAGG, Comdg. the forces, &c., near Pensacola, Fla.:

SIR: Your communication of this date reached this post during my absence. I have the honor to send you a copy of the agreement entered into between Colonel Chase, Senator Mallory, and the War and Navy Departments, with such other communications as may enable you to understand our relative positions. Please let me know as soon as convenient whether you will consider the agreement binding on your part or not. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ADAM J. SLEMMER,    

First Lieutenant, First Artillery, Commanding.

SOURCE: 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. 362

Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg to 1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, March 13, 1861

HEADQUARTERS TROOPS OF CONFEDERATE STATES,     

Near Pensacola, Fla., March 13, 1861. 

Lieut. ADAM J. SLEMMER, Commanding Fort Pickens:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge your communication ofthis date with its inclosures. In announcing to you my intention to conform strictly to the spirit of the agreement entered into by Colonel Chase, I beg to suggest to you that the erection of a battery on Santa Rosa Island bearing directly on our navy-yard is, in my view, directly in conflict with the spirit of the agreement. The erection of the works on this side bearing on the channel cannot, I conceive be taken as a menace against Fort Pickens, and the act seems to me fully justified as a means of defense, and especially so under the threats of the new administration.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

BRAXTON BRAGG,     

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: 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. 362

1st Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer to Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg, March 15, 1861

FORT PICKENS, FLA., March 15, 1861.

Brig. Gen. BRAXTON BRAGG, Comdg. Forces C.S., near Pensacola, Fla.:

SIR: I placed yesterday your communication of the 13th instant before the commander of the squadron off the harbor. This will account for the delay in announcing to you that the assurances given are perfectly satisfactory. Of the erection of the batteries on either side, I have only to say that our views on that point are directly opposite.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

A. J. SLEMMER,    

First Lieutenant, First Artillery, Commanding.

SOURCE: 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. 362-3

Joseph Holt & Isaac Toucey to James Glynn et al, January 29, 1861

WASHINGTON, January 29, 1861.

To JAMES GLYNN, commanding the Macedonian; Capt. W. S. WALKER, commanding the Brooklyn, and other naval officers in command; and Lieut. ADAM J. SLEMMER, First Regiment Artillery, U. S. Army, commanding Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Fla.:

In consequence of the assurances received from Mr. Mallory in a telegram of yesterday to Messrs. Slidell, Hunter, and Bigler, with a request it should be laid before the President, that Fort Pickens would not be assaulted, and an offer of such an assurance to the same effect from Colonel Chase, for the purpose of avoiding a hostile collision, upon receiving satisfactory assurances from Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase that Fort Pickens will not be attacked, you are instructed not to land the company on board the Brooklyn unless said fort shall be attacked or preparations shall be made for its attack. The provisions necessary for the supply of the fort you will land. The Brooklyn and other vessels of war on the station will remain, and you will exercise the utmost vigilance and be prepared at a moment's warning to land the company at Fort Pickens, and you and they will instantly repel an attack on the fort. The President yesterday sent a special message to Congress commending the Virginia resolutions of compromise. The commissioners of different States are to meet here on Monday, the 4th February, and it is important that during their session a collision of arms should be avoided, unless an attack should be made or there should be preparation for such an attack. In either event the Brooklyn and the other vessels will act promptly.

Your right, and that of the other officers in command at Pensacola, freely to communicate with the Government by special messenger, and its right in the same manner to communicate with yourself and them, will remain intact as the basis on which the present instruction is given.

 J. HOLT,

Secretary of War.

ISAAC TOUCEY,

Secretary of the Navy.

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. 355-6; Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 401-2