1861] UNACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS. 287 Sumter. You are thus to avoid the effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the fort as your judgment decides to be most practicable. (Signed) "L. P. WALKER, Secretary of War." "HEADQUARTERS PROVISIONAL ARMY, C. S. A., CHARLESTON, April 11, 1861, 11 P. M. แ "MAJOR: In consequence of the verbal observations made by you to my aides, Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, in relation to the condition of your supplies, and that you would in a few days be starved out if our guns did not batter you to pieces-or words to that effect and desiring no useless effusion of blood, I communicated both the verbal observation and your written answer to my Government. "If you will state the time at which you will evacuate Fort Sumter, and agree that in the mean time you will not use your guns against us, unless ours shall be employed against Fort Sumter, we will abstain from opening fire upon you. Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee are authorized by me to enter into such an agreement with you. You are therefore requested to communicate to them an open answer. "I remain, Major, very respectfully, "Your obedient servant, (Signed) "Major ROBERT ANDERSON, "G. T. BEAUregard, "Brigadier-General commanding. “Commanding a! Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, S. C." "HEADQUARTERS FORT SUMTER, S. C., 2.30 a. M., April 12, 1861. "GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your second communication of the 11th instant, by Colonel Chesnut, and to state, in reply, that, cordially uniting with you in the desire to avoid the useless effusion of blood, I will, if provided with the proper and necessary means of transportation, evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th instant, should I not receive, prior to that time, controlling instructions from my Government, or additional supplies; and that I will not, in the mean time, open my fire upon your forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this fort, or the flag of my Government, by the forces under your command, or by some portion of them, or by the per petration of some act showing a hostile intention on your part against this fort or the flag it bears. "I have the honor to be, General, "Your obedient servant, (Signed) "ROBERT ANDERSON, "Major U. S. Army, commanding. "To Brigadier-General G. T. BEAUREGARD, "FORT SUMTER, S. C., April 12, 1861, 3.20 a. M. "SIR: By authority of Brigadier-General Beauregard, commanding the provisional forces of the Confederate States, we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time. 66 "We have the honor to be, very respectfully, “United States Army, commanding Fort Sumter.” It is essential to a right understanding of the last two letters to give more than a superficial attention to that of Major Anderson, bearing in mind certain important facts not referred to in the correspondence. Major Anderson had been requested to state the time at which he would evacuate the fort, if unmolested, agreeing in the mean time not to use his guns against the city and the troops defending it unless Fort Sumter should be first attacked by them. On these conditions General Beauregard offered to refrain from opening fire upon him. In his reply Major Anderson promises to evacuate the fort on the 15th of April, provided he should not, before that time, receive "controlling instructions" or "additional supplies" from his Government. He furthermore offers to pledge himself not to open fire upon the Confederates, unless in the mean time compelled to do so by some hostile act against the fort or the flag of his Government. Inasmuch as it was known to the Confederate commander 1861] REENFORCEMENTS IN THE OFFING. 289 that the "controlling instructions" were already issued, and that the "additional supplies" were momentarily expected; inasmuch, also, as any attempt to introduce the supplies would compel the opening of fire upon the vessels bearing them under the flag of the United States—thereby releasing Major Anderson from his pledge-it is evident that his conditions could not be accepted. It would have been merely, after the avowal of a hostile determination by the Government of the United States, to await an inevitable conflict with the guns of Fort Sumter and the naval forces of the United States in combination; with no possible hope of averting it, unless in the improbable event of a delay of the expected fleet for nearly four days longer. (In point of fact, it arrived off the harbor on the same day, but was hindered by a gale of wind from entering it.) There was obviously no other course to be pursued than that announced in the answer given by General Beauregard. It should not be forgotten that, during the early occupation of Fort Sumter by a garrison the attitude of which was at least offensive, no restriction had been put upon their privilege of purchasing in Charleston fresh provisions, or any delicacies or comforts not directly tending to the supply of the means needful to hold the fort for an indefinite time. CHAPTER XIII. A Pause and a Review.—Attitude of the Two Parties.—Sophistry exposed and Shams torn away.-Forbearance of the Confederate Government.-Who was the Aggressor?-Major Anderson's View, and that of a Naval Officer.-Mr. Horace Greeley on the Fort Sumter Case.-The Bombardment and Surrender.-Gallant Action of ex-Senator Wigfall.—Mr. Lincoln's Statement of the Case. HERE, in the brief hour immediately before the outburst of the long-gathering storm, although it can hardly be necessary for the reader who has carefully considered what has already been written, we may pause for a moment to contemplate the attitude of the parties to the contest and the grounds on which they respectively stand. I do not now refer to the original |