December 28, 1860 (Friday)

Best laid plans go awry....fog of war begins

"Confusing and contradictory rumors drifted across the peninsula as residents made their way to The Battery to see what was happening.  Others raced to the tops of buildings and a few even climbed the Holy City's church steeples.  A couple of them had their own telescopes.  At first, there was little too see -- the smoke pouring from the ramparts of Fort Moultrie covered the horizon.  Through the haze, however, someone spotted a small group of men at Fort Sumter unloading supplies from a schooner.  Slowly, the picture was coming into focus. 

The takeover of Castle Pinckney by Pettigrew later in the day was peaceful, but historians later would cite the taking of Castle Pinckney as the first overt act of war between South Carolina and the federal government.  But the Southerners thought that Anderson's retreat to Fort Sumter was the first act of aggression and that they were only reacting to it."  ("Charleston at War:  End of 1860 marked first signs of conflict to come" by Brian Hicks, Post and Courier, December 26, 2010)

"Buchanan wailed in response, saying, 'My God, are misfortunes never to come singly?  I call God to witness, you, gentlemen, better than anybody, know that this is not only without, but against my orders.  It is against my policy.' 

When the cabinet meeting began, Floyd accused Anderson of having acted without instructions and had violated an agreement.  When they looked over the document that contained the orders....right there on the document was Floyd's own endorsement and signature.  Anderson had had permission to move his troops and Floyd himself had signed off on it.  At this, a violent argument broke out within the cabinet.  Several almost came to blows.  Black obliquely accused Floyd of treason and Stanton did away with obliqueness and accused Floyd outright of treason!  The meeting broke up without a conclusion as Buchanan tried to soothe the raw feelings. 

Later in the evening, Buchanan decided to wait for Anderson's report and see whether he had good reason to move or had exceeded his instructions."  (Buchanan deals with aftermath of Anderson's move to Sumter, The American Civil War)

"History can turn on incredibly random chance.  Things that appear trivial when they occur, can set in motion momentous events.  On December 11, 1860, one of these odd little chance turns of fortune occurred.  No one was ever tried and convicted of treason after the Civil War but if anyone deserved to be, it was John Floyd.  Floyd had been working a double game, undermining Buchanan's feeble attempts to stave off secession.  Floyd signed off on the memorandum of orders to Anderson without reading them.   Anderson had in writing what had been told him verbally.  If Floyd would have stopped to read the message, he would have changed it to have Anderson stay put where he was.    Anderson now had written confirmation that gave him permission to move his small force to whichever fort he deemed to be the most defensible.  Anderson acted on those orders."  ("Major Anderson receives instructions"  The American Civil War)