March 15, 1861 (Friday)

"Rain turned into snow."
Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft

From the Chicago Tribune, March 15, 1861:  "Fort Sumter", hat tip The House Divided.

"The great and seemingly insurmountable difficulty consists in the fact that the President is without adequate means for meeting the emergency.  Through the imbecility, if not actual treason, of the late Administration, the opportunity to re-enforce and re-provision the fort was wickedly thrown away; the army and navy were so widely separated that a sufficient force cannot be concentrated for that purpose now before starvation would have destroyed the garrison or compelled its surrender; and Congress adjourned without providing for the emergencies through which the country is passing.  The hands of the President are effectually tied.  He can only proceed by those steps pointed out in the Constitution and through the laws of Congress.  Had Congress clothed him with the necessary power to call upon the country for assistance, instead of holding Cabinet councils over the question of the evacuating of Fort Sumter, Mr. Lincoln would 'put his foot down firmly,' and every loyal citizen would rally to his support."


The Civil War Daily Gazette writes in "The Decision to Surrender Fort Sumter" a rundown of today's events.  The cabinet meets and almost unanimously (except for one person) agrees to surrender Sumter.  Read the link above for the cabinet member responses. 

"Everyone left the meeting thinking that Sumter was to be surrendered.  Everybody except Lincoln, apparently."  Lots of details about Seward behind the scenes, perhaps without Lincoln's knowledge. "

"After the meeting, Seward was at the State Department when he was called upon by two Supreme Court Justices...who urged him to meet with the Confederate Commissioners.  Seward said that he could not, Lincoln would never consent to such a thing.  The Justices offered to inform the Commissioners...what should they say to Davis?

'You may say to him,' Seward allowed, 'that before that letter reaches him, the telegraph will have informed him that Sumter shall have been evacuated.'  The Justices informed the Commissioners that Sumter would be surrendered in five days.  Now, it was certain.  Jefferson Davis, the Commissioners and, soon, the whole South would know that Fort Sumter was to be surrendered to the Confederacy in five days.  

Everybody knew this, except Lincoln."


Four-minute audio:  Lincoln Ponders Fort Sumter, March 13-19, 1861, hat tip That A Nation Might Live, The Civil War's Sesquicentennial One Week at a Time.