By the 2nd, the Confederate envoys in Washington (Martin J. Crawford, John Forsyth, and A.B. Roman) had lost faith in Secretary of State William H. Seward’s pledge that Major Robert Anderson’s Federal garrison would abandon Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Crawford wrote to Confederate Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker: “My opinion is that the President has not the courage to execute the order agreed upon in Cabinet for the evacuation of the fort, but that he intends to shift the responsibility upon Major Anderson, by suffering him to be starved out.” Crawford was unaware that the latest cabinet meeting on Fort Sumter had resulted in a majority of the attendees voting in favor of resupplying Anderson.
After conferring with Supreme Court Justice John A. Campbell, the intermediary between the envoys and Seward, the envoys informed Secretary of State Robert Toombs: “The war wing presses on the President; he vibrates to that side. He has conferred with several officers, and naval engineer, supposed to be in regard to Sumter; perhaps to collecting revenue at New Orleans… Their form of notice to us may be that of a coward, who gives it when he strikes.”
Meanwhile, supplies dwindled in Sumter, as Major Anderson and his men no longer had access to Charleston for provisions. In a message sent on the 2nd, Anderson added: “Our sick-list is, I am sorry to say, on the increase.” Laborers in Sumter were drawing on Anderson’s rations, so he asked permission to send them back to Charleston. Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard, commanding the Confederates at Charleston, forwarded this request to Walker, who replied: “No portion of the garrison must be permitted to leave unless all go.”
In a longer message to Beauregard, Walker explained: “The Government has at no time placed any reliance on assurances by the Government at Washington in respect to the evacuation of Fort Sumter, or entertained any confidence in the disposition of the latter to make any concession or yield any point to which it is not driven by absolute necessity…” Beauregard was to remain on high-alert, “precisely as if you were in the presence of an enemy contemplating to surprise you.”
The Confederates in Charleston Harbor made it clear that no relief would be allowed, as demonstrated by their treatment of the unfortunate schooner Rhoda H. Shannon on the 3rd. Captain Joseph Marts, commanding the Shannon, had left Boston to deliver a load of ice to Savannah. Due to poor weather, he directed his ship into Charleston Harbor, erroneously thinking he had reached his destination. He was immediately fired upon by the batteries on Morris Island and forced to turn back. The Shannon was anchored safely out of gun range, and Anderson sent a party out in a small boat to determine why she had come. Once Marts was informed of the situation at Charleston, he quickly got out of there.
The next day, Lincoln received Anderson’s message (written on the 1st) that he had about enough rations to last just one more week. Secretary of War Simon Cameron wrote Anderson: “Your letter of the 1st instant occasions some anxiety to the President.” Cameron informed him that Captain Gustavus V. Fox’s relief fleet “will attempt to provision you, and, in case the effort is resisted, will endeavor also to re-enforce you.” However, the fleet would not be able to get there before the 11th, so Anderson was to “hold out, if possible, till the arrival of the expedition.” It was left to Anderson’s discretion whether he and his men could hold out that long.
Cameron then directed Fox to begin the mission he had been spending the past few weeks organizing. Fox was to “take charge of the transports in New York having the troops and supplies on board to the entrance of Charleston Harbor, and endeavor, in the first instance, to deliver the subsistence” to Anderson’s men. Warships would accompany the fleet, but if the Confederates did not fire on them, the Federals would show no aggression. In this way, the Confederates would be considered the aggressors if they fired on ships merely bringing “food for hungry men.”
Meanwhile, the Confederate envoys in Washington continued passing along rumors they were hearing to Toombs. They wrote on the 5th: “The movement of troops and preparation on board of vessels of war… are continued with the greatest activity… Having no confidence in the administration, we say, be ever on your guard.” The next day: “No change in the activity of the warlike armaments mentioned yesterday. The rumor that they are destined against (Fort) Pickens (in Florida) and perhaps Sumter is getting every day stronger.”
Seward notified Lincoln that he had pledged to the Confederate envoys that the administration “will not undertake to supply Fort Sumter without giving notice.” Lincoln responded by dispatching State Department clerk Robert S. Chew and Captain Theodore Talbot (recently returned from Sumter) to Charleston with a message for South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens:
“I am directed by the President of the United States to notify (you) to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only, and that if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in provisions, arms, or ammunition will be made without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the fort.”
The note was to be delivered only if Fort Sumter was still in Federal hands by the time the messengers got there. Otherwise, “you will seek no interview with Governor Pickens, but return here forthwith.” This message was meant to assure the South Carolinians that the administration had no aggressive intentions, but it wiped out any chance that Anderson’s garrison could be secretly supplied or reinforced.
On the 7th, Beauregard notified Anderson that “in consequence of the delays and apparent vacillations of the United States Government at Washington relative to the evacuation of Fort Sumter, no further communications for the purposes of supply with this city from the fort and with the fort from this city will be permitted from and after this day. The mails, however, will continue to be transmitted as heretofore, until further instructions from the Confederate Government.” The fort, sitting on an island in Charleston Harbor, could now only be reached by sea.
Justice Campbell wrote to Seward, asking if a naval fleet had been dispatched to relieve Sumter, and if Seward’s past assurances had been disingenuous. Campbell warned: “Such government by blind-man’s buff, stumbling along too far, will end by the general over-turn.” Seward replied: “Faith as to Sumter fully kept. Wait and see.” Campbell believed this meant that Seward’s original pledge to evacuate Sumter would be kept, but Seward meant that he was merely keeping his latest pledge, which was to give prior notice before supplying the fort. This delay in interpretation gave the Lincoln administration more time to build up military forces.
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