Lee offered US Army command, VA militia takes Harper's Ferry

Col. Robert E. Lee, USA, 1861

• Major Robert Anderson and his Fort Sumter garrison arrives in New York to a hero’s welcome while President Lincoln in Washington listens to an eyewitness account from Mr. Wiley of New York of what he saw in Charleston Friday night, April 12, 1861, during the battle of Fort Sumter. Lincoln then retires early but upon being awakened by John Hay, his assistant secretary, to inform him of a possible plot against his life, Lincoln grins./1861
• F.B. Blair, Sr., presents orders to Colonel Robert Edward Lee, USA, from General of the Army, Winfield Scott. On personal orders from President Lincoln, Scott offers command of the entire US Army to Colonel Robert E. Lee to coerce the South, and a terrible dilemma confronts Lee: Fame or Service to his State. /1861
• Virginia militia under command of Brig. Gen. William H. Harman chases out of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, the Union garrison under command of Lieutenant Jones who destroys as much as possible beforehand to prevent its falling into the possession of the Confederate or Virginia governments./1861 
• Colonel Cake with 400 men, four companies, of the Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers arrives in Washington, D. C., the first volunteer troops to enter the city for its defense. On the way, the companies must change trains in Baltimore, Maryland, and march through the city where pro-secession flags fly from buildings on Federal hill. Southern sympathizers cat call, sneer, and make rude remarks. But the tension in Baltimore is decidedly rising./1861

Image by Allen Gathman via Flickr

Missouri Gov. C.F. Jackson

• Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, of Missouri, in rejecting President Lincoln’s demand for a state quota of troops to fight the seceded states, declares the requisition is “illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical and cannot be complied with.”/1861

• Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown, in response to the Federal call for troops, calls on all Georgia men to volunteer for military service with this statement, “Let us all, with one accord, prepare to welcome the invaders with "bloody hands to hospitable graves." We have to deal with an enemy wily and treacherous, base, malignant and full of hate. It is impossible to know what are the full designs of Lincoln and his black band. Of one thing we may be assured: they will strike any and all the harm they have the power to do. Therefore we can lose nothing by being fully and thoroughly prepared at every point, and for any emergency. Now we recommend that every man capable of bearing arms, regardless of age, and every boy sixteen years old and upwards, begin immediately to train and drill. ..../1861

• Arkansas troops seize U.S. stores at Napoleon, Arkansas./1861

Lincoln: 75,000 to quell 'insurrection'

Lincoln

• At Washington, President Lincoln, having achieved his wishes of the South firing defensively on Northern troops, today issues a public proclamation commanding all persons in arms against the Government to disperse within twenty days and calling for 75,000 state militia volunteers for three months to quell the insurrection in South Carolina. By comparison, in December 1860, there were barely 16,000 men in the Army, most positioned in the Western region of the United States. Instantly the Northern states respond with support. The New York legislature commits $3 million for the Union cause. Not so in the Border States and Upper South of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia. Lincoln’s appeal becomes a public relations nightmare for the Administration in the Upper South. They respond with discontent, offense, and outrage when their governors receive a requisition for their state’s quota of volunteers. North Carolina and Kentucky refuse to respond to Lincoln’s appeal while up until today, Maryland has opposed Secession and was hoping for a peaceful reunion. Lincoln's call for troops to coerce the South forces them toward Secessionism./1861 



NC Gov Ellis

• Governor of North Carolina, John W. Ellis, refuses to furnish his state’s quota of militia to the United States, saying, “I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina.” North Carolina state militia accordingly seizes the unoccupied Fort Macon, N. C./1861

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Gov. Isham Harris

• Rejecting Lincoln's call for troops to subdue the ‘insurrection’ in the South, Tennessee Governor Isham Harris orders a second session of the state legislature to reconsider the question of calling a secession convention./1861 
• Meanwhile in Charleston, South Carolina, the Confederate steamer with Major Anderson and his garrison on board cross the Charleston Bar and are transferred to the U.S.S. Baltic of Lincoln's Reinforcement Fleet headed by Navy agent Gustavus V. Fox. Then the Baltic, with the Fort Sumter garrison and the 200 reinforcements for Fort Sumter, embarks for New York. Private Daniel Hough, Battery E, First United States Artillery, is buried with all the honors of war by order of General Beauregard, C. S. A. He was killed on the 14^th by the premature explosion of a cannon while saluting the Union flag on Fort Sumter at the evacuation./1861
• Confederate Brigadier General Braxton Bragg places US Lt. John Worden under arrest in Pensacola, Florida, making him the first prisoner-of-war in the War for Southern Independence./1861
• In Montgomery, Alabama, Confederate Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker writes to Texas Governor Edward Clark, thanking him for his role in the seizure of a wagon train in Texas that had been attempting to take supplies to U.S. troops in New Mexico./1861
• Confederate diplomat Ambrose Dudley Mann is the first to arrive in London today, hoping to encourage the British Government to support and recognize the Confederacy./1861

Related articles

• Firing on Fort Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Fire was opened upon Fort Sumter at 4.30 o'clock this morning. - Confederate Records. (dotcw.com)
• Lincoln: 75,000 to quell 'insurrection' (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Lincoln Calls for 75,000; Will Virginia Secede? (civilwardailygazette.com)
• April 15, 1861: Abraham Lincoln calls for troops to put down rebellion (civilwar-online.com)
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• April 15, 1861: Lincoln calls for troops (gathkinsons.net)

Confederates occupy Fort Sumter

Confederates occupy Fort Sumter, April 14, 1861

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] Major Robert Anderson formally surrenders Fort Sumter. At 11:00am a Confederate steamer arrives at Fort Sumter to move the Union troops to the Federal fleet off the Charleston Bar. According to the generous terms of surrender, Anderson salutes the United States flag with 100 barbette guns on the ramparts as it is lowered. 

Accident during Sumter surrender ceremony

A stiff breeze is blowing into the muzzles of the guns and one of the smoldering cartridges blows back into a pile of cartridges in the broken masonry near a gun. The pile explodes, sending pieces of broken masonry off like shell fragments. US Private Daniel Hough is instantly killed; another is fatally injured, dying soon afterward at a Charleston hospital. Four others are injured. One of the injured is treated in a hospital and sent north after Anderson leaves. The others are treated and sent home with their comrades. At 4:00pm, South Carolina State Militia take Fort Sumter after the evacuation. 

The Union troops are placed on the relief transport steamer Baltic with Navy agent Gustavus V. Fox and his 200 reinforcements. They will wait there all night so they could see in the morning to cross the Charleston Bar./1861

Charleston Battery, April 1861

• Parades, celebrations and a general holiday fills the air in Charleston, South Carolina today as the defeated Union garrison of Fort Sumter leaves. Across the state of South Carolina, thousands of men volunteer to defend their state from the Northern aggressor. On this Sunday, Charleston churches hold special services of thanksgiving. South Carolina Governor Pickens says, “We have met them and we have conquered."/1861
• After receiving official notice of the surrender of Fort Sumter, Lincoln calls an emergency Cabinet meeting. As if by design, Lincoln emerges to call for 75,000 volunteers to quash the rebellion and for a session of Congress to meet beginning July 4./1861

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• Firing on Fort Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Act of war: Sumter relief fleet sails for Charleston (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Confederates occupy Fort Sumter (wbts-calendar.blogspot.com)
• Saturday, April 13, 1861 (blogs.the-american-interest.com)
• April 14, 1861: Surrender of Fort Sumter (gathkinsons.net)

Fort Sumter surrenders

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Fort Sumter on fire, April 13, 1861

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Reenactors @ Ft. Moultrie

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] This morning Major Anderson resumes firing on the Confederate forces. A Confederate hot shot sets fire to the officers' quarters and spreads to the barracks. After a small amount of powder is obtained, Anderson closes the magazines to prevent an explosion. Seeing Fort Sumter on fire, Southron batteries double their fire. Flames leap above the parapets. Smoke in the casemates hinders the garrison from operating the guns. Firing is cut almost to nothing, but they continue as much as possible. With each shot, the Southrons mount their parapets and cheer their enemy's gallantry. Finally Fort Sumter ceases fire. About 1:30pm, a Confederate shot brings down the flag. 

Explosion inside Fort Sumter

Then an explosion occurs on Fort Sumter. Soon afterwards, former US Senator, now Confederate Colonel Louis T. Wigfall with a flag of truce approaches Fort Sumter, crawls through an embrasure, and asks to speak with Major Anderson. The Cummings Point batteries have ceased firing, but Fort Moultrie continues.

Charleston watches the battle

While Anderson is being notified of a visitor, Colonel Louis T. Wigfall suggests that they raise a white flag to stop Fort Moultrie's firing, but the men reply that only Major Anderson could do so. Then Wigfall waves his truce flag, but Fort Moultrie continues to fire. Major Anderson soon arrives and Wigfall offers him any terms of surrender he wants. Anderson, out of food and with an insufficient number of men to properly garrison the fort, concludes that further conflict is useless and that his men had done their best despite great difficulty.

Major Anderson accepts the terms offered by General Beauregard on the 11th. By 2:30pm, the Southern forces see a white flag flying from the ramparts. At 7:30pm the terms are accepted on both sides and the battle ends. The officers' quarters and barracks were destroyed in the bombardment and fire, but the walls are hardly damaged. Thirty-four hours and 3000 shot and 40,000 shells had been spent in the battle, with no lives lost on either side and only a few wounded. Major Anderson remains in charge of the fort until tomorrow noon./1861

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] For Gustavus Fox and his Sumter Relief Expedition watching the battle outside Charleston Harbor, thick fog and heavy swells delay their attempts to load boats with provisions for Sumter. Determined to carry in at least some supplies, the Pawnee captures an ice schooner and makes it available to Fox for an attempt that evening. Captain Gustavus V. Fox hopes to send in the captured ice schooner tonight, but alas, he sees the white flag over Fort Sumter. About the time Fort Sumter stops firing, the Pocahontas arrives about 2:00pm, but the essentials, the Powhatan and the tugs, never arrive. The Powhatan had been removed by the Lincoln Administration in all its sagacity in a secret and wholly impractical maneuver authorized by Lincoln to aid the Federals at Fort Pickens, Florida. The other ships of the Relief Expedition have been scattered all over the seaboard. Bad weather has stopped the tugs. The Freeborn's owners had prevented her from sailing because of the gale; the Uncle Ben was driven into Wilmington, North Carolina, by the gale, and the authorities there seized it. The Yankee overshot Charleston because of the storm which drove her to the entrance of Savannah, and she did not get back to Charleston until the Baltic had returned north with Anderson's garrison. Fox expects he would have "certainly been knocked to pieces" should he try to reinforce Fort Sumter, but he does not get a chance. Anderson surrenders the fort first./1861 
• The people of Richmond, Virginia, receive news of the surrender of Sumter, and in response, great delight is exhibited and 100 guns are fired. As farmers rush to town to hear the news, bonfires are kindled, rockets sent up, tumultuous excitement reigns. The bells of Richmond toll all night, cannons boom, shouts of joy are heard, and "Dixie's Land" is heard on each of the seven hills of Richmond. People denounce the Virginia Convention's tardiness in achieving Secession; attempts are made to fly the Stars and Bars from the Capitol Dome, and shouts of hurrah for the hero Beauregard, the Southern Confederacy, and "Down with the Old Flag!" Tomorrow is the Sabbath and all demonstrations will be quieted in respect for the day, but talk of it continues except at worship/1861

• Meanwhile in Washington, President Lincoln, hearing unconfirmed reports of an attack on Fort Sumter, says, “I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess, if I can, places like Fort Sumter if taken from Federal control.”/1861
• In West Texas, troops of the 8^th US Infantry under Capt. Edward D. Blake abandon Fort Davis, Texas, (named for US Secretary of War Jefferson Davis and located 175 miles southeast of El Paso), as part of a complete abandonment of West Texas forts. They head to report to San Antonio. Meanwhile, Larkin Smith to writes to C. C. Sibley from Green Lake, Texas, that he has come to arrange for the embarkation of Union troops onto a ship bound for New York Harbor./1861
• Col. Harvey Brown, Second United States Artillery, assumes command of the U.S. Department of Florida./1861

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• 150-years-ago -- WAR BREAKS OUT AT FORT SUMTER! (thesouthsdefender.blogspot.com)
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Firing on Fort Sumter

Charlestonians at the Battery watch the battle

• 

  Floating Battery fires on Sumter

  [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] At 12:45 in the morning, the three Confederate messengers to Fort Sumter, Chestnut, Chisolm, and Lee, return to Major Robert Anderson at Beauregard’s request in a last ditch effort at a peaceful settlement. They ask Anderson for a time of probable evacuation. At 3:15am, he indicates noon April 15 as his target provided he receives no supplies or orders from Washington. 

The Confederates, knowing that an aid expedition is without doubt enroute, refuses to accept Major Anderson’s response. Five minutes later they give Anderson written notification of the commencement of an attack in one hour’s time. Leaving Fort Sumter at 3:30am, the aides proceed to Fort Johnson to order the commanding officer, Captain George S. James, to open fire at the prescribed time.  At 4:25 am, Capt. James at Fort Johnson sends up a signal flare to the other harbor batteries to open fire followed by the first shot. Lieutenant Henry Saxon Farley, a South Carolina Militia volunteer from Laurens, South Carolina, pulls the first lanyard on a ten inch seacoast mortar at Fort Johnson at 4:25am. Thus, Confederate troops defend their inherent right of Independence and begin a rotation of fire on a foreign, invading power at Fort Sumter. Firing will continue throughout the day and at intervals through the night. 

The citizens of Charleston are frenetic, with many watching the bombardment from rooftops throughout the city. The Achilles heel of Fort Sumter is wood on the inside of the fort. Since he is low on cartridge bags, Major Robert Anderson holds his fire until 7:00am, when US Captain Abner Doubleday fires the first shot from Sumter on the Iron Battery at Cummings Point. 

To protect his men, Anderson orders them to use only the 32 and 42 pound guns which are in the casemates instead of the heavier guns on the exposed top which could damage Southron defenses. In Fort Sumter, small fires are set by hot shot or bursting shells, but they are extinguished. Tonight, the Confederates slacken their fire, booming at twenty minute intervals; Anderson stops his fire.

The Baltic

• Meanwhile at 3 o’clock in the morning and after three days of storms at sea, Captain Gustavus Fox on the Baltic, commanding Lincoln’s reinforcement fleet and the last straw as far as the Confederates are concerned, arrives at the rendezvous point ten miles outside Charleston Harbor. The Harriet Lane had arrived a few hours earlier, and at 6:00am the Pawnee arrives. There is no sign of the three tugboats, the Pocahontas, or the Powhatan. He considers sending one small boat to Fort Sumter, but decides the sea is too rough for launches. Waiting for the Powhatan, which Fox is unaware has mistakenly been ordered to Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida, Fox orders the transport steamer Baltic to steam into the Bar with its 200 men and arms of the 2^nd US Artillery aboard that Lincoln lied about.  Fox discovers that Fort Sumter is already under fire and runs the Baltic aground at Rattlesnake Shoals. With either the tugs or the Powhatan he could enter the harbor and take part in the battle, but without either, he is stalled, and he watches the battle rage. His presence is visible by the Confederate command. The Baltic gets off Rattlesnake Shoals easily but is forced to move out to sea and anchor to watch the battle as Fox makes new plans to wait until tomorrow morning to move in to attempt a landing at Sumter./1861

Night-time reinforcement of Fort Pickens

• At Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island at Pensacola Bay, Florida, US Lieutenant John L. Worden informs Confederate General Braxton Bragg of his arrival yesterday regarding the disposition of Fort Pickens. Bragg permits him to meet with US Captain Henry A. Adams aboard the Sabine, so long as he did not violate the "truce" that had been in effect since the last days of Buchanan’s Administration. Making no promises, Worden meets with Captain Adams around noon and presents his orders. Worden makes it to the Sabine just in time. Hours later, General Bragg receives a telegraph from the Confederate war department instructing him to "intercept" Worden.  

Tonight under cover of darkness, Adams lands Captain Vogdes, his troops, and a contingent of marines to reinforce the existing garrison at Fort Pickens. Adams later reports to Washington that "no opposition was made, nor do I believe the movement was known on shore until it was accomplished." Bragg telegraphs Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker in Montgomery that the order had arrived too late. Alarm guns had fired at Fort Pickens, he said, probably signaling the reinforcement of the fort. "It cannot be prevented," Bragg said. Bragg will confirm his fears in the morning: "Re-enforcements thrown into Fort Pickens last night by small boats from the outside. The movement could not even be seen from our side . . . ." Fort Pickens is successfully reinforced, preventing Confederate control of this important Gulf Coast defense, and providing Federal forces with an important base for operations in the Gulf./1861

• Lincoln convenes a Cabinet meeting to hear from Talbot and Chew who have returned to Washington from their interview with Governor Francis Pickens and General Beauregard. Talbot returns the sealed dispatch to Major Anderson which he was not permitted to deliver. They have no idea that Beauregard is at that moment firing on Fort Sumter./1861

Fort Sumter from Morris Island

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• April 11, 1861: Beauregard demands the surrender of Sumter (gathkinsons.net)
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Sumter's surrender demanded

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Major Robert Anderson

Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] At 2 o’clock pm, Brigadier General Beauregard dispatches a party to demand the surrender of the United States garrison at Fort Sumter commanded by Major Robert Anderson. The party bearing the demand is composed of Confederate Colonel James Chestnut, former US Senator from South Carolina, Colonel A.R. Chisolm representing South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens, and Captain Stephen Dill Lee, formerly of the US Army. Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Aid-de-camp Captain Stephen D. Lee tenders the request for surrender personally from Beauregard to Anderson that Beauregard is “ordered by the Government of the Confederate States of America to demand the evacuation of Fort Sumter.” General Beauregard's liberal terms are as follows: "That Anderson evacuate the fort with his command taking small arms, private and company property, saluting the United States flag as it is lowered and being conveyed, if he desires it, to any Northern port." After consulting with his officers, Anderson formally answers that his sense of honor and his obligations to his government prevent his compliance. Anderson also casually remarks that the garrison would "be starved out in a few days." Upon his refusal, Beauregard telegraphs War Secretary Walker in Montgomery and communicates both the official answer and Anderson's informal verbal remarks. In the evening, Beauregard receives instructions from Secretary Walker to get a specific commitment from Anderson as to the time he would evacuate the fort, as well as an agreement that he would not use his guns against them unless under attack. Walker encourages Beauregard to wait and see if Anderson instead evacuates Sumter in order to “avoid the effusion of blood.” "If this or its equivalent be refused," Walker orders, "reduce the fort as your judgment decides to be most practicable." As they have done throughout the insulting siege of Fort Sumter, from the time Anderson ran in the night from Fort Moultrie and turned guns on the citizens of Charleston after Christmas, the Confederate government, eager to pursue a peaceful separation, has maintained its restraint and continues to hold its fire while the Lincoln Administration do nothing to escalate the crisis./1861 
• The three Confederate Peace Commissioners, Crawford, Forsyth, and Roman, sent weeks ago to the US Government to forge peaceful relations with the new Lincoln Administration, leave today for the Confederate capital of Montgomery, Alabama. Despite the diplomatic efforts of US Secretary of State William Seward, they are arrogantly rebuffed, ignored, and unrecognized by the new war-mongering President eager to take his stand, enforce his will, and retain the large federal tax revenues of the seceded South./1861

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Fort Sumter

• The First Louisiana Regulars depart New Orleans and head to Pensacola, Florida./1861
• Adjutant and inspector general of the Confederate army Sam Cooper communicates an order to Colonel Earl Van Dorn, to go to Texas to take charge of Confederate forces there. His main responsibility will be to make sure that U.S. troops are not allowed to leave the state. Those willing to enter Confederate service should be accepted, those not willing are to be treated as prisoners of war./1861

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• Courtesy's End (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)

Davis' Cabinet votes to demand Sumter's surrender

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Davis & Original Cabinet

• [SIEGE OF FORT SUMTER] The Pocahontas departs Brooklyn as the last ship in the expedition fleet to rendezvous at Charleston Harbor to relieve Fort Sumter. Meanwhile in Montgomery, President Jefferson Davis, interprets the expedition as an attempt to supply Fort Sumter "by force" and calls a Cabinet meeting. Davis insists that they should act in self-defense. Lincoln's dispatch of a relief expedition constitutes a "hostile" act, he said, and the reduction of Fort Sumter is, therefore, "a measure of defense rendered absolutely and immediately necessary." The fort is the legitimate possession of the state of South Carolina, and the state as well as the Confederate government has shown "unexampled" forbearance in trying to negotiate an equitable settlement with the United States for the removal of its forces. The sending of an expedition to maintain the fort is, he asserts, an act of "coercion" against South Carolina and the Confederacy. To permit the United States to further strengthen its position will be "as unwise as it would be to hesitate to strike down the arm of the assailant, who levels a deadly weapon at one's breast, until he has actually fired." All but one concur with Davis’ proposal to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter. Only Secretary of State, Robert Toombs of Georgia, vocally dissents. Toombs protests that an attack on Sumter would be "suicide, murder," and would stir a "hornet's nest" of hostility to the South. "It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal," Toombs pleads. After the discussion, the Cabinet votes to demand the surrender of Sumter. Therefore, Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker telegraphs Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard Provisional Army, CSA, in Charleston, to demand "at once" the evacuation of Fort Sumter. If Major Robert Anderson refuses, then reduce the fort. General Beauregard replies that he will demand surrender tomorrow at noon. All around Charleston Harbor, Confederate troops prepare for the expected battle. Tonight, the Floating Battery is emplaced at the west end of Sullivan's Island (Cove Inlet) to fire on Fort Sumter. It is commanded by its builder, Lieutenant J.R. Hamilton and manned by members of Company D of the Artillery Battalion./1861  
• In an effort to build support, the Lincoln Administration leaks information about the Fox Expedition. Reports telegraphed from Washington the previous evening about the Sumter mission began to appear in northern newspapers. The New York Evening Post of April 10 welcomes the "revelation of the government's purpose to defend its property and maintain the laws." Referring to Lincoln's declared intent of peaceably provisioning "a destitute garrison," the Evening Post pontificates that "if the rebels fire at an unarmed supply ship," the responsibility will be "on their heads." When the ship arrives, the rebels will "elect between peace and war."/1861
• In Washington, Secretary of State William Seward accuses former President James Buchanan of forming “vague and mysterious armistices” during the secession crisis, referring to the truce with Fort Pickens./1861
• Brigadier General Braxton Bragg assumes command of the Confederate Department of Alabama and West Florida./1861
• [SECOND SESSION] The Second Session of the Convention of the People of South Carolina adjourns today/1861

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Peace Commissioners: Sumter expedition an act of war

• In Washington, the Confederate Peace Commissioners there send a letter to the US State Department declaring justly that the active naval and military operations are ACTS OF WAR. Meanwhile, Mr. Malice toward None's fleet sails for Charleston/1861 
• Two more vessels of Fox’s secret Fort Sumter Expedition depart New York City for Charleston Harbor – the Pawnee and the Baltic. After anchoring overnight at Sandy Hook waiting for the tide, the transport steamer Baltic sets sail at 8:00am with Navy Captain and Expedition planner Gustavus Vasa Fox aboard along with 200 men under arms to reinforce Fort Sumter, reinforcements that Lincoln told South Carolina Governor were not aboard. This expedition will get Fox an appointment by the Lincoln Administration as Assistant Secretary of the Navy./1861
• From Montgomery, Alabama, Confederate Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker orders General Beauregard at Charleston, South Carolina to stop Major Anderson's mail to Fort Sumter. "The fort must be completely isolated," he commanded. Beauregard immediately responds that the mails have already been stopped./1861
• [SECOND SESSION] In the closing hours of the Second Session of the Convention in Charleston, a review of the session is made in the reading of the major resolutions passed/1861 

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Relief expedition heightens tensions

Inside Fort Sumter

·       In Washington this afternoon, the Confederate peace commissioners telegraph the Confederate government in Montgomery, Alabama, saying they have been formally notified by US Secretary of State William Seward that the United States has refused recognition, reception, or negotiation with them. The Confederate Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker promptly alerts General Braxton Bragg, and repeats an order given earlier in the day to prevent the reinforcement of Fort Pickens at "every hazard." Meanwhile on Pennsylvania Avenue, with both the Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens expeditions in the process of departing New York, Lincoln writes the governor of neighboring Pennsylvania, saying that the necessity of being ready "increases. Look to it."/1861

Anderson's quarters at Fort Sumter

·         Meanwhile at Fort Sumter, Major Anderson drafts a response to Lincoln's letter of April 4, expressing surprise at a relief expedition. He explains that Ward H. Lamon's visit had convinced him that Fox's plan would not be carried out, and he warns President Lincoln that an effort to relieve the fort under these circumstances "would produce most disastrous results throughout our country," adding that Fox's plan is impracticable and would result in a loss of life which would far outweigh the benefits of maintaining a position of no military value unless the surrounding Confederate positions were taken as well. Anderson concludes that his garrison would, nevertheless, "strive to do our duty, though I frankly say that my heart is not in the war which I see is to be thus commenced. That God will still avert it, and cause us to resort to pacific measures to maintain our rights, is my ardent prayer." But the imperial-minded Lincoln is not so inclined. Anderson's letter will never make it to Washington. It would be seized by South Carolina authorities following Confederate government orders to stop his mail./1861 

USRC Harriet Lane

·      [SEIGE OF FORT SUMTER] As the tug Yankee and the Federal revenue cutter Harriet Lane departs Brooklyn, New York, Navy Yard for Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, US State Department clerk Robert S. Chew and Captain Theodore Talbot arrive in Charleston about 6 o'clock in the early evening and read a letter from President Lincoln to Governor Pickens of South Carolina stating that President Lincoln is sending food, and not soldiers to Fort Sumter, providing Pickens with a copy. This, however, is a blatant lie. Two hundred men are on board the fleet to reinforce Fort Sumter. Governor Pickens calls in General Beauregard and reads him the same message. Beauregard refuses Talbot's request to return to his post at Sumter or to communicate with Major Anderson, saying he is under orders to permit no communication with Fort Sumter, unless it conveyed an order for its evacuation. 

With the meeting over, Chew and Talbot are escorted to the railroad depot and leave Charleston at 11 p.m. Then Pickens and Beauregard forward Lincoln’s threatening letter to President Davis in Montgomery that "provisions would be sent to Sumter peaceably, otherwise by force." Accordingly, Davis orders Confederate forces under Beauregard to ready its forces around Charleston Harbor for military action and that "under no circumstances" was he to allow provisions to be sent to Fort Sumter."/1861

• President Jefferson Davis requests troops from the seceded states of the Confederacy./1861
• Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown orders the Georgia Militia to take possession of the United States Mint located in Dahlonega./1861

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• Tying Up Loose Ends with the Powhatan, Lincoln, Seward and Welles (civilwardailygazette.com)