The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

With Buchanan and his cabinet now committed to supporting Major Anderson in Fort Sumter, general Winfield Scott sent a commercial steam ship—Star of the West—to pick up 200 US Army troops in New York and transport them to the Charleston Harbor. This plan to support Anderson relied on complete secrecy, which was difficult to maintain since some members of Buchanan’s cabinet might tip off South Carolina that Union reinforcements were on the way.

With Star of the West already en route, Buchanan received a letter from Anderson sent days earlier, in which Anderson said he didn’t urgently need reinforcements. Already suspecting that the secrecy of the mission had been compromised by the newspapers, Buchanan tried to cancel the mission. Unable to get a direct message to Star of the West while it was at sea, he sent another ship—the Brooklyn­—to chase it down and tell it to abandon its trip to Charleston Harbor.

The men at Fort Sumter had no idea that this mission was underway. Their spirits were lifted when Major Anderson received a surprise visit from his wife Eba.

Star of the West arrived near Charleston before the Brooklyn could catch up and cancel the orders to relieve Fort Sumter. Star of the West tried to get into the Charleston Harbor secretly at night, but the lack of illumination made things difficult, since the ship risked getting grounded in the shallow waters.

On the morning of January 9, 1861, a South Carolina steamer guarding the harbor spotted Star of the West. The steamer alerted the South Carolina militia, which fired a warning shot from a cannon toward Star of the West as it tried to sail toward Fort Sumter. From Fort Sumter, US Captain Abner Doubleday spotted Star of the West approaching. He couldn’t believe that Washington would send a merchant vessel—unfit to fight against cannons—to help them, instead of a warship.

When Star of the West did not immediately retreat after the warning shot, the South Carolina militia battery began firing cannons at the ship itself. Soon, militia cannons at Fort Moultrie began to fire at the ship as well. With no weaponry itself, Star of the West could not return fire.

At Fort Sumter, Major Anderson faced a grim decision. He could fire his cannons against the Star of the West’s assailants, but that would ignite the “almost cult-like sense of honor” (188) among the South Carolinians, who would shoot back at Fort Sumter with everything they had. That would trigger an all-out civil war. Anderson ultimately decided to hold his fire, with the result that Star of the West was forced to retreat out of Charleston Harbor and head back north, leaving Fort Sumter without reinforcements or supplies.

The Brooklyn missed the showdown. Unable to find Star of the West, it eventually sailed home.

On January 9, Mississippi became the second state to secede. The state’s delegates made clear that enslavement was the cause of their secession, writing in their official declaration, “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of [enslavement]—the greatest material interest of the world” (191).

Buchanan did nothing in response to Mississippi’s secession. He delivered a speech in which he “essentially threw up his hands” (192) and said that only Congress could deal with the problem of secession. Buchanan did assert that the federal government would assert its right to use force in defense of its properties, including Fort Sumter.

In mid-January, rumors circulated that the Southern states planned an attack on Washington, hoping to take control of the capitol before Lincoln became President. Responding to these rumors, General Scott had hundreds of federal troops take up positions in Washington. This seemed to calm things a bit.

Congress was embroiled in constant battles, with Republicans attacking the evils of enslavement and Southern Democrats threatening to secede. On January 11, Senator William Seward—Lincoln’s pick for Secretary of State—gave a surprising speech in which he proposed to amend the Constitution to prevent Congress from ever abolishing enslavement in the South, in exchange for no more talk of secession. Seward’s wife lambasted him for this idea, writing that “[c]ompromises based on the idea that preservation of the Union is more important than the Liberty of 4,000,000 human beings cannot be right” (195).

Seward and other Northerners failed to understand that the crisis had now gone too far. By condemning enslavement as evil, they attacked the morals of the Southern elite, who valued their honor above everything else. The South could not forgive this transgression, no matter what concessions the North might offer.

At Fort Sumter, Captain Doubleday was furious that Major Anderson had not ordered his men to fire in support of Star of the West. After the ship retreated, Anderson considered closing Charleston Harbor to all vessels by bombarding the harbor’s light houses, but eventually decided to refrain. His orders were to remain strictly defensive, and it did not seem that the South Carolina militia would soon launch any direct attack on Fort Sumter. Anderson dispatched an officer to go to Washington and receive further instructions on what they should do next.

Two days later, South Carolina Governor Pickens sent two representatives to Fort Sumter, who requested politely that Anderson surrender the fort. Anderson consulted his officers, who unanimously voted not to surrender. Anderson declined Pickens’s offer. Captain Doubleday thought that this sort of delay favored South Carolina, which could continue building up cannon batteries and stockpiling ammunition, while Fort Sumter could not receive any reinforcements or resupply.

On January 9, Edmund Ruffin was in Florida to attend the state’s secession convention. The news of the Star of the West’s failed resupply mission galvanized the Florida delegates, who soon after voted to join South Carolina and Mississippi in seceding. Alabama seceded shortly afterwards.

Ruffin journeyed back to Charleston, where he watched as the South Carolina militia and enslaved workers continued fortifying Charleston Harbor. Aware that others were watching for his example, Ruffin took up a shovel to help the fortifications and “commit a little treason” (203) against the United States government.

A few days later, Major Anderson received a response from the emissary he had sent to Washington. His orders remained vague, commending him for not starting a civil war by firing in defense of the Star of the West, but not telling him what to do next.

Meanwhile, “the threat to Fort Sumter was rising by the day” (205) as South Carolina continued to fortify positions from which they could launch cannonballs at the fort. This included the construction of an Iron Battery that could fire at Fort Sumter while being shielded from any return fire from the fort. Captain Doubleday and other soldiers in Fort Sumter were frustrated that they had to watch these fortifications being built right in front of them, while obeying instructions not to fire upon them.

Out of a sense of honor, South Carolina offered to send additional food to the US soldiers in Fort Sumter. Despite their short rations, Major Anderson declined; he felt that accepting food from an enemy would violate his honor. He did accept the offer, however, of having the wives and children in the fort safely transported away to New York so that they would avoid any fighting that might ensue.

Edmund Ruffin returned to his home Virginia to continue pushing the state to secede. While Virginia was still undecided, Ruffin was pleased when, on January 28, Louisiana seceded.

Anxiety fell over Washington in early February as the electoral college certification approached on February 13. Washington was within marching distance of Virginia and Maryland, both of which permitted enslavement, and there was much worry that the capitol might be invaded before the certification could take place.

As a Peace Convention of delegates from both Northern and Southern states met in Washington to attempt to solve the secession crisis, Lincoln received some positive signs from the border states. Virginia appeared likely to remain in the Union, while Tennessee voted by referendum not to even consider seceding.

While the Peace Convention made slow progress, delegates for the states that had already seceded met in Montgomery, Alabama—the center of the domestic enslavement trade for much of the Deep South—to found the Confederate States of America. Though he was not in attendance, the delegates chose former US Senator Jefferson Davis as the Confederacy’s president. Davis considered declining the post, but eventually accepted and made his way toward Montgomery where he would be inaugurated.

In Charleston, the South Carolina fortifications to attack Fort Sumter were nearly completed. Governor Pickens “was in a warlike mood” (220). He sent a letter to a friend in Baltimore, Maryland, in which he proposed that Virginia and Maryland invade Washington before Lincoln’s inauguration to throw the North into disarray.

South Carolina Governor Pickens delayed any attack on Fort Sumter until after Race Week in early February, which brought together “the most powerful men in the state” (224) for a race-horse competition in Charleston. This glamorous social occasion was highly important to the planters and politicians of the state. No one knew it at the time, but Charleston wouldn’t host another race week for almost 20 years.

Lincoln sold some of his household furniture to help pay for his move to Washington for the inauguration.

On February 11, 1861, Lincoln set out from Springfield, Illinois, toward Washington on a train. His eldest son Robert and about two dozen other political allies traveled with him. Just before the train departed, Lincoln spoke to the assembled people of Springfield, bidding them farewell and summing up the difficulty of the crisis awaiting him in Washington. The journey was expected to take Lincoln 12 days.