Notes

A BOAT IN THE DARK

“fell in torrents” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 242.

“long continued indisposition” Robert Anderson to Eliza Anderson, July 8, 1857, Anderson Papers.

“What would I not give” Robert Anderson to Eliza Anderson, September 20, 1856, Anderson Papers.

“I pray that Our Heavenly Father” Robert Anderson to Eliza Anderson, April 8, 1857, Anderson Papers.

“I never met a man” Samuel Wylie Crawford to A. J. Crawford, February 12, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“the nearest to noblemen” Bleser, Hammonds of Redcliffe, 49. Hammond felt such a kinship with the aristocrats of Britain that he commissioned a British researcher to do a genealogical study of his family, certain that his ancestry could be traced back to the nobility of yore. The genealogist, however, found no such roots, just that Hammond’s ancestors were “good honest yeomen.” This was not what Hammond wanted to hear. Infuriated, he burned the report and did not pay the genealogist. Faust, James Henry Hammond, 326.

“How strange the aspect” Marshall, “‘They Are Supposed to Be Lurking,’” 192.

They held jousting competitions Crooks and Crooks, Ring Tournament, 1–6. Mark Twain blamed Sir Walter Scott for the castle-like look of the Louisiana state capitol, “for it is not conceivable that this little sham castle would ever have been built if he had not run the people mad, a couple of generations ago, with his medieval romances.” Mires and Clark, “Mark Twain on Architecture,” 113.

“gallantry, stimulated by courage” Bruce, Violence and Culture, 213, 222.

“their Hyde Park” Steen, “Charleston in the 1850’s,” 38.

The Census Bureau’s tally In the fiscal year ending June 1, 1860, locomotive builders in the United States made a total of 470 locomotives, of which only 19 were built in the South. In 1861, total U.S. railroad mileage was 31,256, with two-thirds of that in the North. Nevins, War for the Union, 426.

“But when commerce” Davidson and Greenawalt, “Unionists in Rockbridge County,” 83.

“controlling instructions” Anderson to G. T. Beauregard, April 12, 1861, WOTR, 1:14.

“By authority of” Chesnut and Stephen D. Lee to Anderson, April 12, 1861, WOTR, 1:14.

“If we never meet” Swanberg, First Blood, 296.

“the merriest, maddest dinner” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 45.

“The plot thickens” Ibid., 41.

“In any stir or confusion” Ibid., 43.

“Patience oh my soul” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 58.

PART I: THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS

Springfield, Illinois: Cataclysm

elections in America Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 22.

“It is a remarkable idea” Holzer, “Election Day,” 4–5.

The courthouse steps Nicolay, With Lincoln, 8.

“Lincoln never poured” Stampp, “Lincoln and the Strategy of Defense,” 297.

“Mr. Lincoln was calm” Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 33.

“The city of New York” Holzer, “Election Day,” 8.

“It seemed as if” Ibid., 11.

“will serve to show” Ruffin, Diary, 1:482.

“and it was filled” Nicolay, With Lincoln, 9.

“I spoke again” Holzer, “Election Day,” 11.

“In the political history” Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 10, 1860.

“What is it I could say” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:132–33.

Charleston Harbor: A Proper Commander

“of whom,” Gardner wrote Gardner to H. K. Craig, November 5, 1860, WOTR, 1:68.

“and not secured” F. J. Porter to Samuel Cooper, November 11, 1860, WOTR, 1:70–71.

“I am now ready” Robert Anderson to Eliza Anderson, May 4, 1860, Anderson Papers.

He felt his talents Anderson to Cooper, October 4, 1860, Anderson Papers.

“Major Robert Anderson, First Artillery” Asst. Adj. Gen. Lorenzo Thomas to Anderson, November 15, 1860, WOTR, 1:73.

“As you walk the streets” Benwell, An Englishman’s Travels, 203–4.

“should very decidedly relish” Steen, “Charleston in the 1850’s,” 45.

“The scene was most painful” Ibid., 44.

Ryan’s Mart became The region’s most notorious slave sale—and certainly the most cruel—took place ninety miles south in Savannah, Georgia, in March 1859, to resolve the debts of a prominent planter, Pierce M. Butler. It took place at the city’s Ten Brock Race Course, and resulted in the sale of 436 enslaved souls—men, women, and children, whether members of families or not. Forever afterward it was known as “The Weeping Time,” because during the two days of the auction, heavy rain fell, suggesting that even the skies were weeping at the magnitude of the atrocity below. Kristopher Monroe, “The Weeping Time,” The Atlantic, July 10, 2014; Yuhl, “Hidden in Plain Sight,” 594.

“Prime Gang of 235 Negroes” Slave-auction flyer. DeSaussure Papers.

The Andersons appear Detzer, Allegiance, 24n324.

“Like yourself my sympathies” Anderson to W. A. Gordon, January 11, 1861, Anderson Papers.

“darkies” Robert Anderson to Eliza Anderson, April 21, 1857, Anderson Papers.

“Unfortunately, he desired” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 90.

“turned to the crowd” Chester, “Moultrie’s Commandant,” 550–59.

“The Charlestonians would not venture” Anderson to Cooper, November 23, 1860, WOTR, 1:75.

“Here lies the Union” McDonnell, Performing Disunion, 139–40.

“The clouds are threatening” Anderson to Cooper, November 23, 1860, 1:75.

Hammond: The Awakening

“No passion rules” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 12.

“When President of the U.S.” Ibid., 23.

“the principles of honor and shame” By-Laws of the South Carolina College, 51.

“more than one hundred” Reesman, “A School for Honor,” 197.

The ensuing duel Franklin, Militant South, 18.

One Hammond expert Carol Bleser, introduction to Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 5. Another Hammond expert, Drew Gilpin Faust, interpreted the sexual allusions in the letter as simple teasing for Hammond’s “unflagging competitiveness, for the ‘delight’ he took in dominance, even when it appeared in this somewhat inappropriate form. The physically violent expression of mastery, encouraged at every other level of life, here assumed its most elemental expression.” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 18–19; 19n18.

“I feel some inclination” Withers to Hammond, May 15 and September 24, 1826, Hammond Papers; Holmes, “James Henry Hammond.”

“Purchase of Jack, (a slave)” By-Laws of the South Carolina College, 81.

“Young wags in Charleston” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 58.

“The planters here” Ibid., 134.

Hammond worked his slaves hard Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 72–73.

“One would think” Ibid., 78. Neonatal tetanus killed 5 to 10 percent of infants born to enslaved women. This initially confounded researchers, but the cause was later determined to be poor care of the umbilical stump left behind after cutting the umbilical cord. Steckel, “A Dreadful Childhood,” 453.

He selected the names Faust, James Henry Hammond, 88.

When Josiah Nott Ibid.

To encourage marriage Ibid., 85; Plantation Books, 1857–58, Hammond Papers.

“The highest punishment” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 100; Plantation Books, 1857–58.

“Some fellows” Olmsted, Journey in the Back Country, 55.

One especially dreary pen Corrigan, “Imaginary Cruelties?,” 12.

a “large sugar dish” Dickey, Empire of Mud, 114.

The would-be assassin Boissoneault, “Attempted Assassination.”

As depicted in United States Capitol, 11.

a “very pleasant and commodious library” Dickens, American Notes, 117.

“We Carolinians” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 167.

“a passive nobody” Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 269.

“such a nuisance” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 163.

“On the contrary” Hammond, “Speech on the Justice of Receiving Petitions,” 34.

“rush of blood to the head” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 181.

“Broken down at Twenty-Eight” Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 12.

He resigned and on the advice In Belgium an extraordinary incident occurred that cemented Hammond’s convictions about life in a free-labor society. The family was about to depart on a new leg of their journey when an innkeeper presented Hammond with an apparently inflated bill. By now thoroughly exasperated by Europe, Hammond became incensed and prepared to drive off without paying. A servant grabbed the reins. Hammond struck him on the hand with his walking stick. The servant, unfazed, and behaving in a profoundly unservile manner, prepared to do battle. Hammond struck him again. “He was a sturdy fellow and twice my strength,” Hammond wrote, “but I held him off until I wore out my stick on him and then turning the butt gave him several severe blows on the head which sickened him, but the stick was too light to knock him down.” Hammond was glad to find, however, that he had done the man considerable damage. His head, he wrote, “was in a gore and bled profusely.”

Hammond was arrested and held in jail for six hours, until he consented to pay bail pending a trial set for ten days later. Having no intention of letting the yeomanry of Europe sit in judgment upon him, Hammond fled to France and soon after that sailed home. Faust, James Henry Hammond, 199.

“I beat them” Wyatt-Brown, Southern Honor, 338.

Washington: The Vile Wretch in Petticoats

“one mass of fanatical bitterness” Scarborough, Masters of the Big House, 113.

“I would have the review” Duvall, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” 16.

Immediately after the book Tadman, Speculators and Slaves, 180–82.

Hammond: Scandal

“Here were four lovely creatures” Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 172–73.

“I gave way” Ibid., 175.

“full of self-congratulation” Ibid.

“the loose manners” Ibid., 172.

“a deliberate attempt” Ibid.

“My wife, ignorant of every thing” Ibid., 170.

“I would jump” Ibid., 178.

“They have gone” Ibid., 120.

“My policy then was concealment” Ibid., 170.

“The crisis of my fate” Ibid., 124.

“and have produced quite a sensation” Ibid., 149.

“My career as a public man” Ibid., 215.

“She surrenders herself” Ibid., 226.

“and all the children of both” Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 19.

“I can make no comments” Ibid., 250.

“I record now” Ibid., 270–71.

“I began to despair” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 343.

“If we never acquire” Congressional Globe, March 5, 1858, 961. The entire speech runs from page 959 to 964.

“The speech was extremely successful” Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 273.

Cotton was the radicals’ scepter On March 23, 1858, three weeks after Hammond’s speech, the still-Democratic Senate voted to admit Kansas as a slave state. In the House, however, debate flared. During one late-night session a brawl broke out between Democrats and Republicans after a Republican dared to venture across the aisle to talk with northern Democrats, a move that prompted the ever-fiery Lawrence Keitt of South Carolina to shout, “Go back to your side of the House, you Black Republican puppy!”

The “puppy” took offense and called Keitt a “negro-driver.” Fists flew. Congressmen boiled forth from their desks with “some fifty middle-aged and elderly gentlemen pitching into each other,” as one newspaper reported. Apparently they did little damage, “from want of wind and muscle.” The House Speaker grabbed his official mace, a forty-six-inch ebony rod topped with a silver globe and a lethal-looking solid-silver American eagle with a wingspan of fifteen inches. Another member prepared to hurl a spittoon made of stone. Still another took hold of a member’s hair with the idea of holding the man still so he could punch him in the face. The hair was fake. When the toupee flew off, laughter filled the chamber, and the melee came to an end.

The House defeated the measure. McPherson, Battle Cry, 168.

Lincoln: The Chasm

“It is true” Donald, Lincoln, 209.

“In my opinion” Abraham Lincoln, “House Divided” (speech, Springfield, Ill., June 16, 1858), Abraham Lincoln Online, www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/house.htm.

“The slave system” William Henry Seward, “The Irrepressible Conflict” (speech, Rochester, N.Y., October 25, 1858), available at HathiTrust, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924032259578&seq=2.

Virginia: The Rubicon

“Fond of reading” Ruffin, Diary, 1:348.

“I have lived long” Ibid.

“a gentleman born” Craven, Edmund Ruffin, 80.

“almost able to shoulder a musket” Miller, “Historical Natural History,” 3.

“I have now lived so long” Mathew, Edmund Ruffin, 162.

“If it be of any consolation” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 239.

“enough a likeness” Allmendinger, “Early Career,” 153.

“Oh God!” he wrote Ruffin, Incidents of My Life, 157.

“She is so dear to me” Ruffin, Diary, 1:326, 337.

“my resentment is implacable” Mathew, “Edmund Ruffin and the Demise of the Farmers’ Register,” 21.

“Not even the fieriest radical” Barney, Road to Secession, 121.

“it really seems now” Ruffin, Diary, 1:349.

“conscientious, truthful, brave” Pierce, “Northern Reaction to the John Brown Raid,” 199.

“The insanity of the act” Ibid., 209.

“We regard every man” Barney, Road to Secession, 156.

“learn whether he is for us” Channing, Crisis of Fear, 34.

“necessarily imbued” Ibid., 32.

the “demoralization” of enslaved Blacks Ibid., 53.

“the negro wenches” Ibid., 48–49.

“crossed the Rubicon” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 354.

“It is proper,” the jury declared Channing, Crisis of Fear, 47.

“I fear it would appear” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 354.

“The only persons” Ibid., 355.

“vanity and egotism” Faust, Sacred Circle, 137.

“physical or animal courage” Craven, Edmund Ruffin, 177.

“Sample of the favors” Chambliss, “Edmund Ruffin of Virginia,” 428.

“a very foolish book” Hobson, “Anticipations of the Future,” 86.

“very far better provided for” Ruffin, Anticipations of the Future, 40–41.

“I cannot help sanguinely” Ruffin, Diary, 1:463.

Resilience

“Our Negro market” Tadman, Speculators and Slaves, 126.

In Charleston that month Slave auction advertisements, DeSaussure Papers. In Charleston there was nothing secret about who owned slaves, or about the wealth of individual citizens. Early each year the city published its List of the Tax Payers of the City of Charleston, in which it revealed the taxes each resident paid on income, investments, real estate, horses, mules, dogs, and captive humans, as well as other financial assets. The tax on a horse was $10; on a man or woman, $3; on a dog, $2. A gentleman named H. Bullwinkel paid a total tax of $171.80, including $21 for his seven enslaved Blacks domiciled in the city and $2 for a dog. James R. Pringle had fifteen slaves ($45) and two dogs ($4); in all, the various Pringles of Charleston owned 96 slaves ($288). A wealthy planter, W. J. Bennett, had the largest individual holding: 77 slaves, taxed at $231. A separate section of the taxpayer list recorded the assets and taxes of “persons of Indian descent and free persons of color.” Many of these were enslavers as well, like the several members of the Dareef family (identified as “Indian”), who held two dozen enslaved Blacks. This list also included a number of female slaveholders of color, among them Maria Weston, who owned 14 Blacks, and Phoebe Lewis, who owned 11.

Ruffin: The Landscape of Fear

“Lincoln of Illinois” Craven, Edmund Ruffin, 185.

“to swallow black republicanism” Ibid.

“If Lincoln is elected” Channing, Crisis of Fear, 269.

“If the South acquiesces” Ibid., 235–36.

One visitor counted Bishko, “John S. Skinner,” 180.

Here was Alabama Row Moorman, Virginia White Sulphur Springs, 3.

every day its kitchen staff slaughtered Elizabeth Noel to Julia Noel, September 1, 1860, Lewis Family Papers, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

“When the dinner bell sounds” Bishko, “John S. Skinner,” 178–79.

“The water has somewhat” Hoyt, “Journey to the Springs,” 127.

“the especial scourge” Moorman, Virginia White Sulphur Springs, 18, 21–22.

The romantically inclined Ibid., 3.

“a sink hole of extravagance” Robert T. Hubard Farm Journal, September 11, 1839, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

“I find much of the time” Ruffin, Diary, 1:449.

PART II: TREACHERY IN THE WIND

Buchanan: The Unfairness of It All

It was, he said, very unfair Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 28.

“in such a manner” Carrafiello, “Diplomatic Failure,” 148.

“Most happy it will be” Ibid.

“The tea has been thrown” Bellows, “Of Time and the City,” 167.

Ruffin: The Scent of Rebellion

“Thus this great and important measure” Craven, Edmund Ruffin, 195–96.

“The time since I have been here” Ibid., 196.

“You might as well attempt” Channing, Crisis of Fear, 283. Channing writes, “Lincoln’s election meant the ascendancy of abolitionists to national power—meant convulsive slave insurrection—meant emancipation of the Negro hordes with the political, social and economic chaos that must follow the breaking of those bonds. The only possible way to avoid this was secession. Secession was the release from unthinkable catastrophe.” Ibid., 97 (emphasis in the original).

“If the Cotton States shall become” Bonner, “Horace Greeley,” 431.

Springfield, Illinois: Party Malice

“The contest has been so long” Nicolay, With Lincoln, 10.

“for we had hoped” Corneau and Osborne, “Girl in the Sixties,” 418.

“The present aspect” Villard, Lincoln on the Eve, 17.

Villard recalled an encounter Ibid., 6–7.

“I liked some of the things” Corneau and Osborne, “Girl in the Sixties,” 418–19.

“Those who have voted” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:141–42.

“I am rather glad” Ibid., 4:142.

“I now think we have a demonstration” Ibid., 4:146.

“Then every negro in South Carolina” Channing, Crisis of Fear, 287.

“What will you do with these people” Powers, “‘Worst of All Barbarism,’” 154; Goodheart, 1861, 45.

Charleston: Placing the Knife

“two weeks amid hammocks” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 3.

“I do not allow myself” Ibid.

“Alas I was in Florida” Muhlenfeld, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 96.

“If I had been a man” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 179–80.

“Why was I born” Ibid., 130.

“a black Hercules” Muhlenfeld, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 46. For details about Mulberry Plantation, see Mulberry Plantation, National Historic Landmark Nomination.

“horrid black republican ogre” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 10.

“God forgive us” Duvall, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” 19.

Mary’s biographer Muhlenfeld, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 110.

“There hangs here” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 250.

“I take this somnolent life coolly” Ibid.

“Peace, comfort, happiness” Ibid., 176.

“Mrs C very talkative” Muhlenfeld, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 70.

“Going back to Mulberry” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 5; Ibid., 51–53.

“Camden was in unprecedented excitement” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 5.

“C’est fini” Bleser, Hammonds of Redcliffe, 88.

“the cherished dream” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 360.

“the little great men” Ibid., 358.

“it was a movement of the People” Ibid., 360.

“Whatever happens the die is cast” Bleser, Hammonds of Redcliffe, 90.

“I will support it” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 359.

Buchanan: Aunt Fancy Speaks

“I assured him” Hunt, “Narrative and Letter of William Henry Trescot,” 537.

“the truth boldly and clearly” Ibid., 538.

“Never was any document” New York Times, December 5, 1860.

“As we first passed” Ruffin, Diary, 1:267; Baker, James Buchanan, 19, 89.

The pair was so close Baker, James Buchanan, 25.

“Ever since James Buchanan” Lynn, “Manly Doughface,” 599.

“The White House is abandoned” Seward, Seward at Washington, 488.

Buchanan’s address opened Buchanan, Fourth Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1860, The American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara.

“It shows conclusively” Swanberg, First Blood, 59; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 131.

“an incendiary document” New York Times, December 5, 1860.

Pledge

“The people in the South” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 9.

Buchanan suggested Buchanan to Robert W. Barnwell et al., December 31, 1860, WOTR, 1:116; Channing, Crisis of Fear, 278–79n54.

“this would put them” Buchanan to Robert W. Barnwell et al., 1:116–17; Channing, Crisis of Fear, 278.

“I considered it as nothing more” Buchanan to Robert W. Barnwell et al., 1:117.

Charleston Harbor: A Confidential Visit

“and while our attention is drawn off” Seymour, memorandum, December 3, 1860, Anderson Papers.

“If you have yet any ideas” A. J. Crawford to Samuel Wylie Crawford, December 12, 1860, Crawford Papers.

“You are carefully to avoid” D. C. Buell, “Memorandum of Verbal Instructions,” December 11, 1860, WOTR, 1:89–90.

Major Buell and several other officers Charleston Mercury, December 10, 1860, enclosed with Anderson to Cooper, December 14, 1860, WOTR, 1:93–94.

“I shall, of course, prepare here for the worst” Anderson to Cooper, December 14, 1860, 1:93.

Ruffin: To Dare

“Resolved, That according to our opinion” Kibler, “Unionist Sentiment in South Carolina,” 361.

“To dare! and again to dare!” Freehling, Secessionists Triumphant, 421; Journal of the Convention, December 17, 1860, 4.

“are prepared to face a world” Freehling, Secessionists Triumphant, 421.

“Our brave secessionists” Ibid., 422.

“cowardly stampede” Kibler, “Unionist Sentiment in South Carolina,” 364.

“please have my negroes vaxinated” Drago, Broke by the War, 70.

“laden with years” Craven, Edmund Ruffin, 203.

“Such remarkable unanimity” Ruffin, Diary, 1:512.

As he walked to the table Davis, Rhett, xiv; Freehling, Secessionists Triumphant, 422. Interestingly, the actress who played India Wilkes, sister of Ashley, in the film Gone with the Wind was Alicia Rhett, Rhett’s great-granddaughter. Davis, Rhett, 669.

“THE UNION IS DISSOLVED!” Davis, Rhett, 411; Charleston Mercury, December 20, 1860, in “South Carolina Secession,” National Park Service, March 30, 2021.

“We have carried the body” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 5.

“South Carolina is too small” Ford, Origins of Southern Radicalism, 371; Wright, South Carolina, 171.

“I have seen” Kibler, “Unionist Sentiment in South Carolina,” 365.

“As I now write” Ruffin, Diary, 1:512–13; Craven, Edmund Ruffin, 201.

“We sat staring” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 5; Deut: 33:25: “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

“I am truly glad” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 5–6.

Lincoln: Frustration

“to ascertain if” David D. Porter, “Journal of D. D. Porter,” 41, Porter Papers.

“given to intrigues” Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, 19.

“As I approached the front door” Porter, “Journal,” 42.

“we are going to have a glorious monarchy” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 9; Porter, “Journal,” 43.

“In my mind’s eye” Porter, “Journal,” 42.

“They were vociferating” Ibid., 43–45.

“This fraternizing with rebels” Ibid., 45.

“So many people” Greeley to Lincoln, December 22, 1860, Lincoln Papers. In the original postscript, Greeley wrote “deciffering.”

“seven or eight contiguous States” Ibid.; Potter, “Horace Greeley and Peaceable Secession,” 157.

“Fifteen years and the gout” Porter, “Journal,” 69.

“and tell him, confidentially” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:159.

“I can scarcely believe this” Ibid., 4:162.

“The political horizon looks dark” Ibid., 4:160.

“they ought to hang him” Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 163.

Charleston: The Major Gets an Idea

“If you have removed” John B. Floyd to John G. Foster, December 20, 1860, WOTR, 1:100.

On the same day Swanberg, First Blood, 64–67.

“Under these instructions” Floyd to Anderson, December 21, 1860, WOTR, 1:103.

“It is neither expected” Ibid.

“So far then” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:41.

Ruffin: A Signal at Christmas

“both false and foolish” Craven, Edmund Ruffin, 44.

“have denounced as sinful” “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.”

“I promised to go” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:46.

“The glass, china, silver” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 349.

“The crowning point” Davis, “Memories of Mulberry,” 11.

“Christmas Gift!” Ibid., 10.

“would spring out of unexpected corners” Bigham and May, “Time O’ All Times?,” 275.

“They all wanted one” Ibid., 273.

“We all had three days’ holiday” Ashton, I Belong to South Carolina, 104–5, 118; Davis, “Memories of Mulberry,” 10.

“Can we doubt God’s protection” Brevard, Plantation Mistress, 62.

“Xmas was no doubt” Scarborough, Masters of the Big House, 292–93.

“After we had passed” Ruffin, Diary, 1:516.

Anderson: Subterfuge

“they would certainly be turned” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:47.

“Both these measures were good blinds” Ibid.

“in this way” Ibid., 3:48.

“The sun was just setting” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 61.

“the fighting would probably commence” Ibid., 63.

“It was after sunset” Ibid., 65.

“The whole movement” Ibid., 66.

Into this farrago New York Times, February 7, 1861; Samuel Wylie Crawford to “My Dear Brother,” February 21, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“I chose an apartment” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 79.

“for His having given me” Lawton, Major Robert Anderson, 8–9.

“I have the honor” Anderson to Cooper, December 26, 1860, WOTR, 1:2.

“You may be assured” White, “Evacuation of Fort Moultrie,” 3.

Florida and Washington: Strange News

“On the route” Ruffin, Diary, 1:517.

“more out of the world” Ibid., 1:518.

“Well at any rate Colonel” Hunt, “Narrative and Letter of William Henry Trescot,” 543.

“I am afraid governor” Ibid., 544.

“Intelligence has reached here” Floyd to Anderson, December 27, 1860, WOTR, 1:3.

“The telegram is correct” Anderson to Floyd, December 27, 1860, WOTR, 1:3.

Fort Sumter: Smoke and Cheers

“The fort itself” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 100.

A prime example Oswald, “Building Fort Sumter,” 4.

The water closets drained Ferguson, “Fort Sumter,” 17.

“The quarters” Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” n.d., Crawford Papers.

The exact origin Lewis, “Ambiguous Columbiads,” 111.

“that our flag might” There is some disagreement as to what song the band actually played. Historian Benson Lossing in his Pictorial History of the Civil War says it was “Hail Columbia”; Samuel Wylie Crawford says “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Crawford was there; I side with him. Lossing, Pictorial History, 131; Crawford, “Journal,” December 26, 1860.

“So completely” Thompson, “Union Soldier at Fort Sumter,” 99.

“Their looks were full of wrath” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 79; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 109–11; Pettigrew to Pickens, December 27, 1860, Crawford Papers.

“I cannot express myself” Pettigrew to Pickens, December 27, 1860.

Washington: Blood and Dishonor

“I knew his manner” Hunt, “Narrative and Letter of William Henry Trescot,” 544.

“It is evident now” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 150.

“Good,” Black said Swanberg, “Was the Secretary of War a Traitor?,” 6.

“with a sparse white population” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:73.

“Our refusal” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 150–51.

“the first time” Hunt, “Narrative and Letter of William Henry Trescot,” 546.

“one true man” McPherson, Battle Cry, 265. For assorted other plaudits and requests, see Anderson Papers, vols. 9 and 11, documents 2020; 2040; 2034; 2036; 2012; 2037; 2476; 2301; 2048.

“If I withdraw Anderson” Hunt, “Narrative and Letter of William Henry Trescot,” 552.

Charleston Harbor: Turmoil

“I am not crying” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 72–73.

“They can scale the walls” Thompson, “Union Soldier at Fort Sumter,” 100.

“There I found” White, “Evacuation of Fort Moultrie,” 4.

“Very few understood” Ibid.

“a great old horse fly” Muhlenfeld, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 116.

“with the earnest desire” R. W. Barnwell et al. to Buchanan, December 28, 1860, WOTR, 1:109.

“my first promptings were” Buchanan to Barnwell et al., December 31, 1860, WOTR, 1:118.

“This I cannot do” Ibid.

“By your course” Barnwell et al. to Buchanan, Jan.1, 1861, WOTR, 1:124.

“This paper, just presented” Memorandum, January 2, 1861, WOTR, 1:125.

Fort Sumter: Ominous Doings

“I doubt not” Bellows, “Of Time and the City,” 169.

“to prevent irregular collisions” Pickens, memorandum, December 28, 1860, WOTR, 1:113.

“He knows not” Anderson to Cooper, December 28, 1860, WOTR, 1:113.

“one of consummate wisdom” Ibid., 1:112.

As the nation spiraled G. W. Lay to Larz Anderson, December 29, 1860, WOTR, 1:113–14; Scott to Buchanan, December 30, 1860, WOTR, 1:114.

“It is Sunday,” Scott wrote Scott to Buchanan, December 30, 1860, 1:114.

“As the insurgents” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 101.

“If we ascended to the parapet” Ibid., 100.

“Manage everything” Scott to Justin Dimick, December 31, 1860, WOTR, 1:119.

Springfield: The Real Danger

“place-wanting cormorants” Villard, Lincoln on the Eve, 41.

“the capital would be” Nicklason, “Secession Winter,” 379–80.

The proslavery New York Herald Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 397.

“I would willingly take” Ibid., 171.

“Our only regret is” Ibid.

“A word fitly spoken” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:160–61; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 106, 177–78.

“a malformed ill-shaped” Lehrman Institute, “Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens,” 10.

“I could swallow him” Ibid., 9.

“When men come under” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:160–61; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 106, 177–78.

“due reflection” Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 181, 195.

“Habit has accustomed” Ibid. A variation of Seward’s letter appears in Ida M. Tarbell, “The Later Life of Lincoln,” McClure’s Magazine 7, no. 2 (December 1898), 169.

“show their faces” Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 196.

“I have been considering” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:170–71.

“If the two Houses refuse to meet” Ibid.

“Oh God save our dear City” Brevard, Plantation Mistress, 65.

“a fine clear and rather cool day” Adams, Diaries, January 1, 1861.

a “great mausoleum” Cashin, First Lady of the Confederacy, 93.

“Holt succeeds Floyd” Wigfall to H. L. Bonham, January 2, 1861, WOTR, 1:252; Swanberg, First Blood, 122.

PART III: PRECIPICE

Philadelphia: Dorothea’s Warning

she was tall and thin Gollaher, Voice for the Mad 2; Field, “Less Than Meets the Eye,” 392.

“I am the instrument to do his holy will” Ibid.

“negroes are gay, obliging” Ibid., 394.

“For more than an hour” Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 254; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 65–66.

“an unceasing Shadow” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 23.

“that rare quality” Ibid., 67.

“Testing” Bilansky, “Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency,” 70.

“The building I had selected” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 126–27.

“Lincoln shall die in this city” Ibid., 141; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 166, 250.

Washington: Crisis

“I would have preferred” Ruffin, Diary, 1:525.

“After this letter” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:93.

“the traitor Thompson” Ibid.

“It is now all over” Ibid.; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 174, 182.

“The more I reflect” Anderson to Cooper, December 31, 1860, WOTR, 1:120.

“This steamer cleared” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:102.

“may be employed to silence” Lorenzo Thomas to Anderson, January 5, 1861, WOTR, 1:132.

“My glorious wife!” Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” January 6, 1861, Crawford Papers; Swanberg, First Blood, 142.

“Her arrival” Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” January 6, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“She felt much easier” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 99.

“My arrangements for the hospital” Samuel Wylie Crawford to [A.J. Crawford], January 2 and 3, 1861, Crawford Papers.

Charleston Harbor: Crossing the Bar

“We proceeded with caution” “Capt. McGowan’s Report.”

“groping in the dark” Woods to Lorenzo Thomas, January 13, 1861, WOTR, 1:9–10.

“It was hard to believe” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 185; Doubleday, Reminiscences, 101.

Star of the West: Under Fire

“One shot just passed” “Capt. McGowan’s Report.”

“Finding it impossible” Woods to Lorenzo Thomas, January 13, 1861, WOTR, 1:9–10.

“From the preparations” Ibid., 1:10.

Mississippi: The True Enemy

“Our position is thoroughly identified” “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.”

“Message on Threats” James Buchanan, “Message on Threats to the Peace and Existence of the Union” (speech, January 8, 1861), Congressional Globe, January 11, 1861, 294–95; Nicklason, “Secession Winter,” 374.

Washington: A Wife’s Disappointment

“There is a Northern traitor” Nicklason, “Secession Winter,” 376.

to “save the republic of Washington” Ibid., 379.

“a plot is forming” Ibid., 380.

“What do you think of Seward?” Foner, Fiery Trial, 148.

“Your recent speech” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:176.

“I will suffer death” Ibid., 4:175–76.

“My dearest Henry” Frances Seward to William Seward, January 19, 1861, Seward Project.

“The letter I sent yesterday” Frances Seward to William Seward, January 20, 1861, Seward Project.

Louis Agassiz Here, for those with a strong stomach, is a sample of Agassiz’s abhorrent thinking, from a letter he wrote to his mother after he was served by Blacks in a Philadelphia restaurant: “As much as I try to feel pity at the sight of this degraded and degenerate race, as much as their fate fills me with compassion in thinking of them as really men, it is impossible for me to repress the feeling that they are not of the same blood as us. Seeing their black faces with their fat lips and their grimacing teeth, the wool on their heads, their bent knees, their elongated hands, their large curved fingernails, and above all the livid color of their palms, I could not turn my eyes from their face in order to tell them to keep their distance, and when they advanced that hideous hand toward my plate to serve me, I wished I could leave in order to eat a piece of bread apart rather than dine with such service.” Menand, “Morton, Agassiz, and the Origins of Scientific Racism,” 112.

“You think slavery is right” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:160–61.

Fort Sumter: Forbearance

“Hold on; do not fire” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 186.

“we could have kept down” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 104.

“Two of your batteries” Anderson to Pickens, January 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:134.

“that the political connection” Pickens to Anderson, January 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:135–36.

“Shall we accede” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 192.

“a fatal measure” Ibid., 109.

Ruffin: A Little Treason

“If Fort Sumter” Ruffin, Diary, 1:529.

“It almost killed me.” Corneau and Osborne, “Girl in the Sixties,” 413.

“once falling and hurting my shin” Ruffin, Diary, 1:529.

“100 negro slaves” Ibid., 1:531.

“so as to allow me” Ibid., 1:531–32.

Fort Sumter: Lethal Secrets

“He brought me” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 113.

“You rightly designate” Holt to Anderson, January 16, 1861, WOTR, 1:140.

“The troops opposite” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 112.

“Such an addition” Anderson to Cooper, February 7, 1861, WOTR, 1:169.

The concussion shattered John G. Foster, Engineer Journal, April 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:17; Foster to Joseph G. Totten, January 14, 1861, WOTR, 1:138–39.

“two hundred pounds” L. M. Hatch to Anderson, January 19, 1861, WOTR, 1:145.

“The boat had hardly touched” Samuel Wylie Crawford to [A.J. Crawford], January 29, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“Anderson showed” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 113.

“Oh—by the by” Millens to parents, January 25, 1861, in Berthoff, “‘When Once the Ball Is Commenced,’” 221.

“The compliance with this request” Anderson to D. F. Jamison, January 19, 1861, WOTR, 1: 144–45.

“Certainly, Mr. Rhett” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 114.

Buchanan invited Dix Baker, James Buchanan, 78.

“These are almost” Ruffin, Diary, 1:536.

“the imbecility” Ibid., 1:539.

“Under such circumstances” Ibid., 1:540.

a close record of the weather Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” Crawford Papers. See entries for dates in text.

“As they passed the fort” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 117; Foster to Totten, January 31, 1861, WOTR 1:161; Anderson to Cooper, February 1 and 4, 1861, WOTR, 1:161.

Washington: Dread

“where the revolutionary movement” Seward, Seward at Washington, 541.

“that the possession of this city” Nicklason, “Secession Winter,” 382.

Washington and Montgomery: A Solemn Council

“come forward promptly” Crofts, “Secession Winter,” 245.

“I was skating” Adams, Autobiography, 71; Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 98.

“The ancient Seward” Crofts, “Secession Winter,” 246.

“prepared each morning to see” Gunderson, “William C. Rives,” 466.

Seward called the flag-raising Ibid.

Owing to the use Petroski, “Engineering: The Washington Monument,” 19, 20. For a nice photograph of the truncated Washington Monument, see Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 50.

“Old Gentlemen’s Convention” Gunderson, “William C. Rives,” 467.

Here were one-inch ads Montgomery Daily Post, February 13, 1861.

“The Valet” Ibid.

A photograph of Market Street See Charles Goode Gomillion and Robert J. Norell, “The Civil War and Its Aftermath,” Britannica, www.britannica.com/place/Alabama-state/The-Civil-War-and-its-aftermath.

“The streets are very hot” Russell, My Diary, 118–19.

On Market alone Equal Justice Initiative, “Montgomery Slave Trade.”

“I have a first rate pack” Ibid., February 22, 1861.

“When reading the telegram” Davis, Jefferson Davis: A Memoir, 18–19; Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American, 328.

“I have no confidence” Dodd, Jefferson Davis, 24; Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American, 154–57, 244; Davis, Jefferson Davis: Private Letters, 123; Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American, 328; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 104; McPherson, Battle Cry, 259.

“We are without machinery” Jefferson Davis to Varina Davis, February 20, 1861, in Davis, Jefferson Davis: Private Letters, 123.

“He did not know the arts” Bleser, “Marriage of Varina Howell and Jefferson Davis,” 18.

“Our separation from the old Union” Cooper, Jefferson Davis, American, 329.

Washington: To Sell or Collide

“They are, I suspect” Anderson to Cooper, February 6, 1861, WOTR, 1:169.

“I do not come” Hayne to Buchanan, January 31 and February 7, 1861, Balzano Papers; Holt to Hayne, February 6, 1861, WOTR, 1:166.

“How the presence” Holt to Hayne, February 6, 1861, WOTR, 1:166.

“Can my voice reach you?” Tyler to Pickens, February 7, 1861, WOTR, 1:254.

“If you can bear this” Pickens to J. Thomson Mason, February 7, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“I have traveled over” Hammond to Allen, February 7, 1861, Hammond Papers.

She vowed Swanberg, First Blood, 208.

Charleston: Race Week

everyone “‘talks horse’” Sparks, “Gentleman’s Sport,” 21.

“The music was fine” Detzer, Allegiance, 201.

“the impersonation of Carolina chivalry” Faust, James Henry Hammond, 159.

“Their cavalier blood” Sparks, “Gentleman’s Sport,” 19.

“unanimity in our councils” Ibid., 24. One feature of Race Week 1804 was the “Learned Pig,” billed as being able to read, write, spell, tell time, and, supposedly, perform feats of elementary mathematics. Ibid., 21.

hosted by the Jockey Club During the Civil War the Jockey Club moved its supply of old and valuable madeira to the basement of the insane asylum in Columbia, South Carolina. Union troops never found it. Sparks, “Gentleman’s Sport,” 29.

“none but the higher classes” Ibid., 23.

The gentlemen were “very second-rate” Ibid.

During Race Week 1861 Ibid., 27, 28.

The Sinkler family owned Davidson, Last Foray, 249–50.

Lincoln: Yard Sale

To help pay Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:189.

Springfield: Departure

“When the crowd had passed him” Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 117; Starr, Lincoln and the Railroads, 175.

Whether Lincoln knew it Campbell, “Lincoln Inaugural and Funeral Trains,” 3; Liz Fabian, “Macon Cemetery Visitors Recall Early Millionaire,” New York Times, February 11, 1861.

“Friends,” Lincoln began Abraham Lincoln, “Farewell Address at Springfield, Ill., February 11, 1861,” Version C, in Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:190–91.

PART IV: JOURNEY

The Silence Breaks

a special “Time Card” “A Journey of the President-Elect,” Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/exhibits/lincoln/interactives/journey-of-the-president-elect/index.html.

“Every station along the road” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:192–93.

“I am leaving you” Donald, Lincoln, 238; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 13.

“if you promise not” Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 23; Villard, Lincoln on the Eve, 99.

“panting outside” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:192–93.

“I bid you an affectionate farewell” Ibid.; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 24.

Lincoln had arranged Donald, Lincoln, 270; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 30.

Robert, weary of carrying Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 30.

“The words ‘coercion’ and ‘invasion’” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:192–93; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 134–35.

“If Mr. Lincoln fancies” Samuel Wylie Crawford to [A. J. Crawford], February 24, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“electrified the true Republicans” Ronald C. White, Jr., The Eloquent President (New York: Random House, 2005), 36.

“too many elbows” Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 137.

“I had never seen Mr. Lincoln” Ibid., 139.

“bored and injured virtue” Cottman, “Lincoln in Indianapolis,” 10.

“One single stride” Ibid.; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 139.

“Had to sleep” Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 37; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 145–46.

Ohio: “Pimp!”

“I have not maintained silence” Abraham Lincoln, “Address to the Ohio Legislature, Columbus, Ohio,” February 13, 1861, in Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:205.

That day crowds of irate Southerners Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 191.

“the amount of profanity” Ibid.

“lashed to the muzzle” Ibid.

“This was the critical day” Strong, Diary, 99.

“I had never seen” Adams, Diaries, February 13, 1861.

“Old dotard!” Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 194.

“The votes were counted” Ibid.

“read it with his usual equanimity” New York World, February 14, 1861; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 194.

By the time of his death Bilansky, “Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency,” 68.

He composed a letter Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 340.

Lincoln: The Time Will Come

“When I read your inaugural” Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 345; Lokken, “Has the Mystery,” 429; Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:249.

“The time is not yet” Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men,” 113; Foner, Fiery Trial, 163.

“Americans, all, we are not enemies” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:271; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 346.

“Mr. Lincoln! That man” Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 95.

The actor, John Wilkes Booth Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 349; Montgomery Daily Post, February 18, 1861.

“Presently two or three” Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 357.

“a capital view” Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 335.

“very pale and fatigued” Ibid., 333.

“I followed the servant” Ibid., 340.

“Remember, this is the last chance” New York Herald, March 5, 1860; Starr, Lincoln and the Railroads, 188.

“The Great Lincoln Turkey” New York World, February 21, 1861.

That night Lincoln took in Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 208; Starr, Lincoln and the Railroads, 188.

“I fear we shall have” Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 369–70.

Washington and Philadelphia: Dual Warning

“I don’t know what” Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 258.

Bookstaver was so unsettled Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 311; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 258.

“I was in the gallery” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 311; Seward, Seward at Washington, 508.

“The train, a tedious one” Seward, Seward at Washington, 509.

“Then, I think I had better take” Ibid.

“so soon as convenient” Stashower, “Unsuccessful Plot.”

“During the entire interview” Ibid.; Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 64.

“I didn’t like that” The biographer here was Benson J. Lossing, a widely read historian and illustrator, and author of the three-volume Pictorial History of the Civil War, published in 1866. Lossing’s interview with Lincoln appears in volume 1, pp. 279–80. See also Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 250.

Meanwhile, in Lincoln’s bedroom Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 311; Seward, Seward at Washington, 508; Lokken, “Has the Mystery,” 431.

“I could not but notice” Seward, Seward at Washington, 509.

“A New York detective officer” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 131–32; Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 312; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 258; Seward, Seward at Washington, 509.

“Although its contents” Seward, Seward at Washington, 509.

“Did you hear anything” Ibid., 510.

Philadelphia: Change of Plan

“The President elect had enjoyed” Philadelphia North American and United States Gazette, February 23, 1861. For an excellent overview of Lincoln’s journey, curated with precise locations, excerpts of news reports, and images, see “The Journey of the President-Elect,” Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/exhibits/lincoln/interactives/journey-of-the-president-elect/index.html.

“I have never had a feeling” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:240–41, 241n3.

“nothing more or less than” Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 399.

“Unless there are some” Donald, Lincoln, 278.

Fort Sumter: Salute

“If we get out of this place” Samual Wylie Crawford to [A. J. Crawford], February 21, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“These were loaded” Samuel Wylie Crawford to [A. J. Crawford], February 24, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“The insolent wretch!” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 11.

Washington: One Very Dark Night

“Mr. L. brought her out” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:242.

“Tomorrow we enter slave territory” Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 403.

“I shall not feel” Frances Seward to William Seward, February 22, 1861, Seward Project.

called him a “scoundrel” New York Times, February 22, 1861; “A Near Fatal Attack on Charles H. Van Wyck of New York,” Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives.

“a pocket memorandum book” New York Times, February 23, 1861.

“One man against three,” Ibid.

Washington: The Man in the Felt Hat

a “kossuth” hat See Michael McAfee, “The Hungarian Connection to the Union Army’s Official Hat,” Military Images, December 2, 2015, www.militaryimagesmagazine-digital.com/2015/12/02/uniforms-history-winter-2016/.

“in all directions” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 73, 73n, 74.

“a sick friend and party” Ibid., 14.

“Mr. Lincoln is very homely” Ibid., 81.

The train left Baltimore While Lincoln and Pinkerton waited for the train to depart, they heard a night watchman at the station attempt to awaken a ticket agent by pounding on a wall adjacent to the sleeping car, and shouting, “Captain, it’s four o’clock.” This went on for twenty minutes, with the watchman never altering the time—prompting much laughter and comment from Lincoln. “Mr. Lincoln appeared to enjoy it very much and made several witty remarks showing that he was as full of fun as ever,” Pinkerton wrote in his official report for the night. Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 81.

“Abe,” the man said Ibid., 82.

“I hit the gentleman” Ibid.; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 428.

“I planted myself behind” Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 261.

“much out of breath” Ibid., 262; Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 148–49.

“that hypocrite Seward” Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men,” 155; Stahr, Seward, 266, 303, 356.

“dirty abolition sneak” Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men,” 155.

“spent a considerable portion” Welles, Civil War Diary, 46, 49.

even once buying kittens Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men,” 158.

“I am a chief reduced” Ibid., 159; Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 387n69.

“Disappointment!” he snapped Donald, “We Are Lincoln Men,” 147.

“could more justly be called” Brownstein, “Willard Hotel,” 6; Gunderson, “William C. Rives,” 465.

“We began to doubt” Brownstein, “Willard Hotel,” 4.

“The principal object” Ibid.

“Committee on Arrangements” Morison, “Peace Convention,” 61–62; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 265.

“Plums has Nuts” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 84; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 263; Widmer, Lincoln on the Verge, 429.

“treachery to the flag of his country” General Orders, No. 5, WOTR, 1:597.

Washington: A Rumor of Plaid

“The whole city” New York Times, February 26, 1861.

“wore a Scotch plaid cap” New York Times, February 25, 1861.

“Lincoln flew through Baltimore” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 24.

“Everybody here is disgusted” Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 397.

“thief in the night” Ibid.

“when we have reached a point” Ibid., 398; Lokken, “Has the Mystery,” 419.

“It’s to be hoped” Strong, Diary, 102.

“It is perfectly manifest” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, xvii, 86; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 404–5; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 263.

“brainless egotistical fool” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, xvii, 86; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 404–5; Searcher, Lincoln’s Journey, 263.

“There is no confirmation” Bilansky, “Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency,” 80.

“witnessed great crowds” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 135.

“smell southern gunpowder” New York Times, February 18, 1861.

Washington: The Old Gentlemen Pay a Call

“I condemn the secession” Sowle, “Trials of a Virginia Unionist,” 14.

“They saw a tall, powerful man” New York Times, July 23, 1900; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 414.

“You are a smaller man” Sowle, “Trials of a Virginia Unionist,” 15.

“I wish that some” Morison, “Peace Convention,” 69.

“Old as I am” Sowle, “Trials of a Virginia Unionist,” 18.

Shadow or Ghost Amendment Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 429.

Montgomery: Mary Chesnut’s Diary

“We had a shocking day” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 10.

“Then you ought to go home” Ibid., 11.

“made herself conspicuous” Ibid., 14.

“And they say it is dull” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 10n8, 11.

“Every body persists” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 35.

“This is a gay” Davis, Jefferson Davis: Private Letters, 123.

“He impresses me” Bleser, “Marriage of Varina Howell and Jefferson Davis,” 7.

“I gave the best” Ibid., 8.

“constant harassment” Ibid., 11.

“It is impossible but” Ibid., 12.

“Winnie is Husband’s baby” Ibid.

“It is getting to be” Ibid., 14–15.

“God help us” Davis, Jefferson Davis: Private Letters, 10.

Washington: The Premier’s Advice

“I, my dear sir” Seward, Seward at Washington, 512.

Seward’s second attempt Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:262; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 444, 445.

“I am loth to close” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:271.

“a delusion, a sham” Gunderson, “William C. Rives,” 474. See slightly different wording in Gunderson, “Letters from the Washington Peace Conference,” 384; Morison, “Peace Convention,” 77.

“Away with such compromise!” Gunderson, “Letters from the Washington Peace Conference,” 384.

“secession will play itself out” Ibid., 384–85.

“Let the whole matter” Beauregard to Smith, February 27, 1861, WOTR, 53:126–27.

Fort Sumter: Query

“To land and carry” Foster to Joseph G. Totten, March 1, 1861, WOTR, 1:189.

“such is the unceasing vigilance” Seymour quoted in Simon Cameron to Lincoln, March 17, 1861, WOTR, 1:197.

“upon the most fortunate” Hall in Cameron to Lincoln, March 17, 1861, 1:201.

“I confess” Anderson to Cooper, February 28, 1861, Anderson Papers. Anderson also quoted in Cameron to Lincoln, March 17, 1861, 1:197.

Washington: Seward’s Trick

“Circumstances which have occurred” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:370; Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 432.

“This,” wrote Lincoln secretaries Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:371.

“I can’t afford” Ibid.; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 317–18.

Charleston: Interesting News

“Well, we are still here” Millens to parents, February 27, 1861, in Berthoff, “‘When Once the Ball Is Commenced,’” 221–22.

“that Fort Sumter should” Walker to Pickens, March 1, 1861, WOTR, 1:259.

They sent him flowers Russell, My Diary, 80.

“a little hand bouquet” Ibid., 91.

“I had been so long” Ferguson, “Fort Sumter: Notes,” 3.

of “unexampled warm weather” Adams, Diaries, March 1 and 3, 1861.

“I will be out of Va” Ruffin, Diary, 1:557.

London: On the Scent

“in observing the rupture” Russell, “Recollections,” no. 495, 234.

“constantly in exile” Ibid.

“You must go” Ibid., 234–35.

“He laughed to scorn” Russell, My Diary, 24–25.

“Under the circumstances” Ibid., 29.

PART V: COERCION

Washington: Mystic Chords

“The city itself indicated” Villard, Lincoln on the Eve, 103.

“We are now in such a state” Cuthbert, Lincoln and the Baltimore Plot, 141.

“It is the subject” Miers, Lincoln Day by Day, vol. III, 24; Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:273; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 317–18.

“quietly and unostentatiously” Seward, Seward at Washington, 516.

“In point of fact, there were” Ibid.

“I waited with boyish wonder” Goodheart, 1861, 130.

“Mr. Buchanan looked old” Adams, Diaries, March 4, 1861.

“I have been looking” Davidson and Greenawalt, “Unionists in Rockbridge County,” 89.

“Some thought we had” Goodheart, 1861, 404n99, 130.

“like an earthquake” Riggs, “Robert Young Conrad,” 261.

“Inaugural means war” Wigfall to F. W. Pickens, March 4, 1861, WOTR, 1:261.

“a somewhat Jesuitical striving” Davidson and Greenawalt, “Unionists in Rockbridge County,” 90.

“There will be no necessity” Ibid., 92.

“If you are as happy” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 329; see variation in Holzer, Lincoln President-Elect, 450.

“It was very large” Adams, Diaries, March 4, 1861.

“There was no crowd” Seward, Seward at Washington, 517.

“The Parkers,” she wrote Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 32.

Charleston and Montgomery: Sickened

“It settles the question” Ruffin, Diary, 1:560.

“fat and stupid” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 13, 16, 19.

“I can give a better” Ibid., 14.

“I never was handsome” Ibid., 16.

“met me with open arms” Ibid., 18.

“I saw today a sale” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 15, 282.

“Mulatto women in silk dresses” Ibid., 282.

“Means he war or peace” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 23.

“O come ye in peace” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 16.

“The cry today is war” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 25.

The White House: First Day

“slipped quietly out of Congress” William Seward to Frances Seward, March 8, 1861, in Seward, Seward at Washington, 518.

“the very first thing” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:279; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 334.

“I see no alternative” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:279–80; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 334.

“Sir: The time having been” Swanberg, First Blood, 234; Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:381.

“Please give me” Seward, Seward at Washington, 518.

Fort Sumter: Activity and Determination

“Their suffering” Foster to Totten, March 6, 1861, WOTR, 1:191.

“Everything indicates” Anderson to Cooper, March 6, 1861, WOTR, 1:191.

“I do not think” Foster to Totten, March 6, 1861, 1:191.

“I am of the opinion” Beauregard to Headquarters, Confederate States Army, report, March 6, 1861, WOTR, 1:26.

Washington: Relief

“Ethan Warden is still living” Frances Seward to William Seward, March 8, 1861, Seward Project.

“hundred taking tickets” Seward, Seward at Washington, 518.

“I do not know what” Ibid.

“Last night” Ibid.

“I am yet kept indoors” Lokken, “Has the Mystery,” 426n23.

“a severe attack of lumbago” Ibid., 427.

“My dear Son” Frances Seward to Frederick Seward, March 9, 1861, Seward Project.

“The pressure of visitors” Frederick Seward to Frances Seward, March 12, 1861, Seward Project.

“I already find the passage” Ruffin, Diary, 1:560.

“Another report” Ruffin, Diary, 1:566.

“a large party of ladies” Ibid.

Fort Sumter: A Ball at Sunrise

“Our men were ready” Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” March 8, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“Negroes left their spades” Ibid.

“One and all” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 129–30.

“I hope Major this may be” Crawford, “Journal,” March 8, 1861.

“By the way, it was a good shot” Samuel Wylie Crawford to [A. J. Crawford], March 9, 1861, Crawford Papers.

Washington: The Commissioners

“The bird of our country” Strong, Diary, 109.

“Things look better” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:400; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 451.

“This gentleman is urgent” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:399; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 450.

“It will not be in my power” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:402; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 452.

“We deemed it not compatible” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:402; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 452.

“You have shown to the Government” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:403.

“We are feeling our way” Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 453.

Fort Sumter: To Lift a Columbiad

“and down it came” Samuel Wylie Crawford to [A. J. Crawford], March 9, 1861, Crawford Papers; Ryan, “Historic Guns of Forts Sumter and Moultrie,” 63.

Here, just inside the gate Truman Seymour and G. W. Snyder to Anderson, March 24, 1861, WOTR, 215.

Life at Sumter Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” January 18, February 27, and March 1 and 6, 1861, Crawford Papers.

Washington: Lincoln

“given the subject” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:279.

“1st To what point” Ibid.

“hard bread, flour and rice” Scott to Lincoln, March 11, 1861, Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:279n4.

“I should need a fleet” Scott, quoted in Simon Cameron to Lincoln, March 15, 1861, WOTR, 1:197.

“Solicitants for office besiege him” Seward, Seward at Washington, 530.

“He was vain” David D. Porter, “Journal of D. D. Porter,” 167, Porter Papers.

“Anderson’s fame will be nothing” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 255.

“Assuming it to be possible” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:284–85.

“the probabilities are in favor” Ibid.; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 336–37; McPherson, Battle Cry, 268.

“the connivance of the late administration” Blair to Lincoln, March 15, 1861, WOTR, 53:62–63; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 336–37; Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:284–85; McPherson, Battle Cry, 268.

“If it were possible” Seward, Seward at Washington, 529; Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:284–85.

“utterly ruinous” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:382; McPherson, Battle Cry, 268; Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:424.

“The President requires” Cameron to Scott, March 19, 1861, WOTR, 1:208.

Montgomery: Of Spiders and Entrails

“In full conclave tonight” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 21.

“Mr. Chesnut making such a stamping” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 31.

“expatiated on the folly” Ibid., 32.

“Mr. C, thinking himself” Ibid.

“I think this journal” Ibid.; Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 23; Muhlenfeld, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 98, 236.

Fort Sumter: Practice Makes Perfect

A typical gunnery crew My description of the firing process is based primarily on Artillery Through the Ages.

U.S. Navy records, for example U.S. Navy, “Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action”; “‘My Shirt Took Fire.’” An initial Navy report dated the day of the incident put the total of Ticonderoga deaths at five, with eight wounded, but “Casualties,” compiled a century and a half later, presents what is presumably the definitive number: eight.

“calculated to kill” “My Shirt Took Fire.”

“The practice was excellent” Foster to Joseph G. Totten, February 26, 1861, WOTR, 1:187.

“I have no ammunition to spare” Anderson to Lorenzo Thomas, March 23, 1861, WOTR, 1:212.

“was undoubtedly called for” Anderson to Pickens, March 13, 1861, WOTR, 1:219.

“the unquestionable privilege” Jamison to Anderson, March 15, 1861, WOTR, 1:220.

“the professed owner” Anderson to Jamison, March 17, 1861, WOTR, 1:220.

Washington: The Commissioners

“I wish I could do it” Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 457.

“I had not before this” Ibid.

“I feel perfect confidence” Ibid., 458–59.

“adverse to recognition” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:408; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 459. The entire saga of Seward, Campbell, and the commissioners is neatly laid out, document by document, in Davis, Messages and Papers, 84–98.

New York: Russell, of the Times

“Abnormal,” he wrote Russell, My Diary, 34.

“the piles of blackened snow” Ibid.

“The thing itself” Dickens, American Notes, 113.

“The tumult, the miscellaneous nature” Russell, My Diary, 41.

“To me it is evident” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 227; Russell, My Diary, 12.

“The Herald keeps up the courage” Russell, My Diary, 64.

“Everywhere the Southern leaders” Ibid., 36.

“Be sure you examine the slave-pens” Ibid.

“over the roughest” Ibid., 38.

“the rustle of pens” Ibid., 40.

“All through this conversation” Ibid., 42.

“Never,” he wrote, “did a people enter a war” Ibid., 210.

Washington: Trust

“two degrees below” Adams, Diaries, March 18 and 19, 1861.

“We can’t hear” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:409; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 459.

“You have not heard” Martin Crawford et al. to Toombs, March 20, 1861, WOTR, 1:277.

“Has Sumter been evacuated?” Martin Crawford et al. to Beauregard, March 20, 1861, WOTR, 1:277.

“Sumter not evacuated” Beauregard to Crawford et al., March 21, 1861, WOTR, 53:136; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 460.

“no delay that has occurred” Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 460.

“will not deceive you” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 333.

As he looked out Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:389.

“that the 15th of April” Ibid.; Detzer, Allegiance, 229.

“Were you with Captain Fox” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 372; Swanberg, First Blood, 248–49.

“I have examined the point” Anderson to Thomas, March 22, 1861, WOTR, 1:211; Detzer, Allegiance, 228; Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:389.

“I did intend” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 345n9.

Charleston: Some Good Thing in the Wind

he had also been run Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 136.

“From these sources” Hurlbut to Lincoln, March 27, 1861, Lincoln Papers; Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:391.

Pickens gave Lamon Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” March 25, 1861, Crawford Papers; Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 137; John G. Foster to Joseph G. Totten, March 26, 1861, WOTR, 1:221.

“our countries” Beauregard to Anderson, March 26, 1861, WOTR, 1:222.

“All that will be required” Ibid.

“I am much obliged” Anderson to Beauregard, March 26, 1861, WOTR, 1:222.

“of wounding, in any manner” Beauregard to Anderson, March 26, 1861, 1:223.

“I have heard of your declaration” Scott to Anderson, March 29, 1861, Anderson Papers.

“I confess” Anderson to Scott, April 1, 1861, Anderson Papers.

“The mouth is absolutely prodigious” Russell, My Diary, 44–45.

“Mr. Russell, I am very glad” Ibid., 47.

“with a pleasant twinkle” Ibid., 47–48.

Shortly before the dinner began Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 365–66; McClintock, Lincoln and the Decision, 229–30.

Fort Sumter: Firewood

“The sixth and last” Foster to Joseph G. Totten, March 26, 1861, WOTR, 1:221.

“It would be well” Seymour to Anderson, February 27, 1861, Anderson Papers.

“Had I not a family” R. C. Anderson [nephew] to Robert Anderson, January 12 and February 20, 1861, Anderson Papers.

“I believe that” R. C. Anderson [nephew] to Robert Anderson, January 25, 1861, Anderson Papers.

Charleston: The Handsomest Man

“Came down on the cars” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 35; Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 47.

“He is always the handsomest” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 35; Paul Christopher Anderson, “John Laurence Manning,” South Carolina Encyclopedia, www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/manning-john-laurence/.

“Your conversation reminds me” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 36.

“I looked at him in amazement” Ibid., 37

“Mr. M,” she noted Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 49.

“there to see the VanderHorst way” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 37.

“After dinner, Mr. Chesnut” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 50.

Washington: Change of Heart

“An abandonment of the fort” Scott, memorandum, (n.d.), enclosed with Simon Cameron to Lincoln, March 15, 1861, WOTR, 1:200; Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:394; Detzer, Allegiance, 153.

“a cold shock” Meigs quoting Lincoln, “Gen. M. C. Meigs,” 300.

“a babel of small talk” Russell, My Diary, 48–49, 55.

“Mr. Lincoln raises a laugh” Ibid., 50.

“I dined with the Presdt.” Crawford, “William Howard Russell,” 194.

“A long pause of blank amazement” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:395; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 339; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 365.

“That night” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:395; Meigs, “Gen. M. C. Meigs,” 300; Klein, Days of Defiance, 354.

“As to Fort Sumter” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:432; Brauer, “Seward’s ‘Foreign War Panacea,’” 149–53.

“South Carolina is the head” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:432.

Lincoln inadvertently Donald, Lincoln, 290–92. Here you’ll find a good summary of the Powhatan fiasco.

PART VI: COLLISION

Charleston: The Flirtation

“Mr. C gave me his cheek” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 51; Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 39.

“Now, a loud banging” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 39.

“He is the hero” Ibid.

The next day, Sunday, March 31 Ibid., 209; Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 52.

Seward found himself Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 341.

He promised to respond Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 464.

Washington: Seward’s Play

“The President,” he wrote Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 404; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 337.

“What does this mean?” Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 465; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 337, 338; Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:410.

“My opinion is” Martin Crawford to Beauregard, April 1, 1861, enclosed with Beauregard to Walker, April 1, 1861, WOTR, 1:283–84; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 466.

“Batteries here ready” Beauregard to Walker, April 1, 1861, 1:283–84.

“no conception of his situation” Sowle, “Reappraisal of Seward’s Memorandum,” 239; Nevins, War for the Union, 72; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 341.

“Some thoughts” Sowle, “Reappraisal of Seward’s Memorandum,” 235; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 341–42; Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:317.

so certain, in fact, that he had arranged Sowle, “Reappraisal of Seward’s Memorandum,” 235–36.

“It is a little difficult” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:447.

“had Mr. Lincoln been an envious” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 342.

“I remark” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:317; Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 343; McPherson, Battle Cry, 271; Nevins, War for the Union, 63; Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 353; Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:447; Seward, Seward at Washington, 535.

“So far as is known” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:449.

“Dangers and breakers” Seward, Seward at Washington, 534.

“I do not doubt that Sumter” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:411.

“So far as I can judge” Ibid.; Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 466.

“to make all the necessary arrangements” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:412.

“A strange state of things” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 353.

“‘aid and comfort’” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 3:412; McPherson, Battle Cry, 822.

Fort Sumter: Any Minute Now

“imprisonment” Anderson to Thomas, April 2, 1861, WOTR, 1:232.

“I have the honor to report” Anderson to Thomas, April 1, 1861, WOTR, 1:230.

On the afternoon of Wednesday My account of the Rhoda H. Shannon incident derives mainly from the following sources: Truman Seymour and G. W. Snyder to Anderson, April 3, 1861, WOTR, 1:237–38; John G. Foster to Joseph G. Totten, April 5, 1861, WOTR, 1:243; Foster to Totten, April 4, 1861, WOTR, 1:239–40; Doubleday, Reminiscences, 136.

“in a boat with a white flag” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 136.

“that the weather was too boisterous” Snyder to Anderson, April 4, 1861, WOTR, 1:241–42.

“peremptory orders had been sent” Ibid.

“In amplifying his instructions” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 136–37.

“I regard this” Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” April 6, 1861, Crawford Papers.

“in the saddle” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 41n8; Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 54n3.

“Like Fitz-James” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 41.

“But the supper was a consolation” Ibid.

“A ship was fired into yesterday” Ibid.

Washington: The Correspondent

“They have the idea” Russell, My Diary, 58.

Gautier was known DeFerrari, “How Sweet It Was.”

“Whether it be in consequence” Russell, My Diary, 61–62.

“The man who dares tamper” Ibid., 62. According to Southern custom, if a woman committed a duel-worthy offense, she could not be challenged to a duel—but her husband could be. Walther, William Lowndes Yancey, 158.

“a slight blow at first” Ibid., 63. Their account is utterly contradicted by Brooks’s own account. See Robert L. Meriwether, “Preston Brooks on the Caning of Charles Sumner,” South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 52, no. 1 (January 1951). “Every lick went where I intended,” Brooks wrote. “For about the first five or six licks he offered to make fight but I plied him so rapidly that he did not touch me. Towards the last he bellowed like a calf. I wore my cane out completely but saved the Head which is gold.”

“The gentlemen at table” Russell, My Diary, 62.

as being “in every respect” Ibid., 64.

“When the Southern States” Ibid., 66.

“As matters look very threatening” Ibid., 64.

Washington: Conflict

“by suffering him” Crawford to Beauregard, April 1, 1861, enclosed with Beauregard to Walker, April 1, 1861, WOTR, 1:283–84; Johnson,”Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 466.

“I cannot but think” Anderson to Thomas, April 5, 1861, WOTR, 1:241.

“some anxiety” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:321–22.

Montgomery and Richmond: Suspense

“The citizen of the Southern states” Franklin, Militant South, 67.

“The war wing presses” Martin Crawford and A. B. Roman to Robert Toombs, April 2, 1861, WOTR, 1:284.

“watchful vigilance” Walker to Beauregard, April 2, 1861, WOTR, 1:285.

Mary’s diary Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 53, 54, 55.

“This is worse than I supposed” Ruffin, Diary, 1:578.

Washington: Fatal Error

“He looked first” Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 4:5; Welles, Civil War Diary, 654.

The steamer did catch up Hay and Nicolay, Abraham Lincoln, 4:6; Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 275; Swanberg, First Blood, 258. David Dixon Porter offers a lengthy if one-sided account of the Fort Pickens expedition in his “Journal of D. D. Porter,” 85-94, Porter Papers.

“The great disappointment” Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 275; Porter, “Journal,” 92.

Charleston: The Petrel’s Delight

“The bad weather continues” Brevard, Plantation Mistress, 112, 113. John G. Foster to Joseph G. Totten, April 5, 1861, WOTR, 1:243; Foster to Totten, April 8, 1861, WOTR, 1:293; Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 42; Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 55.

“Yesterday it rained” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 55–56; Foster to Totten, April 8, 1861, 1:293.

She made the rounds Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 42; Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 55–56; Foster to Totten, April 8, 1861, 1:293.

“The air is too full” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 43; variation at Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 55–56.

“News so warlike” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 56.

“the only thoroughly happy” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 44.

“in consequence of the delays” Beauregard to Anderson, April 7, 1861, WOTR, 1:248.

The Atlantic: Storm

The blast shattered John G. Foster, Engineer Journal, April 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:16.

“The discovery of this battery” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 383.

“This, of course, was much less dangerous” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 140.

“well or ill founded” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 340.

“Faith as to Sumter” Ibid.

Fort Sumter: Confession

“you will be pleased to destroy it” Anderson to Thomas, April 8, 1861, WOTR, 1:293, 294.

Washington: Dismay and Dishonor

“The Secretary of State understands” Davis, Messages and Papers, 84–98; Seward, Seward at Washington, 531.

“delusions” Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 343.

“beyond the simple acknowledgement” Seward, Seward at Washington, 538; Davis, Messages and Papers, 93; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 343.

“I am directed by the President” Pickens and Beauregard, memorandum reporting Lincoln’s resupply notice, April 8, 1861, WOTR, 1:291.

“peremptorily refused” Talbot to Simon Cameron, April 12, 1861, WOTR, 1:251.

“Authorized messenger from Lincoln” Beauregard to Walker, April 8, 1861, WOTR, 1:289.

“Under no circumstances” Walker to Beauregard, April 8, 1861, WOTR, 1:289; Talbot to Cameron, April 12, 1861, 1:251. See also a series of brief communiqués between Confederate officials in WOTR, 1:289–91.

Alarmed, he wrote to the general Anderson to Beauregard, April 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:250; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 383.

Charleston and Montgomery: Suspicion

“My going on this occasion” Ruffin, Diary, 1:583–84.

“Mr. Ruffin insisted” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 29. See also William Gourdin Young, “Reminiscences,” DeSaussure Papers.

“I could see no more” Ruffin, Diary, 1:584.

“The Palmetto Guard” Ibid., 1:586.

“actual military operations” Ibid., 1:585.

“a standing menace” Davis, Messages and Papers, 73.

This “so-called notification” Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 474; Pickens and Beauregard, memorandum reporting Lincoln’s resupply notice, April 8, 1861, WOTR, 1:291.

“Mr. President,” he said Nevins, War for the Union, 68; see variation in Dodd, Jefferson Davis, 234.

“greater than any” Johnson, “Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy,” 476; Dodd, Jefferson Davis, 234; Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 215; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 421.

Charleston: Perfidy

“I did this because” Pickens to Walker, April 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:292.

“No,” Magrath said Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, 384, 385.

“He ought to have thought of that” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 45.

“You see that the present scheme” Pickens to Davis, April 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:292.

“I trust we are ready” Ibid.

Charleston: Rumor and Cannon Fire

“thinking nothing could induce” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 56.

“I immediately told Mr. C” Ibid., 57; Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 43.

“There was a sound of revelry” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 57.

“All was stir and confusion” Ibid.; Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 43.

“blanched face and streaming” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 57.

“to tell me that Pickens” Ibid.

“Of course no sleep” Ibid.

“The people of the city” Ruffin, Diary, 1:583.

PART VII: FIRE!

Fort Sumter: Preparations

“The Major counsels economy” Samuel Wylie Crawford, “Journal of Samuel Wylie Crawford,” April 10, 1861, Crawford Papers.

Doubleday found a potato Crawford, “Journal,” April 11, 1861.

Four Telegrams

“If you have no doubt” For all four telegrams, see WOTR, 1:297.

Charleston: Confusion

“are not in as complete” Beauregard to Walker, April 11, 1861, WOTR, 1:300–301.

“some 290 indifferent artillerymen” Ripley to S. W. Ferguson, March 6, 1861, WOTR, 1:264.

“This is one of those moments” Beauregard to R.G.M. Dunovant, April 10, 1861, WOTR, 1:300.

on a night this dark Hartstene to Beauregard, April 10, 1861, WOTR, 1:299.

“I am expected to be” Whiting to Beauregard, April 11, 1861, WOTR, 1:302.

“We are ready” Ibid.

“Things always appear” Beauregard to Whiting, April 11, 1861, WOTR, 1:303.

“Excitement increases hourly” Ruffin, Diary, 1:585.

“Of course I was highly gratified” Ibid., 1:588.

“For days” Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 65.

“hushed in sleep” Ibid.

Washington: The Correspondent

“parading up and down” Russell, My Diary, 66–67.

“a most excellent dinner” Ibid., 67.

“The Secretary read it” Ibid.; Russell, “Recollections,” no. 495, 245.

“a curious state of things” Russell, My Diary, 67.

“some daring enterprise” Ibid., 68.

“almost defenseless” Ibid.

“a storm of rain” Ibid., 70; Russell, “Recollections,” no. 495, 246.

“I was asked by many” Russell, My Diary, 70; Russell, “Recollections,” no. 495, 246.

Charleston Harbor: The Angel of Death

“I appreciate your surprise” Osbon, Sailor of Fortune, 117; Johnson, Lincoln’s First Crisis, 231.

“by someone groping” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 142.

“The silence became oppressive” Samuel Wragg Ferguson, “Fort Sumter: Notes,” 15.

“Men were seen” Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 66.

“At first, it ascended rapidly” Samuel Wragg Ferguson, “Fort Sumter: Notes,” 15–16.

“The thrill that ran through” Thompson, “Union Soldier at Fort Sumter,” 102.

“They no doubt expected” Ibid.

“and by the sound” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 144.

“children’s play” Wilson, Code of Honor, 27.

“It would have cheapened” Ruffin, Diary, 1:588–89.

“Prayers from the women” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 46.

“Get up, you foolish woman” Ibid., 47.

Fort Sumter: Sunrise

“Our party were calm” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 144; John G. Foster, Engineer Journal, April 9, 1861, WOTR, 1:21.

“In aiming the first gun” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 145–46.

“It would be useless” Thompson, “Union Soldier at Fort Sumter,” 102.

“Showers of balls” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 147.

“Doubleday,” he said Ibid., 148.

“at their utmost speed” Ruffin, Diary, 1:589.

“Cries of that’s a good one” Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 67.

“lest we should attract” Ruffin, Diary, 1:591.

The Sumter Expedition

“Nearing the bar” Fox to Simon Cameron, April 19, 1861, WOTR, 1:11.

“The heavy sea” Ibid.

Charleston Harbor: The Great Darkness

“We were certain” Thompson, “Union Soldier at Fort Sumter,” 102.

Using a field glass Ruffin, Diary, 1:590.

“After dark” Ibid., 1:592.

“Tide going down” Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 67.

“I hastily struck a light” Ruffin, Diary, 1:592.

“Clear the beach, we fire” Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 68.

“Friends!” the men shouted. Ibid.

“was the only lodger” Ruffin, Diary, 1:593.

“The enemy kept up” Thompson, “Union Soldier at Fort Sumter,” 103.

The Sumter Expedition

The Pawnee’s captain Swanberg, First Blood, 310, 324–25; G. V. Fox to Simon Cameron, April 19, 1861, WOTR, 1:11.

Charleston Harbor: The Worst Fear

“the enemy” John G. Foster, Engineer Journal, April 13, 1861, WOTR, 1:21–22.

“The sun has risen” Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 69.

“She seems to have” Ibid.

“Would our friends think” Ibid.

“It seemed impossible to escape” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 157.

“I thought it would be” Ibid., 158.

“The scene at this time” Ibid.

The sound and shock wave Ruffin, Diary, 1:594.

“Thus placed” Ibid.

“I looked on” Ruffin, Diary, 1:596. See also Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 69.

“its peculiar ammunition” Ruffin, Diary, 1:596.

“It was manifest” Ibid., 595.

“Then arose the loudest” Ibid., 597

The Sumter Expedition

The Pawnee’s Captain Rowan Swanberg, First Blood, 310.

Charleston: Tea and Angst

“Nobody hurt after all” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 48.

“But the sound” Ibid.

“Some of the anxious hearts” Ibid.

“No—” Louisa said Ibid., 47.

“Not by one word” Ibid., 48.

“Also came Colonel Manning” Ibid., 48–49.

“It is one of those things” Ibid.

Fort Sumter: Doubleday’s Revenge

Hart also retrieved Doubleday, Reminiscences, 159.

“The crashing of the shot” Ibid., 162.

Anderson ordered all but five John G. Foster, Engineer Journal, April 10, 1861, WOTR, 1:17. See pp. 16–25 for Foster’s excellent, spare account of the period April 9 to April 17, 1861.

“a shot every two or three minutes” Thompson, “Union Soldier at Fort Sumter,” 104.

Fort Sumter: Wigfall

“for the purpose of” Beauregard to Walker, April 27, 1861, WOTR, 1:32.

“was one not to be forgotten” Russell, My Diary, 87.

“his accustomed indifference to danger” “Report of Brig. Gen. James Simons of Operations Against Fort Sumter,” April 23, 1861, WOTR, 1:38.

“A brave garrison” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 31. See also William Gourdin Young, “Reminiscences,” DeSaussure Papers.

“under great excitement” Ruffin, Diary, 1:586.

“I caught it” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 31; Young, “Reminiscences.”

“a foolish risk” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 35; Young, “Reminiscences.”

“In a few moments” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 32.

“we had come to the habitation” Ibid.

“had gone around” Ibid., 33.

Anderson replied Ibid.

Fort Sumter: Peculiar Circumstances

“must have killed” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 33; William Gourdin Young, “Reminiscences,” DeSaussure Papers.

“Any terms that you may desire” John G. Foster, Engineer Journal, April 13, 1861, WOTR, 1:23.

“I hope if I ever bring” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 33; Young, “Reminiscences.”

“Boat returning” Parker, “Battle of Fort Sumter,” 70.

“to inquire if he needed” Stephen D. Lee et al. to D. R. Jones, April 15, 1861, WOTR, 1:64.

“peculiar circumstances” Ibid.

was “to get home” Young, “Reminiscences.”

“I was a sorry looking object” Ringold and Young, “William Gourdin Young,” 34.

Fort Sumter: Bloody Sunday

“No,” he said, “it is one hundred” Swanberg, First Blood, 328; Ruffin, Diary, 1:599.

“We now first heard” Ruffin, Diary, 1:599.

“an excellent soldier” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 328.

“A unique and most impressive sight” Samuel Wragg Ferguson, “Fort Sumter: Notes,” 21.

“What a changed scene” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 50.

“a lady’s thimble” McPherson, Battle Cry, 238, 275; Reid, “Crisis at Fort Sumter,” 9. To underscore his belief that the war would be short, James Chesnut pledged to drink all the blood spilled in battle. Fire-eater Robert Barnwell Rhett did him one better, vowing to eat the bodies of those killed, emphasizing his belief that no war would occur. Davis, Rhett, 394.

Charleston: Acclaim

“In the matter of drinks” Russell, My Diary, 73.

“An execrable, tooth-cracking drive” Ibid.

“The Yankees are whipped!” Ibid., 74.

“I hear today that I am late for the fair” Crawford, “William Howard Russell,” 194.

“flushed faces, wild eyes” Russell, My Diary, 80.

Washington and Charleston: Hot Oxygen

“the several States of the Union” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:331.

“I appeal to all” Ruffin, Diary, 2:549.

“Great rejoicing” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:333.

“I can be no party” Donald, Lincoln, 297; Seward, Seward at Washington, 547.

“will not furnish” Seward, Seward at Washington, 547.

“The Government being” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 349.

“secession cannon” Ruffin, Diary, 1:606.

“a glass of ale” Ibid., 1:607.

“Kentucky will furnish” Donald, Lincoln, 297.

“inhuman and diabolical” Ibid.

“a moral and political evil” McPherson, Battle Cry, 281.

“If I owned” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 350.

“You have made” McPherson, Battle Cry, 281.

“Wherever the blame may be” Ibid. See also Freeman, R. E. Lee, 475–76.

“Save in defense” Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 350.

“The women, palefaced” Russell, My Diary, 76.

“It really was most astonishing” Ibid.

“At every station” Russell, “Recollections,” no. 495, 248.

“The station, the hotels” Russell, My Diary, 80.

“The utter contempt” Ibid., 86.

“Cavalry horses were picketed” Ibid., 80; Russell, “Recollections,” no. 496, 362.

“Charleston was in high revelry” Russell, “Recollections,” no. 496, 362.

“In the middle” Russell, My Diary, 86.

“I found this” Ibid., 82.

“no injury of a kind” Ibid., 86.

“A very small affair” Crawford, “William Howard Russell,” 195.

“The streets of Charleston” Russell, My Diary, 82.

“the evening drove” Ibid., 89.

Aboard the Baltic: Ovation

“Having defended Fort Sumter” Anderson to Cameron, report, April 18, 1861, WOTR, 1:12.

“All the passing steamers” Doubleday, Reminiscences, 175.

“I now write this” Lincoln, Collected Works, 4:350; Lincoln to Anderson, May 1, 1861, Anderson Papers.

“Of all the trials” Nicolay, With Lincoln, 46–47.

“With such material” Beauregard to Walker, April 17, 1861, WOTR, 1:28.

“Must try and remember” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 62.

“The formal act” Ruffin, Diary, 1:607–8.

“Confederate flag would float” Seward, Seward at Washington, 549.

“God grant that this step” Ruffin, Diary, 2:37–38.

EPILOGUE

A Toast

“this hideous nightmare” Freidel and Pencak, The White House, 73.

“Some trust in chariots” Committee Appointed by the Passengers of the Oceanus, Trip of the Steamer Oceanus, 49–50.

“wrestling with intense emotion” Ibid., 51.

“enveloped in smoke” Samuel Wragg Ferguson, “Fort Sumter: Notes,” 16.

“Clotted blood” Ruffin, Diary, 2:93.

“This was a disappointment” Ibid., 2:94.

“swollen today by anonymous letters” Russell, My Diary, 299–300.

“The President was not so good-humored” Ibid., 311.

“with the head of our good ship” Ibid., 340.

“Snake in the grass” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 118; Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 133.

“I felt so proud” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 103.

“The empty saddle” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 107; Muhlenfeld, Mary Boykin Chesnut, 112; Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 101.

A couple of days later Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 114.

“starvation parties” Lee, Winnie Davis, 3.

Mary’s friend Varina Ibid.

“in a bitter mood” Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 528.

“You remember Emma Stockton” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, 134; Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 528.

“That night,” Mary wrote Chesnut, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 601, 609.

“There are nights” Chesnut, Private Mary Chesnut, xxiii.

“The War,” he wrote Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 286.

“Here we have in charge” Hammond to Allen, February 7, 1861, Hammond Papers; also quoted in Channing, Crisis of Fear, 293.

“But mind,” Hammond said Hammond, Secret and Sacred, 300.

“the whole movement” Ibid., 301.

“a frequent feeling” Jackson to Lorenzo Thomas, August 5, 1861, Anderson Papers.

“I am here my friends” Committee Appointed by the Passengers of the Oceanus, Trip of the Steamer Oceanus, 52.

“and with one long, pealing” Ibid.

“I beg you now” Detzer, Allegiance, 319.

“He looked very much fatigued” Corneau and Osborne, “Girl in the Sixties,” 445.

CODA

Blood Among the Tulip Trees

“You did fire” Ruffin, Diary, 2:420; Wyatt-Brown, Southern Honor, 53.

“Yet, I have been elevated” Ruffin, Diary, 2:548.

“Under these circumstances” Ruffin, Diary, 3:702.

“I here declare” Ibid., 3:946.

“Kept waiting by” Ibid., 3:950.

Ruffin positioned a new cap Allmendinger and Scarborough, “Days Ruffin Died,” 81.

“his brains and snowy hair” Ibid.