For What is the Confederacy to be Blamed?

"History, by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views." ---Thomas Jefferson

From the time of the middle of the 19th Century, the deep Southern States’ governments and the Southern people have been depicted as being totally preoccupied with the survival of slavery, while Northern people were to become the defenders of universal freedom.

Those reading many of the dominant post-era authors of the history of this period are often led to the absolute conclusion that the controversies which arose between the states, and the war in which they culminated, were caused largely by efforts on the one side to extend and perpetuate human slavery, and on the other side to resist it and establish human liberty.

Generations of Southern people and many historians would vigorously disagree with these views. Based on records of the time, that construct is substantially devoid of important historical facts, and fails to include the issues, which produced the secession, and those that caused President Lincoln to send Federal troops to the harbors in Charleston and Pensacola to initiate war.

This is a great disservice to generations of Americans who have not been urged to study the records of the period produced by authors writing at the actual time of the events. However, having been consistently presented in modern schoolbook, film, and television media accounts of the American Civil War, these notions have now spread to become the commonly accepted thesis of that era in US history.

The prevailing views of the practice of slavery in the US have been fashioned by authors and historians primarily from the accounts of first and second-hand observers of the slave South. Since such observers lacked the hard data needed to determine the scope and nature of this relationship, they could only convey their impressions. Unfortunately, these impressions are far from uniform, and incorrectly stereotype the people of the time.

With the acceptance of the media driven concept of slavery, it has then become logical to argue that it was necessary for the US government to wage a four-year war to abolish slavery in the United and Confederate States, one that ravaged half of the country and destroyed a generation of American men.

At the beginning of the history of the country, the founding fathers were opponents to empire, a policy that Lincoln and the incoming Republican Party’s platform turned on its head less than 150 years later. In 1860 Southern economic interests understood the effects of these policies and decided to leave the union.

The war was clearly tied to slavery, but in the sense that Republican tariffs would have squeezed the profitability out of the slave-based cotton plantation economy to the benefit of Northern industry, especially Union textiles and iron manufacturing.

Lincoln claimed the war was to "save" the Union, but this was only true in a geographic sense. The country ceased being a Union, as it was originally conceived, of separate and sovereign states, and sovereign people bound together by common interests and a Constitutional republican form of government.

Instead, America became an "amalgam" of states dominated by a powerful and centralized federal government. Although the war freed four million slaves into poverty, it did not bring about a new birth of freedom, as Lincoln later claimed in the Gettysburg Address.

As the thirteen colonies, did when they seceded from Britain, the South sought separation to attain peace and security, not warfare among the people. The Confederacy had no intent to occupy or attack the Union states.

Violence was brought to the soil of the South by the only human being of the time that had the power to do so, Abraham Lincoln.

If I had been Major Anderson and was under orders from the Secretary of War to hold on to federal property and defend “to the last extremity,” I would have gotten my men to the most secure location possible and that was Fort Sumter.

Well he did that, but he did it in such a way that it created surprise and anger. People felt they had been mislead and lied to, probably because they had been lied to and mislead. A fair assessment of what Anderson did in Abandoning Ft. Moultrie would rightly conclude that it does represent the first serious act of belligerence in the coming conflict.

One has to wonder what Buchanan was thinking when he gave that order. Surely he didn't realize that it would lead to a horrible war, and was perhaps just hoping to negotiate the relinquishment under terms favorable to the Union.

Firing on the Star of the West was the first act of belligerence. Moving your men and non-military construction workers to the safest location possible was not an act of war.
Reports of Maj. Robert Anderson, U. S. Army, of the evacuation of Fort Moultrie.

No. 11. FORT SUMTER, S. C., December 26, 1860—8 p. m. (Received A. G. 0., December 29.)

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that I have just completed, by the blessing of God, the removal to this fort of all of my garrison, except the surgeon, four non-commissioned officers, and seven men. We have one year’s supply of hospital stores and about four months’ supply of provisions for my command. I left orders to have all the guns at Fort Moultrie spiked, and the carriages of the 32-pounders, which are old, destroyed. I have sent orders to Captain Foster, who remains at Fort Moultrie, to destroy all the ammunition which he cannot send over. The step which I have taken was, in my opinion, necessary to prevent the effusion of blood.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,
ROBERT ANDERSON, Major, First Artillery, Commanding.
CoL S. COOPER, Adjutant-General.

The prevalent thinking in the lame duck Buchanan administration and in the first month of the Lincoln administration was that the seceding states just needed some time to cool off and come to their senses and then they wouod rejoin the union. Both Buchanan and Lincoln saw themselves as stalling for time.

What I have always found incomprehensible is that after Anderson informed the three confederate envoys from General Beauregard that he had only 1 week’s worth of food left why Beauregard commenced the bombardment that he knew would bring total war.

To Robert S. Chew

[War Department.] Washington, April 6. 1861
Sir-—you will proceed directly to Charleston, South Carolina; and if, on your arrival there, the flag of the United States shall be flying over Fort-Sumpter, and the Fort shall not have been attacked, you will procure an interview with Gov. Pickens, and read to him as follows:

``I am directed by the President of the United States to notify you to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort-Sumpter with provisions only; and that, if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or amunition, will be made, without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the Fort’’

After you shall have read this to Governor Pickens, deliver to him the copy of it herein inclosed, and retain this letter yourself.

But if, on your arrival at Charleston, you shall ascertain that Fort Sumpter shall have been already evacuated, or surrendered, by the United States force; or, shall have been attacked by an opposing force, you will seek no interview with Gov. Pickens, but return here forthwith. [Respectfully SIMON CAMERON, Secy of War]
[Endorsement]

Notice carried by R. S. Chew to Gov. Pickens, and his report as to how he gave the notice
``To the President
Charleston S. C. April 8th 1861

``Under the foregoing orders I left Washington at 6 P. M. Saturday April 6th, 1861, in company with Capt. Theodore Talbot, U. S. Army, and arrived at Charleston, S. C. on Monday at the same hour. Finding that Fort Sumter had neither been surrendered, evacuated nor attacked, I immediately thro’ Capt. Talbot, requested an interview with Governor Pickens, which was at once accorded to me, and I then read to him the portion of said orders in italics [quotation marks], and delivered to him the copy of the same which was furnished to me for that purpose, in the presence of Capt Talbot. Govr. Pickens received the Copy and said he would submit it to General Beauregard, he having, since the ratification of the Constitution of the Confederate States by South Carolina, been placed in charge of the Military operations in this vicinity. Genl. Beauregard was accordingly sent for, and the Governor read the paper to him.

``In reply to a remark made by Governor Pickens in reference to an answer I informed him that I was not authorised to receive any communication from him in reply. Respectfully submitted R. S. CHEW’’

Firing on the Star of the West was the first act of belligerence. Moving your men and non-military construction workers to the safest location possible was not an act of war.

Burning the cannon carriages was the first act of belligerence. It predates the firing on the "Star of the West" by about 20 days.

It has been explained to you. You did not comprehend it because you didn't want to comprehend it.

To sum it up quickly, Lincoln sent a war fleet with orders to attack them. THAT is why Beauregard commenced the bombardment. Why did Lincoln send the fleet when his advisors told him it would bring total war?

Because Lincoln needed a war to stop the South from getting out of the control of him and his backers; the Wealthy industrialists of the North East.

There is nothing the least bit aggressive about a U.S. military officer ordering the destruction of U.S. Government property.

Lincoln did NOT send a “war fleet,” he sent a resupply brigade of food and supplies only. There was an unarmed passenger ship, the Baltic, a revenue cutter, the Harriet Lane, three tug boats which were actually going to make the resupply mission to Fort Sumter and two armed Navy ships that would be the equivalent of modern day destroyers, the Pocahontas and the Pawnee. The one big gun equivalent of a modern battleship that was supposed to accompany the brigade and scare the confederates out of attacking was the Powhattan but in a mix up of orders, the Powhattan went to Pensacola, Florida instead. None of the relief brigade ships ever entered Charleston harbor because as the cutter Harriet Lane approached the entrance to the harbor, the bombardment of Fort Sumter was already underway. The rest of the ships remained ten miles offshore and then they all turned around and returned to New York. Not one shot was ever fired from any U.S. Navy ship.

Lincoln did NOT send a “war fleet,” he sent a resupply brigade of food and supplies only.

With 285 guns and 2,440 men to fire them while they were unloading supplies of powder, shot and rifles, oh, and some food.

Here is one of those "tugs".

The one big gun equivalent of a modern battleship that was supposed to accompany the brigade and scare the confederates out of attacking was the Powhattan but in a mix up of orders, the Powhattan went to Pensacola, Florida instead.

A "mix up". Describe how this "mix up" occurred.

You do know that the other ships were told to rendezvous with the Powhattan before attacking?

"You will leave New York with the Powhatan in time to be off Charleston bar, ten miles distant from and due east of the lighthouse. . . there to await the arrival of the transports (with Fox on board). . . The Pawnee, Pocahontas, and Harriet Lane will be ordered to join you. . . "

So tell me more about this "Mix up." How did this "Mix up" happen?

“Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, who was a West Point graduate, was especially adamant that Sumter must be held, and he subsequently introduced Lincoln to his brother-in-law, Gustavus V. Fox, who had an idea about how to do it. Fox had served as a naval officer for 15 years, left the Navy in 1853 to command mail steamers, and was now a private citizen. He suggested that New York City tugboats, loaded with both supplies and reinforcements and escorted by warships, could run into Charleston Harbor at night and deposit their cargo on Fort Sumter’s tiny wharf. It would be virtually impossible, Fox insisted, for secessionist batteries some three-quarters of a mile away, to hit such small, fast-moving targets. Fox, a civilian, was put in charge of the mission.”

The mix up in orders for the frigate Powhatan happened because Fort Sumter was not the only Federal-held fort in Southern territory that was threatened. The strategically vital forts along Florida’s Gulf Coast–Fort Taylor at Key West, Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas and Fort Pickens at Pensacola–also required Federal attention. To support those forts, a relief expedition similar to the Sumter mission was being fitted out. Secretary of State William H. Seward, without the knowledge of Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, had obtained President Lincoln’s authorization to divert the Powhatan to the Gulf of Mexco expedition. Just as she was preparing to sail from New York on April 6, the Powhatan was ordered to leave the Fort Sumter relief expedition and was sent to sea as part of the expedition to the Gulf of Mexico.
First orders for the Powhatan, go to Pensacola to support Fort Pickens. Orders signed by President Lincoln. Second orders for the Powhatan, go to Charleston to support Fort Sumter, signed by Secretary of State Seward. The captain of the Powhatan made a decision to go with the first orders because they were signed by the Commander-in-Chief. He went to Florida.

“The Powhatan‘s transfer had a devastating impact on the Charleston mission. The warship carried the armed launches and crews necessary to land troops and supplies from the passnger ship “Baltic.” To make matters worse, the commander of the Fort Sumter relief operation (Gustavus Fox) did not learn of Powhatan‘s diversion until April 13, a week after it had taken place.”

“Despite the absence of Powhatan and her boats, Fox was determined to salvage what he could of his operation. He still had one serviceable boat and crew, and despite the heavy seas and a continuing gale, Fox was finally ready to attempt a landing at the fort.

Circumstances, however, eventually forced Fox to abandon even that faint hope. On the foggy morning of Saturday, April 13, Fox transferred to Pawnee and witnessed firsthand the scene at the embattled Fort Sumter. Union resistance inside the fort was clearly waning. Confederate fire had devastated the beleaguered fortress. Fox wrote: “As we drew near I saw, with horror, black volumes of smoke issuing from Sumpter [sic]. The barbarians, to their everlasting disgrace be it said, redoubled their fire, and through the flames and smoke the noble band of true men continued their response.

The Pocahontas finally arrived off Charleston at 2 p.m. that afternoon, and with the arrival of that warship, all was ready for Fox’s plan to proceed. “I had everything ready,” Fox later reported, “boats, muffled oars, small packages of provisions, in fact everything but the 300 sailors promised to me by the Navy.”

The Pocahontas, however, had arrived too late. At the same time the warship was arriving, the defenders inside the fort decided that they could hold out no longer. The fort had already withstood 34 hours of bombardment, and Major Anderson felt that it was in no condition to withstand any more. The quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door closed from the effects of heat, he reported. When a Confederate cannonball shot away the Federal flag flying high above Fort Sumter, it was not replaced. The time had come for Anderson to surrender his command.”—history.net

None of what follows is my original work, linked references are at the end.

Friday, April 5, 1861

Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles sent the orders to put Gustavus Fox’s plan to resupply Sumter into action. Lincoln had read, approved and signed the orders giving Captain Samuel Mercer, commander of the USS Powhatan instructions to ready his ship and assume command over the Pocahontas, Pawnee and Harriet Lane for a mission to resupply Sumter. The War Department would supply the ships with provisions, the Navy would protect those ships. If they were opposed by the defenses of Charleston, they were to clear a way for the resupplying.

Mercer was ordered to be just off Charleston Harbor on the 11th of April. There and then, he would be met by the other ships.

As for the USS Powhatan, it was now a ship that both Lt. David Porter and Captain Samuel Mercer believed they commanded. Around 8 o’clock in the evening, Captain Mercer received the telegram from Welles. He had known of the order from President Lincoln which stated that he had been replaced by Lt. Porter and that Porter was in the process of readying the Powhatan for the mission to Fort Pickens in Florida. The order from Welles, thought Mercer, must be bogus.

Mercer went to see Porter who was every bit as confused by the news. Together, they telegraphed Commander Foote, in charge of the Brooklyn Naval Yard. He would certainly know which order was valid.

However, Foote could shed no real light on this: “I am executing orders received from the Government through the Navy officer as well as from the Army officer. Will write fully if possible to-day, certainly to-morrow. I hope the Powhatan will sail this evening.”

He wired Welles that the Powhatan was ready to ship off, but also that Welles had forgotten about a Lt. Smith. Welles wired back, ordering the Powhatan to remain until further instructions could be provided and to wait for Smith, but only until the 7th.

But as he would find out the next day, a lowly lieutenant was as inconsequential to the plan as the Secretary of the Navy.
[End of part 1]

A messenger from Captain Israel Vogdes, commander of the troops that were to reinforce Fort Pickens, arrived in Washington to see the President. This story will take some telling, so hold on. Back on March 12th, General Scott had ordered Fort Pickens to be reinforced. The USS Brooklyn was selected for the task. The message took two weeks to get to Vogdes and on April 1st, he brought the orders to Captain Henry Adams, commander of the fleet.

Adams refused to follow the orders because he had old orders from former Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey that forbade any such attempt. Vogdes wasn’t thrilled about this and sent the messenger from Washington back to the capital to sort this whole thing out.

This messenger first found Gideon Welles, Navy Secretary. He listened, was surprised that Vogdes questioned the order and took it to Lincoln who was also surprised. By 5pm, a trusted officer was sent by overland rail to redeliver the message: reinforce Fort Pickens.

It was time to tell South Carolina’s Governor, Frances Pickens, about the attempt to resupply Fort Sumter. For this, Lincoln chose Robert Chew, a clerk in the State Department. If he found everything in Charleston as it had been (no attack had been launched and the fort still occupied by Federal troops), he was to deliver this message to the governor:

I am directed by the President of the United States to notify you to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort-Sumpter [sic] with provisions only; and that, if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or amunition, will be made, without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the Fort.

Welles, satisfied that such an incredibly huge mission was working itself out, retired to his room at the Willard Hotel. Around 11pm, Secretary of State Seward knocked on his door carrying a telegram from Captain Meigs in New York complaining that the Powhatan had been given conflicting orders.

How was this possible? Who would give orders here but him? Perhaps it was then that the Navy Secretary put it together – the secret mission that Lincoln wouldn’t tell him about, Seward’s obvious role in it and now Seward at his door at 11pm.

Seward did indeed have the answer when Welles asked. He supposed it had something to do with the Powhatan and Lt. David Porter who commanded it.

That couldn’t be, thought Welles, Porter had nothing at all to do with the command of any ship. Besides, the Powhatan was the flagship of the fleet to reinforce Fort Sumter. Right?

Not exactly. Seward had ordered the Powhatan to reinforce Fort Pickens. Welles was floored. They both agreed to see the President.

It was after midnight when they reached the White House and Lincoln was still awake. He was surprised to see them and even more surprised at the reason why. When both sides explained themselves, Lincoln finally put it together. The Powhatan had been ordered to two different places by two different orders under two different commanders.

Lincoln ordered the Powhatan to be immediately turned back over to Captain Mercer, put in command by Welles. It must be ordered to Sumter.

Seward wired Lt. David Porter, currently in charge of the vessel, ordering him to turn over the ship to Mercer.

But it was too late. The USS Powhatan, Porter commanding, had set off to reinforce Fort Pickens.
[End of Part 2]
http://civilwardailygazette.com/the-uss-powhatan-ordered-to-be-two-places-at-once/

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