[#3Fan #259] Again, they were US troops and they are to be supplied by the federal government.
Were the US troops really in the habit, for years, of getting their food from Mr. McSweeney, a Charleston butcher, under a still-unexpired Federal contract? Or did the Feds ship them C-rats direct from a warehouse in New York?
As commandant of a military post, I can only have my troops furnished with fresh beef in the manner prescribed by law, and I am compelled, therefore, with due thanks to his excellency, respectfully to decline his offer. If his suggestion is based upon a right, then I must procure the meat as we have been in the habit of doing for years, under an unexpired contract with Mr. McSweeney, a Charleston butcher, who would, I presume, if permitted, deliver the meat, &c., at this fort or at Fort Johnson, at the usual periods for such delivery, four times in ten days.-- Major Robert Anderson, Commanding Fort Sumter,
to D.F. Jamison
Charleston, S.C., January 19, 1861