“Anderson once quipped dryly that “the increase of her darkies” had made him rich”
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/a-quiet-mans-arrival/#more-70481
"Anderson had fought the Seminoles, led troops in the war with Mexico, and been brevetted for gallantry at Molino del Rey – but, as a devout Christian, he loved peace. Indeed, he loathed violence with the certitude of a man who had seen far too much of it already. The Buchanan administration believed it had found a soldier incapable of any rash act, one who would put no American lives at risk either to disrupt the Union or to defend it.
In other words Anderson was hand picked and placed where he was precisely because of his judgment and temperament. Buchanan needed someone as a calming influence to command the federal installations. Someone who would do every reasonable thing he could to contain the situation and not exacerbate it.
"But the officers and men who welcomed Major Anderson to Charleston inspected their quiet new commander with searching eyes. They knew that in a certain sense, he – and they – would hold more power in the months ahead than President Buchanan himself. “The truth is we are the government at present,” one of them would soon write. “It rests upon the points of our swords. Shall we use our position to deluge the country in blood?”
History shows their restraint. There are several other ways the situation could have been handled that would have resulted in better outcomes all around. Mutual outcomes. But the southern 'leaders' chose confrontation and conflict. And war.
Thank you for noting that. I knew he was tied in with slavery somehow, but didn't know the particulars. Sorry for taking so long to reply. I've been out of town seeing family but without a computer.