President Buchanan left a Cabinet meeting to talk with five members of the South Carolina congressional delegation. The South Carolinians carried away what they thought was the President's promise that the status quo would be maintained and that the federal forts around Charleston would not be reinforced. In turn, they would not be seized or attacked by state authorities. This continued perception of a "pledge" caused a significant escalation of tensions when Major Anderson consolidated his forces on December 26, 1860 on Fort Sumter. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861 (New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1887), 38-39
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Lawmaking/Litigating
