Antebellum BK 1 (64 page)

“
Do you think they saw us?” Jane asked nervously.

“
Yes,” Thomas said. “John grinned at me. They must have something to discuss before they can come out.”

“
Damn.” Jane stamped her foot and raised a cloud of dust.

“
Calm down; it looks like they’re breaking up into groups now,” Thomas said.

A moment later, Paul, Jeb Stuart, Johnny and Fitz Lee turned away from some other officers to stride toward the front gate.

“
Oh dear.” Jane sobbed. “I wasn’t going to cry.”

“
Why would you cry?” Thomas grumbled to hide his own emotion. “This is a happy occasion.”

Paul was the first to reach them and he hugged Jane, then shook Thomas’s hand. “Colonels Johnston and Lee send their compliments, Father. They’ve invited you to supper tonight at the Senior Officer’s mess.”

Thomas was obviously very pleased. “Oh well, I can’t leave your mother alone in a place like this.”

“
We’re not invited,” Johnny said, gripping Thomas’s hand. “We can watch over Mother while you hobnob with the brass.”

“
I have been invited, sir,” Stuart said, “but with your permission, I will yield my seat to Lieutenant John Bell Hood who tells me that he is a friend of yours and that he wishes to be present.”

Thomas nodded to Stuart. “Very kind.”

“
Have you met Beauty and Fitz, Father?” Paul asked.

“
I have in fact already had that pleasure,” Thomas replied, “but I don’t think your mother has been introduced.”

Stuart stepped forward without an invitation and took Jane’s hand. “Captain J.E.B. Stuart of Virginia, Ma’am. I’d be honored if you would call me Jeb.” He bent and brushed her knuckles with his lips.

Jane smiled and retrieved her hand. “And you must be the famous roommate from West Point, Fitzhugh Lee, that my youngest son is always speaking of in his letters.”

“
My pleasure, Madam.” Fitz took her hand and bent over it but didn’t kiss it as Stuart had done.

“
There’s a dining room, of sorts, in the new store,” Thomas said, pointing down the street. “Perhaps we could sit down and chat for a while.

~

Colonel Albert Sydney Johnston was seated at the head of the table with Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee at the foot. Majors William J. Hardee and George H. Thomas and Captain Earl Van Dorn were seated on Johnston’s right. Captain Edmond Kirby Smith, Lieutenant John Bell Hood and Thomas Van Buskirk were on the left.

“
My sister, who is very much in the midst of Washington politics, is convinced that South Carolina will secede if Abraham Lincoln is elected,” Thomas said. “And she’s equally sure that he will be.”

“
I must say that I am not in favor of secession.” Colonel Lee replied. “But if my home state of Virginia should decide to secede I would have no choice but to resign from the army.”

“
Will Texas secede if Lincoln is elected?” Van Dorn asked Thomas.

“
I think so,” Thomas replied. “Sam Houston has spoken out strongly against secession. Slavery is less of an issue here than in much of the South, but the matter of States’ Rights is a matter of great importance and I think it will tip the scales away from Sam.”

“
I’m not sure if Colonel Johnston would agree with you on the slavery issue, Tom,” Lieutenant Bell said. “He and his lovely wife Eliza have settled on a large plantation named China Grove in Brazoria County.”

“
If Texas secedes, I’ll resign,” Johnston said. “Simple as that.”

“
As will I,” Smith added.

Johnston nodded toward Major Thomas. “What will you do if Virginia secedes, Major?”

“
If that happens I’ll probably stay in the Army,” the Major replied. “But I pray that I will never have to make that decision.”

“
Of course it’s entirely possible that my sister’s wrong,” Thomas said. “Lincoln looked like he’d beat Douglas in the senate race, and then lost. He could lose the nomination as well.”

“
Either way we’ll have a Republican President,” Hardee replied. “Seward, Chase or Lincoln. The Democrats are too badly fractured to have even the slightest chance in November.”

“
Who’s your bet for Vice President?” Bell asked.

“
Cassius Clay from Kentucky,” Hardee said with confidence.

May 18, 1860

Chicago, Illinois

C
assius Marcellus Clay rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Two ballots and no winner. Is it time for us to take sides yet, Anna?”

“
I think we can call it now and commit the delegates that we control.” She was sitting at a desk in the back office of the convention center, with her shoes off and rubbing her sore feet.

“
Let’s talk it through first.”

“
Okay.” Anna picked up her clipboard.

“
Seward?” Clay asked.

She shook her head. “Not a snowball’s chance in hell. At the start, there was a major concern that he was too closely identified with the radical wing of the party, but as he’s tried to move toward the center, he’s alienated the radicals. He’s finished.”

“
Chase?”

“
The former Whigs hate him because he was a democrat. And right now he’s even getting opposition from his own Ohio delegation.”

“
Bates?”

“
He’s alienated his supporters in the border states and southern conservatives, and because of his association with the Know-Nothings, the German-American delegates are also very actively opposed to his nomination.”

“
Which leaves us with your man Lincoln.”

“
He can carry the West, he’s got a national reputation and he’s made fewer enemies.”

“
The major planks in the proposed platform are going to be very unpopular in the South.”

“
Which planks should we drop?” she asked.

“
I wasn’t suggesting that we drop any. Since we’re going to alienate the South anyway, I’d like to see our plank limiting the spread of slavery changed to eliminating slavery.”

“
That would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Besides, I promised Lincoln that we wouldn’t commit on the issue of emancipation.”

“
He didn’t want a commitment to the Homestead Act, funding a transcontinental railroad or protective tariffs either.”

“
Yes, well, he’ll have to live with those. And so will the South. But, as much as I’d love it, emancipation is too big to put into the platform, and I promised Lincoln I’d keep it out, if I could.”

“
Do you have any feel for my chances for the Vice Presidential nomination?”

She nodded. “You’ll lose. There’s too much last-minute support behind Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine. He’s got the momentum.”

He sighed. “I’m almost glad.”

“
You should be,” Anna said. “The next four years are liable to be the toughest that any president and vice president have ever faced.”

November 7, 1860

Fort Moultrie, South Carolina

M
ajor Robert Anderson waved a telegram at the officers who were assembled in the small orderly room. “Listen up, gentlemen. This is dated yesterday. Abraham Lincoln defeats John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell to be elected as the 16th President of the United States.”

There was no cheering, groaning or demonstration of any kind.

“
In Charleston, this is going to go over like a turd in a punchbowl,” Anderson continued. He looked up from the telegram. “Double the guard and issue live ammunition to all squad leaders and above.”

“
Sir?” Captain Quincy Van Buskirk raised his hand.

“
Yes?”

“
Are we staying here?”

“
Do you have someplace else in mind, Captain?”

“
Yes, sir. Fort Sumter.”

“
Fort Sumter is unfinished, Captain. After countless budget cuts and delays, it may never be finished.”

“
Yes, sir, I know, sir,” Quincy continued. “But this fort – this island – is indefensible from a ground attack of any scale, even if we clear the dunes away from the ramparts. I just can’t stack enough men on the walls to hold off an attack of even regimental proportions. Fort Sumter would at least provide us with enough infantry firing positions to use all the troops we have.”

Anderson nodded. “You may be right, Captain. But I’m just a lowly major. They don’t let me pick my posts.”

“
They probably haven’t thought of it, sir. Most of the generals that currently make those kinds of decisions don’t know Fort Moultrie from Fort Sumter. They’re just dots on a map.”

“
I’ll write to Washington with your suggestion.” He looked around at his men. “Anything else? Dismissed. Except you, Van Buskirk.”

Quincy stood at attention with his hat under his arm.

“
Some of us are not politically as well connected as others,” Anderson said when they were alone.

“
Please accept my apologies, sir,” Quincy said. “I could tell by your reaction that my comment was unwelcome, but I was unable to think of a way to back out once the subject was broached.”

“
Yes,” Anderson said. “Your comment did embarrass me for a moment, but your point was well taken and I’ve been thinking about this fort’s lack of defenses since the day I took command here.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “My main concern is that a request for permission to relocate the command might be turned down offhand. If that happens there will be no appeal and we’ll be stuck here regardless of future circumstances.”

“
Washington must be aware of the secessionist mood in Charleston, sir.”

“
I don’t doubt that, but I do seriously doubt the integrity of politicians. With Mr. Lincoln as our new President-elect, the abolitionists who advocate forcing emancipation upon the South are going to be emboldened. What better excuse would they have for a war to force emancipation than the total destruction of a U.S. Army post?”

Quincy started to argue, but then he thought again about the Major’s comment and nodded. “Similar plotting could come from the South, sir. Talk in the streets is that a Southern force could defeat the US Army in a month’s time.”

“
If you’ve heard such talk you should have arrested the speaker,” Anderson said angrily.

“
If I did that, I’d have been torn apart by the mob or court-martialed.”