Antebellum BK 1 (66 page)

Fort Sumter, South Carolina

A
s the soldiers and officers of the First Artillery Regiment began to debark from the boats, a man appeared in the darkness with his hands held high over his head. “Don’t shoot. We’re civilians.”

“
Hold your fire.” Captain Quincy Van Buskirk pushed his way toward the man through his disorganized troops. “Where’s the Army detail?”

“
There ain’t but one soldier,” the man said, trying to point without lowering his hands. “He’s in the lighthouse.”

“
Put your hands down, man,” Quincy said in an annoyed tone. “No one will harm you.”

“
Can we go then?”

“
What are you doing here?”

“
Construction workers.”

Quincy looked beyond him and saw a number of men gathering in the darkness. “Do you have your own boats?”

“
No, Governor.”

“
Then you stay. We cannot spare the boats.”

“
But we ain’t soldiers, Governor,” the man protested. Several others behind him joined in voicing their disapproval.

Major Anderson had joined them as this was said. “You men go back to your quarters now. We’ll discuss what to do about you later.”

“
I have me own boat,” one man shouted. “I can take three with me.”

“
Then go,” Anderson said dismissively.

Quincy cleared his throat noisily.

“
What?” Anderson asked.

“
Might I suggest that we send a detail to retrieve weapons and ammunition from the arsenal first, sir?” Quincy asked. “Before these construction workers spread the word that we’re here.”

“
Ah. Yes. You lead the party. Go immediately. And get all the rations and supplies you can carry.”

“
That man said that there’s a soldier manning the light, sir.” Quincy pointed.

“
Yes. The soldier would be with the Corps of Engineers. I’ll talk to him. You see if you can find the Corps of Engineers officers ashore.”

“
Do you know their names, sir?”

“
Captain Foster and Lieutenant Snyder.”

“
Should I bring them here?”

“
Yes. If they’re foolish enough to want to come.”

~

Major Anderson looked up from his makeshift desk of crates as Quincy Van Buskirk hurried in. “Any trouble?”

“
Some,” Quincy said. “Governor Pickens claims that he has a guarantee from President Buchanan that Fort Sumter would not be manned.”

“
Pickens himself confronted you?”

“
Yes, sir. He tried to present me with the President’s letter as a direct order, but I refused to take it. It was touch and go for a few minutes, but we escaped without a shot being fired.”

“
I wonder if there’s any truth to his claim.”

“
Pickens read the letter to me twice. It said that Fort Sumter wouldn’t be
immediately
manned. There was no promise that it would never be occupied.”

“
Politicians,” Anderson muttered. “You have to love them.”

“
I’ve brought with me Captain John G. Foster and First Lieutenant George W. Snyder of the Corps of Engineers, sixty-eight noncommissioned officers and privates, plus eight musicians, sir.” Quincy said.

“
How many additional boats did you bring back?”

“
Three longboats, sir. The civilian authorities wouldn’t permit us to take any from the arsenal.”

“
Supplies and rations?”

“
Not as many as I would have liked, sir. As I said, it was touch and go there.”

“
In addition to Army personnel, we have forty-three workmen here. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. Perhaps we should spare the boats to send them ashore.”

“
Will we need them? The workmen, I mean. What’s the condition of the fort?”

“
I’d say it’s ninety percent complete. Most of the remaining work is on the upper level, the parapet or barbette positions. We don’t have enough guns to man them anyway.”

“
How many guns do we have, sir?”

“
Sixty, in all, but unless we use your infantry, we haven’t enough men to crew them.”

“
We might train some of the infantry so that they can be used as artillerymen if there’s no ground attack.”

“
See to it.”

January 9, 1861

Fort Sumter, South Carolina

A
barrage of cannon fire erupted from Morris Island and moments later cannon from Fort Moultrie joined.

As the Fort Sumter crews ran to roll out their guns, Major Anderson climbed to the parapet where Quincy Van Buskirk was already peering through the brass swivel-mounted spyglass. “What the hell are they firing on?”

“
A civilian merchant vessel. She’s a hull-side paddlewheeler and it appears that she was escorted to the mouth of the harbor by a warship.” He relinquished the telescope to Anderson. “She must be carrying supplies and reinforcements for us.”

“
I’ve had no communications that would support that conclusion,” Anderson said, taking up position behind the telescope. “I’m not going to engage in her defense without orders.”

“
I doubt that we could make enough difference anyway,” Quincy agreed. “The gun crews on Morris Island are very efficient.”

“
Cadets from the Citadel under P.G.T. Beauregard,” Anderson said. “Beauregard was my assistant when I was the artillery instructor at West Point.”

“
Bugger,” Quincy muttered. “Another fine officer gone south.”

“
Indeed.”

“
Are they turning back, sir?” Quincy asked, pointing. “The merchant?”

“
Yes. It looks like they’ve sustained minor damage.” Anderson turned away from the telescope and looked at Quincy. “Well, it’s official.”

“
What is, sir?”

“
Civil war. And the South has fired the first shot.”

February 13, 1861

Fort Brown, Texas

L
ieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee was seated at a desk. Across from him Captain Jeb Stuart and Lieutenants Paul Van Buskirk, Johnny Van Buskirk and Fitzhugh Lee were standing at attention. “As you have undoubtedly heard,” Colonel Lee was saying, “Texas has seceded from the Union. Consequently, the Commander of the United States Army, Department of Texas, surrendered all troops in his command to Texas, and then resigned from the United States Army. He is now a general in the Secessionist Militia. Questions?”

“
Yes, sir,” Stuart said. “Does that mean we’re prisoners of war?”

“
I don’t honestly know,” Lee replied. “But if we are, our duty is to escape.”

“
Or resign and join the secessionists,” Fitz Lee suggested.

“
You may if you wish,” Colonel Lee replied. “For myself, I shall be returning to Virginia. Virginia has not seceded.”

“
We’ll go with you, sir.” Johnny gave Fitz a look of disapproval.

“
Of course, sir,” Fitz Lee said to his uncle. “Whatever you think is best, sir.”

Lee looked at the two Van Buskirk boys. “Your father will be raising a regiment. Perhaps you should join him.”

“
He’ll be bringing it east, sir,” Paul said. “We can meet him there when we know more.”

“
Very well,” Lee said. “Let us poll the troops and see who will go with us and who will stay.”

March 11, 1861

Washington, D.C.

F
rancis P. Blair, Sr., was the founder of the Washington Globe and its editor until 1845. In 1856, he had founded the Republican Party and had taken the bold step of bringing a woman, Anna Van Buskirk Lagrange, into the Party’s organization. “I must speak to the President,” he said, barging into Anna’s small White House office.

She looked up in confusion. “I don’t manage his appointments, Mr. Blair.”

“
I know that,” Blair said angrily. “But John Nicolay and John Hay have both told me that Lincoln’s too busy to see me now.”

Anna stood up and came around her desk. Blair, who was the father of General Francis P. Blair, Jr., and of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, was known, not always affectionately, as
Father Blair
in the Lincoln White House, but he couldn’t be ignored. “Can you tell me what you need to see him about? Perhaps I can intervene,” Anna asked in a placating tone.

“
Fort Sumter,” Blair replied.

“
Please have a seat and let me see what I can do.” Anna left the room and found John Nicolay and John Hay, Lincoln’s aides, in Nicolay’s office. “Father Blair is in my office having a temper tantrum,” she said. “He insists upon seeing the President about Fort Sumter.”

Nicolay shrugged. “The President’s in the Cabinet Room reading the written statements of the Cabinet members on that very subject. He wanted to finish so that he knew the members’ consensus opinion before speaking to Mr. Blair.”

“
Well, can I tell Mr. Blair that he can see the President when he’s finished reading those statements?” Anna asked.

“
That’s exactly what I already told him,” Hay said. “But he wanted to get in there before the President read Seward’s statement. Apparently he knows what Seward has said and he strongly disagrees with it.”

“
Did you tell that to the President?” Anna asked.

“
Yes,” Hay said.

“
You told him everything?” she asked. “Even about Mr. Blair wanting to speak to him
before
he had read Seward’s statement?”

Hay nodded. “Of course I did.”

“
Then surely he’s read it by now,” she replied. “That would have been the first thing he did after you left the room.”