Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1862-11-15

to defend herself in case Of attack, was
reluctantly yielded by me to the high mil
itary judgment of General Scott.
The change of programme required a
brief space of time; but the Star Of the
! West, left New York for Charleston on
the evening of the 4th of January, On
the very day, however; when this ill.fated
steamer left New York, telegram was
dispatched by Gen. Scott to Col Scott to
countermand her departure; but it did
not reach its destination until after she had
gone to sea. The reason for this counter.
mand shall be stated iu the language of
Secretary Holt, to be found in a letter ad.
dressed by him to Mr.. Thompson, the late
Secretary of the Interior, on the 9th of
March, 1861, and published in the Nation
al MtcNigencer. Mr., Holt says:
"Ihe eountermand spoken of (by Mr..
Thompson) was not more cordially sane
toned by the President than it was by
Gen. Scott and myself; not because of
any dissent from the order on the part of
the President, but because of letter 70.
cciyed that day from Major Anderson,
stating, in effect, that he regarded himself
secure in his position; and yet more from
intelligence which late on saturday eve.
ing 18th January, 1861 } reached the De.
partment, that heavy battery had been
erected among the said hills at the en-
trance to Charleston harbor, which would
probably destroy an unarmed vessel (and
such was the Star Of the West) which
might attempt to make its way to Fort
Sumter. This important informationsat-
isfed the Government that there was no
present necessity for sending reinforce
ments, and that when sent they should 90,
not in q vessel Of commerce but of war.
Hence the countermand was dispatched by
telegraph to New York, but The vessel had
sailed a short time before it reached the
officer Co.. Scott to whom il was address.
ed"
i statement of these facts established
by dates, proves conclusively that the
President WAS not only willing but anxious
in the briefest period to reinforce Fort
| Sumter.
On the 4th of January, the day before
the departure Of the Star of the West from
New \ ork, as General Scott in his state
ment admits, ,succor was sent to Fort Taylor,
Key West, and to Fort Jefforsou Tortugas
Island, which reached tbess points in time
for their security. He nevertheless specu-
| lates on the consequences whicn might have
| followed had the reinforcement not reached
their destination in due time and even
expresses the extraordinary opinion that
with the possession of these forts, "the
rebels might have purchased an early re
cognition.
shall next advert to the statement that
the expedition under Capt. Ward, "of three
or four small steamers belonging to the
Coast Survey, was kept back by something
like a trucs or armilice, [made here EN-
bracing Charlestown and Pensacola har-
bors, agreed upon between the late
| President and certain principal seccderS
of Sou4h Carolina, Folda, Louisiana, &c.
And this truce lasted to the end Of the
administration" Things altogether dis
tinct in their nature are often so blended
in this statement that it is difficult to sep
arate them Such is emincntly the case in
connecting the fact relative to Lharle,town
with Pensacola.
Having already treated of the charge
of having kept back reinlorcements from
Pensacola, shall now say something of
the charge of having also kept them back
from Charleston. Neither truce, nor
quasi truce, nor anything like it, was
ever concluded between the President
and any human authority concerning
Charleston. On the coutraay, the South
Carolina Commissioners, first and last,
and all the time, were informed that the
President could never surrendes Fort
Sumter, nor deprive himself of the most
entire liberty to send reinlorcements to
il whenever it was believed to be in
danger, or requested by Major Anderson.
1t is strange that Gen. Scott was not
apprised OF this well known fact. 1t was
then, with some astonlshment, that !
learned from the statement of the Cen
erai that he had, on the 18th March,
1861, advised that Major Anderson
should be instructed to evtcuate the fort
as soon as suitable transportation could
be procured TO carry himself and his
command to New York. A military
necessity for a captulation may have eX'
listed in case there should pc an attack up
on the fort, or a demand for its surrender
but surely none such could have existed
for its voluntary surrender and apandon'
mCnt.
Probably that to which the General
means to refer was not the quasi, but the
actual truce ofarms concluded at Charles
ton on the llth of January, 1881, be-
tween Governor Pickens and Major
Anderson, without the acknowledgement
ofthe President.-It was on the 9th o
January that the Star of the West, unde
the American flag, was fred upon in tht
harbor of Charleston, by order OF Gov
ernor Pickens. Immediately after thi
: outrage, Major Anderson sent flag tC
the Governor, stating that he presumeC
, tho act had been authorized, and fo
, that reason he had not opened fire from
E,r, Cn,,,o, -, tho oIiarapt boftpripS