The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1862-11-14
BEDFORD, Pa, FRIDAY MORNING. NOVEMBER IA, 1862.


ter may be ordered for the same purpose to-
morrow 8
The General seems not to have then known
that Mr.. Floyd was out Of Office.
Never did request meet a more prompt COM
pliance 1t was received on Sunday evening,
December 30th On Monday morning gave
instructions to the War and Navy Department,
and on Mon lay evening General Scott came to
congratulate me that the Secretaries had issued
the necessary orders to the army and navy offi-
GERS, and that they were in his possession. The
Brooklyn, with troops, military stores and pro-
visions, was to sail forthwith from Fortress
Monroe for Fort Sumter. l am therefore ut
tery at a loss to imagine why the General, in
his statement, should tave asserted that ''the
South Carolina Commissioners had already been
many days in Washington, and no movement
of defence ION the part Of the United States)
was permitted.n These Commissioners arrived
in Washington on the 9th December; Gen.
SCOTS request was made to the President on
the 30th 1t was complied with on 3lst, and
a single day is all that represents the ''many
days" of the General
Again, General Scott asserts, in the face of
these facts, that the President refused to allow
any attempt to be made Ito reinforce Fort Sum
ter--because he was holding negotiations with
the South Carolina Commissioners. And still
again, that afterwards Secretary Holt and
myself endeavored, in vain, to obtain q ship
ot-war for the purpose, and were finally obliged
to employ the passenger steamer Star OF the
West" viii it be believed that the substitu-
ton of the Star of the West for the war steam
er Brooklyn, of which he now complains, was
by the advice of Gen. Scott hiInselfl have
never heard this doubted until | read the state
ment.
At the interview already referred to between
the General and myself, ont the evening of Mon
day, the 3 lst of December, suggested to him
that, although had not received the South
Carolina Commissioners in their official capaci-
ty, but merely as private gentleman, yet it might
be considered an improper act to send the Brook
lyn with reinforcements to Fort Sumter until l
had received an answer from them to my letter
of the preceding day ; that the delay could not
continue more than forty-eight hours. lie
promptly concurred IN this suggestion as gentle
manly and proper, and the orders were not trans
terred to the Brooklyn ON that evening. My
anticipations were correct, for on the morning
of the I'd of January received their insolent
note, ana sent it back to them. In the mean
time, however, the General had become con-
WINGED, by the representations OF a gentleman
whom l torbear to name, that the better plan,
as the Secretaries of War and Navy informed
me, to secure secrecy and success and reach the
FORT would be to send a vast side-wheel mer-
camille steamer from New York with the rein
forcement Accordingly the Star of the West
was selected for this duty. The substitution
of this mercantile steamer for the Brooklyn,
which would have been able to defend herself
in case of attack, was reluctantly yielded by me
to the high military judgement OF General
Scott
The change of programme required brief
space of time; but the Star of the West left
New York for Charleston on the evening of
the 4th January. On the very day, however,
when this ill-fated steamer left New York, a
telegram was dispatched by Gen. Scott to Col
Scott to countermand her departures but it did
not reach its destination until after she had gone
to sea. The reason for this countermand shall
be stated in the language of Secretary Holt to
be found in letter addressed to him by Mr..
Thompson, the late Secretary of the Interior,
ON the 5th March, 1861, and published in the
National Inteihgencer. Mr.. Holt says:
'sThe countermand spoken of (by MIR. Thomp-
son) was not more cordially sanctioned by the
President than it was by General Scott and
myself; not because of any dissent from the
order on the part Of the President but because
of a letter received that day from Major An
derson, stating, in effect, that he regarded him
self secure in his position; and yet more, from
intelligence which late on Saturday evening 18th
January, 1861, y reached the Department, that
heavy battery had been erected among the
sand hills, at the entrance to Charleston harbor,
which would probably destroy an unarmed ves-
sci land such was the Star of the West) which
might attempt to make its way to Fort Sum
ter This important information satisfied the
Government that there was no present necessi-
ty for sending reinforcements, and that when
sent they should 60, not in vessel OF COM
merce, but of war. Hence the countermand
was dispatched by telegraph to New York but
the vessel had sailed shorttime before it reached
the officer Colonel ScotD 70 whom it was ad-
dressed"
A statement Of these facts, established by
dates, proves conclusively that the President
was not only willing but anxious in the brietsst
period to reinforce Fort Sumter. .g
On the 4th of January the day before the
departure of the Star Of the West from New
York, as General Scott in his statement ad-
mits, succor was sent to Fort Taylor, Key West,
and TO Fort Jefferson, trortugas Island, which
reached these points in time for their security.
He nevertheless speculates on the consequences
which might have followed, had the reinforce
ments 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 recos-
nition." & ASf eefrass%
I shall next advert to the statement that the
expedition under Captain Ward, s'of three or
four small steamers belonging to the Coast Sur