The National tribune., 1907-01-10

| the general plot was foiled by the cour-
| age and determination of Capt. Ma
thaniel Lyon and Frank P. Blair. But
so well had Jefferson Davis selected his
men,. and SO complete had been the
preparations, that in all the wide
stretch of country from the mouth of
the Chesapeake to that of the Rio
Grande, the men placed in charge Of
forts, dockyards, arsenais, armOries and
military stores made haste to turn them
over to the States upon the first de-
mand. There were but two exceptions
to this astonishing program: one was
Maj. Anderson, in command of Fort
Sumter, and the other was Lieut.. Slem-
mer, in command of Fort Pickens. The
current gossip in Army circles was that
to Mrs. Slemmer was due her husbands $
firm attitude at Fort Pickens. He was
then in i'll health, and felt heavily the
responsibility of provoking civil war by
his refusal to give up the fort This
was a favorite device of the Southern
leaders, and might have convinced
Lieut. Slemmer but for the resolute at
titude of the partner of his bosom.
AS for Maj. Anderson, his course was
entitled to the more praise because he
was married to a Southern STAKEHOLDER,
and was expected to be as amenahle to
her wishes as Northern officers married
to rich Southern women usually We're
He had been selected for this post in
November, 1860, upon the removal of
Lieut.-Col. ]. L. Gardner, 1st U. S. Art,
a Massachusetts man. who had been re-
lieved from command of the harbor by
the dictation of the South Carolina del
egates. Col. Benjamin Huger, soon to
be Major-General, c. S. A, was ap-
pointed to the command of the arsenal
at Charleston. All the arsenals thru
the South had, in preparation, been
carefully filled with all the arms-more
than 100, 900 stand of muskets, millions
of cartridges and cannon and ammuni-
ton in proportion-that Secretary
Floyd could gather up in the country.
Besides this there were some 10000
stand of arms purchased abroad, and
the great supply which Twiggs turned
over to the State of Texas.
Gen. Winfield Scott I'm Washington.
The withdrawal of Secretaries Cobb
and Floyd cleared the official atmos-
ph2re at Washington wonderfully, and
the air began to have some life and
spirit in it as Hollis and Stanton's be-
came more and more the ruling in
fiuences. The arrogance of the Seces-
sion Commissioners contributed much
to this attitude, for daily they became
laughter in their demands. 1t was
growing clearer, even, to peace-loving
old Buchanan, that they We're not act
ually seeking conciliation and COM
promise, but doing their utmost to pre-
cipitate a rupture. They did not want
anything done which would delay the
elimination of their plot for the disrup-
ton of the Union.
One of the first steps in this change
in the spirit of the Administration was
to bring to Washington the venerable
Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott, the Com
mander-in-Chief of the Army. Jeffer-
son Davis had found it impossible TO
control Scott, and by bitter insult and
persecution had driven the honorable
veteran OF two wars from the War De-
partment, Scott establishing his head
quarters in New York city. FLOYD was
far less rancorous than Davis, but he
knew that it would be inconvenient to
the plans he was carrying out to have
the stanch old patriot in Washington,
and so managed to continue his exile
from the headquarters of the Army.
Scott had clearly foreseen the corning
storm and vainly wrote the President
to make preparations for II by strength
ening the garrisons in all the seacoast
forts of the South. AS early as Oct
29 he sent letter specifying the forts
by name that he wished strengthened
and two days later wrote to the Secre-
tary Of War urging a circular sent to
the commanders of all forts and other
places to be on the alert against sud-
den attacks by citizens. AS soon as he
could rise from his sick bed he came to
Washington, Dec. IL, and personally
pressed upon the Secretary of War the
need Of strengthening the garrisons
particularly in the forts at Charleston,
Pensacola, Mobile Bay and below New
Orleans The Secretary-still Mr.
Floyd of course-turned deaf ear to
these propositions. when Scott begged
him to secure an interview with the
President. This was had Dec Is. when
Scott went over the whole ground
thoroly. but found Buchanan Of the