Abraham Lincoln: a History -- Volume 2 | Page 3

on the Message. Adverse Criticisms. Buchanan's Doctrines and
Policy. Movements of Secession. South Carolina Legislation. Magrath's
Comments. Non-Coercion and Coercion. Fort Moultrie. Intrigue for its
Capture. Governor Gist's Letter. South Carolina's Complaints and
Demands.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MR. BUCHANAN'S TRUCE

Return of the Brooklyn. The President's Interview with the South
Carolina Delegation. Mr. Buchanan's Truce. Major Buell's Visit to
Anderson. The Buell Memorandum. Character of Instructions.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE RETIREMENT OF CASS
Failure of the Concession Policy. Movements towards Secession.
Resignation of Secretary Cobb. Cobb's Secession Address. Resignation
of Secretary Cass. The Buchanan-Floyd Incident. The Conspirators
advise Buchanan. Cass demands Reënforcements. The Cass-Buchanan
Correspondence.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SENATE COMMITTEE OF THIRTEEN
Secession Debates in the Senate. Speeches of Clingman, Brown,
Iverson, Wigfall, Mason, Jefferson Davis, Hale, Crittenden, Pugh,
Douglas. Powell's Motion for a Select Committee. Speeches of King,
Collamer, Foster, Green, Wade. Senate Committee of Thirteen
Appointed.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE HOUSE COMMITTEE OF THIRTY-THREE
The President's Message in the House. Compromise Efforts. Motion to
Appoint a Committee of Thirty-Three. Committee Appointed. Corwin
made Chairman. Sickles's Speech. Vallandigham's Speech.
McClernand's Speech. Compromise Propositions. Jenkins's Plan.
Noell's Plan. Andrew Johnson's Plan. Vallandigham's Plan.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE CONSPIRACY PROCLAIMED

Hopes of Compromise. Party Pledges to the Union. President
Buchanan's Advice. Nullification and Secession. Estrangement between
North and South. Cabinet Treachery and Intrigue. The Congressional
Debates. Compromise Committees. The Conspirators' Strategy.
Elements of Disturbance. Hopes of Peaceable Secession. Dunn's
Resolution. Mr. Buchanan's Proclamation. Secession Proclaimed.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE FORTY MUSKETS
Captain Foster. His Arrival in Charleston. Condition of Fort Moultrie.
Temporary Defenses. Foster Requests Forty Muskets. The Question of
Arming Workmen. Foster Receives Forty Muskets. Their Return
Demanded. The Alleged Charleston Excitement. Floyd Orders the
Muskets Returned. Foster's Compliance and Comment.
CHAPTER I
JEFFERSON DAVIS ON REBELLION
[Sidenote] Sumner to Howard, May 16, 1856. Ibid., p. 37.
[Sidenote] Shannon to Sumner, May 21, 1856. Senate Ex. Doc., 3d
Sess. 34th Cong. Vol. III., p. 38.
[Sidenote] 1856.
[Sidenote] Shannon to Sumner, June 4, 1856. Senate Ex. Doc., 3d Sess.
34th Cong. Vol. III., p. 45.
While the town of Lawrence was undergoing burning and pillage,
Governor Shannon wrote to Colonel Sumner to say that as the marshal
and sheriff had finished making their arrests, and he presumed had by
that time dismissed the posse, he required a company of United States
troops to be stationed at Lawrence to secure "the safety of the citizens
in both, person and property," asking also a like company for
Lecompton and Topeka. The next day the citizens of Lawrence had the

opportunity to smother their indignation when they saw the embers of
the Free-State Hotel and the scattered fragments of their
printing-presses patrolled and "protected" by the Federal dragoons
whose presence they had vainly implored a few days before. It was
time the Governor should move. The guerrilla bands with their booty
spread over the country, and the free-State men rose in a spirit of fierce
retaliation. Assassinations, house-burnings, expulsions, and skirmishes
broke out in all quarters. The sudden shower of lawlessness fell on the
just and the unjust; and, forced at last to deal out equal protection, the
Governor (June 4) issued his proclamation directing military
organizations to disperse, "without regard to party names, or
distinctions,"[1] and empowering Colonel Sumner to enforce the order.
[Sidenote] Sumner to Cooper, June 23, 1856. Ibid., p. 50.
[Sidenote] Sumner to Cooper, August 11, 1856. Ibid., p. 59.
That careful and discreet officer, who had from the first counseled this
policy, at once proceeded to execute the command with his
characteristic energy. He disarmed and dispersed the free-State
guerrillas,--John Brown's among the earliest,--liberated prisoners,
drove the Missourians, including delegate Whitfield and General
Coffee of the skeleton militia, back across their State line, and stationed
five companies along the border to prevent their return. He was so
fortunate as to accomplish all this without bloodshed. "I do not think,"
he wrote, June 23, "there is an armed body of either party now in the
Territory, with the exception perhaps of a few freebooters." The colonel
found very soon that he was only too efficient and faithful. "My
measures have necessarily borne hard against both parties," wrote
Sumner to the War Department, "for both have in many instances been
more or less wrong. The Missourians were perfectly satisfied so long as
the troops were employed exclusively against the free-State party; but
when they found that I would be strictly impartial, that lawless mobs
could no longer come from Missouri, and that their interference with
the affairs of Kansas was brought to an end, then they immediately
raised a hue and cry that they were oppressed by the United States
troops." The complaint had its usual prompt effect at Washington. By

orders dated June 27 the colonel was superseded in his command, and
Brigadier-General P.F. Smith was sent to