Advice: William Seward

William H. Seward

Secretary of State Seward objected to an expedition "to supply or reinforce" Sumter because it would provoke an attack and start a war. "I do not think it wise to provoke a civil war beginning at Charleston, and in rescue of an untenable position," he advised. Anderson should withdraw from Sumter.

Seward, however, was in favor of holding Fort Pickens, and he advised Lincoln to call upon Captain Montgomery C. Meigs to prepare a plan to retain these forts.

Commentary

Bibliography: Lincoln, Works, eds. Nicolay and Hay, 6: 227.