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| Sunday March 31, 1861 |
By the end of March, Lincoln had made certain key decisions
involving Forts Sumter and Pickens. He had set in motion
preparations for a relief mission to Sumter, and placed Gustavus
V. Fox in charge. He had also established April 6 as the
approximate date for the expedition to get under way, if sent, so
as to arrive in time to help Anderson's garrison.
As for Fort Pickens, which was more accessible and politically less
controversial, Lincoln had ordered it to be held and reinforced at
the outset of his administration. However, no word had yet
reached Washington that his orders had been successfully
carried out. Instead, rumors were rampant that federal troops had
never landed. At the suggestion of Secretary of State Seward,
Lincoln, therefore, initiated conversations with Captain
Montgomery C. Meigs to consider plans for another relief
expedition to Florida.
In this delicate and potentially explosive situation, Lincoln may well
have wondered at times whether it would have been better had
the Buchanan administration abandoned Sumter and Pickens. By
retaining the forts, President Buchanan had, in effect, left him with
a highly visible, emotional, symbolic point of contention with the
Confederacy. But the problem was now his, and with it, the
responsibility of decision making. As the month of March came to
a close, Lincoln stood poised to make a final decision concerning
Sumter and Pickens.