At the outbreak of the war, Benjamin Stanton was a Republican Representative in the 36th Congress from the State of Ohio, and the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs
These dispatches were compiled with primary source materials from The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Chapter 1)
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CONTENTS
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(US SoW) John Floyd
- At the outbreak of the war, John Buchanan Floyd was the United States Secretary of War
- He resigned his post on December 29, 1860 and left the northern States to join the Confederate Government
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| December 18, 1860 - Clerk J.J. Combs to Secretary John Floyd
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 Click for full-sized scanned image Union Correspondence, etc.
COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS,
December [18], 1860.
Honorable J.B. FLOYD:
SIR: You will oblige me very much by furnishing me the information asked for in the inclosed resolution. I should think myself derelict in my duty to the House and the country if I did not, in the present perilous condition of the country, obtain all the information in my power in relation to its military defenses. The House may call on me any day, as the organ of the Military Committee, for information, and I feel very anxious to be put in possession of reliable information on the subject.[1]
Very respectfully, yours, &c.,
B. STANTON.
[Inclosure.]
| December 18, 1860 - Resolution adopted by the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives
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Resolution adopted by the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, December 18, 1860.
Resolved, That the Secretary of War be requested to furnish the Committed on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives with a statement of the condition of the defenses at Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, and Fort Sumter, the number of men, and the quantity and description of ordnance and arms in each; also, the number and description of arms in the Charleston Arsenal, and what officer has charge of the custody and control of said arsenal, and what force he has under his control to enable him to protect and defend it; also, what number and description of arms has been distributed since the 1st day of January, A. D. 1860, and to whom, and at what price, so far as in his judgment may be compatible with the public welfare.
A true copy from the journal of the committee.
J.J. COMBS, Clerk.
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(US PG) Joseph Holt
- At the outbreak of the war, Joseph Holt was the Postmaster General of the United States
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| January 3, 1861 - Secretary ad interim Joseph Holt to Secretary Benjamin Stanton
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 Click for full-sized scanned image  Click for full-sized scanned image Union Correspondence, etc.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington, January 3, 1861
Honorable BENJAMIN STANTON,
Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives:
SIR: In answer to your letter, asking for information on certain points specified in a resolution adopted by the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives on the 18th ultimo, I have the honor to state as follows:
According to the latest report of the Engineer officer having charge of the construction of the defenses of the harbor of Charleston, everything practicable had been done of place Fort Moultrie in an efficient condition, and, with a proper garrison, it was deemed susceptible of an energetic defense. There were then employed at that work an officer and one hundred and twenty workmen, independent of regular garrison.[1]
On the evening of the 26th ultimo Major Robert Anderson, First Artillery in command of the troops in Charleston Harbor, apprehensive of the safety of his command from the insecurity of the fort, and having reason to believe that the South Carolinians contemplated or were preparing to proceed to a hostile act against him, and desiring to prevent a collision and effusion of blood, evacuated Fort Moultrie after having orders for spiking the cannon and disabling some of the carriages, and removed his forces to Fort Sumter, where they now are. Castle Pinckney was at the date of the latest report in good condition as regards preparation and with a proper garrison as defensible as it can be made. One officer and thirty workmen were engaged in the repair of the cisterns, replacing decayed baguettes, and attending to other matters of detail.
Since the date of the reports referred to, Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney have been taken possession of by troops of the State of South Carolina, acting under the orders of the governor, and are now held by those troops, with all the armament and other public property therein at the time of their seizure. I inclose a statement (Numbers 1.) of the number and description of ordnance, and arms at the date of the last returns at Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, and Charleston Arsenal, respectively. That arsenal, with all its contents, was also taken possession of on the 30th ultimo by an armed by body of South Carolina troops, acting under orders of the governor of the State, as represented in the following report of Frederick C. Humphreys, military storekeeper of ordnance, in charge, viz:
This arsenal was taken by force of arms by the militia of South Carolina, by order of Governor Pickens. The commanding officer was allowed to salute his flag before lowering it with one gun for each State now in the Union (thirty-two), and to take it with him, and the detachment to occupy the quarters until instruction from Washington can be obtained.
At that time the force under his control consisted of nine enlisted soldiers of ordnance and six hired men.
The other information asked for in regard to the number and description of arms "distributed since the 1st day of January, 1860, and to whom and at what price," will be found in the accompanying statements (Nos. 2 and 3) from the Ordnance Bureau.[2] It is deemed proper to state, in further explanation of statement Numbers 2, that where no distribution appears to have been made to a State or Territory, or where the amount of the distribution is small, it is because such State or Territory has not called for all the arms due on its quotas, and remains a creditor for dues not distributed, which can be obtained at any time on requisition therefor.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. HOLT,
Secretary of War ad interim.
[Inclosure No. 1.]
| December 21, 1860 - Inventory by Captain William Maynadier
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ORDNANCE OFFICE,
Washington, December 21, 1860.
Fort Moultrie; 14 32-pounder guns, iron; 16 24-pounder guns, iron; 10, 8-inch columbiads, iron; 5 8-inch sea-coast howitzers, iron; 4 24-pounder flank howitzers, iron; 2 12-pounder field howitzers, brass; 4 6-pounder field guns, brass. Total, 55.
Castle Pinckney: 4 42-pounder guns, iron; 14 24-pounder guns, iron; 4 8-inch sea-coast howitzers, iron. Total, 22.
United States Arsenal: 2 6-pounder field guns, old iron ; 5 24-pounder field howitzers, old iron; 502 muskets, flint-lock, caliber .69; 5,720 same altered to percussion; 11,693 muskets made as percussion, caliber .69; 2,808 rifles, made as percussion, caliber .54; 6 same, altered with longrange sights; 566 Hall's rifles, flint-lock; 4 carbines, percussion, rifled; 9 United States percussion carbines; 815 pistols, flint-lock; 300 pistols, made as percussion. Total, 22,430.
WM. MAYNADIER,
Captain of Ordnance.
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Misc.
- Miscellaneous dispatches to or from Benjamin Stanton
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Dispatch:
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| Memorandum to the Secretary of War
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| December 28, 1860 - Memorandum to the Secretary of War
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[Memorandum.]
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, December 28, 1860.
Lieutenant-General Scott, who has had a bad night, and can scarcely hold up his head this morning, begs to express the hope to the Secretary of War-
1. The orders may not be given for the evacuation of Fort Sumter:
2. That one hundred and fifty recruits may instantly be sent from Governor's Island to re-enforce that garrison, with ample supplies of ammunition, subsistence, including fresh vegetables, as potatoes, onions, turnips; and
3. That one or two armed vessels be sent to support the said fort.
Lieutenant-General Scott avails himself of this opportunity also to express the hope that recommendations heretofore made by him to the Secretary of War respecting Forts Jackson, Saint Philip, Morgan and Pulaski and particularly in respect to Forts Pickens and McRee and the Pensacola navy-yard in connection with the last two named works, may be reconsidered by the Secretary.
Lieutenant-General Scott will further ask the attention of the Secretary to Forts Jefferson and Taylor, which are wholly national, being of far greater value even to the most distant points of the Atlantic coast and to the people on the upper waters on the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers than to the State of Florida. There is only a feeble company at Key West for the defense of Fort Taylor, and not a soldier in Fort Jefferson to resist a handful of filibusters or a rowboat of pirates; and the Gulf, soon after the beginning of secession or revolutionary troubles in the adjacent States will swarm with such nuisances.
Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.
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