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December 18, 1860 - Major Robert Anderson to Adj. Gen Samuel Cooper

Click for full-sized scanned image Click for full-sized scanned image Union Correspondence, etc. No. 8.] FORT MOULTRIE, S.C., December 18, 1860. (Received A.G.O., December 21.) Colonel S. COOPER, Adjutant-General: COLONEL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, giving answers to questions contained in my letters. In reference to the instruction given me in reply to my question about Captain Foster's men, it would appear that I had not stated the matter with sufficient distinctness. As I understood it, the South Carolina authorities sought to enroll as a part of their army intended to act against the force of the United States, men who are employed by and in the pay of the Government, and could not, as I conceived, be enrolled by South Carolina "under the laws of the United States and of the State of South Carolina.: The sand hills referred to are private property, but no houses are built upon them; they are in front of or between houses. I, of course, shall not remove them until convinced that an attack will be made, nor shall I resort to the extreme measure of burning or destroying houses except on the same assurance, and then only such as mask positions where batteries may be erected, or such, as in my opinion, cannot be permitted to remain without endangering my command, which is so small that I cannot afford to spare a man. The sand hills and the houses surrounding the fort will afford safe shelter for sharpshooters, who may, with ordinary good luck, pick off the major part of my little band, if we stand to our guns, in a few hours. We are busily at work erecting traverses, defoliating our work, increasing the height of our walls, and securing protection for our men and guns by means of barrels filled with sand. As Captain Foster tells me that he reports all his operations to the Engineer Department, I presume that the War Department is fully informed on these matters. As the subject may be referred to by the letter writers and by the Charleston press, it may be proper that I should state that captain Foster mentioned to me this morning that he had obtained yesterday from the Charleston Arsenal forty muskets for Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney, and that they had been brought down without causing any excitement. He said that they were derived in compliance with an order issued, I think, before my arrival. This evening he sawed me a letter from the military storekeeper, which stated that the fact of his having sent off those muskets had produced great excitement in the city, and that he had felt obliged to pledge his word that they should be returned by to-morrow night. He states that Colonel Huger had directed him not to let any arms be removed from the arsenal. I told Captain Foster that my instructions were hat I was not to do anything calculated to produce excitement, and that as he had asked my advice I would certainly advise him to return them. He left time stating that he would do so. I have not heard whether the ordnance stores asked for are to be sent. I can only say that they are absolutely necessary to enable me to make a respectable attempt at a defense. I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ROBERT ANDERSON, Major, First Artillery, Commanding.' (To view this page in its Source Category, click HERE for Part 1 and HERE for Part 2)