In Charleston on Decem­ber 27, 1860, fol­low­ing Major Ander­son­’s occu­pa­tion of Fort Sumter, new­ly elect­ed Gov­er­nor Fran­cis W. Pick­ens ordered the South Car­oli­na mili­tia to seize remain­ing fed­er­al prop­er­ties in Charleston Har­bor. Although the gov­er­nor­ship was main­ly cer­e­mo­ni­al, Pick­ens act­ed against the state leg­is­la­ture’s objec­tions. The first tar­get was Cas­tle Pinck­ney, tak­en by around 150 mili­tia mem­bers who, after scal­ing the fort’s walls, found it near­ly emp­ty, occu­pied only by a lieu­tenant and some work­men. They raised the pal­met­to flag, much to the dis­may of Kate Skillen, the young daugh­ter of the ord­nance sergeant, who lament­ed the flag’s intro­duc­tion.

Watch­ing from Fort Sumter, Anderson’s sol­diers found amuse­ment in the occu­pa­tion of vacant forts, with Pvt. John Thomp­son humor­ous­ly not­ing the militia’s val­or in tak­ing an unoc­cu­pied fort. That evening, the mili­tia also seized Fort Moul­trie with­out resis­tance and cap­tured Charleston’s fed­er­al arse­nal amidst ris­ing ten­sion. Cap­tain Fos­ter report­ed the excite­ment in the city, with friends sug­gest­ing he leave due to fears he would incite vio­lence.

Mean­while, Mary Ches­nut had returned to Charleston after Christ­mas, meet­ing her hus­band James, a del­e­gate to the seces­sion con­ven­tion. They stayed at a well-appoint­ed board­ing house, where news of Ander­son­’s move to Sumter stirred fear and excite­ment, prompt­ing oth­er states to secure fed­er­al prop­er­ties to has­ten their seces­sion efforts. Mary reflect­ed on her upbring­ing in pro-states’ rights house­holds, express­ing doubts about the capa­bil­i­ties of South Carolina’s lead­er­ship, crit­i­ciz­ing the aging politi­cians in charge.

Ander­son­’s actions angered Car­oli­na com­mis­sion­ers in Wash­ing­ton, who viewed his move as a betray­al and wrote to Pres­i­dent Buchanan, insist­ing on the with­draw­al of fed­er­al forces from the har­bor, claim­ing it hin­dered nego­ti­a­tions. How­ev­er, Buchanan, rec­og­niz­ing the urgency of the sit­u­a­tion and the actions tak­en by state author­i­ties, refused to with­draw the troops. The dis­cord con­tin­ued to esca­late, with com­mis­sion­ers accus­ing Ander­son of wag­ing war and the state mere­ly act­ing in self-defense, ulti­mate­ly mak­ing civ­il war appear inevitable. Buchanan declined to accept their let­ter, solid­i­fy­ing the ten­sions between fed­er­al author­i­ties and South Car­oli­na .