**Chap­ter Sum­ma­ry: “Omi­nous Doings”**

From Decem­ber 28 to 31, South Car­oli­na exhib­it­ed omi­nous signs of prepar­ing for war as ten­sions esca­lat­ed around Fort Sumter. Gov­er­nor Pick­ens empha­sized the need for local planters to con­struct gun bat­ter­ies along the San­tee Riv­er and Winyah Bay, evok­ing a sense of patri­o­tism rem­i­nis­cent of their fore­fa­thers from the Rev­o­lu­tion­ary War. On Decem­ber 28, he imposed a pro­hi­bi­tion on all arms ship­ments to Fort Sumter, while allow­ing mail deliv­ery, stat­ing that the ban aimed to pre­vent vio­lence. Despite his inten­tions, Major Ander­son observed the con­struc­tion of new mil­i­tary out­posts by South Car­oli­na forces as prepa­ra­tions for a loom­ing con­flict.

In a let­ter dat­ed Jan­u­ary 1, Ander­son expressed con­fu­sion regard­ing Pick­en­s’s aggres­sive stance, recall­ing his con­trol over Charleston’s sup­ply routes, which could severe­ly impact the state’s access to resources. He inferred that he could close the har­bor and impede com­mu­ni­ca­tion, although he main­tained that such mea­sures would only be employed defen­sive­ly.

Ander­son took some pride in the sup­port he received from mil­i­tary offi­cials who con­sid­ered his trans­fer to Fort Sumter a wise strate­gic move, com­pli­ment­ing him for tak­ing nec­es­sary actions to safe­guard his com­mand. Despite pri­or dis­ap­proval from for­mer war sec­re­tary Floyd regard­ing his deci­sion, Ander­son­’s approach was well-regard­ed by many in the U.S. Army, includ­ing the esteemed Gen­er­al Win­field Scott, who had been inca­pac­i­tat­ed for sev­er­al days by ill­ness.

On Decem­ber 30, Gen­er­al Scott com­posed a secret mes­sage to Pres­i­dent Buchanan, sug­gest­ing rein­force­ment for Ander­son­’s gar­ri­son at Fort Sumter with 250 recruits, addi­tion­al weapons, and sup­plies. He request­ed dis­cre­tion in these oper­a­tions with­out refer­ring to the War Depart­ment. Scot­t’s vision includ­ed dis­patch­ing the U.S.S. Brook­lyn, a for­mi­da­ble steam war­ship, to demon­strate Amer­i­can mil­i­tary strength.

As New Year’s Eve approached, Scott instruct­ed the com­man­der of Fort Mon­roe to pre­pare the Brook­lyn and equip it with troops and muni­tions while main­tain­ing utmost secre­cy about their move­ments. Mean­while, the gar­ri­son at Fort Sumter await­ed any sign of hope from the North, long­ing to see rein­force­ment amidst the grow­ing trep­i­da­tion sur­round­ing their sit­u­a­tion .