In the chap­ter titled “Dread,” the atmos­phere in Wash­ing­ton is tense as the city pre­pares for the elec­toral count and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of Lin­col­n’s elec­tion sched­uled for Feb­ru­ary 13. Gen­er­al Scot­t’s troops and artillery are posi­tioned through­out the city, sym­bol­iz­ing the Army’s deter­mi­na­tion to safe­guard the elec­toral process against any poten­tial dis­rup­tions. Spec­u­la­tion swirls around Bal­ti­more, where it is rumored that six thou­sand armed men might pose a sig­nif­i­cant threat to the peace of Wash­ing­ton. In response to these fears, one hun­dred police offi­cers from New York and Philadel­phia con­verge upon the city, solid­i­fy­ing efforts to ensure the suc­cess­ful con­duc­tion of the elec­toral count.

Wash­ing­ton, sit­u­at­ed just below the Mason-Dixon Line, is close to Mary­land and Vir­ginia, both of which har­bor sym­pa­thies towards the South­ern cause. This sit­u­a­tion is com­pound­ed by the dai­ly defec­tions from the gov­ern­ment, which rais­es con­cerns among offi­cials. Sen­a­tor Seward express­es alarm at the sit­u­a­tion, high­light­ing that near­ly half of the 4,470 civ­il and mil­i­tary employ­ees orig­i­nate from states that open­ly sup­port the rev­o­lu­tion­ary move­ment. This dis­con­tent is per­va­sive, affect­ing every depart­ment and bureau, as well as mil­i­tary and diplo­mat­ic mis­sions across the globe.

Jere­mi­ah Black, the sec­re­tary of state, com­mu­ni­cates with Pres­i­dent Buchanan, indi­cat­ing that while no con­crete evi­dence exists of a plot to seize Wash­ing­ton, the very con­trol of the city is vital for the seces­sion­ists’ objec­tives. Black under­scores the crit­i­cal impor­tance of main­tain­ing con­trol over Wash­ing­ton, sug­gest­ing that any attempt to seize the city by seces­sion­ists would be a fool­ish over­sight if they tru­ly intend­ed to achieve their goals. This sen­ti­ment encap­su­lates the broad­er atmos­phere of dis­trust and unease per­vad­ing the cap­i­tal, as politi­cians grap­ple with the real­i­ty of a nation on the brink of sig­nif­i­cant tur­moil.