A Con­fi­den­tial Vis­it unfolds between Decem­ber 11 and 14, with Major Ander­son at Fort Moul­trie caught in the ris­ing ten­sions that define the increas­ing­ly volatile polit­i­cal cli­mate of Charleston Har­bor. As ten­sions esca­late and the threat of con­flict looms, Cap­tain Tru­man Sey­mour, a sea­soned artillery offi­cer with expe­ri­ence in com­bat, arrives at the fort to deliv­er a mem­o­ran­dum out­lin­ing a detailed defen­sive strat­e­gy. Sey­mour warns Ander­son of the like­li­hood of decep­tive tac­tics being used by the Car­olini­ans, such as set­ting fire to near­by build­ings to dis­tract from a more sig­nif­i­cant assault on the fort. He under­scores the impor­tance of pre­pared­ness, advis­ing that every mea­sure should be tak­en to safe­guard the fort’s hon­or, as it is one of the most sig­nif­i­cant Union mil­i­tary posi­tions in the South. Seymour’s advice reflects not only the prac­ti­cal mil­i­tary con­cerns of the time but also the deep­er sense of fore­bod­ing that hung over the men sta­tioned there, aware that the next steps could either esca­late or de-esca­late a grow­ing con­flict.

Dr. Samuel Wylie Craw­ford, the only physi­cian sta­tioned at Fort Moul­trie, writes a heart­felt let­ter to his broth­er, voic­ing con­cerns about the increas­ing­ly rev­o­lu­tion­ary sen­ti­ments cir­cu­lat­ing with­in South Car­oli­na. As a new­com­er to the fort, Craw­ford had quick­ly observed the grow­ing hos­til­i­ty towards the Union, which he feared would soon lead to South Car­oli­na’s seces­sion from the Union, with the sub­se­quent demand for the sur­ren­der of fed­er­al prop­er­ties like Fort Sumter and Fort Moul­trie. Despite his rel­a­tive­ly short tenure at the fort, Crawford’s obser­va­tions were marked by a sense of deep sor­row as he wit­nessed the deep­en­ing divide between the North and South. His let­ter con­veys a somber recog­ni­tion of the inevitable path toward war, reflect­ing on how the esca­lat­ing ten­sions and the rhetoric of rebel­lion were cre­at­ing a rift that would lead to irrepara­ble harm to the nation. Craw­ford, who was deeply loy­al to the Union, shared the belief that the time for nego­ti­a­tion had passed and that prepa­ra­tions for war were nec­es­sary, espe­cial­ly as the “mad Car­olini­ans” seemed deter­mined to move toward rebel­lion at all costs.

On Decem­ber 11, Major Ander­son receives a covert vis­it from Assis­tant Adju­tant Gen­er­al Don Car­los Buell, who was sent by War Sec­re­tary John B. Floyd to deliv­er instruc­tions regard­ing the defense of Fort Moul­trie and the oth­er fed­er­al posi­tions in Charleston. Buell’s mes­sage was frus­trat­ing­ly ambigu­ous, urg­ing Ander­son to avoid provo­ca­tion and con­flict, but simul­ta­ne­ous­ly advis­ing him to retain con­trol of the forts and defend them if any hos­til­i­ties occurred. The con­tra­dic­tions with­in Buell’s instruc­tions reflect the broad­er inde­ci­sive­ness with­in the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, which was strug­gling to for­mu­late a coher­ent response to the seces­sion cri­sis. The fail­ure to clear­ly define the Union’s stance only added to the con­fu­sion on the ground, leav­ing Ander­son in a dif­fi­cult posi­tion. He was instruct­ed to hold the forts but also told to be cau­tious in order to avoid esca­lat­ing the sit­u­a­tion. This lack of deci­sive lead­er­ship from the high­er-ups com­pound­ed the frus­tra­tion felt by many offi­cers like Ander­son, who under­stood the grav­i­ty of their posi­tion but lacked the nec­es­sary direc­tion and sup­port from the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment.

As Ander­son processed Buell’s con­flict­ing instruc­tions, he rec­og­nized the grow­ing dif­fi­cul­ty of main­tain­ing secre­cy in the increas­ing­ly charged atmos­phere of Charleston. News of Buell’s vis­it spread quick­ly, report­ed by the local press despite Anderson’s best efforts to main­tain con­fi­den­tial­i­ty. Ander­son under­stood that the leak of such sen­si­tive infor­ma­tion could have sig­nif­i­cant con­se­quences, but the cir­cum­stances left him with lit­tle con­trol over the public’s aware­ness of the vis­it. Still, despite the chal­lenges posed by the pub­lic­i­ty, Ander­son assessed that the sit­u­a­tion, at least for the moment, was rel­a­tive­ly calm. How­ev­er, he remained acute­ly aware that the polit­i­cal envi­ron­ment was shift­ing rapid­ly, and ten­sions could flare at any time. The pub­lic scruti­ny on both his actions and those of his supe­ri­ors meant that he was under con­stant pres­sure, try­ing to bal­ance the secu­ri­ty of the forts while not pro­vok­ing an unnec­es­sary con­flict. Anderson’s thoughts were con­sumed by the uncer­tain­ty of what was to come, real­iz­ing that the next few days could either solid­i­fy Union con­trol or lead to open rebel­lion.

In the larg­er scope, Ander­son­’s posi­tion illus­trates the deep frus­tra­tions felt by Union offi­cers sta­tioned in the South, who found them­selves caught between con­flict­ing orders and mount­ing pres­sure. His inter­nal strug­gle reflects the broad­er sense of uncer­tain­ty and anx­i­ety per­me­at­ing the Union’s mil­i­tary lead­er­ship as they tried to man­age a volatile sit­u­a­tion with no clear strat­e­gy from the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. The chap­ter paints a vivid pic­ture of the ten­sion that gripped Charleston, with every action tak­en by the Union forces scru­ti­nized, and each deci­sion could tip the bal­ance toward peace or war. Anderson’s cau­tious approach and the grow­ing sense of urgency reveal the chal­lenges of hold­ing onto a frag­ile peace, par­tic­u­lar­ly as local South­ern forces and polit­i­cal lead­ers in Charleston were becom­ing more deter­mined to pur­sue seces­sion. The lack of clear direc­tion from Wash­ing­ton com­pound­ed the pres­sures on Ander­son and his fel­low offi­cers, high­light­ing the dif­fi­cul­ties of main­tain­ing order in a time of such deep polit­i­cal divi­sion.