Omi­nous Doings began to unfold as South Carolina’s prepa­ra­tions for war became increas­ing­ly evi­dent between Decem­ber 28 and 31, 1860. Gov­er­nor Pick­ens called upon local planters to con­struct gun bat­ter­ies along vital loca­tions such as the San­tee Riv­er and Winyah Bay, urg­ing them to defend their land with the same patri­ot­ic fer­vor as their Rev­o­lu­tion­ary War ances­tors. On Decem­ber 28, he took a sig­nif­i­cant step by pro­hibit­ing the ship­ment of arms to Fort Sumter, although mail deliv­ery was still per­mit­ted, hop­ing this would pre­vent vio­lence. Despite his efforts to main­tain peace, Major Ander­son observed the rapid con­struc­tion of new mil­i­tary out­posts by South Car­oli­na forces, solid­i­fy­ing his belief that con­flict was immi­nent. The grow­ing for­ti­fi­ca­tions and mil­i­tary pres­ence made it clear that South Car­oli­na was prepar­ing for war, tak­ing all nec­es­sary actions to strength­en its posi­tion as ten­sions con­tin­ued to rise over the future of Fort Sumter.

On Jan­u­ary 1, Major Ander­son expressed his con­fu­sion over Gov­er­nor Pickens’s increas­ing­ly aggres­sive actions in a let­ter. He not­ed his abil­i­ty to con­trol Charleston’s sup­ply routes, which could pre­vent crit­i­cal resources from reach­ing the state, a tac­tic he was pre­pared to use defen­sive­ly if need­ed. Ander­son rec­og­nized that such an action could exac­er­bate ten­sions, but he main­tained that his mea­sures would be strict­ly defen­sive. In his let­ter, he care­ful­ly ana­lyzed the sit­u­a­tion, under­stand­ing that the bal­ance of pow­er in Charleston and at Fort Sumter was frag­ile, and the next steps by both the Union and Con­fed­er­a­cy would deter­mine the future course of the con­flict. Anderson’s thought­ful reflec­tion high­light­ed the pre­car­i­ous­ness of the sit­u­a­tion and the pres­sure on him to man­age the fort’s defens­es while try­ing to main­tain peace amidst grow­ing hos­til­i­ties.

Anderson’s lead­er­ship and deci­sion-mak­ing were wide­ly sup­port­ed by mil­i­tary offi­cials, many of whom con­sid­ered his trans­fer to Fort Sumter a wise strate­gic move. Although he had pre­vi­ous­ly faced oppo­si­tion from for­mer War Sec­re­tary Floyd, Anderson’s actions were increas­ing­ly praised by many in the U.S. Army, includ­ing the influ­en­tial Gen­er­al Win­field Scott. This recog­ni­tion boost­ed Anderson’s con­fi­dence, as his efforts to pro­tect the fort were viewed as crit­i­cal to main­tain­ing the Union’s posi­tion in Charleston. His grow­ing rep­u­ta­tion as a leader will­ing to take nec­es­sary actions in the face of adver­si­ty became evi­dent, espe­cial­ly as South Carolina’s inten­tions became clear­er. Anderson’s lead­er­ship was cru­cial dur­ing a time of uncer­tain­ty, as the fort’s defense became increas­ing­ly vital to pre­vent­ing fur­ther South­ern expan­sion and rebel­lion.

By Decem­ber 30, Gen­er­al Scott had already devised plans to rein­force the fort’s defens­es, draft­ing a secret mes­sage to Pres­i­dent Buchanan. In this let­ter, Scott rec­om­mend­ed send­ing 250 recruits, along with addi­tion­al weapons and sup­plies, to bol­ster Anderson’s gar­ri­son at Fort Sumter. He request­ed that these rein­force­ments be sent with the utmost dis­cre­tion, bypass­ing the War Depart­ment to avoid fuel­ing ten­sions. Scott also pro­posed deploy­ing the U.S.S. Brook­lyn, a for­mi­da­ble steam war­ship, to demon­strate Amer­i­can mil­i­tary strength in the region. The pres­ence of such a pow­er­ful ves­sel would send a clear mes­sage to South Car­oli­na and any oth­er South­ern states con­sid­er­ing seces­sion, show­ing the Union’s readi­ness to defend its inter­ests. This move was both a strate­gic and sym­bol­ic ges­ture, meant to assert author­i­ty while avoid­ing imme­di­ate con­fronta­tion.

As New Year’s Eve approached, Scott’s orders became more spe­cif­ic: the com­man­der of Fort Mon­roe was to pre­pare the Brook­lyn, out­fit­ting it with troops and muni­tions while keep­ing the move­ments of the ship secret. The secre­cy sur­round­ing the mis­sion was para­mount to avoid ear­ly detec­tion by the Con­fed­er­a­cy, which could have derailed the oper­a­tion. Mean­while, the gar­ri­son at Fort Sumter con­tin­ued to wait for signs of rein­force­ments, hop­ing that the Union would ful­fill its promis­es of sup­port. Ten­sion with­in the fort grew, with the sol­diers feel­ing iso­lat­ed and fear­ful of an impend­ing siege by South Car­oli­na forces. As the new year approached, the gar­rison’s hope for relief was tem­pered by uncer­tain­ty, as they had no way of know­ing whether the rein­force­ments would arrive in time to stave off the grow­ing threat of aggres­sion.

The chap­ter paints a vivid pic­ture of the esca­lat­ing con­flict and strate­gic maneu­ver­ing tak­ing place dur­ing a time of ris­ing ten­sions. Anderson’s lead­er­ship at Fort Sumter, cou­pled with the actions tak­en by Gen­er­al Scott, reflect­ed the Union’s desire to main­tain con­trol over fed­er­al prop­er­ty in Charleston and assert its author­i­ty. The Union’s response, includ­ing the dis­patch of rein­force­ments and the demon­stra­tion of mil­i­tary strength through the U.S.S. Brook­lyn, was part of a broad­er effort to pre­vent the South from gain­ing fur­ther ground in the con­flict. Mean­while, the sol­diers at Fort Sumter were left to wait, iso­lat­ed and uncer­tain, hop­ing that help would come before South Car­oli­na could take deci­sive action. This peri­od marked the begin­ning of the Civ­il War, as both sides pre­pared for the inevitable con­fronta­tion that would define the future of the Unit­ed States.