ence to it, "Make ready your
sharpened stakes, but you will not intimidate freemen."

There was one good reason why our opponents did not desire to commence
immediate hostilities. The delay was manifestly to their advantage, for
the engineers were putting Fort Sumter in good condition at the expense
of the United States. They (the rebels) intended to occupy it as soon as
the work approached completion. In the mean time, to prevent our
anticipating them, they kept two steamers on guard, to patrol the
harbor, and keep us from crossing. These boats contained one hundred and
twenty soldiers, and were under the command of Ex-lieutenant James
Hamilton, who had recently resigned from the United States Navy.

The threatening movements against Fort Moultrie required incessant
vigilance on our part, and we were frequently worn out with watching and
fatigue. On one of these occasions Mrs. Seymour and Mrs. Doubleday
volunteered to take the places of Captain Seymour and myself, and they
took turns in walking the parapet, two hours at a time, in readiness to
notify the guard in case the minute-men became more than usually
demonstrative.

In December the secretary sent another officer of the
Inspector-general's Department, Major Don Carlos Buell, to examine and
report upon our condition. Buell bore written orders, which were
presented on the 11th, directing Major Anderson not to provoke
hostilities, but in case of immediate danger to defend himself to the
last extremity, and take any steps that he might think necessary for
that purpose. There would appear to be some mystery connected with this
subject, for Anderson afterward stated to Seymour, as a reason for not
firing when the rebels attempted to sink the _Star of the West_, that
his instructions tied his hands, and obliged him to remain quiescent.
Now, as there are no orders of this character on record in the War
Department, they must have been of a verbal and confidential nature. In
my opinion, Floyd was fully capable of supplementing written orders to
resist, by verbal orders to surrender without resistance. If he did so,
I can conceive of nothing more treacherous, for his object must have
been to make Anderson the scape-goat of whatever might occur. Buell,
however, is not the man to be the bearer of any treacherous
communication. Still, he did not appear to sympathize much with us, for
he expressed his disapproval of our defensive preparations; referring
particularly to some