MESSAGE NO. 1 
 
 Oil' 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY, F. ¥. PICKENS, 
 
 TO 
 
 I THE LEGISLATURE, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 EXTRA SESSION OF NOVEMBER, 1861. 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C: 
 CHARLES P. PELHAM, STATE PRINTER. 
 
 1861. 
 
MESSAGE NO. 1 
 
 OP 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY, F. ¥. PICKENS, 
 
 TO 
 
 THE LEGISLATURE, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 EXTEA SESSION OF NOVEMBER, 18G1. 
 
 COLUMBIA, S. C: 
 CHAKLES P. PELHAM, STATE PRINTER. 
 
 1861. 
 
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MESSAGE NO. 1. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : 
 
 You have been called together for the purpose of appointing Electors for 
 President and Vice President of these Confederated States, which has to 
 be done on the first Wednesday in this month. 
 
 In addition to this, I desire to call your attention to the present state of 
 our military organization. From the pressing emergency of the wax*, so 
 many troops have been called into active service that the remainder of our 
 population, fit for military duty, is left in a state of comparative dis- 
 organization. 
 
 Under the late Act of eighteen hundred and sixty, volunteer regiments 
 were formed out of the old militia battalions, and, in many parts of the 
 State the ofiicers of beat companies, battalions, and regiments, have entered 
 the neflT volunteer oi'ganizatious, and have been mustered into Confederate 
 service. 
 
 Under this Act of eighteen hundred and sixty, eleven full regiments 
 have been formed for twelve mouths. The Convention also rait-ed one 
 regiment for six months. Under Confederate authority, a full and most 
 eflicicnt legion has, likewise, been mustered into service. Under special 
 requisition from the President of the Confederate States, two regiments 
 were raised for and during the war. Eleven of these regiments are now in 
 Virginia (one other having served its time and been disbanded), and three 
 on our own sea-coast — in all, fifteen. I have, also, recently mustered into 
 Confederate service, by special requisition from the President, four more 
 full regiments, for and during the war, with four cavalry and two light 
 artillery companies. We have, moreover, a regiment of infantry and a 
 battalion of regular enlisted forces. These will make an aggregate of some- 
 thing more than nineteen thousand men now in actual service. Besides 
 this, I have the troops of the city of Charleston, with a force of more than 
 three thousand effective men, placed on a war footing, and held as a reserve, 
 armed and e({uipped, ready for any emergency. We have, in addition, 
 twenty-one companies of cavalry and mounted men in the sea-coast Parishes 
 of Charleston, Beaufort, Colleton, and Georgetown, held ready for imme- 
 
diate service. These were first raised under special resolutions of the Con- 
 vention, and are limited to ten days after the adjournment of the regular 
 session of the Legislature. I suggest that you make the organization more 
 permanent. 
 
 I authorized an independent brigade in the eastern Districts, towards the 
 coast, of guerilla formation, furnishing their own arms, and prepared to act in 
 the most efficient manner, and well acquainted with the peculiar conforma- 
 tion of that portion of the country. This was set on foot by an experienced 
 and energetic officer, and will embrace, perhaps, some three thousand men. 
 I recommend it to your early attention, and think it might be confirmed as 
 a legal organization, at least for and during the war. The country is 
 peculiar, and requires a native local force of that kind to give efficiency to 
 its defence, and this is on a plan least expensive to the State. These 
 remarks are also applicable to the twenty-one mounted companies of the 
 sea-coast. 
 
 I recommend that there be immediately a new military organization 
 throughout the State, and I suppose that new regimental lines will have to 
 be made in parts of the country. I would urge that all field officers be 
 appointed by the Legislature, or by the Governor, with the advice and 
 consent of the Senate. 
 
 The Fourth Brigade of the Second Division might properly remain as 
 it is, as far as Charleston is concerned. Their organization has not been so 
 much deranged by their officers and men volunteering, and being mustered 
 into new and other service. 
 
 It is essential that the Legislature shall take this whole matter up as 
 soon as possible, and give efficiency and stability to a general system, 
 calculated to bring all the reserves of the State into immediate organi- 
 zation. 
 
 There is great pressure upon our resources at present ; but, if possible, 
 I would recommend that the State should raise, arm and equip, two regi- 
 ments, with four cavalry companies, and two companies of light artillery, 
 exclusively for State purposes. I would suggest that the selection of all 
 officers for the same, at least as high as second lieutenants, inclusive, shall 
 be confined to graduates of our State Military Academy. If these two 
 State regiments are raised, four hundred thousand dollars will be required 
 to arm and sustain them, unless there should be no necessity to call them 
 into active field service. 
 
 It is of great importance that our regular enlisted troops shall be 
 reenlisted for the war. They are now only for twelve months, and we can- 
 not dispense with their important services in our coast garrisons. Besides, 
 the experience of their thorough-bred officers is invaluable, and ought to 
 be secured permanently. True, they have been received into Confederate 
 
service, but to reenlist the men will require bounties, and the Confederate 
 Government may not provide for it in time. I therefore recommend that 
 ample provision be made, in advance, for this. 
 
 Most of our volunteer regiments, now in Virginia, are only for twelve 
 months, and I suggest that provision be made to secure, if possible, their 
 continuance in service for three years, or for the war. The brave and 
 gallant manner in which they have served the country, together with the 
 experience of their able officers, makes it of the highest importance that 
 you should adopt some system to secure the certain continuance of their 
 services, in advance, before their time expires. 
 
 The Confederate Government has imposed a direct tax of fifty cents upon 
 every hundred dollars' worth of certain property, specified in the Act, to be 
 assessed at its " actual marketable value." Those who own such property, 
 amounting to less than five hundred dollars, are exempt from this tax, and 
 this will exempt a large amount in the aggregate. They have, also, allowed 
 each State, if it thinks proper, to pay its own quota, as a State. By so 
 doing, ten per cent, is to be deducted. 
 
 I recommend that the State provide for the payment of the same, and 
 that one-half of it be paid by taxes imposed for that purpose, and that the 
 other half be raised by State bonds or stocks, to be issued upon such terms 
 as your wisdom may suggest. By thus dividing the amount, it will enable 
 our citizens to pay the other half, and the bonds will be a relief, under 
 present pressure, to that extent. 
 
 I call your attention to this now, because the assessment will have to be 
 made in a short time, and it requires your immediate attention, although, 
 if the State assumes the payment, it fs not actually to be made until 
 April. 
 
 The Legislature passed some appropriations to meet the exigencies of a 
 war that, at the time, many did not anticipate would be so extensive as it 
 has turned out to be. 
 
 I have been able to sustain the State, through a period of great difficulty, 
 and under extraordinary demands for expenditures, such as have never 
 been experienced before, and yet I have not gone, in amount, beyond what 
 was strictly allowed. If we had received back the expenditures we have 
 incurred in the common cause, and which the Confederate Congress pro- 
 vided for by an Act of great liberality, passed expressly for our benefit, I 
 should now be able to present you with a balance. 
 
 The cash expenditures, through the Treasury Department, are one mil- 
 lion eight hundred and eighty-nine thousand three hundred and seventy- 
 one dollars and seventeen cents (§1,889,371 17). For advances made, I 
 have had accounts and vouchers presented, and the State has been refunded, 
 
6 
 
 from tlie Confederate Governmeut, sis hundred and eighty-six thousand 
 seven hundred and seventy-four dollars (8086,774). This would leave one 
 million two hundred and two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven 
 dollars and seventy-one cents ($1,202,597 71). This does not include that 
 portion of small arms and ordnance which the State had purchased and 
 provided herself with some years since. As yet, we have furnished all the 
 troops that have been raised, and sent out of the State, or in service in the 
 State, with our own arms. I have made no estimate or charge for these 
 arms, furnished for Confederate service. Accounts aad vouchers for 
 advances made to the Confederate Government have been presented, but 
 they are not yet audited. I have every reason to believe they will be as 
 soon as the Government shall be relieved from the great pressure as to 
 more immediate and important business. 
 
 The Legislature provided, as one of the means to meet the appro- 
 priations, the issue of bonds at seven per cent., limited in amount to six 
 hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Of this only three hundred 
 and seventy-five thousand have been issued. They also authorized bonds 
 to be issued to provide for the sea-coast police, to the amount of one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand dollars. These have not been issued, either. This 
 would leave four hundred and fifty thousand dollars of bonds authorized 
 but not issued. I recommend that this amount be immediately changed in- 
 to stocks, to be issued and sold in such form as to suit purchasers, and 
 upon such terms as to insure available means as soon as possible. The 
 Bank of the State has acted promptly and patriotically in making advances 
 to the State, and these advances ought to be secured in some tangible form. 
 
 I have necessarily directed some expenditures, under the peculiar circum- 
 stances, for which there was no express authority by law, but which I 
 trust you will sanction. 
 
 After the excessive sufi'erings of our brave troops in Virginia, I directed, 
 on the eighth of August last, twenty thousand dollars to be deposited in a 
 bank in Richmond, for the relief of the sick and wounded. I also put into 
 the hands of the colonels of the two first regiments I sent to Virginia, two 
 thousand dollars each, for any extra necessities that might be required for 
 their regiments. 
 
 I also deposited in the hands of the Quartermaster of General Bonham's 
 stafi" five thousand dollars, for immediate wants. I was called on, under 
 sudden and extraordinary circumstances, to send troops to Virginia, and, as 
 there was then no general organization of any kind, I thought it right that 
 those whom I sent out of the State should not suffer for anything. I also 
 sent on twenty thousand dollars to pay our first regiment of volunteers, in 
 Richmond. In all these matters^ I trust to receive your direct sanction. 
 
I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which will 
 give you all details iu full, and in such a lucid form as may be easily 
 understood. 
 
 T take this occasion to recommend that you abolish the Treasuries of the 
 Upper and Lower Divisions, making; one Treasury and one office. This will 
 simplify all State accounts very much, and enable you to give system to the 
 whole. No local interests ought to be consulted in such an organization of 
 our Treasury. This will require the action of two successive Legislatures. 
 
 I also urgently recommend that there shall be a change in your system 
 of taxation. The artificial value given to lands below or above a certain 
 line run through the State, originated in a condition of things, at the period 
 of eighteen hundred and eight, which no longer exists. There ought to 
 be a true and just valuation of land made, no matter where it may be 
 located. The tax on what is denominated town property is liable to objec- 
 tion, and should be modified. The true system is, to raise as little as 
 possible from active productive labor, and impose taxes upon accumulated 
 capital and evidences of luxury. 
 
 In this State, the system has been, to raise far the larger portion from 
 productive labor. If this were changed, and a wise system adopted, one- 
 third more could, be raised, and really be felt less. It would greatly 
 increase the resources of the State, and at this period, when all taxes will 
 be felt deeply, you cannot too soon devote your serious attention to this 
 subject. 
 
 From the 20th of December last until the 9th of February, this 
 State acted alone. She was entirely separate and independent. During 
 this period we incurred heavy expenditures. In taking Castle Pinckuey, 
 Fort Moultrie, and the late United States Arsenal, we acquired large sup- 
 plies of heavy ordinance, arms, and munitions of war. As we took the 
 responsibility of acting alone, and of risking all, we were fairly entitled to 
 all we acquired. For the heavy expenditures we thus incurred, up to the 
 8th of February, I have, as yet, presented no claim or account against the 
 Confederate Government. Our Convention transferred, by ordinance, all 
 these public works and forts, with their armament, and so forth, to the 
 common Government. By every principle of public law, we are entitled to 
 the expenses incurred during that period, and I doubt not but, when pre- 
 sented, the claim will be recognized. 
 
 Circumstances placed us in the van in this march to independence. We 
 claim no exclusive merit, but, under severe censure, and the most trying 
 circumstances, we only endeavored to do our duty, faithfully and bravely. 
 Events have since vindicated the wisdom and patriotism of our course, and 
 I confidently appeal to the future, with the proud consciousness that pos- 
 terity will exultingly point to every page of history, as tablets on whose 
 
marble surface shall be engraved the record of our honor unstained, and of 
 our integrity without a blemish. 
 
 Soon after the 8th of February, the Confederate Provisional Grovernment 
 was formed, and, by the authority of our Convention, we yielded our 
 separate and independent action, and assumed the obligations of the Con- 
 federate compact. 
 
 The regular constitutional Grovernment, under that compact, is now to be 
 inaugurated on the twenty-second day of February, and I respectfully 
 recommend that you give it your loyal and faithful support, by all the con- 
 stitutional means at your command. 
 
 The sea-coast police has been the cause of much interest and exertion in 
 the first of the year, and I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the 
 Interior for all the details in relation to its administration in the last few 
 months. This will show the activity and care that has been exercised in 
 that department. I submit that the funds deposited to the credit of that 
 department be now appropriated to any branch of the public service you 
 may deem proper. The jurisdiction now assumed by the Confederate 
 Government may relieve us, before long, from any further duties in relation 
 to that branch of public service, although we must, of course, be ready to 
 aid and assist, by all means in our power, any eflfbrts on the part of our 
 common Government to protect our coast. 
 
 The Legislature authorized the issue of bonds, to the amount of one 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for this special purpose. I did not use 
 these bonds at all, except to hypothecate them with the President of the 
 Bank of the State, as collateral, on account of advances made by the Bank 
 I in like manner used the power given me to direct the Bank to issue re- 
 ceivable paper, not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The report of the Adjutant and Inspector General will give you accurate 
 information of all matters pertaining to the military. This office has been 
 one of great labor, requiring a high degree of bureau talent and informa- 
 tion, at this peculiar juncture in our afikirs. I think, in every respect^ 
 what he has done will be satisfactory. 
 
 The College has been seriously interrupted by the condition of afiairs in 
 the country, and the young men, who were full of patriotism and zeal, 
 could not be restrained from entering into active service. It is now, how- 
 ever, in full operation, with a very respectable number of students. I 
 fondly hope that no circumstances will be allowed to interfere permanently 
 with the exercises of this noble institution. I believe it is the only institu- 
 tion of the kind entirely endowed by the State, and managed by public 
 authority, in the confederated States. There are, apparently, many objec- 
 tions to the peculiar organization of such an institution ; but when we look 
 to the practical results, and the large public benefit it confers, we must be 
 
constrained to yield all such objections. Througli a public institution, 
 controlled by tbe Government, we are enabled to educate our young men 
 with high feelings of public devotion to the country, and bind them with 
 stronger and more exclusive ties of first allegiance to the State. It is this 
 institution which, by dispensing education equally through the common- 
 wealth, has done more to make us a united and a loyal people, than any 
 other single cause. Any State, with common judgment, can develope the 
 wealth and physical resources of a people, but it is not every State that can 
 produce an heroic and intellectual race of men. Public schools and literary 
 institutions, nobly and generously endowed, where virtue, truth and patriot- 
 ism are taught as the cardinal doctrines of life — without which life itself is 
 not worth preserving — can alone produce a manly race and brave men as 
 indigenous to the soil. A large State, with vast resources, may present to 
 the world a teeming population, but this does not constitute a great State. 
 A cultivated and intellectual people, whose public institutions train them to 
 think boldly and freely, and who have the heroic daring to do their duty 
 faithfully to themselves and the world, furnish all those qualities which 
 command the admiration and respect of mankind. We should, therefore, 
 spend freely on anything calculated to elevate the mural and intellectual 
 culture of our people. 
 
 The Military Academy has, at this important period, furnished us young 
 men of thorough military education and training, who have been of good 
 service. The Cadets of the Citadel Academy, in Charleston, under imme- 
 diate command of the scientific officer theu at the head of that institution, 
 were the first corps I directed to occupy a new battery on the channel, with 
 positive orders to open the fire. At this battery they nobly did their duty, 
 in conjunction with the Vigilant Rifles, German Kiflemen, and Zouave 
 Cadets. On the 9th day of January last, they drew the lanyard of the very 
 first cannon that was ever fired into a vessel bearing the flag of the old 
 Union, and triumphantly drove her back, filled, as she was, with armed men 
 to invade our soil, and sailing under special orders from the Licutenant- 
 General of the United States, marked by attendant circumstances of treachery 
 and duplicity. It was this cannon which opened upon the '< Star of the 
 West," that called a half-million of freemen to arms in this our second war 
 of independence. 
 
 In several points of view, these Military Academies have fully vindicated 
 the wisdom of those who founded them, and I now recomn end that they 
 be united into one institution, and that the appropriation be increased, so as 
 to enlarge its usefulness. 
 
 When the institution is united, it should be located at the most suitable 
 place. I would suggest that, perhaps, the most appropriate place for it 
 would be Sullivan's Island. With this view, I would recommend that the 
 2 
 
- 10 
 
 State procure tlie retrocession of Fort Moultrie for the purpose of connecting 
 it with the academy, to be used as a post for drill and exercise in heavy 
 artillery and jjractical gunnery. 
 
 Since Fort Sumter has been put in complete order, with all the guns for 
 the first time mounted, it entirely commands, not only the harbor of Charles- 
 ton and its entrance, but Fort Moultrie, and therefore the possession of this 
 latter fortress is not at all essential to the Confederate Government. 
 
 With the State Military Academy located on Sullivan's Island, Fort 
 Moultrie could be kept in repair and thorough order by the cadets, and thus 
 save an annual expense to the Confederate Government, and besides, it would 
 add much to the practical knowledge of the cadets. No expense should 
 deter us from placing this academy on the highest footing. 
 
 We ought to enlarge its usefulness, by admitting cadets from other States, 
 except, of course, those who may be beneficiaries. By enlarging the ca- 
 pacity of this institution, we not only secure that science and training so 
 essential in all modern warfare, but so absolutely necessary to give a small 
 State the capacity to defend itself from the strong and powerful. In the 
 present situation of our country, the State that gives her people the highest 
 military education will be most deeply felt in all the struggles that must 
 inevitably arise in the future. 
 
 I trust the Institution for the education of the Deaf and Dumb will con- 
 tinue to receive your bounty and care. The Lunatic Asylum, I hope, will 
 ever remain a noble monument of your constant and munificent benevolence. 
 
 The issue of the six per cent, bonds, authorized to carry on the State 
 House, was limited to their being sold at not less than ninety-five cents in 
 the dollar. As the sale could not be effected at this rate, I gave notice to 
 the superintendent to suspend all further work. He represented that some 
 work was essential to preserve the fine quarry from injury by freshets, and 
 it was done. Some work on the finer marble has also been continued — on 
 an arrangement made by the superintendent with the Bank, and at the risk, 
 I believe, of the contractors themselves. All other work has been suspended. 
 It is a building fashioned on a very superior model, and will compare favor- 
 ably, as to style, with almost any work, and the material is all of the best 
 kind. Although it has been commenced on a scale much beyond our limited 
 means, yet everything ought to be immediately provided to preserve it from 
 the weather at present. I suggest that it ought to be permanently covered, 
 and this can be done now at a cost of about one hundred and thirty thou- 
 sand dollars. The contractors would take the bonds ordered to be issued at 
 six per cent., even if below the ninety-five cents, and receive them in pay- 
 ment. If so, it might be directed to the amount necessary to cover the 
 building, provided the contract for the same should not be increased in 
 amount to meet an^ depressed value of the bonds. 
 
11 
 
 In eighteen hundred and fifty-four, seventeen thousand five hundred and 
 fourteen dollars and ninety-five cents were received from the United States 
 Government, as due South Carolina on account of distribution from sale of 
 public lands. I recommend that it be passed to the credit of the Treasury, 
 and appropriated. There are also one thousand six hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars, balance from an appropriation to the widows and orphans of the Palmetto 
 Regiment. This should be immediately passed to the credit of the Treasury. 
 
 There are many of our citizens, and some of them of large fortunes, nt)W 
 residing out of the State. At this period, when the services, in some form, 
 of every son of South Carolina may be absolutely necessary, I submit to you 
 the propriety of calling them home, and it is for your wisdom to annex the 
 conditions you may think proper to such a call. 
 
 It is a source of great satisflxction to me to draw your attention to the 
 fact that all classes of our people, without exception, have been loyal and 
 devoted to the State in this her day of trial, and amongst them I would 
 particularly say that the free people of color have done their duty, also. At 
 an important time last spring, when the whole of our population were 
 intensely excited, from Columbia, and Charleston, and elsewhere, they for- 
 mally oiTered their services to me, to act in any capacity in which they might 
 serve their State. They were, in many instances, employed. I trust the 
 day is far distant when this State will refuse to extend her guardian pro- 
 tection to this unfortunate and helpless class of our people. 
 
 There is a remnant of the Catawba Indians in our State, and I feel assured 
 that they will receive your usual care and attention. 
 
 Many benevolent and kind citizens of our State have, with great energy 
 and devotion to the sick and wounded of our soldiers in Virginia, estab- 
 lished hospitals in their own way, which have been a great relief to our 
 sufi'ering men in a distant country. I recommend that every aid and facility, 
 consistent with the public means, may be extended to them in their patriotic 
 and Christian exertions. I have transmitted, through the Aid Society in 
 Charleston, four thousand dollars to the St. Charles Hospital in Richmond, 
 and trust it will meet your sanction. Whether anything like a State Hos- 
 pital should be established there, as permanent, is for your judgment to 
 decide. I doubt the propriety of systematically interfering with the regular 
 provision made for all such things by the common Government, and under 
 strict army regulations. But in extraordinary vicissitudes of sickness, or 
 after great battles, these establishments might be, as they have been, of 
 incalculable service. 
 
 In addition to the difficulties that war always brings upon a country, we 
 labor at this time under stringent pressure, from the sale of all productions 
 for exportation being suspended. Our banks are banks both, of discount 
 and circulation, and practically, they hold the only circulating medium. 
 
12 
 
 They suspended the redemption of their bills issued. The Legislature 
 legalized that suspension. Then, if their issues are contracted, and circu- 
 lation withdrawn, the difficulty of paying debts and meeting taxation be- 
 comes greatly increased. It would seem that under such circumstances, 
 where the Legislature have interposed to relieve the banks from the obli- 
 gation to pay their notes, some course ought to be adopted, if consistent 
 with safe precedent, to protect the people also from the temporary difficul- 
 ties by which we are surrounded. All tampering, of any kind, with pi'o- 
 duce by Government, in any shape or form, is generally unwise and unjust. 
 If anything of the kind is ever to be done, let it be done by the State Gov- 
 ernments, rather than by the General or Confederate Government, for all 
 power, not expressly granted, is reserved to the States. The exercise, by 
 the Confederate Government, of any power not expressly granted, is not 
 only without authority, but, on so vital' a point, it is dangerous, as calculated, 
 if habitually acted upon, to affect deeply the distribution of wealth, and the 
 interests of productive labor. If anything is done, it should be done by 
 the States, and I suggest that, perhaps, as we have a State institution, it 
 might be used to advance on produce one-half of its value, upon receipts 
 for the same being deposited, with a view to give a lien, to secure the 
 amount advanced first, to the exclusion of all other claims. Public policy 
 will require that you should continue to legalize the suspension of the 
 banks. This continuation might be made upon certain conditions resting 
 upon similar advances to be made from all the banks. 
 
 As our soldiers are nobly serving their country, and at a great distance 
 from home, some stay of execution or levy upon their property should be 
 directed by law. Everything of this kind must be done with great caution, 
 so as not to be made a precedent. There is no power so dangerous, and 
 generally so unjust, as for any Government to interfere, in the slightest 
 degree, with contracts, and if ever done, it ought to be limited to absolute 
 necessity. Integrity, faith, and stern justice are qualities more essential in 
 Governments than even amongst individuals, because of their wide-spread 
 influence. 
 
 On the 17th of December, the day after I was inaugurated, I sent a 
 confidential agent to the President of the United States, demanding posses- 
 sion of Fort Sumter, upon conditions somewhat the same as those upon 
 which I understood the United States Arsenal had been previously allowed 
 to be placed under a State guard. One of my objects was, to ascertain, in 
 the most authentic manner, the real intention of the President in relation 
 to the occupation of the forts in our harbor, and to shape my own course 
 accordingly. A copy of this letter, with accompanying explanations of the 
 agent, I sent to Washington, together with a communication from a distin- 
 guished citizen, appointed; as I have since been informed, by my predeces- 
 
13 
 
 sor, to remain at Washington, as confidential representative of the State, 
 are herewith transmitted, for your information of all details. The day on 
 ■which my letter was presented to the President, I was telegraphed by high 
 and responsible representatives from this State, to withdraw it, on account 
 of an understanding, that had been recognized, that there should be no 
 interference with the status of the forts in any way, until Commissioners 
 from this State should be appointed to proceed to "Washington, and represent 
 the State fully on all points at issue, connected with the forts and public 
 property. 
 
 On the 18th of December I went to Charleston, and immediately 
 ordered a very responsible officer, with a detachment, to arm and equip a 
 guard boat, with specific orders to prevent, if possible, any movement of 
 troops from Fort 31oultrie to Fort Sumter, and if such a thing was attempted, 
 to forbid it, and, if persevered in, to resist it by force, and then immediately 
 to take Fort Sumter at all hazards. At that time there was but a small 
 guard in this fortress, and it was in no condition for defence. 
 
 On the 20th of December, the President of the United States sent 
 General Gushing, a distinguished citizen of Massachusetts, to me, with a 
 letter, a copy of which is herewith transmitted. I had but a short inter- 
 view with him, and told him I would return no reply to the President's 
 letter, except to say, very candidly, that there was no hope for the Union, 
 and that, as far as I was concerned, I intended to maintain the separate 
 independence of South Carolina, and from this purpose, neither temptation 
 nor danger should, for a moment, deter me. He said that he could not say 
 what changes circumstances might produce, but when he left Washington, 
 there was then no intention whatever to change the status of the forts in 
 our harbor in any way. 
 
 Notwithstanding the distinct pledge of honorable faith, made previous 
 to this, and then this renewal of it, the commandant of Fort Moultrie, on 
 the night of the 2Gth of December, moved all his forces from Fort 
 Moultrie to Fort Sumter, with his munitions of war, after first spiking the 
 guns, cutting down the flag-stafi", and burning the gun-carriages. 
 
 This fortress was the well known key to the harbor, and the move was 
 intended to hold us in subjugation, and enable the garrison to be reinforced, 
 with a view to hold the post permanently. This move was a violation of 
 all manly faith, and could be looked upon in no other light than an open 
 act of hostility. They still possessed Castle Pinckney, with guns bearing 
 directly upon the city. This is a fortress originally intended to protect the 
 inner harbor. 
 
 I immediately, on the morning after they had moved from Fort Moultrie, 
 ordered select forces to take Castle Pinckney, at all hazards, and gave a 
 similar order to occupy Sullivan's Island, and to proceed cautiously, after 
 
14 
 
 examination as to mines, and take Fort J^Ioultrie. These orders were 
 executed tlie same day. 
 
 I had, on the evening of the 20th of December, requested the Com- 
 missioner sent to our Convention from Alabama, to give the Governor 
 of that State official notice that I intended to take the forts, if there was 
 any attemj^t to change their status, and to request that he would act in like 
 manner as to the forts in Mobile harbor. I made the same communication 
 to the Commissioner from Mississippi, as to my intention, and I would have 
 done the same to the representatives of any other sister State, if they had 
 been here. 
 
 After I occupied these forts, I consulted engineers, and immediately 
 commenced the batteries on the channel, to endeavor to prevent supplies or 
 reinforcements, and also ordered a detachment to take possession of Fort 
 Johnson, and prevent all communication from the garrison in Fort Sumter. 
 Copies of the general orders, connected with all these movements, I here- 
 with transmit for your information, with other papers, which will give the 
 reasons by which I was influenced at the time. 
 
 On the 9th day of January, I ordered a plan to be agreed upon by our 
 engineers, and reported to me, for the most certain and scientific mode of 
 reducing the fortress, and upon that plan the batteries were erected which 
 finally did reduce it. Copies of this plan, and the orders, are also trans- 
 mitted. 
 
 I had issued orders to prevent, if possible, all reinforcements or supplies, 
 and, if necessary, to fire on any vessel that might attempt to enter the 
 harbor. On the 9th of January, a large vessel, bearing two hundred and 
 fifty United States troops, with arms and supplies of all sorts, was fired into 
 and driven back. A few days before this, a telegram from a member of 
 the Cabinet at Washington was shown to me, asserting that no such vessel 
 wquld be seut, and a great effort was made to induce me to suspend the 
 order to fire. Major Anderson demanded a disavowal of the act, accompanied 
 with a positive threat, that, if not disavowed by me, he would open fire upon 
 any vessel with our flag in the harbor. I avowed the act : he retracted his 
 threat, and asked time to consult his Government. After his suggestion on 
 that point, I sent to Washington our highest law officer in the State, a 
 gentleman of eminent standing and worth, in order to act in the fairest and 
 most liberal spirit. This correspondence has all been published, and shows 
 the imbecility and duplicity by which our opponents conducted the issues 
 then presented. 
 
 After President Lincoln was inaugurated, he sent, in the latter part of 
 March, a confidential agent, Mr. Fox, who was introduced by a gallant 
 officer of our navy. He said he desired to visit Fort Sumter, and that his 
 objects were " entirely pacific." Upon the guarantee of the officer intro- 
 
 J 
 
15 
 
 dueing liim, Captain Hartstene, Le was permitted to visit ^Fajor Anderson 
 in company with Captain Hartstene, expressly upon tlie pledge of ''pacific 
 purposes." Notwithstanding this, he actually reported a plan for the rein 
 forcement of the garrison by force, which was adopted. Major Anderson 
 protested against it. I enclose with this a copy of papers, to be used under 
 your wise discretion, which will place these facts beyond. controversy. 
 
 In a very few days after, another confidential agent, Colonel Lamon, was 
 sent by the President, who informed me that he had come to try and 
 arrange for the removal of the garrison, and, when he returned from the 
 fort, asked if a war vessel could not be allowed to remove them. I replied, 
 that no war vessel could be allowed to enter the harbor on any terms. He 
 said he believed Major Anderson preferred an ordinary steamer, and I 
 agreed that the garrison might be thus removed. He said he hoped to 
 return in a very few days for that purpose. Then, on the 8th of April, 
 Mr. Chew, an official in the State Department, was sent, in company with 
 Lieutenant Talbot, and read to me a paper, which the President of the 
 United States, he said, had directed him to read to me, in relation to send- 
 ing in supplies to the fort. He gave me no information as to anything, but 
 only read the paper, and said he was not even directed to ask my reply. I 
 sent for General Beauregard, as the commanding General on the part of 
 the Confederate Government, and had the paper again read in his presence. 
 A copy of this paper is herewith transmitted. It bears upon its face an 
 utter want of manliness and straight-forward conduct. I give this minute 
 statement of facts, because they are deeply important to a thorough under- 
 standing of the true origin of this fierce and malignant war, which prac- 
 tically commenced in the capture of Fort Sumter, on the 13th of April 
 last. Its efi"ccts will be deeply felt throughout the world, and it is due to 
 our sister States that they shall know the part which we were forced to act 
 in its origin. 
 
 Every step in the commencement of this terrible conflict has been 
 marked by deception and duplicity on the part of our enemies. By so 
 doing, they have inaugurated events well calculated to produce not only a 
 profound impression upon our own country, but upon the destiny of Ameri- 
 can civilization ; and we have every reason to be deeply grateful, as a 
 Christian people, to a .superintending Providence, for the direction given, 
 thus fiir, to these events. The whole rise and growth of these States of 
 North America, has been the most rapid and gigantic ever before exhibited 
 amongst the nations of the earth. Under institutions the most popular and 
 captivating to the enthusiastic mind, we had made such developement of 
 strength and power, in little more than three-quarters of century, as seemed 
 to overshadow most modern a-overuments. 
 
16 
 
 In theory, the distribution of all power appeared to rest upon principles 
 of equality and justice; and if the Government had been honestly and wisely 
 administered, it was the noblest system ever created for rational men. But 
 man was, as he ever has been, selfish and ambitious, and, under the guide 
 of those passions, the whole system became thoroughly perverted from its 
 original designs. 
 
 It was a Confederated Republic, with powers expressly granted by States, 
 and defined under a limited compact or constitution, and never was, in any 
 sense, a simple democracy, with a majority of people to govern. It was this 
 profound fallacy as to a democracy, originated by designing demagogues or 
 superficial thinkers, which, within the last thirty years, radically changed 
 the whole nature of the Government. 
 
 In the Northern States, they had no division of classes or castes that 
 were openly acknowledged as the fundamental law of society, and, as a 
 natural consequence, the only division was between capitalists and laborers. 
 The former, to act more efficiently in the struggle for ascendency, became 
 organized under the style and title of corporations, in every shape and form, 
 from the smallest to the highest matters. This was done in order to give 
 associated wealth more and more absolute power over labor. This was their 
 political slavery. After they had thus mastered the labor of the North, 
 they engaged in a struggle to master the Federal Government, and, through 
 it, to make the labor of the South also tributary to their power and wealth. 
 To bring their numbers to bear in a consolidated democracy, was essential 
 to their designs. They then called in that fanatical element of their igno- 
 rant classes, through which the designing and the wary could make them 
 subservient to their ultimate designs. 
 
 In the South, it was the reverse of this. There were ranks and there 
 were castes acknowledged in the fundamental law of our society, and this 
 was the division between master and slave. 
 
 The white race was a privileged race of rank and political power. It was 
 not a division between capitalists and laborers, for here capitalists owned 
 laborers, and were, therefore, interested in the profits of daily labor. In fact, 
 they were themselves, to all intents and purposes, laborers as well as capi- 
 talists. Hence it was, we wanted no increase in the power of government 
 over productive labor, nor did we need associated wealth, in the form of cor- 
 porations, to subjugate the labor of the country, for we had, as individuals, 
 all that power already. 
 
 Under such fundamental difibrences as these, the preservation of separate 
 States in the form of a Republic, with a limited compact, was the very law 
 of our existence, and the perversion to a simple democracy of mere num- 
 bers, was our political death. The most corrupt of all governments, if 
 extensive enough to embrace different interests, is a simple democracy of 
 
17 
 
 numbers. It necessarily soon runs into practical anarchy, and thence into 
 a military despotism, as protection from the horrors of anarchy. Now that 
 the Northern States are forced to organize to themselves, this career, to them, 
 is as certain as destiny itself, and is inherent in their very organization. 
 
 Under these circumstances, if we fail to grow wise from the lessons of 
 experience, and allow any considerations to weaken the federative action of 
 our system, and increase the tendency to a simple democracy of numbers, 
 we, too, will soon sink into the same ruin, where an unrestrained military 
 government will raise its strong and mighty structure, beneath whose shadow 
 the very boundai-ies of the States will be lost and forgotten amid the scat- 
 tered fragments of a broken and dismembered empire. 
 
 There is not the slightest danger of our being subjugated by the North. 
 Those who conceived such an idea had but little knowledge as to the 
 elements of real power. They are vastly defective in all those qualities 
 necessary for effective military organization, particularly for purposes of 
 invasion, while the institutions of the South train our people to individual 
 self-reliance, and to police regulations with disciplined order. There are no 
 agricultural people so essentially military in their early training as are the 
 slave-holding race of the South. 
 
 Wherever slaves exist, with the distinctive marks of a separate race, 
 it is a privilege and rank to be free. Under these circumstances, you 
 may exterminate the dominant race, but you can never permanently 
 subjugate it. When the lower strata of society is occupied by an inferior 
 race, who make no pretension to political equality or power, the entire 
 ruling race can be brought into active service for all purposes of defence, 
 without drawing materially from the productive field labor necessary to 
 aflford support. 
 
 Although we have actually called into military service the largest force, 
 in proportion to our population, known in modern times, yet the provision 
 crops of all kinds, in these Confederate States, never were equalled by what 
 has this year been garnered for our use. The reverse of this is the case in 
 all States where there is no fundamental division of classes. Where all 
 are theoretically equal, those who follow the lower pursuits of society 
 must be conciliated, and when they are pressed into large armies, they not 
 only create a heavy expense to be supplied by capitalists, but the}- also 
 leave a vacuum in productive labor that deranges the internal relations 
 between capital and labor, and this is more deeply felt than even the direct 
 expenses for their support. 
 
 With us, to a great extent, every freeman's home is but a privileged 
 castle, with armed men ready to go forth to the field for defence and for 
 honor, while laborers on the soil remain, to gather and garner up the pro- 
 duce of the earth. 
 
18 
 
 True, war is a great calamity, but if tliis war shall end, as there is every 
 prospect that it will do, by making us not only politically independent of 
 our most deadly enemies, but commercially independent also, and, at the 
 same time, shall develope our own artisan skill and mechanical labor, so as to 
 place us entirely beyond their subsidy hereafter, then, indeed, will it 
 prove, in the end, a public blessing. 
 
 We will be left free to develope our own civilization, and show, where there 
 is an inferior caste in society, and the higher and privileged race governs, 
 that a constitutional republic of States may be established upon conservative 
 principles identified with all the great ends of truth, justice and stability. 
 But if we fail in this, then there is no hope for a government of States. 
 The only advance, in substance, which we have made over the government 
 of our English ancestors, was the substitution of the municipal government 
 of States, representing permanent local interests and territory, instead of 
 great landed proprietors and hereditary rulers. This government of States 
 was destroyed by the Northern people, who, without the conservative divis- 
 ion of castes, which we have, endeavored to make the government a simple 
 democracy of numbers. This ended, as all such governments must inevita- 
 bly end, in corruption, usurpation and revolution. As far as the Northern 
 States are concerned, their Government is hopelessly gone, and if we fail, 
 with all our conservative elements to save us, then, indeed, there will be no 
 hope for an independent and free republic on this continent, and the public 
 mind will despondingly turn to the stronger and more fised forms of the old 
 world. 
 
 In this point of view, I most respectfully urge that you increase the power 
 and dignity of the State, through all her administrative offices, and adhere 
 firmly to all the conservative principles of our Constitution. 
 
 Clouds and darkness may rest upon our beloved country, but if we are 
 true to ourselves, and just to others, looking with confiding faith up to that 
 Providence who presides over the destinies of men and of governments, we 
 will surely triumph, and come out of our trials a wiser and a better people. 
 
 F. W. PICKENS. 
 
V