experiments
had a cooling effect upon the ardor of the militia, who did not fancy
storming the fort over a line of torpedoes.

CHAPTER III.

PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS OF THE SECESSIONISTS.

Arrival of Major Anderson.--Huger's Opposition to a premature
Assault on Fort Moultrie.--Anderson's Report to the Secretary of
War.--Active Preparations by the South Carolinians.--Meeting of
Congress.--Attempts at Compromise.--Secession Batteries at Mount
Pleasant.--Arrival of Major Buell with written Orders.--Vain
Efforts to Strengthen Castle Pinckney.--Northern Opinion.--Public
Meeting in Philadelphia.

It was now openly proclaimed in Charleston that declarations in favor of
the Union would no longer be tolerated; that the time for deliberation
had passed, and the time for action had come.

On the 21st our new commander arrived and assumed command. He felt as if
he had a hereditary right to be there, for his father had distinguished
himself in the Revolutionary War in defense of old Fort Moultrie against
the British, and had been confined a long time as a prisoner in
Charleston. We had long known Anderson as a gentleman; courteous,
honest, intelligent, and thoroughly versed in his profession. He had
been twice brevetted for gallantry--once for services against the
Seminole Indians in Florida, and once for the battle of Molino del Rey
in Mexico, where he was badly wounded. In politics he was a strong
pro-slavery man. Nevertheless, he was opposed to secession and Southern
extremists. He soon found himself in troubled waters, for the
approaching battle of Fort Moultrie was talked of everywhere throughout
the State, and the mob in Charleston could hardly be restrained from
making an immediate assault. They were kept back once through the
exertions of Colonel Benjamin Huger, of the Ordnance Department of the
United States Army. As he belonged to one of the most distinguished
families in Charleston, he had great influence there. It was said at the
time that he threatened if we were attacked, or rather mobbed, in this
way, he would join us, and fight by the side of his friend Anderson.[5]
Colonel Memminger, afterward the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury,
also exerted himself to prevent any irregular and unauthorized
violence.

An additional force of workmen having arrived from Baltimore, Captain
Foster retained one hundred and twenty to continue the work on Fort
Moultrie, leaving his ass