aring shells to be used as hand-grenades, stopping up surplus
embrasures, and removing the debris which encumbered the passages from
one part of the work to another. Quarters were selected for the
officers, soldiers, and camp-women; and the household furniture which
belonged to each, and which had been thrown pell-mell on the
parade-ground, was all separated and deposited in the different rooms. I
chose an apartment near the mess hall, and made it so comfortable that
Anderson and Seymour came there temporarily to live with me. Our mess
was also organized, and placed in charge of Mr. Edward Moale.

In the afternoon, Governor Pickens sent Colonel J.J. Petigru and Major
Elison Capers, both field-officers of the rifle regiment, in full
uniform, to interview Major Anderson. Their looks were full of wrath,
and they bowed stiffly and indignantly in answer to our smiling
salutations. I was present at the conversation that ensued, but did not
take notes. They told the major that perhaps he was not aware that an
agreement had been entered into with President Buchanan not to
re-enforce the forts in the harbor. They desired to call his attention
to the fact that his recent movement was in direct violation of the
contract referred to. They were, therefore, directed by the governor to
request him, peremptorily but courteously, to immediately return to Fort
Moultrie. Anderson replied, in substance, that he knew nothing of any
such agreement; that as commander of the defenses of Charleston he had
an inherent right to occupy any fort in the harbor. He stated that he,
too, was a Southern man; that he believed the whole difficulty was
brought on by the faithlessness of the North--here the aids made a stiff
bow--but as regards returning to Fort Moultrie, he could not, and he
would not, do it. The commissioners were then courteously dismissed.

I have always felt that this was a most insolent demand. If the governor
considered himself aggrieved by our change of station, his redress lay
in an appeal to Washington. This attempt to assume command of us, and
order us out of a United States fort, was an assumption of authority
that merited a more spirited reply.

Before his messengers left, I took occasion, in conversation with a
person who came over in the boat with them, to refer to the great
strength of the work, and I also spoke of the shells which we had
prepared to throw down on the heads of an attacking party. I knew the
conversation wo