carried out,
and the arsenals and forts put in the condition he wanted them to be,
"the Southern Confederacy would not now exist."

On December 28th he wrote a note to the Secretary expressing the hope:
1. That orders may not be given for the evacuation of Fort Sumter
[this was after Major Anderson had withdrawn his forces from Fort
Moultrie and concentrated at Sumter]. 2. That one hundred and fifty
recruits may be instantly sent from Governor's Island to re-enforce
that garrison, with ample supplies of ammunition and subsistence,
including fresh vegetables, as potatoes, onions, turnips, etc. 3. That
one or two armed vessels be sent to support the said fort. In the same
communication he calls the Secretary's attention to Forts Jefferson
(Tortugas) and Taylor (Key West). On December 30th he addressed the
President and asked permission, "without reference to the War
Department, and otherwise as secretly as possible, to send two hundred
and fifty recruits from New York Harbor to re-enforce Fort Sumter,
together with some extra muskets or rifles, ammunition, and
subsistence," and asked that a sloop of war and cutter might be
ordered for the same purpose as early as the next day. The documents
show that from General Scott's first note, referred to and quoted
herein, down to the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, he was persistent in
his efforts to have the Southern forts, or as many of them as the
means at hand would permit, re-enforced and garrisoned against
surprise and capture; but little heed was paid to his importunities.

On the day before the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln General Scott
addressed William H. Seward, who, it was known, would become Secretary
of State in Lincoln's Cabinet, what is called the "Wayward sisters"
letter, and which is quoted in full:

"WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1861_.

"DEAR SIR: Hoping that in a day or two the new President
will have happily passed through all personal dangers and find
himself installed an honored successor of the great Washington, with
you as the chief of his Cabinet, I beg leave to repeat in writing
what I have before said to you orally, this supplement to my printed
'Views' (dated in October last) on the highly disordered condition
of our (so late) happy and glorious Union.

"To meet the extraordinary exigencies of the times, it seems to me
that I am guilty of no arrogance in limiting the President's field
of selectio