On recalling the Ship Brooklyn from relieving Fort Sumter and his resolve to protect the capital during Lincoln's inauguration. - photo 1
On recalling the Ship Brooklyn from relieving Fort Sumter and his resolve to protect the capital during Lincoln's inauguration. - photo 2
On recalling the Ship Brooklyn from relieving Fort Sumter and his resolve to protect the capital during Lincoln's inauguration. - photo 3
On recalling the Ship Brooklyn from relieving Fort Sumter and his resolve to protect the capital during Lincoln's inauguration. - photo 4

On recalling the Ship Brooklyn from relieving Fort Sumter and his resolve to protect the capital during Lincoln's inauguration.

Lot 123
16.10.2025 00:00UTC +01:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1472045
Lot 123 | On recalling the Ship Brooklyn from relieving Fort Sumter and his resolve to protect the capital during Lincoln's inauguration.
Estimate value
$ 15 000 – 25 000
BUCHANAN, James. (1791-1868). Autograph manuscript [Washington, January-February 1861].

One page, 345 x 212mm. With three pages written in an unknown hand in pencil, bifolium, 249 x 202mm.

On countermanding Scott's orders to reinforce Anderson at Fort Sumter and a draft of a message resolving to keep the peace in the District of Columbia as Lincoln's inauguration day approached. An unpublished message detailing an encounter with General Winfield Scott relative to his demand to reinforce the federal forts in Charleston Harbor: "On Monday 31 December 1860, I sent my letter to the South Carolina Commissions by Mr. Glossbrenner my private Secretary. They informed him it should remove the most respectful consideration & be answered as early as practicable. Some time after night of the same day General Scott called to see me & informed me that orders had been issued by the War & Navy Departments to send the Brooklyn with reinforcements from Fortress Monroe to Major Anderson. I expressed my surprise at this. — told him my honor was concerned & that I could sanction no such act before I received the answer of the Commissioners. He entirely concurred with me in opinion & the orders were immediately revoked…." In 1862, Scott used Buchanan's refusal to dispatch the Brooklyn to reinforce and supply Major Anderson in Charleston as part of a public indictment of the fifteenth president's conduct in the final months of his administration. (See State Secrets for the People. The Private Letters of Lieut.-General Scott, and the Reply of Ex-President Buchanan. New York: Hamilton, Johnson, & Farrelly, Publishers, 1862). Buchanan's comments on his refusal to send the Brooklyn, are accompanied by three pages (in an unidentified hand) on his regret of Colonel Anderson's decision to abandon Fort Moultrie in favor of Fort Sumter, asserting that he had immediately ordered the troops to return. But before Anderson could comply, South Carolina troops had occupied Moultrie.

The reverse of the leaf bearing Buchanan's comments on the Brooklyn, a penciled draft of a comment (written in an unidentified hand) concerning safety in the nation's capital as Lincoln's inauguration approached: "It is aid that serious apprehensions exist to some extent that the peace of the District may [replacing "may"] be disturbed before the 4th of March next. In any event it will be my duty to preserve it, & this duty shall be performed." Worried by persistent threats of violence during the inauguration ceremonies, Buchanan took the controversial step to order troops to secure Washington. Greeted by criticism over his moves, he later remarked, in one of his final messages as president, that if he had done nothing and violence ensued, he would never have been able to forgive himself. (See Christies, New York, 17 January 2024, lot 145).
Artist:James Buchanan (1791 - 1868)
Place of origin:USA
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
02.10.2025 – 16.10.2025
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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