Chapter 137: Lincoln decides to reinforce Sumter.

With no good news from the Virginia Convention which convenes on February 13, the President now concludes that the rebellion is not “artificial” as he thought. The South is not bluffing this time. Restraint and patience and the “mystic chords of memory” will not restore their place in the Union. Which means war is coming.

Hearing that Major Anderson will run out of supplies by April 15, he orders thirty-nine year old Lt. Gustavus Fox, Gideon Welles right hand man at the Navy Department, to pull together a detailed plan to reinforce both Ft. Sumter and Ft. Pickens.

At his March 29 Cabinet meeting the consensus has turned away from Seward and in favor of Lincoln’s plan.