G. V. Fox, afterward Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy,
had proposed a plan for reenforcing and furnishing supplies to the
garrison of Fort Sumter in February, during the Administration of Mr.
Buchanan. In a letter published in the newspapers since the war, he
gives an account of the manner in which the proposition was renewed to
the new Administration and its reception by them, as follows:
"On the 12th of March I received a telegram from
Postmaster-General Blair to come to Washington. I arrived there
on the 13th. Mr. Blair having been acquainted with the
proposition I presented to General Scott, under Mr. Buchanan's
Administration, sent for me to tender the same to Mr. Lincoln,
informing me that Lieutenant-General Scott had advised the
President that the fort could not be relieved, and must be given
up. Mr. Blair took me at once to the White House, and I
explained the plan to the President. Thence we adjourned to
Lieutenant-General Scott's office, where a renewed discussion of
the subject took place. The General informed the President that
my plan was practicable in February, but that the increased
number of batteries erected at the mouth of the harbor since
that time rendered it impossible in March.
"Finding that there was great opposition to any attempt at
relieving Fort Sumter, and that Mr. Blair alone sustained the
President in his policy of refusing to yield, I judged that my
arguments in favor of the practicability of sending in supplies
would be strengthened by a visit to Charleston and the fort.
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