January 7, 1861, The New York Herald
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 1861.
Those who are well acquainted with Major Anderson are much amused at the descriptions which are given of him by Northern papers. He seems to be thought a phlegmatic statesman rather than a soldier, and to have acted, in removing the troops under his command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, from motives of pure national policy. The very reverse is the case. He is a highly honorable army officer, and has done no more than, without contrary instructions would have been instinctive and natural to any well informed, judicious military tactician. That is, knowing that Fort Sumter was the key to the entire federal strength in Charleston harbor, that the militia of Charleston, once in possession of it, could not be dislodged, and would possess the command of Fort Moultrie, and having been informed that its seizure by a mob was imminent, he retired to a vantage ground, which it would have been next to reasonable to have permitted insurrectionists to hold and menace him from. Any diplomatic afterthought no more entered his head probably, than it does that of, any responsible commander of a post in fulfilling present duty, leaving the consequence in the hands of Providence.