March 8, 1861; The New York Herald
AFFAIRS AT FORT SUMTER.
WASHINGTON, March 7, 1861.
A despatch was received here today stating that an attack on Sumter was shortly anticipated. This change of policy, it is understood, is not caused so much by the inaugural as from the fact that Chase and Blair are members of President Lincoln’s Cabinet. The Inaugural, taken in connection with the construction of the Cabinet, is regarded as a declaration of war. So says the intelligence just received from Charleston.
I am informed by an officer of the army that information has been received from Major Anderson to the effect that it is useless to send less than twenty thousand soldiers to Charleston. Less than that number cannot enter the harbor and destroy the batteries on either side. This information, it is said, is also in possession of the government.
The Charleston Courier of the 5th inst. states that Brigadier General Beauregard has expressed perfect confidence, after viewing the fortifications in Charleston harbor, that Fort Sumter can be reduced. He says that it is only a question of time.
WASHINGTON, March 7, 1861.
The War Department today received letters from Major Anderson dated the 4th but they contain nothing of especial importance. The most friendly feelings exist between him and the South Carolina authorities. Postal facilities are still open to him, and privileges of marketing, to a limited extent, continue.