led by Seward, recommended withdrawal in order to preserve the peace and provide time for Southern Unionism to reassert itself. Only Postmaster General Montgomery Blair opposed evacuation, because it would “convince the rebels that the administration lacks firmness and will.” To give up the fort meant giving up the Union.

Lincoln was inclined to think so, too. The risk of demoralizing his own party and conceding the legitimacy of the Confederacy was uppermost in Lincoln’s mind. He sought a formula that might maintain Sumter as a symbol of national sovereignty without provoking war. The third week of March, Blair introduced the president to his brother-in-law Gustavus V. Fox, a Massachusetts businessman and a former naval officer, who proposed to run troops and supplies into Sumter at night on chartered tugs while warships stood by to suppress Confederate artillery if it fired on the tugs. Lincoln was intrigued and glad to talk with someone who offered a plan by which something could be done instead of telling him why it could not.

During the last week of March, Northern opinion seemed to harden against evacuation. So did Lincoln’s. On March 28 General Scott submitted a memorandum recommending that both Sumter and Pickens be evacuated. That evening the president and Mrs. Lincoln hosted a dinner for cabinet officers, foreign diplomats, and other dignitaries. Afterward Lincoln called the cabinet together to inform them of Scott’s memorandum. “Blank amazement” registered on several faces as they realized that Scott was advising what amounted to unconditional surrender.

In the meantime, the nature of the Sumter expedition had changed in a crucial way. A full-scale attempt to reinforce the fort, backed by warships shooting their way into Charleston Bay, would make the North the aggressor. Therefore Lincoln decided to separate the question of reinforcements from that of provisions. He would send in only supplies, while warships stood by to go into action only if Confederate guns opened fire. And he would notify South Carolina’s governor of his intentions. If the Confederates fired on unarmed tugs carrying provisions, they would be attacking a “mission of humanity” bringing “food for hungry men.”

It was a stroke of brilliance. In effect Lincoln flipped a coin with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, saying: “Heads I win; tails you lose.”

On April 6, Lincoln sent a special messenger to Charleston with a dispatch notifying the governor (Lincoln did not officially recognize the

Confederate government) “to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort-Sumpter with provisions only; and that, if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be made, without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the Fort.” The coin was in the air, and Lincoln expected to win either way it landed.

On April 8, the Confederate secretary of war telegraphed Gen. Beauregard, the commander at Charleston: “Under no circumstances are you to allow provisions to be sent to Fort Sumter.” Two days later came another telegram: “You will at once demand its evacuation, and if this is refused proceed . . . to reduce it.” Two days after that, Confederate guns opened fire.

For the second time in American history, it was a shot heard around the world.

Adapted from Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson (Penguin Press 2008).