ABSTRACT
The authorities in Charleston and Montgomery were better informed of the goings on in Lincoln's cabinet than the new president would have thought possible. On April 1, they received the decision that the US Government would not resupply Fort Sumter without first notifying the South Carolina government. Chew was not to accept a reply or communicate with any representative of the Confederate government. To the benefit of Lincoln's new strategy, there were many influential Southerners who believed that acting aggressively on the Fort Sumter question would cement the support of the other Southern states especially the Border States like Virginia. Montgomery Blair obviously led the opposing view, arguing that a show of strength was needed for the morale of the North and to strengthen the will of Southern Unionists. The Confederate government, as had South Carolina earlier, sent commissioners to Washington DC. Considering separation a foregone conclusion, they were in the US capital to work out the details.
