The Ticking Time Bomb

The U.S. soldiers at Ft. Sumter continued to await instructions from Washington on whether to abandon the fort. To help move things along, South Carolina's governor sent an envoy to U.S. President James Buchanan, requesting that the U.S. troops abandon the fort. If that request was denied, the envoy was instructed to offer to purchase the fort from the U.S. Government. The president refused both requests. By April, Abraham Lincoln had taken office and the issue was now his problem. To compound things, six southern states had joined South Carolina in seceding and had formed a confederacy. The battle of the wills had intensified and was sure to end badly.