The Presidents at Christmas: James Buchanan and the Christmas of 1860
James Buchanan, the 15th President, had a very stressful holiday season during the Christmas season of 1860. The nation had just chosen Abraham Lincoln as his successor. Southern states saw Lincoln’s election as the death of slavery and an end to the southern way of life. Led by South Carolina, seven of these southern states began the process of drawing up Articles of Secession.
Three weeks before Christmas, in his annual address to Congress, Buchanan appealed to both sides while pursuing a diplomatic solution. He blamed the crisis largely on northern agitation and interference in southern affairs but denounced the Constitutional right of any state to secede from the Union. However, he denied the right of the federal government to use military force against a seceding state. When organized armed groups seized military installations and federal properties throughout the South, Buchanan declined to use force in an attempt to put a stop to the problem. In the early weeks of the crisis, he surrounded himself with southern sympathizers, many of them from his own cabinet, and refused to meet with abolitionist Republican leaders.
Buchanan sent a delegation to Charleston, asking that South Carolina put off any decision on secession until after Lincoln was inaugurated. Throughout the Christmas season of 1860, those around Buchanan described him as appearing nervous, with his cheek twitching and his hair often mussed. He spent much of his time in long meetings with his cabinet and his mind seemed overwrought with distraction, forgetting orders he had given and documents he had read. He ceased his recreational walks around Washington and made his advisors come to his quarters to see him. The normally statesman-like President was reported to have cursed publicly, wept, and displayed a tremor in his hands. The symptoms he displayed led those around him to believe that the severe mental strain was affecting both his health and his judgment.
The situation boiled over on December 20, when South Carolina declared its formal secession and six other southern states signaled they were moving in a similar direction. U.S. Major Robert Anderson used the cover of night to move his troops from the lightly-armored Fort Moultrie across Charleston harbor to the far more robust Fort Sumter on Christmas night, 1860. He and his men began mounting guns and strengthening casements. Still seeking compromise, Buchanan spent Christmas week negotiating with a South Carolina delegation, which pro-Union forces considered to be the representatives of an illegitimate government. He offered to have Anderson and his troops return to Moultrie if the state’s government promised to leave the forts unmolested, but no agreement was reached.
As the holiday season drew to a close, several of Buchanan’s pro-southern advisors and cabinet members resigned. With the preservation of the Union as his overriding objective, he replaced the departed cabinet members with northern, staunchly pro-Union diplomats. Following the Christmas season, on January 5, 1861, Buchanan ordered the Union steamship Star of the West to set sail from New York towards Sumter with 250 men and supplies. As it drew near Charleston harbor, Confederate batteries opened fire, forcing the ship to retreat and return to port. Attempting to avoid war, Buchanan made no further attempts to resupply the fort but refused to surrender it to the Confederate government. He also shut down the Washington Constitution, the capital’s federally-funded newspaper which had printed editorials supporting the southern states’ right to secede.
Buchanan turned to diplomacy and the Washington Peace Conference was convened in February 1861 after six more deep-south states has formally declared their split from the Union. The conference discussed offering federal concessions on states’ rights and slavery in return for southern and border states renouncing secession. No progress was made and the Civil War began when Lincoln made the subsequent attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter.
In happier times, Buchanan, a devout Presbyterian, would have his southern Pennsylvania estate, called Wheatland, lavishly decorated at Christmas for all of the community to enjoy. To this day, Wheatland is adorned in the same manor as it was in the mid-19th Century and Christmastime tours are offered through the property.
Three weeks before Christmas, in his annual address to Congress, Buchanan appealed to both sides while pursuing a diplomatic solution. He blamed the crisis largely on northern agitation and interference in southern affairs but denounced the Constitutional right of any state to secede from the Union. However, he denied the right of the federal government to use military force against a seceding state. When organized armed groups seized military installations and federal properties throughout the South, Buchanan declined to use force in an attempt to put a stop to the problem. In the early weeks of the crisis, he surrounded himself with southern sympathizers, many of them from his own cabinet, and refused to meet with abolitionist Republican leaders.
Buchanan sent a delegation to Charleston, asking that South Carolina put off any decision on secession until after Lincoln was inaugurated. Throughout the Christmas season of 1860, those around Buchanan described him as appearing nervous, with his cheek twitching and his hair often mussed. He spent much of his time in long meetings with his cabinet and his mind seemed overwrought with distraction, forgetting orders he had given and documents he had read. He ceased his recreational walks around Washington and made his advisors come to his quarters to see him. The normally statesman-like President was reported to have cursed publicly, wept, and displayed a tremor in his hands. The symptoms he displayed led those around him to believe that the severe mental strain was affecting both his health and his judgment.
The situation boiled over on December 20, when South Carolina declared its formal secession and six other southern states signaled they were moving in a similar direction. U.S. Major Robert Anderson used the cover of night to move his troops from the lightly-armored Fort Moultrie across Charleston harbor to the far more robust Fort Sumter on Christmas night, 1860. He and his men began mounting guns and strengthening casements. Still seeking compromise, Buchanan spent Christmas week negotiating with a South Carolina delegation, which pro-Union forces considered to be the representatives of an illegitimate government. He offered to have Anderson and his troops return to Moultrie if the state’s government promised to leave the forts unmolested, but no agreement was reached.
As the holiday season drew to a close, several of Buchanan’s pro-southern advisors and cabinet members resigned. With the preservation of the Union as his overriding objective, he replaced the departed cabinet members with northern, staunchly pro-Union diplomats. Following the Christmas season, on January 5, 1861, Buchanan ordered the Union steamship Star of the West to set sail from New York towards Sumter with 250 men and supplies. As it drew near Charleston harbor, Confederate batteries opened fire, forcing the ship to retreat and return to port. Attempting to avoid war, Buchanan made no further attempts to resupply the fort but refused to surrender it to the Confederate government. He also shut down the Washington Constitution, the capital’s federally-funded newspaper which had printed editorials supporting the southern states’ right to secede.
Buchanan turned to diplomacy and the Washington Peace Conference was convened in February 1861 after six more deep-south states has formally declared their split from the Union. The conference discussed offering federal concessions on states’ rights and slavery in return for southern and border states renouncing secession. No progress was made and the Civil War began when Lincoln made the subsequent attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter.
In happier times, Buchanan, a devout Presbyterian, would have his southern Pennsylvania estate, called Wheatland, lavishly decorated at Christmas for all of the community to enjoy. To this day, Wheatland is adorned in the same manor as it was in the mid-19th Century and Christmastime tours are offered through the property.