Lincoln Takes Command (review)

332civil war history their happiness at the results, and offered to take die oath of allegiance to the United States. . . . Whedier the Union sentiment . . . was of the genuine, inbred type or simply an expedient to make the best of changing conditions, die fact is diat many of die Bankers did side widi die North. Regarding the postwar period, the author states: As in other wars which have come to the Banks, the area soon made the return to normalcy. Because there had been proportionately little slave ownership on the Banks before the war, the Outer Bankers had comparatively little difficulty in adjusting to die new order. Some of die former slaves remained in die area, and like die free colored people who had lived tiiere for many years, they soon were living side by side witii the white people, . . . accepted as members of the Banks community, not quite on an equal plane, but so close to it diat it took a keen observer to teU the difference. The author's survey of the Outer Banks concludes widi a capsule history of each community, and witii further attention to special points of interest. Far from the guns of the Civü War but not without their lingering echoes, the last chapter ("The Banks Today") offers an exceUent guide to present-day visitors who are responsively aware of the historic past of this region. Ruby C. Glockler Durham, North Carolina. Lincoln Takes Command. By John S. Tilley. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1941. Pp. xxxvü, 334. $5.00.) that the victors write a war's history is axiomatic. For many years the American Civü War was no exception to the general rule. But for the past several decades the vanquished have had their spokesmen—eloquent and persuasive spokesmen. In the American Civü War there is no argument over who fired die first shot, but the debate is endless over die question of whedier diose who fired die first shot were forced into die firing by aggressive Northern action. Looking toward die upcoming Civü War centennial, the University of North Carolina Press has reissued John S. Tüley's Lincoln Takes Command, originally published in 1941. Pointing out tiiat "these many years the South has stood before the bar under indictment for recklessly firing on the flag," Mr. Tüley asserts that "diere is reason to question the justice of this widely held belief. A mass of evidence seems to point in a different direction. . . . the time is ripe for a reexamination of this material and the acceptance of a more sound and just understanding." The autiior's purpose, then, is to scrutinize the evidence bearing upon the events and "circumstances immediately preceding die secession of Soudi Carolina and leading to die outbreak at Sumter." The volume focuses its attention on the tense winter of 1860-61—roughly from Lincoln's election in November to the explosion in Charleston harbor the Book Reviews333 foUowing April. The first one-third of die work deals widi die developments at or relating to Fort Pickens and Pensacola; die latter two-thirds concentrates on Charleston, Fort Sumter, and Lincoln's handling of this touchy problem. The author assembles an impressive array of evidence covering the crucial period, which he examines in a fashion weU becoming the attorney that he is. He makes much of the Buchanan administration's desire to avoid a clash and its promises and pledges not to reinforce Forts Sumter and Pickens in return for a Southern pledge not to attack. These pledges, it is suggested, were tacidy accepted by and therefore binding upon the Lincoln administration. Much emphasis is given to Major Robert Anderson's supplies, as Tüley maintains that Anderson's men continued to receive at least some supplies from Charleston itself as late as early April, 1861, and diat Charleston cut these off only after learningthat Lincoln was ordering a relief expedition to Sumter. Ward Lamon's expedition to Charleston and Seward's discussions with Justice John A. CampbeU, interceding for die Confederate commissioners in March, 1861, are closely examined. Botii yield evidence to die effect diat Soudiem leaders were being informed diat Sumter was to be evacuated. The...