Civil War–dated ALS, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7.25, September 21, 1861. Handwritten letter to George W. Bowman, who had served as Superintendent of Public Printing during his administration, carrying commentary in support of the Union amidst the Civil War and justifying his own conduct in office during the secession crisis. In part: "I did receive the information to which you refer & apparently from direct quarters; but at the time I stated emphatically there must be some mistake & I did not believe it. Let that pass. I was perfectly convinced before your letter that you had not abused me, nor become a Black Republican. I had a hard time of it during my administration; but upon a careful review of all my conduct I should not change it in a single important measure if this were now in my power. When the official documents & the facts come to be presented to the public, I entertain no apprehension as to what will be their verdict.
On the one side I had been violently opposed by the Republicans from the beginning & on the other side the leading Secessionists were estranged from me from the date of my message on the 3 December & soon after when I returned the insolent letter of the South Carolina Commissioners to them unanswered all intercourse political or social between them & myself ceased. I was on the next day, or a day or two after, violently attacked in the Senate by Jefferson Davis & his followers & the letter which I had returned was submitted by him to that Body & published in the Congressional Globe. I pursued my own steady course from the beginning. The Charleston authorities were directly notified over & over again that if they attacked Fort Sumter I should consider this attack as the commencement of a civil war.
I need scarcely say that I agree with you in approving ‘the active prosecution of the war by the Government.’ I have never held any other language since the Confederates commenced it by the attack on Fort Sumter. It would probably have commenced early in January had the Senate confirmed my nomination of a Collector for the Port of Charleston. Thank God! My health is almost entirely restored; but my strength returns slowly. I am almost sorry to learn that you have any idea of leaving Bedford; you are so agreeably associated in my mind with that ancient Borough. Still your motive is laudable. I shall be very glad to see you once more at Wheatland whenever this may suit your convenience." In very good to fine condition, with light toning to the first and last pages, small splits to the central vertical fold, and splitting to the hinge.
Written from his home at Wheatland on September 21, 1861, just months after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, Buchanan justifies his presidential conduct in the face of fierce criticism from both Republicans and Southern secessionists. He asserts that he acted consistently and conscientiously throughout the crisis, maintaining that official documents would ultimately vindicate him, and recounts how his stance estranged him from extremists on both sides.
The letter is also notable for the light it sheds on Buchanan’s perspective in the early months of the war. He explicitly supports the Union’s “active prosecution of the war,” a striking affirmation given his long-standing struggles to formulate an effective policy toward secession while in office. At a time when many in the North and South continued to debate culpability for the conflict’s outbreak, this personal correspondence reveals how Buchanan sought to shape his legacy and defend his reputation.
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