Non-partisan (constitutionalist) Governor Francis W. Pickens, of the Independent Republic of South Carolina, receives notice from Commander-in-Chief Abraham Lincoln, of the united States, that a Union flotilla of one gun boat, three tugboats and a chartered steamer carrying provisions and 200 Soldiers, under the command of Captain Gustavus V. Fox, have been dispatched to force the relief of Fort Sumter, South Carolina.

       [updated 10/9/2026]

Subsequent Events:

References:

Bruce Catton, The Civil War, (New York: American Heritage, 1960; Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1987), 284.

Richard N. Current, The Lincoln Nobody Knows, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1958), 117.

Fort Sumter – Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sumter#Civil_War

Current U.s. National Debt:

$40,439,546,016,039

Source