Reiterating his reasons for resigning his command, in a 7-page letter, signed by Simons, Charleston, July 15, 1861, three months after the fall of the Charleston Harbor Fort in the opening salvos of the Civil War, to S.C. Governor F.W. Pickens, a manuscript draft copy with extensive corrections, deletions, and additions.
4to. 7 pages, approximately 1200 words in a completely legible hand, on lined stationery, with the embossed stamp of Evans and Cogswell, Charleston. Docketed on the verso of the final leaf "July 15 1861 / James Simons / to / Governor Pickens / Reply to Letter / of Gov. P / 11 July 1861." Brigadier General James Simons's draft copy of a letter further explaining his reasons for resigning his command, given in reply to a July 11 letter from Gov. Pickens that apparently had quarreled with earlier correspondence from Simons, responding point by point, to criticisms he feels the Governor has leveled against him over differences of opinion regarding the military defensibility of Charleston Harbor. Most, if not all, of the Pickens-Simons correspondence concerning this matter has been published; the James Simons papers at the University of South Carolina holds correspondence from Pickens, but we have not been able to locate the original manuscripts or other drafts for the Simons portion of this correspondence. Old tideline from dampstaining, with professional conservation work, cleaning the paper, restoring chipped areas along the lower edge through leaf-casting, and completing several letters and marks with matching manuscript on four leaves. Folded for mailing or filing. (61444) (9835). Item #61444
Following the Union Army take over of Fort Sumter by Major Robert Anderson on December 26, 1860, just six days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, Gov. Pickens directed Major General Schinierle to occupy Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, and Castle Pinckney, and to establish a battery on Morris Island to prevent, at all costs, the reinforcement of Anderson’s men. Simons, as commander of the 4th Brigade of the Charleston Militia, was second in command of the defenses for the harbor, occupying the critical spot at Morris Island at the harbor’s entrance. He expressed his concerns over the defense of the harbor in a six-page report to the Governor on January 1, 1861: "I cannot sacrifice to matter of Etiquette questions and issues of such momentous importance as now surround us ... The line of operations embraces four points 1) Fort Moultrie 2) Castle Pinckney 3) Fort Johnson 4) Morris Island. By the map which accompanies this paper, it will appear that your lines of communication with these points ... are directly within the range and effective power of Fort Sumter - the Citadel of the Harbour controlling every point. At the first return of fire from Fort Sumter, your lines of communication are utterly cut off." He goes on to report: "Fort Moultrie - This position is wholly untenable - Lt. Col. De Saussure ... gave you prompt notice of this fact on the morning after his occupation.” To this Gov. Pickens responded with great offense, insinuating that Simons was counseling abandonment of the harbor defenses. Simons’ first letter of resignation came almost immediately, on January 8, but he was prevailed upon by the Secretary of War to withdraw it. The 4th Brigade, under Simons command led the first attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. The controversy between Simons and the Governor continued to simmer until a few months after Anderson and his Union forces had surrendered Fort Sumter. By July, in spite of Simons’ successes defending the Charleston harbor, he again offered his resignation. Gov. Pickens apparently wrote to refute Simons arguments. Simon replies in this lengthy manuscript letter: “I had hoped I would not have been obliged to extend this correspondence but I am sure your sense of justice will indulge me a letter further. I have assigned among other reasons for resigning, that you have not shown that recognition which appeared to be due to me as a general officer. I detailed several instances, but confined myself to the facts, neither canvassing nor questioning your intuition or motive. You reply, that you do not think my reasons for resigning are sufficient, yet you adopt a line of argument to arrive at this conclusion, which not only admits the facts I have stated but is founded … on a settled intention not to consult me, and why? Because on two occasions having been called into council & my opinion specially asked, I ventured to differ from you & express opinions not in conformity with yours. In other words my rank position & counsel as a public officer were to be overlooked, because I did not yield acquiescence to that which did not accord with my honest convictions …. I must ask your indulgence a little longer. You say, that about the 29 December I made “a regular Military Protest” against everything you had done, or prepared to do, & demanded a council of War. That on the 3 day of January last you endorsed on the back of my demand for a council of War, that you could agree to no council of War that would drive you to any such conclusions. Permit me in justice to myself, to show you the mistaken impressions under which you seem to labour. The date of my Report was 1 Jany & not 29 December. This date is important as you will see. I respectfully ask leave to correct your misapprehension also as to its being a ‘regular Military Protest.’ It appears to me that you are mistaken. The paper I sent to you was a Report on the defense of the Harbour of Charleston. I sent it to you because on 31 Dec. 1860 you directed Major Genl. Schinierle in you own words as follows —‘You are now ordered to see and attend particularly to the objects & the commands I have detailed to you above, & further purpose you are directed to call into requisition and council the valuable aid and co-operation of Brigadier General Simons.’ Thus called and in pursuance of my responsibility and duty as Brigadier General I made a Report of my examination of the Harbour & my opinion thereon. That it was a Report & not a Protest, I cite your excellency as both witness & judge. On the 2 Jany. You say in a letter to me, ‘Your Extraordinary report I received last night & have only to say that I do not pretend that the orders & disposition of the forces in Charleston Harbour are at all perfect or beyond the criticism of strict military rule.’ If you thought it then ‘a regular Military Protest’ it seems to me that you would not have called it a report.” Simons goes on to protest Gov. Pickens’ actions in removing Capt. Gifford’s Company from his command in late June ”without giving me the least notice.” He also asks for a copy of his original report, which was reviewed and approved of by members of the Governor’s Board of Ordnance at the time, “as this document forms part of the public record of this transaction, and may be of use to me in after history ….” In conclusion, Simons states that he regrets the “controversial character” of their correspondence and he does “disclaim any aggressive intention or spirit against yourself or your administration of public affairs. I hope I am too loyal a citizen to set so evil an example. I have been obliged to present my as it appears to me right in the record and to disclose the grounds on which I felt myself constrained to retire from my post at such a season, but this does not abate my consideration for your high official station, or my ardent hope for the successful termination of the Great Revolution in which we are engaged.” Gov. Pickens did accept Simons’ resignation. Simons went on to volunteer as a private in an artillery unit, having given up his rank, though he did not long serve in that capacity, resuming his legal career. This letter, with all of the corrections, additions, and deletions given here, along with other letters in the Simons-Pickens correspondence was published as Address to the Officers of the Fourth Brigade, Giving Them the Grounds for His Resignation; Respectfully Submitted to Them by James Simons, July, 1861 (Charleston: Evans & Cogswell, 1861; Parrish & Willingham 5048: Huntington, Georgia, Duke North Carolina, Library Co. of Philadelphia, South Carolina Historical Society). Manuscript material from Brig. Gen. James Simons is scarce, with the last recent records of sales at auction being for his manuscript report of the defenses of Charleston Harbor, 1 Jan. 1861, having sold at Sotheby’s in 2004 ($9600), and the same item at Bloomsbury NY in 2008 (7500 pounds).
Price: $5,000.00