On this date 150 years ago, President Lincoln, having taken a stance on Fort Sumter, now prepared to act on the Fort Pickens' dilemma. A force was ordered to Florida to relieve the latter military post, while rumours flew in the capital that Fort Sumter was to be abandoned; there was no truth to these rumours, as Lincon's orders of March 29th prove.

Yet another Federal outpost, Fort Bliss in Texas, surrendered its' jurisdiction to state troops. The toll of Federal property lost to Southern hands continued to mount, and the mood in both the Union and the Confederacy was pessimistic as to the outcome of the current problems. The Lincoln administration had taken steps which it felt were both emphatic yet non-provoking.