Meanwhile, in Georgia, at a hundred meetings, the secession issue
was being hotly discussed. But there was not yet any certainty
which way the scale would turn. An invitation from South Carolina
to join in a general Southern convention had been declined by the
Governor in November. Governor Brown has left an account
ascribing the comparative coolness and deliberation of the hour
to the prevailing impression that President Buchanan had pledged
himself not to alter the military status at Charleston. In an
interview between South Carolina representatives and the
President, the Carolinians understood that such a pledge was
given. "It was generally understood by the country," says
Governor Brown, "that such an agreement...had been entered
Into...and that Governor Floyd of Virginia, then Secretary of
War, had expressed his determination to resign his position in
the Cabinet in case of the refusal of the President to carry out
the agreement in good faith. The resignation of Governor Floyd
was therefore naturally looked upon, should it occur, as a signal
given to the South that reinforcements were to be sent to
Charleston and that the coercive policy had been adopted by the
Federal Government."

While the "canvass in Georgia for members of the State convention
was progressing with much interest on both sides," there came
suddenly the news that Anderson had transferred his garrison from
Fort Moultrie to the island fortress of Sumter. That same day
commissioners from South Carolina, newly arrived at Washington,
sought in vain to persuade the President to order Anderson back
to Moultrie. The Secretary of War made the subject an issue
before the Cabinet. Unable to carry his point, two days later he
resigned.*