Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

1860-1861.] THE FAMOUS "AMERICAN FLAG DESPATCH." 371
offered me the War Department, which I declined. Mr. Holt, Postmaster-general, was Acting Secretary of War, and I told the President I could
do nothing in that office to which the incumbent was not fully adequate.
But I said to him that if lie thought I could be of any use to him in
the Treasury Department, I would not refuse it. He replied that he
thought he could make the arrangement, and I left Washington for New
York. Before I reached home I saw my appointment in the newspapers.
Howell Cobb had resigned as Secretary of the Treasury a few weeks before and returned to Georgia, for the purpose of co-operating with that
State in the attempt to break up the Union. Philip F. Thomas of Maryland had been appointed in his place, but had not responded to the
expectations of the President or the country in the performance of its
duties, the credit of the government having fallen under him even to a
lower ebb than under his predecessor.
"I entered on my duties on the 15th day of January, 1861, and at Mr.
Buchanan's urgent request stayed with him at the President's house.
Forts, arsenals, and revenue-cutters in the Southern States had been
seized by the local authorities. No effort had been made by the government to secure its property; and there was an apparent indifference
in the public mind to these outrages which was incomprehensible to me.
"On the 18th of January, three days after I entered on my duties,
I sent a special messenger, W. Hemphill Jones, Esq., who was chief clerk
in one of the bureaus of the Treasury Department, to New Orleans, for
the purpose of saving the revenue-cutters in that city. He was then to
proceed to Mobile and Galveston and try to save the revenue-cutters
there. My orders were to provision them and send them to New York.
I knew if they remained there that the State authorities would take
possession of them.
" I received fiom Mr. Jones, on the 29th of January, the despatch published on page 440, vol. ii., of my Speeches, advising me that Captain
Breshwood, of the revenue-cutter McClelland, refused to obey my order.
It was about seven o'clock in the evening. I had dined, and was at
the department as usual, transacting business. The moment I read it I
wrote the following order:
"' Treasury Department, January 29,1861.
"' Tell Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Breshwood, assume command of the cutter, and obey the order I gave through you. If Captain
Breshwood, after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command of
the cutter, tell Lieutenant Caldwell to consider him as a mutineer, and
treat him accordingly. If any one attempts to haul down the American
flag, shoot him on the spot. JOHN A. Dix,
"' Secretary of the Treasury.'