(1820-1862) North Carolina representative in the U.S. Congress, later a Confederate brigadier general in the American Civil War, killed at the Battle of Antietam. Rare, very fine historical content A.L.S. as congressman, 3pp. 4to., Washington, D.C., Jan 15, 1861, to a ‘Col. H. T. Clarke’, very likely HENRY T. CLARK (1808-1874), who would serve as Governor of North Carolina from July, 1861 to September, 1862. In part: ‘...I went immediately to the President [James Buchanan] to inform him that the Governor [of North Carolina, John W. Ellis] had given orders for the evacuation of Fort Caswell. He had just recd. a letter from the Governor giving him the information. I expressed to him my belief that the fort would not be interfered with again unless it was done by direction of the State authorities, of which… would of course give him warning – and my most decided conviction that it would be unwise to send any Federal troops to take charge of them. I am sure there will be no troops sent there… Let cool men hold the reins… The original… message of 3 Jany. was referred to a Select Committee of 5 of whom I am one. It involves the whole question – what is to be done by the Federal Govt. in regard to the Seceding States? My proposition is that, to remove all necessity for the use of force, and the breaking out of civil war pending the deliberations of Congress on the means of settling our differences – all the laws of the United States be suspended for a limited time in the seceding states. The committee… prefers a proposition to give the President power to suspend ports of entry at his discretion. I am inclined at present to prefer the last to a ‘force bill’… This must not get into the papers [as] the proceedings of the Committee are confidential… The only ground on which I can draw hope from [incoming Secretary of State William H.] Seward’s speech, is in the assumption that he meant more than he said.’ He signs boldly ‘L. oB. Branch’ at the conclusion in black ink. Both sheets of the letter have been silked for preservation, stabilizing the numerous chips, splits and hairline tears present, and Branch’s handwriting is difficult to read at times. Nevertheless, the letter is in very good condition overall, and serves as a snapshot of a very fraught moment at the brink of Southern secession and Civil War. Fort Caswell, on the Cape Fear River approaching Wilmington, was seized twice in 1861 by the pro-secession ‘Cape Fear Minutemen’, but was ordered to be returned to its sole U.S. Army caretaker by Gov. Ellis. At the outbreak of war, the fort, along with nearby Fort Fisher, was expanded into an elaborate defensive system which kept the port of Wilmington open to Confederate blockade runners until 1865. Seward’s speech, to which Branch refers at the end of his letter, was given before the Senate on Jan. 12, and urged the preservation of the Union, floating the proposition of a constitutional amendment preventing federal interference with slavery. He hinted that the New Mexico Territory might be admitted as a slave state, and urged the construction of two transcontinental railroads, one northern, one southern. He further suggested the passage of legislation to bar interstate invasions such as that by John Brown.