=441. Opposition to the Seceders.=—The first step in opposition to the seceders was taken by Major Robert Anderson of Kentucky, who abandoned the untenable Fort Moultrie of which he was in charge, and posted himself in Fort Sumter, which, being on an island, could be more easily held for the Union if succor were speedily provided by the authorities in Washington. The latter were vacillating, however, or else were in open sympathy with the secessionists. The President was at least strong enough to resist the demand of the South Carolina Commissioners that Anderson should be ordered to evacuate Fort Sumter, and he also refused to receive further communications from the commissioners. Finally, too, he surrounded himself with a loyal Cabinet, through resignations which were voluntary, but should have been demanded. Chief among his new advisers were Jeremiah S. Black of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State; Edwin M. Stanton of Pennsylvania, Attorney-General; Joseph Holt of Kentucky, Secretary of War; and John A. Dix[195] of New York, Secretary of the Treasury. =442. The Star of the West.=—The reorganized Cabinet insisted on reënforcing Anderson at Fort Sumter, but the attempt was made only with a merchant steamer, the _Star of the West_, which turned back at the fire of the Carolinian batteries (January 9, 1861). This rather weak step served the Southerners with matter for indignation and for charges that the North was bent on war. It also led to the discovery that Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, the Secretary of the Interior, had warned the South Carolinians of the intended reënforcement. Thompson at once resigned, and Buchanan arranged a sort of armistice with the Southerners still in Congress, by which he was to be allowed to finish his administration in peace, it being understood that the forts should be neither reënforced nor captured. [Illustration: CONFEDERATE CAPITOL, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.]