All this mollycoddling infuriated at least one prominent Charlestonian, however. Fire-eater Robert Barnwell Rhett grew so frustrated that he strode into Governor Pickens’s office and demanded that he immediately authorize the taking of Sumter. Pickens and Rhett detested each other, but the governor reacted with forbearance and wit. “Certainly, Mr. Rhett; I have no objection!” Pickens replied. “I will furnish you with some men, and you can storm the work yourself.” “But, sir, I am not a military man!” “Nor I either,” Pickens said, “and therefore I take the advice of those that are!”
