Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/249

230 disaffect some of the navy and army officers in command at Charleston, in order to get possession of the forts and thereby prevent a blockade. The Secretary of War was also warned to be sure that he had officers in Charleston who could not be corrupted by the Nullifiers, and on October 29 he was instructed to send secret orders to the officers commanding the forts in Charleston harbor to be prepared against a surprise attack "by any set of people."

A few days later Jackson sent George Breathitt, brother of the governor of Kentucky, to Charleston in the guise of an agent for the Post-Office Department, but in reality as a military spy, to report on the ships in the harbor and the means of defense around Sullivan's Island and other strategic points. He was to endeavor to discover the intentions of the Nullifiers as to the collection of the duties, and to investigate reports Jackson had received from Union men in Charleston that there were several revenue officers who were expressing sympathy with the Nullifiers, and that the postmaster of Charleston, his deputy, and clerks were spies for the Nullifiers, opening