After the resignation of Secretary of the Treasury Philip F. Thomas in 1860 and the secession of South Carolina the same year, the moneyed interests in the East demanded that John A. Dix (1798-1879) be made Secretary. A former postmaster and Senator from New York, Dix was reputed to be
"a cultivated writer, a fluent vigorous speaker, a man of great courage, prompt decision and proved executive ability."
Entering office during a financial panic, he quickly obtained the much needed loans from banks and the American people that his predecessor had failed to secure. He won further confidence in the North by dispatching a message to a Treasury customs official in New Orleans to take possession of a Treasury Department revenue cutter there.
"If anyone attempts to haul down the American flag," he ordered, "shoot him on the spot." Dix was in office less than three months, resigning at the end of Buchanan's presidency. Buchanan's successor, President Lincoln, rewarded his performance as Secretary with the commission of Major General in charge of Alexandria and Arlington Virginia during the Civil War.
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