At their final council of war in the Dover Hotel at 1:30 a.m. on February 16, Buckner stated that if C.F. Smith attacked again, he could only hold for thirty minutes, and he estimated that the cost of defending the fort would be as high as a seventy-five percent casualty rate.
Ved det afsluttende krigsråd på Dover hotel kl. 1.30 den 16. februar udtalte han, at hvis C.F. Smith angreb igen, ville han kun kunne holde stand i 30 minutter, og han regnede med, at det ville koste tab på 75%.