Fort Sumter

History 269 The Civil War and Reconstruction
The Fort Sumter Crisis

In 1853, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis tried to replace federal troops with state militia in all forts, mainly to shift the financial burden to the states. Had he succeeded, Fort Sumter probably would have little historical significance. But the states balked, and Sumter was fated for a major role, albeit mostly a symbolic one, in the American Civil War.

Once South Carolina leaders meeting in Charleston voted for secession on December 20, 1860, Ft. Sumter, just three miles across the harbor, became a symbol of the tense standoff between federal and state authority that was ultimately resolved by four years of war. Named for South Carolina Revolutionary War hero Thomas Sumter, the fort was a newly-constructed federal outpost situated on a man-made island of granite for the purpose of defending Charleston from hostile ships attempting to enter the harbor. Sumter posed no overt threat to the city; it was just an annoying symbol of the federal government--a bone in the throat of the secessionist South Carolinians--and a rallying point for both sides inexorably sliding toward war. As Bruce Catton once wrote, the war was going to start somewhere, and Charleston just happened to be the place where the first shots were fired. Since that is where secession began, it was fitting.

Prior to the crisis, while construction of Sumter was nearing completion, the federal garrison had been posted at Fort Moultrie, just recently placed under the command of Major Robert Anderson. (Ironically, Anderson's father, Major Richard Anderson, had unsuccessfully tried to defend Fort Moultrie from the British in 1780.) Lame-duck President James Buchanan ordered Anderson to stay put, and on December 10, Buchanan unofficially promised not to alter the status quo, but Anderson was not informed of this. Fort Moultrie, located on Sullivan's Island, was built to help defend Charleston from hostile ships; it was virtually defenseless against a land attack, and by all indications an attack was eminent. Acting under orders to take all necessary defensive steps to protect his garrison, under cover of darkness on the night of December 26th, Anderson quietly moved to the stronger position of Fort Sumter. Charleston officials were outraged and demanded that he return to Moultrie, but Anderson refused. Week after week, as the crisis worsened, Anderson stubbornly stuck to his post. A highly respected career soldier who had fought in Indian wars and the Mexican War; Anderson was also a former slaveholder from Kentucky, openly sympathetic to the South. He dreaded the prospect of war between the states and hoped to avoid it at all costs, but he was duty-bound to follow orders.

Fort Moultrie, with Fort Sumter in the distance.

Located offshore and solidly built, Sumter gave Anderson a much better position to defend, but it was nowhere near full strength. First, designed to house a garrison of 650 soldiers manning 146 big guns, the pentagon-shaped fort was built to stop anything trying to enter the harbor, but it was not designed for attack from Charleston itself. (It's walls were made of brick and concrete, 60 feet high and 10 feet thick, facing the ship channel with its back to Fort Johnson on James Island.) Second, Anderson had only about 70 men and 48 guns in place, no fuses for artillery shells, not much powder, and a limited supply of provisions for his men. Buchanan sent an unarmed vessel, the Star of the West, from New York with 200 reinforcements on January 5th, arriving at Charleston Harbor on the 9th. The South Carolina militia was ready and waiting; a few artillery rounds from Morris Island sent the ship steaming off to safety. (Anderson was unwilling to provide cover from Sumter's big guns because he had received no instructions from Washington regarding the mission.)

Beauregard and Anderson

Commanding the Confederate forces in Charleston was General Pierre G. T. Beauregard of Louisiana. Ironically, Anderson had been his artillery instructor at West Point. Beauregard graduated second in his class at the academy and served with Anderson in the Mexican War. In early March he was sent by President Jefferson Davis with instructions to make preparation for taking Sumter by force if necessary. As Anderson knew and had advised General Winfield Scott in Washington (and Beauregard), it was only a matter of days until Sumter would be starved into submission. Not wanting to give up the fort, on April 6th Lincoln sent a supply boat carrying food and water--not reinforcements--and left it to the Confederates to fire the first shot. Davis did not want to allow time for the relief ships to arrive; moreover, he was determined to assert the power and independence of the Confederacy.

The First Shot

Ordered by Davis to reduce the fort before reinforcements could arrive, Beauregard gave Anderson one last chance to surrender.1 Shortly after midnight on April 12, Beauregard's staff brought Anderson a note that read, "If you will state the time at which you will evacuate Fort Sumter we will abstain from opening fire upon you." Anderson conferred with his officers. They had just two days of food left. Still hoping to avoid a fight, Anderson replied that he would evacuate the fort by noon on the 15th unless he received supplies or other instructions from Washington. As this was unsatisfactory, given Davis' instructions to Beauregard, Anderson was officially notified that the Charleston batteries would open fire in one hour. At 4:30 a.m. a signal shot was fired from Fort Johnson to the east of Sumter, followed by the mortar batteries on Sullivan's Island to the right, and Cumming's Point at the mouth of the harbor [see attached map].2 After 33 hours of bombardment, during which 3,400 shots battered Sumter and set fire to its interior, the fort was still secure, but Anderson was nearly out of ammunition, food, fresh water, and hope. Unable to get the fire under control and resigned to the inevitability of defeat, Anderson surrendered the fort on the morning of April 14, 1861.3 The Confederate attack on Ft. Sumter started the war. Lincoln promptly called 75,000 state militia into federal service for ninety days with hopes of quickly putting an end to the rebellion. Likewise, thousands of Confederate volunteers rushed to defend their newly-proclaimed independence. Little did anyone know that the war would last not ninety days but four years.

1 Much has been written and said about the question of who was the aggressor, Lincoln or Davis. Arguably, Lincoln baited Davis into starting the war by announcing that a supply ship was en route to Sumter. If the ship was allowed to pass, so much the better for the North, but the crisis would simply be prolonged. If the Confederate batteries fired on the unarmed ship with food for Anderson's starving men, they would be guilty of an atrocious act of war. Davis chose instead to take the fort BEFORE the ship arrived.
2 According to his own diary, Edmund Ruffin, a 67 year old Virginian and honorary member of the South Carolina Palmetto Guard, had the honor of firing the first shot. Aside from this dubious claim, the most reliable evidence points to Lieutenant Henry S. Farley at Fort Johnson. Inside Fort Sumter, Captain Abner Doubleday (who helped defend Gettysburg, and, incidentally, was falsely credited with inventing the game of baseball) had the honor of firing the first Union shot in reply. It could also be argued that the first shot actually was fired by George E. Haynesworth on January 9th when the militia chased off the Star of the West.
3 The only casualties were six federal soldiers wounded, two mortally, when a powder charge accidentally exploded during the ceremonial lowering of the flag. Private Daniel Hough was killed outright, the first casualty of the war.

Postscript

Federal ironclad ships unsuccessfully tried to take back Fort Sumter three times: April 1863, December 1863, and July 1864. The Confederates held it until February 1865, when the approach of Sherman's army forced the evacuation of Charleston. At about noon on the 14th of April, 1865, Robert Anderson, now a general on inactive duty, raised the same U.S. flag over Sumter that he had lowered on April 14th four years earlier. That night in Washington, a single shot from a derringer mortally wounded Abraham Lincoln.

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The Fort Sumter Crisis
CHRONOLOGY

... December 10, 1860, President Buchanan agrees not to alter the status quo anywhere, including Charleston, as the secession movement begins to unfold.

... December 11, Major Anderson, having recently arrived to take command at Fort Moultrie, is authorized to move the garrison to Sumter if necessary for defensive purposes.

... December 20, South Carolina votes for secession.

... December 26, recognizing the vulnerability of Moultrie to an assault from land, Anderson moves to Sumter in the middle of the night.

... December 27, State militia seize Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney.

... December 28, a South Carolina delegation meets with Buchanan and demands the evacuation of Sumter.

... December 30, State militia seize the federal arsenal in Charleston; President Buchanan approves a plan to reinforce Sumter.

... January 9, the Star of the West tries to reach Sumter but is fired upon by Charleston batteries. Unsure what his orders will allow, Anderson does not provide cover fire and the supply ship withdraws.

... March 1, the Confederate government officially takes charge of the situation in Charleston and sends Gen. Beauregard to assume command.

... March 4, Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated president of the United States.

... April 6, Lincoln gives notice to Governor Pickens of South Carolina that supplies--but not men, arms or ammunition--will be sent to Sumter.

... April 10, after conferring with his cabinet, Davis sends word to General Beauregard to reduce Sumter before the relief expedition arrives.

... April 12, Beauregard gives notice that the bombardment of Sumter will begin in one hour unless Anderson agrees to surrender the fort.

... April 14, Anderson is forced to evacuate Sumter.

... April 15, Lincoln issues a call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion.

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