Generals in Blue: Anderson

Robert Anderson

On December 26, 1860, under cover of darkness Anderson quietly moved his garrison to Sumter. There he was safe but under siege, faced with the inevitability of surrender without a shot being fired unless somehow he could be re-supplied. When a relief flotilla sent by Buchanan approached with reinforcements and supplies, he withheld using the fort's artillery to provide support and it was forced to turn back. A dignified man of courage and devotion to duty, Anderson was determined to hold out as long as he could and then honorably surrender the fort when his supplies ran out. On April 12, Anderson informed a Confederate delegation that he would be compelled to turn over the fort in a matter of days, but Confederate President Jefferson Davis had ordered Beauregard to "reduce the fort" if it was not immediately surrendered. Ironically, the Confederate commander at Charleston, P. G. T. Beauregard, had been Anderson's artillery student at West Point. Two days of heavy bombardment from Confederate artillery shook the fort and started a few fires, but as he had promised, Anderson finally lowered the flag when his supplies had been exhausted. Anderson and his men honorably turned over Sumter on April 14. A hero for his defense of Fort Sumter, Anderson was appointed brigadier general by Lincoln in May 1861 and put in command of Union forces in Kentucky. Anderson retired from the army but returned to duty in order to officially raise the U.S. flag over Sumter exactly four years after having lowered it. He was brevetted major general in 1864. He died in France in 1871 and was returned to the U.S. for burial at West Point.
Generals >

A former slaveholder from Kentucky who sympathized with the South, Robert Anderson was chosen by fate to be the commander of the federal garrison at Charleston when South Carolina seceded from the Union. Anderson was born near Louisville on June 14, 1805. His father had been a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army. Anderson attended West Point and was commissioned into the 3rd Artillery after graduation in 1825. He served in the Mexican War and was promoted to the rank of major in 1857. In November 1860 Anderson was sent to Fort Moultrie on a small coastal island at the mouth of Charleston Bay. When South Carolina seceded, he dreaded the thought of war and did not want to do anything provocative, but old Fort Moultrie faced the sea and was unprotected from the rear. President Buchanan had promised to maintain the status quo at Charleston, but Anderson was unaware of this; his orders were to defend his post, and to do otherwise would be tantamount to treason. He had planned all along to move to the stronger position of Fort Sumter, still under construction on a man-made island strategically placed to keep attacking ships from entering the bay.

© 2003 David C. Hanson, HIS 269 - Civil War and Reconstruction, Virginia W. Community College

Robert Anderson
	On December 26, 1860, under cover of darkness Anderson quietly moved his garrison to Sumter. There he was safe but under siege, faced with the inevitability of surrender without a shot being fired unless somehow he could be re-supplied. When a relief flotilla sent by Buchanan approached with reinforcements and supplies, he withheld using the fort's artillery to provide support and it was forced to turn back. A dignified man of courage and devotion to duty, Anderson was determined to hold out as long as he could and then honorably surrender the fort when his supplies ran out. On April 12, Anderson informed a Confederate delegation that he would be compelled to turn over the fort in a matter of days, but Confederate President Jefferson Davis had ordered Beauregard to "reduce the fort" if it was not immediately surrendered. Ironically, the Confederate commander at Charleston, P. G. T. Beauregard, had been Anderson's artillery student at West Point. Two days of heavy bombardment from Confederate artillery shook the fort and started a few fires, but as he had promised, Anderson finally lowered the flag when his supplies had been exhausted. Anderson and his men honorably turned over Sumter on April 14. A hero for his defense of Fort Sumter, Anderson was appointed brigadier general by Lincoln in May 1861 and put in command of Union forces in Kentucky. Anderson retired from the army but returned to duty in order to officially raise the U.S. flag over Sumter exactly four years after having lowered it. He was brevetted major general in 1864. He died in France in 1871 and was returned to the U.S. for burial at West Point. Generals >
A former slaveholder from Kentucky who sympathized with the South, Robert Anderson was chosen by fate to be the commander of the federal garrison at Charleston when South Carolina seceded from the Union. Anderson was born near Louisville on June 14, 1805. His father had been a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army. Anderson attended West Point and was commissioned into the 3rd Artillery after graduation in 1825. He served in the Mexican War and was promoted to the rank of major in 1857. In November 1860 Anderson was sent to Fort Moultrie on a small coastal island at the mouth of Charleston Bay. When South Carolina seceded, he dreaded the thought of war and did not want to do anything provocative, but old Fort Moultrie faced the sea and was unprotected from the rear. President Buchanan had promised to maintain the status quo at Charleston, but Anderson was unaware of this; his orders were to defend his post, and to do otherwise would be tantamount to treason. He had planned all along to move to the stronger position of Fort Sumter, still under construction on a man-made island strategically placed to keep attacking ships from entering the bay.
© 2003 David C. Hanson, HIS 269 - Civil War and Reconstruction, Virginia W. Community College