Surrender of Fort Sumter: Valor and Bravery

 

One of the most defining moments of the Civil War occurred on December 27, 1860, when Major Robert Anderson ordered the flag of the United States be raised over Fort Sumter, the island fortress in Charleston to which he had secretly transferred his command from Fort Moultrie a few hours earlier. Citizens in Charleston were outraged. Anderson’s symbolic action seemed to mock South Carolina’s Resolution seceding from the Union. Preparations were made by South Carolina to capture the fort.

 

On April 16, 1861, The New York Times reported, in an editorial praising Robert Anderson, that when, “…the rebel batteries were opened upon him, he lost no time in replying, nor did he surrender…until he was disabled by smoke and flame…and the exhaustion of his men.” The Civil War had begun.

 

Major Anderson and the Defense of Federal Forts in Charleston

 

Major Anderson arrived in Charleston in the fall of 1860 and would witness the growing anxiety of the local Charleston population after Abraham Lincoln was elected President in November 1860. At fifty-five, Anderson had a long and distinguished career which included valorous action in the Mexican-American War.

 

He was also an expert, perhaps the nation’s foremost, in artillery usage and had trained Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard at West Point, the man who ordered the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861. Anderson had pro-Southern sympathies and was a long time friend of Jefferson Davis. But he was also close to General Winfield Scott, whom he regarded as a father.

 

Unlike fellow West Point graduates, Anderson valued his oath as an officer and refused to put regional loyalties before his principles. This was the man determined to hold the three principle federal military outposts in Charleston: Castle Pinckney, Fort Moultrie (or Moultrie House), and Fort Sumter.

 

Lincoln’s First Action as a President Facing War

 

Historian James M. McPherson writes that, “The first official document that Lincoln saw as President – at one o’clock in the morning when he returned from the inaugural ball – was a letter from Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter stating that unless re-supplied he could hold out only a few more weeks.”

 

Lincoln’s predecessor, James Buchanan, had done little to mitigate the deteriorating situation in Charleston. Although the Star of the West had been dispatched with reinforcements and supplies, it was turned back after Charleston shore batteries warned off the ship.

 

Anderson and Sumter’s defenders were left to fend for themselves. Buchanan’s response was far more reserved that Andrew Jackson’s had been toward South Carolina during the nullification crisis many years earlier.

 

During his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln, though not referring to Fort Sumter directly, stated that, “The powers confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property, and places belonging to the government.”

 

In his December 3, 1861 Annual Message to Congress and the American people, Lincoln reminded his listeners that, “The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peacefully, expired at the assault upon Fort Sumter…”

 

The Fall of Fort Sumter Begins the Bloody Civil War

 

For the moment, the South was exultant over the fall of Fort Sumter. An April 16, 1861 New York Times story published the response of Jefferson Davis: “Fort Sumter is ours, and nobody is hurt. With mortar, paixhan and petard we tender ‘OLD ABE’ our Beau-regards.”

 

On the day Abraham Lincoln died in 1865, Anderson – now a general, would again raise the Stars and Stripes over Fort Sumter, assisted by Frederick Douglass, the fugitive slave who rose to become a towering figure in the cause of abolition. The Union was preserved after four years of bloody battles. April 12, 1861 still represents an anniversary of decision and courage.

 

Sources:

 

David Detzer, Dissonance: The Turbulent Days Between Fort Sumter and Bull Run (Harcourt, Inc., 2006)

David Detzer, Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War (Harcourt, Inc., 2001)

The Language of Lincoln: The Political Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Joseph R. Fornieri, editor (Regnery, 2003)

James M. McPherson, “Lincoln and the Strategy of Unconditional Surrender,” Lincoln The War President, Gabor S. Boritt, editor (Oxford University Press, 1992)

Published December 16, 2010 in Suite101 by M.Streich. copyright