And... Coincidentally... It's The 149th Annivesary Of The Firing On Fort Sumpter

[WillyT]

<snip>

On December 26, 1860, six days after South Carolina declared its secession, U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson abandoned the indefensible Fort Moultrie and secretly relocated companies E and H (127 men, 13 of them musicians) of the 1st U.S. Artillery to Fort Sumter without orders from Washington, on his own initiative.<1><2><3><4><5> He thought that providing a stronger defense would delay an attack by South Carolina militia. The Fort was not yet complete at the time and fewer than half of the cannons that should have been available were not, due to military downsizing by President James Buchanan. Over the next few months, repeated calls for the United States evacuation of Fort Sumter<6> from the government of South Carolina and later Confederate Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard were ignored. United States attempts to resupply and reinforce the garrison were repulsed on January 9, 1861 when the first shots of the war prevented the steamer Star of the West, a ship hired by the Union to transport troops and supplies to Fort Sumter, from completing the task. After realizing that Anderson's command would run out of food by April 15, 1861, President Lincoln ordered a fleet of ships, under the command of Gustavus V. Fox, to attempt entry into Charleston Harbor and support Fort Sumter. The ships assigned were the steam sloop-of-war USS Pawnee, steam sloop-of-war USS Powhatan, transporting motorized launches and about 300 sailors (secretly removed from the Charleston fleet to join in the forced reinforcement of Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Fla.), armed screw steamer USS Pocahontas, Revenue Cutter USS Harriet Lane, steamer Baltic transporting about 200 troops, composed of companies C and D of the 2nd U.S. Artillery, and three hired tug boats with added protection against small arms fire to be used to tow troop and supply barges directly to Fort Sumter.<7><8> By April 6, 1861 the first ships began to set sail for their rendezvous off the Charleston Bar. The first to arrive was the Harriet Lane, before midnight of April 11, 1861.<9>

On April 11, Beauregard sent three aides, Colonel James Chesnut, Jr., Captain Stephen D. Lee, and Lieutenant A. R. Chisolm to demand the surrender of the fort. Anderson declined, and the aides returned to report to Beauregard. After Beauregard had consulted the Secretary of War, Leroy Walker, he sent the aides back to the fort and authorized Chesnut to decide whether the fort should be taken by force. The aides waited for hours while Anderson considered his alternatives and played for time. At about 3 a.m., when Anderson finally announced his conditions, Colonel Chesnut, after conferring with the other aides, decided that they were "manifestly futile <..> and not within the scope of the instructions verbally given to us". The aides then left the fort and proceeded to the nearby Fort Johnson. There Chesnut ordered the fort to open fire on Fort Sumter.<10>

On April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederate batteries opened fire, firing for 34 straight hours, on the fort. Edmund Ruffin, noted Virginian agronomist and secessionist, claimed that he fired the first shot on Fort Sumter. His story has been widely believed, but Lieutenant Henry S. Farley, commanding a battery of two mortars on James Island fired the first shot at 4:30 A.M. (Detzer 2001, pp. 269–71). The garrison returned fire, but it was ineffective, in part because Major Anderson did not use the guns mounted on the highest tier, the barbette tier, where the gun detachments would be more exposed to Confederate fire. On April 13, the fort was surrendered and evacuated. During the attack, the Union colors fell. Lt.Norman J. Hall risked life and limb to put them back up, burning off his eyebrows permanently. No Union soldiers died in the actual battle though a Confederate soldier bled to death having been wounded by a misfiring cannon. One Union soldier died and another was mortally wounded during the 47th shot of a 100 shot salute, allowed by the Confederacy. Afterwards the salute was shortened to 50 shots. Accounts, such as in the famous diary of Mary Chesnut, describe Charleston residents along what is now known as The Battery, sitting on balconies and drinking salutes to the start of the hostilities. The Fort Sumter Flag became a popular patriotic symbol after Maj. Anderson returned North with it. The flag is still displayed in the fort's museum.

<snip>

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sumter

:shrug:

[kenny blankenship]

1. Firing the first shot always makes you the bad guy

All of the other arguments Confederates might have made for their cause, and may use today to "excuse" themselves for their part in the war are overshadowed by the fact that they fired the first shots. War was no longer just an near inevitability but a fact of history that had to then take its course. They thought that course would go well for them - it's on their own head that it didn't.

And today the flag that the Confederates raised over Ft. Sumter is now the state flag of Georgia.

[mwrguy]

6. So does losing. nt

[Faygo Kid]

2. Thanks for posting. Proud member of the Civil War Preservation Trust here.

A most worthwhile organization. http://www.civilwar.org/

My ancestors were all still in Europe then, but as an American, I of course know that history. Bruce Catton is one of the finest writers in all the English language.

And yes, of course the war was all about slavery.

[NoPasaran]

8. ANother CWPTer here

145 years ago, the Army of Northern of Northern Virginia was in the process of being paroled after Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9. Tomorrow the 12th the is anniversary of the formal surrender parade, although some modern historians question whether it was as romantic a ceremony as Chamberlain described it decades later. There was a great effort after the war to erase sectional feeling and make a truly unified nation. It is a crime when present-day nitwits like Rick Perry and similar slimebags bring up secession, even jokingly.

[whistler162]

3. Anderson a pro-slavery Unionist...

that was when things started going not as planned for the Confederate states.

Place pro-Succession commanders in charge of forts and arsenals so when the split came the forts and arsenals would easily fall to the suceeding states. Worked in many places.

[zonkers]

4. Just read a book about the fall of Sumter. Did you know,,,, Abner Doubleday, father of baseball

was one of Anderson's officers and he fired the first shot from the Fort?

And that Confederate General P.T. Beauregard who commanded the attack of Sumter was a top student in Gen Anderson's Artillery classes back at West Point. Anderson was his mentor and they were pretty close.
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Anderson was deliberately placed in command of Sumter because Buchanan's Sec. Of WarFloyd who incorrectly assumed that Anderson, being a Virginian, would hand the fort over to the South when crunch time came. He misjudged Anderson's loyalty to the Oath he took to the USA.
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Anderson saved many lives by his surprise night time relocation from the vulnerable Fort Moultrie to the more defendable Sumter. This move reduced the possibility of a confederate landing and any hand to hand combat.



Very interesting topic. Thanks for sharing.

[LakeSamish706]

5. A very sad, but interesting historical topic. Lets hope we never see anything

like that war again.

[EFerrari]

7. This is going to be a long week.

:(

[jpak]

9. When the Yankees fired on Fort Sumter, it began the War of Northern Aggression!!

South lost - don't fuck with Uncle Sam....

:rofl: