Battle of Fort Sumter

The election of Abraham Lincoln (and other reasons described in the article Causes of the American Civil War) caused seven Southern states, led by South Carolina, to secede and form the Confederate States of America early in 1861. Confederate forces seized control of Federal forts and customs houses within their boundaries, mostly without incident. However, a few Union strongholds remained, including Fort Monroe (near Norfolk, Virginia), Fort Sumter (near Charleston, South Carolina), and Fort Pickens, Florida.

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Action

Six days after South Carolina seceded, U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson abandoned the indefensible Fort Moultrie and secretly relocated his 85 men, two companies of the 1st U.S. Artillery, to Fort Sumter, which dominated the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Confederate authorities considered this a breach of faith and demanded that the fort be evacuated. President James Buchanan (still in office, pending Lincoln's inauguration) refused their demand and mounted a relief expedition in January, 1861, but shore batteries fired on and repulsed the unarmed merchant ship, Star of the West.

In March, Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard of the South Carolina Militia took command of Confederate forces in Charleston. He made repeated demands that the Union force surrender and took steps to ensure that no supplies from the city were available to the defenders, whose food was running out.

By April 4, President Lincoln, believing a relief expedition to be feasible, ordered merchant vessels escorted by the United States Navy to Charleston. On April 6, 1861, Lincoln notified South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens that "an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only, and that if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be made without further notice, [except] in case of an attack on the fort."

In response, the Confederate cabinet decided at a fateful meeting in Montgomery to open fire on Fort Sumter in an attempt to force its surrender before the relief fleet arrived. Only Secretary of State Robert Toombs opposed this decision: he reportedly told Jefferson Davis the attack "will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet's nest.... Legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary. It puts us in the wrong. It is fatal."

The Confederate Secretary of War telegraphed Beauregard that if he were certain that the fort was to be supplied by force, "You will at once demand its evacuation, and if this is refused proceed, in such a manner as you may determine, to reduce it." Beauregard summoned Anderson to Charleston on April 11 and made his demand for surrender in person. Anderson refused and returned to the fort.

At 3:20 a.m., April 12, 1861, the Confederates informed Anderson that they would open fire in one hour. At 4:30 a.m., a single mortar round fired from Fort Johnson exploded over Fort Sumter, signaling the start of the bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, and Cummings Point. Anderson withheld his fire until 7:00 a.m., when Captain Abner Doubleday fired a shot at the Ironclad Battery at Cummings Point. But there was little Anderson could do with his 60 guns; he deliberately avoided using guns that were situated in the fort where casualties were likely. Only about ten guns were able to return fire and by noon, only six were operational.

The bombardment lasted through the night until, the next morning, when a shell hit the officers' quarters, starting a serious fire that threatened the main powder magazine. Anderson called for a truce at 2:00 p.m., and the Union garrison surrendered that evening, April 13, 1861. They were safely transported back to Union territory, a decision made by Gen. Beauregard. No one from either side was killed during the bombardment, with only five Union soldiers injured. Sadly, during the 100-gun salute to the U.S. flag—Anderson’s one condition for surrender—a pile of cartridges blew up from a spark, killing two soldiers.

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Aftermath

The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the first military action of the American Civil War involving the United States of America (the Union) against the Confederate States of America. Following the bombardment, Lincoln called for volunteer troops from the remaining states to retake the seized federal properties. The ensuing war would last for four years, ending in April, 1865, with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. However, the local and short-term aftermath was that Charleston Harbor was completely in Confederate hands.

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Categories: Battles of the Operations in Charleston Harbor of the American Civil War | Confederate victories of the American Civil War | Charleston, South Carolina | South Carolina history