Bombardment of Fort Sumter - Day 1

150 years ago yesterday, Major Robert Anderson, commander of Ft. Sumter, agreed to surrender on April 15th if he did not receive additional supplies. But at 3:20 AM the next day, General Beauregard received the news that the ships carrying reinforcements were gathering outside Charleston. Since their arrival was so imminent, he sent a message to Anderson telling him that he would open fire in one hour.

Captain George James

Roger A. Pryor, a Virginia politician who since his own state would not secede had come to South Carolina to urge the attack on Fort Sumter, was offered the opportunity to fire the first shot, but he refused saying, "I could not fire the first gun of the war." Therefore Captain George S. James, the commander of the battery, fired the first shot of the siege at 4:30 AM. The Civil War had begun.

The firing of the mortar woke the echoes from every nook and corner of the harbor, and in this the dead hour of the night, before dawn, that shot was a sound of alarm that brought every soldier in the harbor to his feet, and every man, woman and child in the city of Charleston from their beds. A thrill went through the whole city.¹

Fort Sumter answered at 7:30 AM, firing accurately and slowly. The fort was designed to resist a naval attack from the ocean, so the only guns that could be safely fired could not fire directly on the opposing Confederate works. Even though both sides were low on ammunition, they continued firing throughout the night and into the next day.

Firing on Fort Sumter

Fox, the commander of the naval relief expedition, ordered small boats to be sent into the harbor with supplies. However, they were deterred by the artillery fire. At night the sea was too boisterous to land, so Fox hoped the fort would hold out until the next night so it could be relieved.

1. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Source p. 77

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Beauregard Sends Final Request to Surrender

Since the secession of South Carolina in December, the Confederate authorities had requested that Fort Sumter be surredered many times, and Major Robert Anderson always refused. But after receiving the news that a relief expedition was being sent to the fort, General P. G. T. Beauregard, the Confederate commander in Charleston, South Carolina, gave Anderson one last chance to surrender the fort without bloodshed on April 11th, 150 years ago today.

General Beauregard

Beauregard sent this as the final request to surrender:

Headquarters Provisional Army, C. S. A. 

Charleston, April 11, 1861.

       Sir: The government of the Confederate States has hitherto foreborne from any hostile demonstrations against Fort Sumter, in hope that the government of the United States, with a view to the amicable adjustment of all questions between the two governments, and to avert the calamities of war, would voluntarily evacuate it.
       There was reason at one time to believe that such would be the course pursued by the government of the United States, and under that impression my government has refrained from making any demand for the surrender of the fort. But the Confederate States can no longer delay assuming actual possession of a fortification commanding the entrance of one of their harbors and necessary to its defense and security.
       I am ordered by the government of the Confederate States to demand the evacuation of Fort Sumter. ... All proper facilities will be afforded for the removal of yourself and command, together with company arms and property, and all private property, to any post in the United States which you may select. The flag which you have upheld so long and with so much fortitude, under the most trying circumstances, may be saluted by you on taking it down. Colonel Chestnut and Captain Lee will, for a reasonable time, await your answer.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

G. T. BEAUREGARD, 

Brigadier-General Commanding

To which Major Anderson replied,

Fort Sumter, S.C., 

April 11, 1861.

       General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor, and of my obligations to my government, prevent my compliance. Thanking you for the fair, manly and courteous terms proposed, and for the high compliment paid me,

I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

ROBERT ANDERSON, 

Major, First Artillery, Commanding.

Major Robert Anderson

Beauregard, knowing that the fort was nearly out of provisions, asked Anderson when that would occur. Anderson replied that if they received no aditional instructions or provisions, and the Southerners did not attack, they would leave the fort at noon on April 15th, just four days away.

Preparations to Attack Fort Sumter

Map of the Forts in Charleston Harbor

Since being appointed Confederate commander in Charleston on March 1 to drive the Northern troops out of Fort Sumter, Major General P. G. T. Beauregard was making preparations to launch the attack. When Beauregard had attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, Major Robert Anderson, the commander of the fort, was actually his artillery instructor. After graduation Beauregard became his assistant. Later on Beauregard was an engineer and one of the foremost US military officers. Just before coming South he had been appointed superintendent of West Point.

When he arrived in Charleston, Beauregard began to prepare for the possibility of having to attack the fort. He trained the South Carolina militia, 6000 of which were available, but they were very inexperienced. Additionally he gathered a large strength of artillery, numbering almost 50 guns of various sizes. The position of Fort Sumter was unfavorable for the Northern defenders. Aside from their lack of provisions, although they had 60 cannons, they did not have nearly enough men to man them and the guns were pointed seaward, and not toward the coastal positions.

Fort Sumter

Beauregard Appointed, Texas Joins the Confederacy

P. G. T. Beauregard

On March 1st, 1861, the Confederate Congress appointed P. G. T. Beauregard Brigadier-General in the new Confederate army and sent him to Charleston, South Carolina. The governor of South Carolina turned the situation in Charleston over to the new Confederate government. He was a military engineer from the United States army and a veteran of the Mexican-American War. He was the first general to be appointed by the new government.

In Charleston the Northern troops in Fort Sumter were in good spirits, but on the same day Major Anderson, their commander, said that they must be relieved or they would be forced to capitulate. This would be disadvantageous for Lincoln, who wished to force the Confederates into firing the first shot.

Also on March 1st Texas joined the Confederacy. The commander of the Union forts in Texas, General David Twiggs, surrendered the federal property to the state troops. He was dismissed for treason and became a Confederate general, but died during the war.

Gen. David Twiggs

South Carolinians fire on Star of the West

Star of the West

150 years ago yesterday the first shots of the Civil War occurred when a group of South Carolinians fired on the Star of the West which was trying to relieve Fort Sumter.

President Buchanan’s policy when dealing with the secession crisis was to try to buy time for the Congress to work out the problems. So he was reluctant to condemn or support Anderson in Charleston harbor. However, he decided to send 250 troops along with supplies to Fort Sumter, but in a civilian steamer – the Star of the West. He hoped that this would be less inflammatory towards the Southerners, and also its shallower draft would allow it to approach the fort more easily.

Charleston was prepared to meet the threat. They had been informed about the sending of the ship by one of Buchanan’s cabinet members, who had resigned over the decision. They tried to put some obstructions in the channels, as well as build a battery which was manned by cadets from the Citadel, a military college in South Carolina.

The Star of the West arrived early on the morning of January 9th, but they had to wait until daylight to navigate through the channel. They were hailed by a patrol ship and asked who they were, but they did not answer. Therefore the patrol ship fired a rocket, alerting the batteries of the hostile ship. When it reached the harbor, it was greeted by the fire of the new battery. These were the first shots of the Civil War. The relief ship signaled to Fort Sumter for help, but as they were the only ones in Charleston who did not know the ship was coming, they were not prepared to meet the threat. By the time they were ready to lend aid to the Star of the West, she was already turning back after being hit several times by the shots from the batteries. Anderson decided not to start the war by opening fire on the batteries.

This event, surprisingly, did not immediately precipitate the war. The governor of South Carolina asked Major Anderson to surrender, and he said that he could not without asking for instructions from Washington. Therefore he was allowed to send a messenger there. Even though the war did not begin here, he set it on a course that would result in conflict.

Star of the West

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Charleston Happenings

Fort Sumpter. Source.

Following South Carolina’s secession, a delegation was sent to Washington, DC to demand that President Buchanan order the United States troops to hand over the Federal held property in what they considered to be the sovereign state of South Carolina. The main problem was with the forts in Charleston Harbor. There were far too few men stationed in them, around 80 in Fort Moultrie and the rest were virtually empty. Moultrie was indefensible because it was intended to fight off attackers from the sea, and on the land side the sand dunes had been allowed to build up to the top of the wall. On the night of December 26^th, Major Robert Anderson moved his troops in boats to the stronger Fort Sumter, on an island on the other side of the Harbor. They moved very quietly for fear of the groups of state militia which patrolled the area, the transfer was undetected until the next morning.

South Carolina considered that the Federal troops were foreigners invading their state and demanded their surrender, but Anderson refused. They were low on food and supplies, but they were determined not to surrender and hold out as long as possible.  

Major Anderson, commander of the fort