The Fort Sumter Attack

"Our new government['s]... foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."
                                                     Alexander Stephens, Confederate Vice-President, March 21, 1861 


“The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world yet seen and I do not feel competent to advise you. Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal.”
                                                   Robert Toombs, Confederate Secretary of State, April 11, 1861


"I consider the central idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us, of proving that popular government is not an absurdity.  We must settle this question now, whether in a free government the minority has the right to break up the government whenever they choose.  If we fail, it will go far to prove the incapability of people to govern themselves." 
                                                    Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President,  May 7, 1861


"Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labour, wisdom & forbearance in its formation & surrounded it with so many guards & securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the confederacy at will. It was intended for pepetual [sic] union, so expressed in the preamble, & for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession. Anarchy would have been established & not a government, by Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison & the other patriots of the Revolution." 
                                                       Robert E. Lee, Jan 29, 1861

"The shedding of blood will serve to change many voters in the hesitant states, from the submission or procrastinating ranks, to the zealous for immediate secession.  If you want us to join you, strike a blow." 
                                                       Virginia fire eater Edmund Ruffin 


Document - South Carolina ceding of Fort Sumter to the U.S. government, 12/31/1836

Document -  The Militia Act of 1795 authorizing the U.S. president to call up troops in times of foreign war or internal rebellion. 

Document - 1823 Supreme Court case affirming the presidential powers in the Militia Act of 1795.


November 15:   Major Robert Anderson of the First United States Artillery, a 55-year-old career army officer from Kentucky, was ordered to take command of Fort Moultrie and the defenses in Charleston Harbor, including Fort Sumter.

United States Navy Lieutenant Tunis Craven informs authorities in Washington, D.C. that he is proceeding to take moves to protect Fort Taylor at Key West, Florida and Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas, Florida.  Craven rightly suspects Southern States will try to seize federal property and military supplies.

November 23:  Major Anderson requests reinforcements for his small force at Charleston. 

December 10:  South Carolina delegates meet with Buchanan and believe he agrees not to change the military situation at Charleston.

December 11:   Major Don Carlos Buell delivers a message to Major Anderson from Secretary of War Floyd.  Anderson is authorized to put his command in any of the forts at Charleston to resist their seizure.  Later in the month Floyd says Anderson violated the President's pledge to keep the status quo pending further discussions and the garrison should be removed from Charleston.   Floyd soon will join the Confederacy.

December 12:   Secretary of State Lewis Cass of Michigan resigns.  He believes President Buchanan should reinforce the Charleston forts and is unhappy about Buchanan's lack of action.

December 17, 20, 24:   The South Carolina Secession Convention begins on December 17.  On December 20, secession begins when the convention declares "that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the 'United States of America' is hereby dissolved".  The convention published a Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union in explanation and support of their position.  The document cites "encroachments on the reserved rights of the states" and "an increasing hostility of the non-slaveholding states to the institution of slavery" and "the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery" as among the causes.

December 24:  South Carolina Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens declares the act of secession in effect.

December 26–27, 30:   Under cover of darkness, Major Anderson moves the Federal garrison at Charleston, South Carolina from Fort Moultrie, which is indefensible from the landward side, to the unfinished Fort Sumter, which is located on an island in Charleston harbor.  He spikes the guns of Fort Moultrie.  Secessionists react angrily and feel betrayed because they thought President Buchanan would maintain the status quo.  The next day South Carolina troops occupy the abandoned Fort Moultrie and another fortification, Castle Pinckney, which had been occupied only by an ordnance sergeant.  On December 30, South Carolina troops seize the Charleston Arsenal.

December 28:   Buchanan meets with South Carolina commissioners as "private gentlemen".  They demand removal of federal troops from Charleston.  Buchanan states he needs more time to consider the situation.  On December 31, Buchanan says Congress must define the relations between the Federal government and South Carolina and that he will not withdraw the troops from Charleston.

December 30, 1860 – March 28, 1861:   Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, asks permission from President Buchanan to reinforce and resupply Fort Sumter but receives no reply. 

1861

January 2:   South Carolina troops take control of dormant Fort Jackson in Charleston harbor.

January 5:  The unarmed merchant vessel Star of the West, which is under contract to the War Department, heads for Fort Sumter from New York with 250 reinforcements and supplies.

January 9:  South Carolina state troops at Charleston fire upon the merchant ship Star of the West and prevent it from landing reinforcements and relief supplies for Fort Sumter. After being struck twice, the ship heads back to New York.

February 5:   President Buchanan tells South Carolina commissioners that Fort Sumter will not be surrendered.

March 1:   The Confederate States take over the military at Charleston, South Carolina. Confederate President Davis appoints P. G. T. Beauregard as brigadier general and assigns him to command Confederate forces in the area. Beauregard assumes command of Confederate troops at Charleston on March 3. 

Major Anderson warns Washington authorities that little time remains to make a decision whether to evacuate or reinforce Fort Sumter. Local authorities had been allowing the fort to receive some provisions but Confederates were training and constructing works around Charleston harbor.


On March 11, he again advises President Lincoln that it would take many months for the army to be able to reinforce Fort Sumter. 

March 3, 1861:  Scott tells Secretary of State–designate William Seward that Fort Sumter cannot be relieved.  

March 4:   Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as 16th President of the United States. He states his intentions not to interfere with slavery where it exists and to preserve the Union.  

Text of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

March 5, Scott tells Lincoln that he agrees with Major Anderson's assessment that the situation at Charleston could only be saved for the Union with 20,000 reinforcements.  On March 6, Scott says the U.S. Army can do no more to relieve Fort Sumter and only the U.S. Navy could aid the fort's garrison.

March 15:   Lincoln asks his Cabinet members for their written advice on how to handle Fort Sumter situation. For various reasons, over the next two weeks, members advise the President not to attempt to relieve Fort Sumter. Seward gives lengthy advice on how to run the government and handle the crisis. On April 1, President Lincoln tactfully apprises Secretary Seward that he, not Seward, is President and rejects Seward's proposal that Lincoln grant him broad powers in foreign affairs and dealing with the Confederacy.  

March 21:   President Lincoln's representative, former naval commander Gustavus Vasa Fox, visits Charleston and Fort Sumter and talks both to Major Anderson and the Confederates.  Fox thinks that ships still can relieve the fort.

March 25:   Federal Colonel Ward Hill Lamon and Stephen A. Hurlbut confer with Confederate Brigadier General Beauregard and South Carolina Governor Pickens.

March 28:  Scott recommends to the President that Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida be evacuated.

March 29:   President Lincoln orders relief expeditions for Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens to be prepared to depart for the forts by April 6.  On March 31, he orders the relief expedition to Fort Pickens to proceed.

April 3:  A Confederate battery on Morris Island in Charleston harbor shoots at the American vessel Rhoda H. Shannon.

April 4:   President Lincoln advises Gustavus V. Fox that Fort Sumter will be relieved.  He drafts a letter for Secretary of War Cameron to send to Major Anderson. 
 

April 5:   Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles orders four ships to supply Fort Sumter, but one, USS Powhatan, had already left for Fort Pickens under President Lincoln's previous order.

April 6:   President Lincoln informs South Carolina that an attempt will be made to resupply Fort Sumter but only with provisions.   

Since an earlier order was not carried out, orders were sent from Washington to reinforce Fort Pickens with Regular Army troops. 
 

April 7:   Confederate States Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker tells Brigadier General Braxton Bragg to resist Union reinforcement of Fort Pickens. 
 
Confederate Brigadier General Beauregard tells Major Anderson that no further commerce or communication between Fort Sumter and the City of Charleston will be permitted.

The U. S. Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane leaves New York with supplies for Fort Sumter.

Confederate Secretary of State Robert Toombs opposes using force against Fort Sumter but President Jefferson Davis says that the Confederate States had created a nation and he had a duty as its executive to use force if necessary.

April 9:   The steamer Baltic with Gustavus V. Fox as Lincoln's agent aboard sails from New York for relief of the Charleston garrison.

April 10:   USS Pawnee leaves Norfolk for Fort Sumter.

April 11:   Confederates demand surrender of Fort Sumter.  After discussing the matter with his officers, Anderson refuses but mentions the garrison will be starved out in a few days without relief.

April 12–13:   Federal troops land on Santa Rosa Island, Florida and reinforce Fort Pickens.  Because of the fort's location, Confederates are unable to prevent the landings.  On April 13, U.S. Navy Lieutenant John L. Worden, who had carried the orders to land the reinforcements at Fort Pickens to the U. S. Navy at Pensacola, is arrested by Confederate authorities near Montgomery, Alabama.

April 12–14:    Major Anderson tells Confederate representatives that he must evacuate the fort if not reinforced and resupplied by April 15.  The Confederates know relief is coming and has almost arrived so they open fire on the fort at 4:30 a.m. on April 12.  Confederates bombard Fort Sumter all day.  Federal forces return fire starting at 7:30 a.m. but the garrison is too small to man all guns, which are not all in working order in any event.  
 
After a 34-hour bombardment, on April 13, Major Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to the Confederates since his supplies and ammunition are nearly exhausted and the fort is disintegrating under the Confederate cannon fire.  Relief ships arrive but can not complete their mission due to the bombardment.  Four thousand shells had been fired at the fort but only a few minor injuries were sustained by the garrison. 

On April 14, Fort Sumter is formally surrendered to the Confederates.  One Federal soldier, Private Daniel Hough, is killed, another, Private Edward Galloway, is mortally wounded and four are hurt by an exploding cannon or exploding ammunition or gunpowder from a spark.  The cannon was being fired during a salute to the U.S. flag at the surrender ceremony.  The garrison is evacuated by the U.S. Navy vessels.

April 15:   President Lincoln calls on the states to provide seventy-five thousand militiamen , the maximum number allowed by law, to recapture Federal property and to suppress the rebellion.