[Illustration: U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, March 3, 1849]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Stewart L. Udall, _Secretary_
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Conrad L. Wirth, _Director_
_HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NUMBER TWELVE_
This publication is one of a series of handbooks describing the
historical and archeological areas in the National Park System
administered by the National Park Service of the United States
Department of the Interior. It is printed by the Government Printing
Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents,
Washington 25, D. C. Price 25 cents.
FORT
SUMTER
_National Monument
South Carolina_
by Frank Barnes
[Illustration: Cannon on parapet]
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 12
WASHINGTON, D. C., 1952
(Revised 1962)
The National Park System, of which Fort Sumter National Monument is a
unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic
heritage of the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of its
people.
[Illustration: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR]
_Contents_
_Page_
CONSTRUCTION OF FORT SUMTER 1
MAJOR ANDERSON MOVES GARRISON FROM MOULTRIE TO SUMTER 6
THE STAR OF THE WEST 8
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 9
LINCOLN ORDERS A RELIEF EXPEDITION TO FORT SUMTER 10
THE CONFEDERATES DEMAND FORT SUMTER’S EVACUATION 13
THE WAR BEGINS—APRIL 12, 1861 15
CHARLESTON AND THE FEDERAL BLOCKADE—1861-63 24
FEDERAL IRONCLADS ATTACK FORT SUMTER 24
THE MORRIS ISLAND APPROACH TO FORT SUMTER 26
THE FIRST GREAT BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER 28
THE SMALL-BOAT ASSAULT 32
THE SECOND GREAT BOMBARDMENT 33
STALEMATE—SPRING OF 1864 35
FORT SUMTER STRENGTHENED 36
THE THIRD GREAT BOMBARDMENT 36
SHERMAN’S MARCH FORCES SUMTER’S EVACUATION 38
MAJOR ANDERSON RETURNS 38
FORT SUMTER AFTER 1865 40
GUIDE TO THE AREA 42
ADMINISTRATION 46
RELATED AREAS 46
SUGGESTED READINGS 47
[Illustration: The housetops in Charleston during the bombardment of
April 12-13, 1861. From Harper’s Weekly, May 4, 1861.]
[Illustration: Gunfire over Fort Sumter]
At 4:30 A. M., April 12, 1861, a mortar battery at Fort Johnson fired a
shell that burst directly over Fort Sumter. This was the signal for a
general bombardment by the Confederate batteries about Charleston
Harbor. For 34 hours, April 12 and 13, Fort Sumter was battered with
shot and shell. Then the Federal commander, Maj. Robert Anderson, agreed
to evacuate; and, on April 14, he and his small garrison departed with
the full honors of war. On the following day, President Abraham Lincoln
issued a call for 75,000 militia. The tragedy of the American Civil War
had begun.
Two years later, Fort Sumter, now a Confederate stronghold, became the
scene of a stubborn defense. From April 1863 to February 1865 its
garrison withstood a series of devastating bombardments and direct
attacks by Federal forces from land and sea. Fort Sumter was evacuated
only when Federal forces bypassed Charleston from the rear. At the end,
buttressed with sand and cotton as well as its own fallen brick and
masonry, it was stronger than ever militarily. And it had become a
symbol of resistance and courage for the entire South.
Both the “first shot” of April 1861 and the long siege of 1863-65 are
commemorated today by Fort Sumter National Monument.
_Construction of Fort Sumter_
“... the character of the times particularly inculcates the lesson
that, whether to prevent or repel danger, we ought not to be
unprepared for it. This consideration will sufficiently recommend to
Congress a liberal provision for the immediate extension and gradual
completion of the works of defense, both fixed and floating, on our
maritime frontier....”
—President Madison to Congress,
December 5, 1815.
[Illustration: The rock-ring of Fort Sumter’s foundation as it looked 4
years after operations were begun. Courtesy National Archives.]
The War of 1812 had shown the gross inadequacy of the coastal defenses
of the United States. The crowning indignity had been the burning of
Washington. Accordingly, Congress now answered President Madison’s call
by setting up a military Board of Engineers for Seacoast Fortifications
to devise a new system of national defense. Brig. Gen. Simon Bernard,
the famed military engineer of Napoleon, was commissioned in the Corps
of Engineers and assigned to the Board. Under his unofficial direction,
the Board began surveying the entire coast line of the United States in
1817. The South Atlantic coast, “especially regarded as less important,”
was not surveyed until 1821. One fortification report, covering the Gulf
coast and the Atlantic coast between Cape Hatteras and the St. Croix
River, had been submitted to Congress earlier that year. Thus, not till
the revised form of this report was submitted to Congress in 1826 was
the possibility that the “shoal opposite [Fort Moultrie] may be occupied
permanently” officially broached. This was the genesis of Fort Sumter.
If the location were feasible, reported the Board, “the fortification of
the harbor may be considered as an easy and simple problem.” With the
guns of the projected fort crossing fire with those of Fort Moultrie,
the commercial city of Charleston would be most effectively protected
against attack.
Plans for the new fort were drawn up in 1827 and adopted on December 5,
1828. In the course of that winter Lt. Henry Brewerton, Corps of
Engineers, assumed charge of the project and active operations were
commenced. Progress was slow, however, and as late as 1834 the new fort
was no more than a hollow pentagonal rock “mole” 2 feet above low water
and open at one side to permit supply ships to pass to the interior.
Meanwhile, it had been named Sumter in honor of Thomas Sumter, of South
Carolina, the “Gamecock” of the Revolution.
[Illustration: First-floor plan, Fort Sumter, March 1861. The Gorge
(designed for officers’ quarters) is at the base of the plan. Gun
casemates line the other four sides. The fort magazines were at either
extremity of the Gorge in both casemate tiers. Courtesy National
Archives.]
Late in the autumn of 1834 operations were suddenly suspended. Ownership
of the site was in question. In the preceding May, one William Laval,
resident of Charleston, had secured from the State a conveniently vague
grant to 870 acres of “land” in Charleston Harbor. In November, acting
under this grant, Laval notified the representative of the United States
Engineers at Fort Johnson of his claim to the site of Fort Sumter. In
the meantime, the South Carolina Legislature had become curious about
the operations in Charleston Harbor. Late in November, inquiry had been
instituted as to “whether the creation of an Island on a shoal in the
Channel, may not injuriously affect the navigation and commerce of
[Charleston] Harbor....” Reporting the following month, the Committee on
Federal Relations had made the ominous pronouncement that they had not
“been able to ascertain by what authority the Government have assumed to
erect the works alluded to....” Apparently under the impression that a
formal deed of cession to “land” ordinarily covered with water had not
been necessary, the Federal Government had commenced operations at the
mouth of Charleston Harbor without consulting the State of South
Carolina.
It was not until January 1841 that work was resumed on the site of Fort
Sumter. Laval’s claim was invalidated by the State attorney general
under act of the South Carolina Legislature, December 20, 1837. But the
harbor issue remained and was complicated still further by a memorial
presented to the legislature by James C. Holmes, Charleston lawyer, on
that same date. Not before November 22, 1841, was the Federal
Government’s title to 125 acres of harbor “land” recorded in the office
of the Secretary of State of South Carolina.
Under the skilful guidance of Capt. A. H. Bowman, the work was now
pushed forward. The original plans were changed in several respects.
Perhaps the most important modification was with respect to the
foundation. Instead of a “grillage of continuous square timbers” upon
the rock mass, Bowman’s idea of laying several courses of granite blocks
was adopted, in the main. Bowman had feared the complete destruction of
the wood by worms; and palmetto, which might have resisted such attack,
had not the compactness of fiber or the necessary strength to support
the weight of the superstructure.
The work was difficult. The granite of the foundation, for example, was
laid between high and low watermarks, and there were periods of time
when the tide permitted no work to be done at all. Yellow fever was a
recurrent problem; so was the excessive heat of the Charleston summers.
Much of the building material had to be brought in from the north. The
magnitude of the task is indicated by the quantities involved: about
10,000 tons of granite (some of it from as far away as the Penobscot
River region in Maine) and well over 60,000 tons of other rock. Bricks,
shells, and sand could be obtained locally, but even here there were
problems. Local brickyard capacities were small and millions of bricks
were required. Similarly, hundreds of thousands of bushels of shells
were needed—for concrete, for the foundation of the first-tier casemate
floors, and for use in the parade fill next to the enrockment. Even the
actual delivery of supplies, however local in origin, was a problem, for
then, as now, Fort Sumter was a difficult spot at which to land.
Fort Sumter in December 1860 was a five-sided brick masonry fort
designed for three tiers of guns. Its 5-foot-thick outer walls, towering
nearly 50 feet above low water, enclosed a parade ground of roughly 1
acre. Along four of the walls extended two tiers of arched gunrooms.
Officers’ quarters lined the fifth side—the 316.7-foot gorge. This wall
was to be armed only along the parapet. Three-story brick barracks for
the enlisted garrison paralleled the gunrooms on each flank. At the
center of the gorge was the sally port. It opened on the 25½-foot-wide
stone esplanade that extended the length of that wall and on a 171-foot
wharf.
[Illustration: Spiking the guns at Fort Moultrie, just prior to
departure for Fort Sumter, December 26, 1860. From Frank Leslie’s
Illustrated Newspaper, January 5, 1861.]
Fort Sumter was unfinished when, late in December, gathering events
prompted its occupation by artillery troops. Eight-foot-square openings
yawned in place of gun embrasures on the second tier. Of the 135 guns
planned for the gunrooms and the open terreplein above, only 15 had been
mounted. Most of these were “32 pounders”; none was heavier. Various
details of the interior finish of barracks, quarters, and gunrooms were
incomplete. Congressional economies had had their effect, as much as
difficulties of construction. As late as 1858 and 1859, work had been
virtually at a standstill for lack of funds.
_Major Anderson Moves Garrison from Moultrie to Sumter_
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. On the
night of the 26th, fearing attack by the excited populace, Maj. Robert
Anderson removed the small garrison he commanded at Fort Moultrie to
Fort Sumter out in the harbor. Ignorant of an apparent pledge to
maintain the harbor _status quo_, given by President Buchanan some weeks
before, Anderson moved in accordance with instructions received December
11, which read:
“... you are to hold possession of the forts in this harbor, and if
attacked you are to defend yourself to the last extremity. The
smallness of your force will not permit you, perhaps, to occupy more
than one of the three forts, but an attack on or attempt to take
possession of any one of them will be regarded as an act of hostility,
and you may then put your command into either of them which you may
deem most proper to increase its power of resistance. You are also
authorized to take similar steps whenever you have tangible evidence
of a design to proceed to a hostile act.”
Anderson thought he had “tangible evidence” of hostile intent, both
towards Fort Moultrie—an old fort most vulnerable to land attack—and
towards unoccupied Fort Sumter. He moved now “to prevent the effusion of
blood” and because he was certain “that if attacked my men must have
been sacrificed, and the command of the harbor lost.” To Anderson, a
Kentuckian married to a Georgia girl, preservation of peace was of
paramount importance. At the same time, a veteran soldier of
“unquestioned loyalty,” he had a duty to perform.
Charleston was filled with excitement and rage. Crowds collected in the
streets; military organizations paraded; and “loud and violent were the
expressions of feeling against Major Anderson and his action.”
There was almost as much consternation in Washington as in Charleston.
Senators calling at the White House found President Buchanan greatly
agitated. He stood by the mantelpiece, crushing a cigar in the palm of
one hand, and stammered that the move was against his policy. The
cabinet was called into session, and on December 27, Secretary of War
Floyd wired Major Anderson:
“Intelligence has reached here this morning that you have abandoned
Fort Moultrie, ... and gone to Fort Sumter. It is not believed,
because there is no order for any such movement. Explain the meaning
of this report.”
South Carolina regarded Anderson’s move not only as an “outrageous
breach of faith,” but as an act of aggression, and demanded, through
commissioners, that the United States Government evacuate Charleston
Harbor. President Buchanan, anxious to conciliate as well as maintain
authority, wavered. Cabinet pressures were brought to bear. Meanwhile,
on the 27th, South Carolina volunteers seized Castle Pinckney and Fort
Moultrie. On the 28th, the President refused to accede to South
Carolina’s demand.
[Illustration: Maj. Robert Anderson. From Lossing, A History of the
Civil War.]
The North was exultant. Amid cheers for Major Anderson, salvos of
artillery resounded in northern cities on New Year’s Day, 1861. By an
imposing majority, the House of Representatives voted approval of Major
Anderson’s “bold and patriotic” act.
At Fort Sumter, Major Anderson had two companies of the First United
States Artillery—about 85 officers and men in a fortification intended
for as many as 650. He had only “about 4 months” supply of provisions
for his command. The question of reenforcement and supply was to trouble
all the remaining days of the Buchanan administration and to carry over
to the succeeding administration. In it were the seeds of war.
_The Star of the West_
President Buchanan was persuaded to send off a relief expedition almost
immediately. Initial plans called for the dispatch of the sloop of war
_Brooklyn_ for this purpose, but when word came which indicated that the
South Carolinians had obstructed the harbor entrance by sinking several
ships, it was decided to use an ordinary merchant ship. The _Brooklyn_,
of heavy draft, could probably not now pass into the harbor. A merchant
ship would certainly excite less suspicion and would avoid the
appearance of a coercive movement. Accordingly, the _Star of the West_—a
ship which regularly sailed southward from New York—was chartered. Two
hundred men, small arms and ammunition, and several months’ provisions
were placed aboard. The men were to remain below deck on entering
Charleston Harbor; the _Brooklyn_ would follow, in case the _Star of the
West_ were fired upon and disabled.
[Illustration: The Star of the West. From Battles and Leaders of the
Civil War.]
But Charleston was forewarned. When the _Star of the West_ appeared at
the entrance of the harbor on January 9, 1861, Citadel cadets opened
fire with a gun mounted on Cummings Point; and the merchant ship,
unarmed, steamed out of the harbor. Anderson had held his fire, thinking
the firing unauthorized by the State authorities. Orders authorizing
supporting fire on his part had failed to reach him in time. As if
accidentally, civil war had been averted for the moment.
There was some Northern reaction to the incident, but further plans for
Anderson’s relief, once projected, were delayed. Anderson indicated no
immediate need, and President Buchanan was anxious to end his term of
office in peace. On January 10, the Secretary of War had ordered Major
Anderson to act “strictly on the defensive.” Anderson and Governor
Pickens of South Carolina exchanged angry letters, and the Governor’s
demand for the fort’s surrender (January 11) was resolved in the
“mission” to Washington of the State’s attorney general, I. G. Hayne.
When that mission, tempered by the efforts of cooler-headed Southern
Senators, met stubborn resistance on the part of President Buchanan, the
situation was resolved in the formation of the Southern Confederacy,
with the consequent assumption of the Fort Sumter problem by that
government.
_Preparations for War_
Fort Sumter was now preparing for attack. Thirty-eight more guns were
mounted in the first tier of casemates and along the parapet, including
heavier “42 pounders” and Columbiads. Five Columbiads were mounted in
the parade as mortars and three howitzers about the sally port in the
gorge. By April 12, a total of 60 guns was ready. “Bombproof” shelters
and “splinter-proof” traverses were constructed on the parade ground and
along the parapet. Overhanging galleries were built out from the parapet
at strategic points for dropping shells on an assaulting force. Special
protection was given the gateway. Left unarmed, however, was the second
tier of casemates; the 8-foot-square openings in the outer wall were
bricked up. The small size of Major Anderson’s garrison did not permit
manning it.
Charleston, too, prepared. In addition to routine preparations at Castle
Pinckney and Fort Moultrie, additional batteries were prepared on
Sullivan’s Island, at Cummings Point on Morris Island, and outside Fort
Johnson. An “ironclad” Columbiad battery, constructed of inclined logs
plated with iron, was mounted at Cummings Point. Meanwhile, Governor
Pickens permitted Anderson to buy fresh meat and vegetables in town to
supplement his garrison “issue” supply.
On February 4, 1861, delegates from six seceding States—South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana—had met at
Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate government. A constitution had
been adopted and Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, had been elected
President and inaugurated on February 18. Texas came into the
Confederacy on March 2. By this time all forts, arsenals, and navy yards
in the seceding States had been seized by the Confederate government
without resistance, except Fort Pickens on Pensacola Bay in Florida, two
minor forts (Jefferson and Taylor) on and near the Florida coast, and
Fort Sumter. Because of its association with the “hotbed of secession”
and because of Major Anderson’s dramatic move, Fort Sumter had assumed
undeserved importance.
On March 3, Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard took command of the
Confederate troops at Charleston. Like Major Anderson, Beauregard was a
veteran of the Mexican War. He was a member of a Louisiana family of
distinguished French lineage. Late captain in the United States Army, he
had served briefly as superintendent of the United States Military
Academy at West Point as recently as January. Once, years back, he had
studied artillery there under Major Anderson; now, pupil confronted
master.
_Lincoln Orders a Relief Expedition to Fort Sumter_
On March 4, Abraham Lincoln assumed office as President of the United
States. In a firm, but generally conciliatory, inaugural address, he
made it clear that national authority must be upheld against the threat
of disunion. As to the Federal forts and property in the seceded States
he said: “The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and
possess the property and places belonging to the Government....” He did
not say “repossess.” Furthermore, there needed to be “no bloodshed or
violence” as the result of this policy “unless it be forced upon the
national authority.” The President concluded:
[Illustration: Confederate preparations at Cummings Point, Morris
Island. The inclined Ironclad Battery is at the left. From Frank
Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 30, 1861.]
[Illustration: In the face of war preparations, wives and children leave
Fort Sumter, February 3, 1861. From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated
Newspaper, February 23, 1861.]
“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is
the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you.
You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You
have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I
shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect, and defend’ it.”
The Sumter situation was placed squarely before Lincoln on the day he
assumed office. On the morning of Inaugural Day the outgoing Secretary
of War received a dispatch from Major Anderson at Fort Sumter indicating
that the remainder of the “issue” rations brought over from Fort
Moultrie in December would last only a few more weeks. Meanwhile, in the
face of local preparations, an estimated force of 20,000 men would now
be needed to reenforce and supply Fort Sumter. It was clear that if
Anderson’s local “fresh food” supply were cut off, he would soon be in a
desperate state. At the same time, it seemed almost equally clear that a
relief expedition would be an impossibility. The entire Army of the
United States numbered less than 16,000 men. “Evacuation seems almost
inevitable,” wrote General Scott; the majority of Lincoln’s Cabinet
agreed. But Lincoln investigated further. In the meantime, reassured by
Secretary of State Seward as well as by others, the South came to
believe Fort Sumter would be evacuated.
[Illustration: Brig. Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Courtesy
National Archives.]
On April 4, President Lincoln sent word to Major Anderson that an
attempt would be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions “and, in
case the effort is resisted ... to reenforce you.” Convinced from “on
the spot” reports that such an expedition was feasible, and that there
was no Union sentiment in South Carolina to which to appeal, Lincoln had
decided upon the nearest thing to preserving the _status quo_. Merchant
steamers under cover of ships of war would carry “subsistence and other
supplies” to Anderson; the ships of war (with troop reenforcements)
would be used only if a peaceable landing were opposed. Capt. G. V. Fox,
long an advocate of a relief expedition, would command. Meanwhile, in
accordance with pledge already given, the Governor of South Carolina
would be carefully informed in advance.
The announcement of the expedition to supply Fort Sumter was the spark
that set off the explosive forces which had been building up since 1850.
The Confederate capital at Montgomery was informed. Anderson’s “fresh”
provision supply had already been cut off on the 7th; now, his mail was
seized.
Work was pushed on the harbor fortifications. A new battery mounting two
“24 pounders” and two “32 pounders” was unmasked on Sullivan’s Island;
another ironclad battery was put into position at its western tip.
Originally designed to be “floating,” this battery mounted two heavy “42
pounders” in addition to two “32 pounders.” Near Mount Pleasant another
(10-inch) mortar battery was installed. At Fort Moultrie, 11 guns now
bore on Fort Sumter, including three 8-inch Columbiads. Additional guns
were mounted to command the channels and to guard against landings by
the fleet. Three thousand more troops were called, to be added to the
3,700 already on the post. The harbor seethed with activity.
“The gage is thrown down,” said the Charleston _Mercury_, “and we accept
the challenge. We will meet the invader, and God and Battle must decide
the issue between the hirelings of Abolition hate and Northern tyranny,
and the people of South Carolina defending their freedom and their
homes.”
Now, just in time, a small (12-pounder Blakely) rifled gun arrived from
England as a gift of a Charlestonian, resident in London. It was mounted
at Cummings Point, ominous forerunner of the powerful rifled guns that 2
years later would reduce Fort Sumter to ruin.
_The Confederates Demand Fort Sumter’s Evacuation_
[Illustration: Artist’s conception of the Confederate floating battery.
The structure at the right was designed to be a hospital. From Frank
Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 30, 1861.]
After cabinet debate in Montgomery, the Confederate Secretary of War
ordered General Beauregard to demand the evacuation of the fort, and if
that demand were refused, to “reduce it.” On the afternoon of April 11,
three of Beauregard’s aides visited the fort under a flag of truce and
presented the ultimatum. Major Anderson refused compliance, but at the
same time he said, “Gentlemen, if you do not batter the fort to pieces
about us, we shall be starved out in a few days.” Still reluctant to
initiate conflict, the Montgomery government telegraphed:
[Illustration: CONFEDERATE DEFENSES OF CHARLESTON HARBOR, APRIL 12, 1861
(ONLY FORT SUMTER IN FEDERAL HANDS)]
“Do not desire needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson
will state the time at which ... he will evacuate, and agree that in
the meantime he will not use his guns against us unless ours should be
employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid the
effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the
fort....”
The atmosphere in Charleston was tense. In at least one household,
dinner was the “merriest, maddest ... yet. Men were more audaciously
wise and witty. We had an unspoken foreboding it was to be our last
pleasant meeting.”
Shortly after midnight, four Confederate officers confronted Major
Anderson again. About 3 hours later, in a carefully worded reply, the
Union commander agreed to evacuate “by noon on the 15th” unless he
should receive prior to that time “controlling instructions from my
Government or additional supplies.” But it was expected in Charleston
that the Federal supply ships would arrive before the 15th. Major
Anderson’s reply was rejected by the Confederate officers, who proceeded
at once to Fort Johnson to give the order to open fire.
_The War Begins—April 12, 1861_
“I count four by St. Michael’s chimes, and I begin to hope. At half
past four, the heavy booming of a cannon! I sprang out of bed and on
my knees, prostrate, I prayed as I never prayed before.”
At 4:30 a. m., a mortar at Fort Johnson fired a shell which arched
across the sky and burst almost directly over Fort Sumter. This was the
signal for opening the bombardment. Within a few minutes, a ring of guns
and mortars about the harbor—43 in all—were firing at Sumter.
[Illustration: Artist’s conception of the bombardment of Fort Sumter,
April 12, 1861. Fort Johnson is in the foreground. From Harper’s Weekly,
April 27, 1861.]
[Illustration: Preparing to fire the first shot from Fort Sumter, April
12, 1861. Contemporary artist’s conception. Courtesy Charleston Library
Society.]
Major Anderson withheld fire until about 7 o’clock. Then Capt. Abner
Doubleday, of latter-day baseball fame, fired a shot at the Ironclad
Battery on Cummings Point. Ominously, the light shot “bounded off from
the sloping roof ... without producing any apparent effect.” Not at any
time during the battle did the guns of Fort Sumter do great damage to
the Confederate defenses. Most of Fort Sumter’s heaviest guns were on
the parapet and in the parade, and, to reduce casualties in the small
garrison, Major Anderson ordered these left unmanned. For a while, with
the help of the 43 engineer workmen remaining at the fort, 9 or 10 of
the casemate guns were manned. But by noon, the expenditure of
ammunition was so much more rapid than the manufacture of new cartridge
bags that the firing was restricted to 6 guns only. Meanwhile
“Showers of balls from 10-inch Columbiads and 42 pounders, and shells
from [10] inch mortars poured into the fort in one incessant stream,
causing great flakes of masonry to fall in all directions. When the
immense mortar shells, after sailing high in the air, came down in a
vertical direction, and buried themselves in the parade ground, their
explosion shook the fort like an earthquake.”
All Charleston watched. Business was entirely suspended. King Street was
deserted. The Battery, the wharves and shipping, and “every steeple and
cupalo in the city” were crowded with anxious spectators. And “never
before had such crowds of ladies without attendants” visited the streets
of Charleston. “The women were wild” on the housetops. In the darkness
before dawn there were “Prayers from the women and imprecations from the
men; and then a shell would light up the scene.” As the day advanced,
the city became rife with rumors: “Tonight, they say, the forces are to
attempt to land. The _Harriet Lane_ had her wheel house smashed and put
back to sea.... We hear nothing, can listen to nothing. Boom boom goes
the cannon all the time. The nervous strain is awful....” Volunteers
rushed to join their companies. There was “Stark Means marching under
the piazza at the head of his regiment ...,” his proud mother leaning
over the balcony rail “looking with tearful eyes.” Two members of the
Palmetto Guards paid $50 for a boat to carry them to Morris Island.
[Illustration: The bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 13, 1861.]
The barracks at Fort Sumter caught fire three times that first day, but
each time the fire was extinguished. One gun on the parapet was
dismounted; another damaged. The wall about one embrasure was shattered
to a depth of 20 inches. That was the Blakely rifle, in part, firing
with “the accuracy of a duelling pistol.” The quarters on the gorge were
completely riddled. When night descended, dark and stormy, Fort Sumter’s
fire ceased entirely. With the six needles available, the work of making
cartridge bags went forward; blankets, old clothing, extra hospital
sheets, and even paper, were used in the emergency. In the meantime, the
supply fleet, off the bar since the onset of hostilities, did no more
than maintain its position. It had been crippled upon departure when
Seward’s meddling had caused withdrawal of the powerful warship
_Powhatan_. Now, bad weather prevented even a minimum supporting
operation.
[Illustration: Col. Louis T. Wigfall. From Mrs. D. Giraud Wright, A
Southern Girl in ’61. Courtesy Doubleday & Company.]
On the morning of the 13th, Sumter opened “early and spitefully,” and,
with the increased supply of cartridges, for a while kept up a brisk
fire. About midmorning hot shot set fire to the officers’ quarters. The
Confederate fire then increased; soon the whole extent of the quarters
was in flames; the powder magazines were in danger. The blaze spread to
the barracks. By noon the fort was almost uninhabitable. The men crowded
to the embrasures for air or lay on the ground with handkerchiefs over
their mouths. For a time the fort continued to fire; valiant efforts had
saved some of the powder before the onrush of the flames forced the
closing of the magazines. Meanwhile, at every shot, the Confederate
troops, “carried away by their natural generous impulses,” mounted the
different batteries and “cheered the garrison for its pluck and
gallantry and hooted the fleet lying inactive just outside the bar.”
[Illustration: Interior of Fort Sumter after the bombardment of April
1861. The Left Flank barrack is at the left; the Left Face is at the
right. From G. S. Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War.]
[Illustration: Interior of the Gorge after the April 1861 bombardment.
Parade entrance to sally port is at center.]
About 1:30 in the afternoon the flag was shot down. Almost accidentally,
this led to surrender. By authority of General Simons, commanding on
Morris Island, Col. Louis T. Wigfall, one of General Beauregard’s aides
detached for duty at that spot, set out by small boat to ascertain
whether Major Anderson would capitulate. Till recently, Wigfall had been
United States Senator from Texas. Before he arrived at the beleaguered
fort, the United States flag was again flying, but Wigfall continued on.
The firing continued from the batteries across the harbor. Once through
an embrasure on the Left Flank, white handkerchief on the point of his
sword, Colonel Wigfall offered the Federal commander any terms he
desired, only “the precise nature of which” would have to be arranged
with General Beauregard. Anderson accepted on the basis of Beauregard’s
original terms: evacuation with his command, taking arms and all private
and company property, saluting the United States flag as it was lowered,
and being conveyed, if desired, to a Northern port. The white flag went
up again; the firing ceased. Wigfall departed confident that Anderson
had surrendered unconditionally. He and his boatman were borne ashore
“in triumph.”
[Illustration: Exterior of the Gorge after the April 1861 bombardment.
The sally port is at the left.]
Meanwhile, officers had arrived at the fort direct from General
Beauregard’s headquarters in Charleston. From these men, dispatched to
offer assistance to the Federal commander, Anderson learned that
Wigfall’s action was unauthorized; that, indeed, the colonel had not
seen the Commanding General since the start of the battle. From another
party of officers he learned Beauregard’s exact terms of surrender. They
failed to include the privilege of saluting the flag, though in all
other respects they were the same as those Anderson believed he had
accepted from Wigfall. Impetuously, Anderson had first declared he would
run up his flag again. Then, restrained by Beauregard’s aides, he waited
while his request for permission to salute the flag was conveyed to the
Commanding General. In the course of the afternoon, General Beauregard
courteously sent over a fire engine from the city. About 7:30 that
evening, Beauregard’s chief of staff returned with word that Major
Anderson’s request would be granted and the terms offered on the 11th
would be faithfully adhered to. The engagement was officially at an end.
During the 34-hour bombardment, more than 3,000 shells had been hurled
at the fort.
[Illustration: Rear Adm. Samuel F. Du Pont. From Johnson, The Defense of
Charleston Harbor.]
[Illustration: FORT SUMTER NATIONAL MONUMENT SOUTH CAROLINA]
_NOTE: A Guide to the Area keyed to numbers on the map begins on page 42_
On Sunday, April 14, Major Anderson and his garrison marched out of the
fort with drums beating and colors flying and boarded ship to join the
Federal fleet off the bar. On the 50th round of what was to have been a
100-gun salute to the United States flag, there occurred the only
fatality of the engagement. The premature discharge of a gun and the
explosion of a pile of cartridges resulted in the death of Pvt. Daniel
Hough. Another man, mortally wounded, died several days later. The 50th
round was the last. Now, as the steamer _Isabel_ went down the channel,
the soldiers of the Confederate batteries on Cummings Point lined the
beach, silent, heads uncovered.
The following day, April 15, 1861, Abraham Lincoln issued a call for
75,000 militia. Civil war, so long dreaded, had begun. The States of
Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina now joined the
Confederacy.
_Charleston and the Federal Blockade—1861-63_
With Fort Sumter in Confederate hands, the port of Charleston became a
most irritating loophole in the Federal naval blockade of the Atlantic
coast—doubly irritating because at Charleston “rebellion first lighted
the flame of civil war.” As late as January 1863, it was reported that
“vessels ply to and from Charleston and Nassau [Bahamas] with the
certainty and promptness of a regular line.” In 2 months of the spring
following, 21 Confederate vessels cleared Charleston and 15 came in.
Into Charleston came needed war supplies; out went cotton in payment.
Capture of Port Royal Harbor on November 7, 1861, by a Federal fleet
under Capt. Samuel F. Du Pont, however, had made possible land and sea
operations against Charleston. In June 1862, an attempt was made by Maj.
Gen. D. H. Hunter to push through to Charleston by James Island on the
south. This ended in Union disaster at Secessionville. Meanwhile, the
_Monitor-Merrimac_ action in Hampton Roads had indicated the feasibility
of a naval “ironclad” expedition against Fort Sumter, the key to the
harbor. Sumter, now largely rebuilt, had become a formidable work armed
with some 95 guns and garrisoned with upwards of 500 men. In May 1862,
the Navy Department had determined to capture Charleston “as soon as
Richmond falls.” To Du Pont, who was now rear admiral, there seemed to
be a “morbid appetite in the land to have Charleston.” The War
Department, meanwhile, far from supplying additional troops to General
Hunter’s command in South Carolina, withdrew units to reenforce General
McClellan in Virginia.
_Federal Ironclads Attack Fort Sumter_
On April 5, 1863, a fleet of 9 Federal ironclads, armed with 32 guns “of
the heaviest calibres ever used in war,” appeared off Charleston bar.
Seven were of the single-turret “cheesebox on a raft” monitor type; one
was a double-turreted affair; the flagship _New Ironsides_ was an
ironclad frigate. With the ebb tide, on the afternoon of the 7th, the
“newfangled” ironclads steamed single file up the main ship channel east
of Morris Island. The weather was clear and bright; the water “as stable
as of a river.” By 3 o’clock, the _Weehawken_, the leading monitor, had
come within range, and Fort Moultrie opened fire. The _Passaic_, second
in line, responded. Fort Sumter held fire, guns trained on a buoy at the
turn of the channel. When the _Weehawken_ came abreast of that point,
all the guns atop Sumter’s right flank let loose, followed by all the
guns on Sullivan’s Island, at Fort Moultrie, and at Cummings Point that
could be brought to bear.
[Illustration: Contemporary artist’s conception of Ironclad attack,
April 7, 1863. The flagship New Ironsides is at left center. From
Harper’s Weekly, May 2, 1863.]
It was too much for the ironclads, slow and unwieldy, possessed of
limited vision, and operating in a narrow and uncertain channel. In the
course of the 2½-hour fight, only one came as close as 900 yards to Fort
Sumter. To the 2,209 rounds hurled against them, the ironclads were able
to return only 154, of which only 34 found the target. These breached
and loosened the right flank parapet for a length of 25 feet and pocked
the walls elsewhere with craters up to 2½ feet deep. But it was far from
enough; Fort Sumter remained strong and secure. In the meantime, five of
the ironclads were seriously disabled by the accurate fire, and one, the
_Keokuk_, sank the following morning in the shallow water off Morris
Island. In a daring exploit sometime later, Confederate troops recovered
the guns of the _Keokuk_ and mounted one at Fort Sumter.
Admiral Du Pont had “attempted to take the bull by the horns but had
failed.” The North, so confident of victory, was stunned at a time when
the general military situation gave cause for gloom. The war in the East
had been bloody and indecisive till now; the news from the West was bad.
Federal authorities looked to a combined operation to seize Morris
Island and from there demolish Fort Sumter. With Fort Sumter reduced,
the harbor could be entered.
_The Morris Island Approach to Fort Sumter_
Folly Island and Cole’s Island, next south of Morris Island, had been
occupied by Northern troops just prior to the naval attack. In June and
July, the northern end of Folly Island was fortified. In a remarkable
operation, 47 guns and mortars were secretly placed “within speaking
distance of the enemy’s pickets.” Some 11,000 men were concentrated on
the island. Brig. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, the “breacher” of Fort
Pulaski, assumed command on June 12. Rear Adm. John A. Dahlgren
superseded Admiral Du Pont on July 6.
[Illustration: Col. Alfred Rhett. From Johnson, The Defense of
Charleston Harbor.]
[Illustration: Bvt. Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore. From Johnson, The
Defense of Charleston Harbor.]
During that time the Confederates mounted guns at the southern end of
Morris Island and built up the earthworks at its upper end—Battery Gregg
at Cummings Point and Battery Wagner some 1,400 yards to the south. The
latter work, commanding the island at its narrowest point, was made into
a formidable “sand fort” mounting about 15 guns.
Fort Sumter, 1,390 yards distant from Battery Gregg, prepared for siege,
too. Brick and stone masonry “counterforts,” already built at each
extremity of the esplanade as protection for the magazines, were now
strengthened, and much of the remaining gorge exterior was sandbagged,
or otherwise protected. The casemates on the right flank (“sea front”)
were filled with sand, and the rooms on the gorge were filled with damp
cotton bales laid in sand. The upper-tier magazines were abandoned and
filled with sandbags to protect the magazines below. Protective
revetments and defensive devices of various sorts were introduced at
various points throughout the fort. During this period the garrison was
host at frequent intervals to officers on leave, citizens of Charleston,
and even many ladies, who came to see the scars of the April battle, to
admire the drill, or to observe the preparations. At the end of June
1863, Fort Sumter was garrisoned with 5 companies (perhaps 500 men) of
the First South Carolina Artillery, under the command of Col. Alfred
Rhett. Its armament, meanwhile, had been reduced to 68 guns and mortars,
many of the finest pieces having been removed to strengthen other
fortifications about the harbor.
On the morning of July 10, 3,000 Union infantrymen, supported by the
artillery on Folly Island and the guns of 4 monitors, descended on the
southern end of Morris Island. Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour, a company
commander at Fort Sumter 2 years before, commanded the assault. Within 4
hours, three-fourths of Morris Island was in his hands. Hopelessly
outgunned and outmanned, the Confederate forces fell back to Battery
Wagner. The guns of Fort Sumter helped to cover the retreat.
A “desperate” assault upon Wagner the following morning failed, though
the parapet was briefly gained. General Gillmore established
counterbatteries and tried again on the 18th. From noon until nightfall
that day “without cessation or intermission,” Federal guns poured a
“storm of shot and shell upon Fort Wagner ... perhaps unequalled in
history”; then, some 6,000 troops assaulted—in the van, the 54th
Massachusetts, “the first colored regiment of the North to go to war.”
In a short savage struggle, Seymour’s force suffered 1,500 casualties.
Though one angle of the fort was gained and held for a time, the attack
was repulsed.
Thwarted in his plan to secure easy possession of Morris Island as a
base for breaching operations against Fort Sumter, General Gillmore now
determined to attempt that fort’s reduction from the ground already in
his possession. Batteries Wagner and Gregg would be taken by protracted
siege operations. At Fort Sumter, removal of guns and ammunition
continued apace. Anticipating that Sumter was “liable to be silenced
sooner or later,” and fearing attack at other points about the harbor,
the Confederate authorities husbanded their resources. By mid-August,
Fort Sumter’s armament was reduced to a safe minimum of 38 guns and 2
mortars.
At distances of 2 to 2½ miles from Fort Sumter—distances extraordinary
for such operations—Gillmore set up eight batteries of heavy rifled
cannon. In the marsh west of Morris Island, where the mud was “like
liquid,” his engineers successfully emplaced a “200 pounder” to fire on
Charleston; this was to be the notorious “Swamp Angel.”
[Illustration: The first great breach in Fort Sumter’s walls. Left Face
interior, August 20, 1863. From an original photograph by G. S. Cook.
Courtesy Mrs. T. R. Simmons, Charleston.]
_The First Great Bombardment of Fort Sumter_
After some experimental firing starting August 12, the bombardment of
Fort Sumter began in earnest on August 17. Nearly 1,000 shells were
hurled at the fort that first day; nearly 5,000 more during the week
following. Even at the end of the first day it was obvious that Fort
Sumter was never intended to withstand “200 pound Yankee Parrotts.”
Then, 3 days later, a 13-ton monster throwing 250-pound shells was
added, making 18 rifled cannon in action. Because of the range involved,
the fort could not reply to the land batteries, and the monitors
presented themselves only fleetingly.
On the 21st, with the “Swamp Angel” in position, Gillmore demanded the
evacuation of Fort Sumter and Morris Island, threatening direct fire on
the city of Charleston. Gillmore’s ultimatum was unsigned, and General
Beauregard was absent from his headquarters; but before confirmation
could be secured, Gillmore had opened fire on the city. But little
damage had been done when, on the 36th round, the “Swamp Angel” burst.
Meanwhile, Beauregard had delivered an indignant reply. The bombardment
of Fort Sumter continued.
By the 24th, General Gillmore was able to report the “practical
demolition” of the fort. On that date, only one gun remained
“serviceable in action.” On the morning of the 23d, against Dahlgren’s
ironclads, Fort Sumter had fired what were to be its last shots in
action. Its brick masonry walls were shattered and undermined; a breach
8 by 10 feet yawned in the upper casemates of the left face; at points,
the sloped debris of the walls already provided a practicable route for
assault.
Still, the Confederate garrison, supplemented by a force of 200 to 400
Negroes, labored night and day, strengthening and repairing. The debris,
accumulating above the sand- and cotton-filled rooms, itself bolstered
the crumbling walls. On August 26, General Beauregard ordered Fort
Sumter held “to the last extremity.”
The bombardment continued sporadically during the week following. On the
night of September 1-2, the ironclads moved against the fort—the first
major naval operation against Fort Sumter since the preceding April.
Attempts earlier in the week had been thwarted by circumstance; now,
conditions were right. For 5 hours, the frigate _New Ironsides_ and five
monitors bombarded the fort, now without a gun with which to reply to
the “sneaking sea-devils.” Two hundred and forty-five shot and shell
were hurled against the ruin—twice as many as were thrown in the April
attack. Then, tidal conditions, as much as a “rapid and sustained” fire
from Fort Moultrie, forced the monitors’ withdrawal.
[Illustration: Maj. Stephen Elliott. From Johnson, The Defense of
Charleston Harbor.]
[Illustration: Shell from the monitor Weehawken exploding on the
interior of Fort Sumter, September 8, 1863. From an original photograph
by G. S. Cook, Courtesy Charleston Chapter No. 4, United Daughters of
the Confederacy.]
Some desultory firing on the 2d brought to a close the first sustained
bombardment of Fort Sumter. Over 7,300 rounds had been hurled against
the fort since the opening of fire on August 17. With the fort, to all
intents, reduced to a “shapeless and harmless mass of ruins,” the
Federal commanders now concentrated on Battery Wagner, to which General
Gillmore’s sappers had come within 100 yards.
On the morning of September 5, Federal cannoneers commenced a
devastating barrage against that work. For 42 hours, night and day, in a
spectacle “of surpassing sublimity and grandeur,” 17 mortars and 9
rifled cannon, as well as the powerful guns of the ironclads, pounded
the earthwork. Calcium lights “turned night into day.” On the night of
September 6-7, the Confederate garrisons at Wagner and Gregg evacuated;
Morris Island, after 58 days, was at last in the hands of Union troops.
Just three-quarters of a mile away stood Fort Sumter.