Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter's construction began in 1829. It was located on an artificial island on a shoal in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor. The building was a three story, pentagon shape, with five foot thick walls. The fort was named for Thomas Sumter, a Revolutionary war hero. Full armor was to be 135 guns, but in 1860 only 60 cannons were in place. It's purpose was to protect from a sea attack.

The historical value of Fort Sumter began in November, 1860, when Major Robert Anderson and his wife were sent to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. Major Anderson, a loyal Kentuckian, was sent to protect the interest of the Union in the event South Carolina did succeed. He was appalled by Fort Moultrie's vulnerable position on Sullivan's Island. He wrote back to Washington with his complaints and ideas that the occupation of Fort Sumpter would be better for the Union.

Then Secretary of War, John Floyd, gave Anderson the go ahead to move. Fort Sumter was empty except for workmen trying to make repairs on the incomplete fort. Anderson ordered the work sped up and on December 26, 1860, six days after South Carolina' secession, three boats set out after dark with Major Anderson and Lieutenant Synder in the first, Lieutenant Meade in the second, and Captain Doubleday in the third. Captain John Foster and five soldiers remained to keep a watch for Confederate patrol boats.

Under the cover of night, the move to Fort Sumter was successful for Major Anderson, but the sight of the Union flag in the harbor offended the South Carolinians. The new independent nation and the confederacy could not stomach the idea of a foreign fort in the middle of one of its most important harbors.

With supplies running low and tension building, Major Anderson sent word to Washington that he needed reinforcements. A federal steamer called "The Star of the West" was secretly dispatched. The message that help was on the way never reached Anderson. It did, however, reach the Confederates by way of Jacob Thompson who was Secretary of the Interior under President Buchanan. As "The Star of the West" approached Fort Sumter, Citadel Col. George E. Haynsworth fired on the ship. The Ship, not getting any support from Sumter, returned back to the Atlantic. Major Anderson with his eighty-six soldiers, eight musicians, forty-five women and children were on their own. Shortly after "The Star of the West" incident, the women and children were sent to New York.

With a showdown inevitable between President Lincoln and Confederate President Davis, the confederates amass some six thousand troops in gun pits and encampments all around the Charleston harbor. President Lincoln refused to release any land belonging to the Union and with negotiations breaking off, the Confederates try to appeal to Major Anderson for his evacuation of the fort. He replied the United States flag would remain until he felt compelled to haul it down. With no sign the Union was going to give, Confederate President Jefferson Davis gave General Pierre Beauregard orders for bombardment of Fort Sumter until surrender.

At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1961, Edmund Ruffin, a Virginia fire-eater, pulled the lanyard on a symbolic first shot form Cummings Point. This, prompted by a signal from Fort Johnson, and then the guns from Fort Moultrie opened fire. After thirty-six hours, Anderson hauled down the flag, turned the fort over to the Confederates, and loaded his men on a steamer bound for New York.

The war had finally begun and ironically enough, in a war that would claim over 600,000 Americans, the first battle was bloodless. The only lives lost at Ft. Sumter came in a freak accident when Major Anderson was firing a last salute to his flag and a powder charge exploded, killing two men.

Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter were both the birthplace of secession and a strategic port. On April 7, 1863, the Union sent eight ironclads into the Charleston Harbor. As the fleet approached the guns of Fort Sumter rang out. It was as if the Union had entered the Devel's home. The Keohak was sunk, the fort stood and the harbor remained impassable.

In late summer of 1864, Fort Sumter was again attacked. General J. G. Foster who had been an engineer at Sumter when Anderson was there, helped to make the last attack. Steamers with elevated towers for sharp shooters and tall scaling ladders pounded at Fort Sumter. At one point the walls were destroyed to only 20 feet above high tide and with the last gun destroyed, the Confederate infantry held on. The fort remained in Confederate hands.

In February of 1865, General Sherman began his march from Savannah, Georgia, through South Carolina. When the Union reached Columbia, the South Carolinians knew they were beaten and quietly evacuated Fort Sumter.

President Lincoln decided that there should be a special celebration for the reclaiming of Fort Sumter by Major Anderson, now General Anderson. A large wooden platform was built over the rubble in the parade area, covered with a canopy, surrounded by stands to seat 4,000 spectators. With standing room only left, General Anderson arrived carrying the flag he had hauled down in 1861 and with the raising of the old tattered flag, the Union again claimed Fort Sumter.

In the 1870's, the rubble and ruin of war cleared from the interior of Fort Sumter, reconstruction began with the outer walls being partly rebuilt by 1876. Construction ended. There was no more money. For the next twenty-three years the fort was used as a lighthouse station with only one man in charge.

During World War II, Fort Sumter was armed with 90 millimeter anti-aircraft guns which were manned by a garrison of Coast Artillery.

In 1948, Congress made Fort Sumter a national monument. Fort Sumter is now administered by the National Park Services.