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Konfederate skiet op Ft Sumter
Ft Sumter was 'n federale fort in die middel van die Charleston -hawe in die suide. Die Konfederate eis dat die Unie die fort ontruim, toe hulle weier dat die Konfederate aangeval word en die oorlog aan die gang is.
Die federale regering het 'n aantal forte en militêre installasies in die suide gehad. Namate die suidelike state afgestig het, is baie van hulle vinnig deur staatsmagte omgeslaan. Een van die belangrikste uitsonderings was die federale fasiliteite in en om Charleston. Federale troepe daar was in Fort Moultrie gekonsentreer. In die middel van die Charleston -hawe sit Fort Sumter, onbewoon en nog in aanbou. Op 15 November is majoor Robert Anderson aangewys as bevelvoerder van die federale troepe in Charleston. Hy het vinnig tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat Fort Moultrie nie verdedigbaar was nie. Die onbewoonde Fort Sumter was verdedigbaar, want dit was in die middel van die hawe omring deur diep water.
Die Buchanan -administrasie was ambivalent oor wat om te doen oor die situasie in Charleston. Uiteindelik het die oorlogsekretaris majoor Don Carlos Buell na Charleston gestuur om met majoor Anderson te vergader. Majoor Buell het majoor Anderson instruksies gegee om die federale fasiliteite in Charleston te verdedig. Hy is verder aangesê om op te tree wanneer hy hom bedreig voel.
Die burgers het toenemende vyandigheid teenoor die soldate begin toon. Toe die boodskap aan majoor Anderson kom dat goewerneur van South Carolina, Pickens van plan was om Ft Sumter in beslag te neem, het majoor Anderson opgetree. Op die aand van 26 Desember het majoor Anderson sy bevel bymekaargemaak en in die nag na Fort Sumter verhuis. Die Suidlander voel verraai. Hulle het geglo dat hulle 'n verstandhouding met Anderson het om die status quo te handhaaf.
Die kwessie van Ft Sumter het aanhou smeul. Die administrasie van Buchanan het geen poging aangewend om die fort weer te voorsien nie. Alhoewel die fort byna deur die aanval onneembaar was, was 68 soldate, as dit behoorlik versterk en gevul was, te min om die fort te verdedig. Buiten die feit dat Washington nie weet nie, het majoor Anderson's nie die voorraad om 'n lang beleg te weerstaan nie.
Toe Lincoln sy amp beklee, domineer die kwessie van Ft Sumter sy kommer. Hy moes noodgedwonge kennis neem van wat toenemend 'n moeilike keuse was. Lincoln was bang om geweld te gebruik, aangesien dit die suidelike state soos Virginia wat nog nie afgestig het om af te skei nie, kan beïnvloed. Aan die ander kant was majoor Anderson besig om 'n held in die noorde te word. Verder het Lincoln begin voel dat as hy Ft Sumter prysgee, hy inderdaad toegetree het tot die konfederale afstigting. As hy Ft Sumter nie kon hou nie, kon hy niks doen om die Unie bymekaar te hou nie.
Uiteindelik, nadat Lincoln uiteenlopende advies van sy adviseurs ontvang het, het hy besluit om die fort weer aan te bied.
Die Konfederale regering onder Davis was van mening dat hulle nie kon toelaat dat die fort herverskaff word nie, en Davis ondanks die opposisie van die konfederale minister van buitelandse sake, Robert Toombs - het hy gesê: "Meneer die president is dit tans selfmoord, moord en elke vriend sal verloor in die noorde "U sal slegs 'n horingsnes slaan wat van berge tot by die see strek, en legioene wat nou stil is, sal ons swerm en ons doodsteek. Dit is onnodig; dit het ons verkeerd geplaas, dit is noodlottig. ”
Op die middag van 11 April het generaal Beaulegrad 'n formele eis van oorgawe aan majoor Anderson gerig. Toe majoor Anderson dit ontvang het, het hy dit geweier, maar hy het aan die Konfederale verteenwoordigers gesê dat as hulle net nog 'n paar dae gewag het, die fort gedwing sou word om oor te gee, aangesien dit sonder kos sou wees. Kolonel Chesnut, een van die Konfederale verteenwoordigers, het gevra of hy dit in sy verslag kan insluit. Anderson het ingestem. Beauregard vra toe leiding van president Davis. Davis het ingestem om die bombardement op te skort as hy 'n vaste verbintenis kon kry ten opsigte van die tyd van oorgawe van Anderson. Om middernag op die 12de Konfederale verteenwoordigers het weereens die oorgawe van die garnisoen geëis. Anderson het geantwoord dat hulle teen die 15de sou oorgee, maar met 'n belangrike voorbehoud, dat slegs as die fort nie weer voorsien word nie. Dit was nie vir die Konfederate 'n voldoende antwoord nie. Toe die konfederate begin vertrek, het Anderson gesê: "As ons nooit weer in hierdie wêreld ontmoet nie, gee God dat ons in die volgende kan ontmoet."
So het die konfederale batterye om 04:30 hul bombardement op Fort Sumter begin. Die konfederale bombardement was effektief en het 'n drywende battery in 'n geïmproviseerde boot ingesluit. Anderson se teenvuur is beperk deur die gebrek aan ammunisie en sy beperkte aantal soldate. Uiteindelik het 34 uur nadat die bombardement begin het, oorgegee
Dit is 'n foto van Fort Sumter wat in 1865 van die Sand Bar geneem is
Dit is 'n foto van Fort Sumter wat in 1865 geneem is met 'n baken op die skut van Fort Sumter
Dit is 'n foto van die binnekant van Fort Sumter met die Konfederale Vlag wat wapper.
Dit is 'n foto van die opheffing van die Amerikaanse vlag by Fort Sumter.
Hierdie illustrasie van Harpers Weekly toon die uitsig vanuit Fort Sumter tydens die bombardement.
Dit is 'n foto van die binnekant van Fort Putnam op Morris Island met gewere wat meer as 1200 skote in Sumter afgevuur het. Cooley, Sam A. (Samuel A.) fotograaf
Na die Capture
Eerste Cearsefire
Tydskrifte in Ft Sumter
Konfederate skiet op die fort
Ster van die Weste
Konfederate brand op die ster van die weste
Ft Sumter van Ft Johnson
Binne -aansig van Ft Sumter
Voorbereiding van Ft Sumter
Major Andersons -kamer in Ft Sumter
Vernietigde Fort
Buitenkant van Ft Sumter
Fort Sumter en Fort Moultrie National Historical Park
Die stad Charleston het 'n sleutelrol gespeel in die Amerikaanse rewolusie en die Amerikaanse burgeroorlog. Hierdie unieke nasionale park bevat verskeie plekke rondom Charleston Harbour wat help om die unieke verhale van die plekke en mense wat ons geskiedenis gevorm het, te deel.
Sullivan's Island het lank gedien as die eerste verdedigingslinie van Charleston Harbour. Kwarantynstasies, wat gebou is om die verspreiding van siektes te voorkom, het elke persoon wat die hawe binnekom, nagegaan, insluitend afrikaners wat in slawerny was, en formele versterkings wat probeer verdedig is teen buitelandse inval. Fort Moultrie, die eerste fort op die eiland Sullivan, is in Junie 1776 deur die Royal Navy aangeval terwyl die fort nog onvolledig was en daarin kon slaag om die Britse magte na nege uur se geveg te verdryf. Nog 'n fort is in die plek daarvan gebou nadat die Britte Charleston in 1780 verower het, en 'n derde baksteen Fort Moultrie is teen 1809 voltooi nadat die tweede onder verwaarlosing en 'n vernietigende orkaan gely het. Fort Moultrie, vernoem ter ere van die bevelvoerder wat in 1776 teen die Royal Navy geveg het, is gedurende die laaste helfte van die 19de eeu en begin van die 20ste eeu gemoderniseer en vandag is die fort gerestoureer om die belangrikste periodes van sy komplekse geskiedenis weer te gee. , van die Palmetto-log fort van 1776 tot die Harbour Entrance Control Post van die Tweede Wêreldoorlog.
Verken 'n keerpunt in die Amerikaanse geskiedenis: besoek Fort Sumter
Vra die meeste mense waar die burgeroorlog begin het, en hulle sê Fort Sumter in Charleston. Dit was by hierdie fort van die Amerikaanse weermag by die monding van die Charleston -hawe dat die eerste skote van die oorlog begin het, wat een van die bloedigste en mees tragiese episodes van die Amerikaanse geskiedenis begin het.
Maar die hoofoorsake van die burgeroorlog strek veel verder as die noodlottige vroeë oggend van 12 April 1861, en die gevolge van daardie dag strek veel verder as die skermutseling wat die konfederale troepe die klein, maar hoogs strategiese fort op 'n klein, windverwaaide eiland gesien het. Die Fort Sumter National Monument, deel van die National Park System, probeer om die ingewikkelde en fassinerende geskiedenis te vertel. Dit is ook toevallig een van die mooiste plekke in Charleston.
Begin u besoek aan die Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center op Liberty Square, geleë op die plek waar Gadsden's Wharf eens gestaan het, reg langs die South Carolina Aquarium. Gadsden's Wharf was eens die plek waar slawe van Afrikaners Suid -Carolina binnegekom het. Die besoekersentrum vertel die verhaal van hul reis en van die ekonomiese, sosiale en politieke geskiedenis van slawerny in die VSA wat gelei het tot die eerste skote wat op Fort Sumter afgevuur is. Maak seker dat u uself 'n uur of selfs meer tyd gee om die uitstallings te verken. Hulle gee 'n konteks en geskiedenis aan die reis na die fort wat die ervaring nog ryker maak.
Toegang tot die fort en besoekersentrum is gratis, maar jy moet veerbootkaartjies koop om by die eiland uit te kom. Fort Sumter is een van die gewildste besienswaardighede in Charleston, en veerbootkaartjies word gereeld uitverkoop, dus koop vooraf u kaartjies.
Daar is twee plekke om die veerboot na Fort Sumter te kry. Die een is die besoekersentrum en die ander is Patriots Point, die vlootmuseum oorkant die hawe in Mount Pleasant. Die reis na die eiland is een van die beste dele van die dag. Die kans is groot dat u dolfyne in die hawe sal sien, en u sal beslis die beste uitsig kry oor die pragtige Battery en die ikoniese skyline van Charleston, met die heilige stad vol toring. Toergidse wys langs die pad belangrike bakens.
By Fort Sumter het u die kans om te loop en deur die oorblyfsels van die fort te dwaal. Fort Sumter is nou 'n historiese plek, nie 'n werkende fort nie. Baie daarvan is nou in puin, maar dit is eintlik eers in 1948 uit die weg geruim. Tussen die Burgeroorlog en die einde van die Tweede Wêreldoorlog is verskillende toevoegings en veranderinge aangebring aan Fort Sumter, en hierdie lae veranderinge is vandag vir besoekers sigbaar . Rangers is beskikbaar om oorsigte te gee en vrae te beantwoord. Toere word nie gereeld geskeduleer nie, maar is dikwels beskikbaar as u dit vra, afhangende van hoe besig die fort die dag is.
Maak seker dat u soek na die projektiele uit die burgeroorlog wat nog in die vyf voet dik mure, die krom boog en skuins baksteenmure lê, waar 'n kruitvat toevallig ontplof het. Moenie die enorme en ou kanonne wat nog steeds gereed staan en na die see wys, misloop nie, en weet net dat alle kinders saam met u daarop wil klim. Moenie toelaat dat hulle. Die meeste dinge in Fort Sumter, insluitend die bakstene en kanonne, is broos en histories, en die kinders kan seerkry of die kanonne beskadig sonder om dit te doen.
Voordat u op die veerboot klim om na Charleston terug te keer, neem 'n paar minute om uit te stap na die strand, net buite die growwe, dik mure en langs die sandspoeg in die hawe. Dit is moontlik die mooiste uitsig in Charleston.
Oor Fort Sumter
Die fort is vernoem na South Carolinian Thomas Sumter, 'n patriot vir die rewolusionêre oorlog. Die bou van die fort begin in 1829, een van 'n reeks kusforte wat deur die Verenigde State na die oorlog van 1812 gebou is. Slawe van arbeiders en vakmanne was onder diegene wat aan hierdie struktuur gewerk het. Dit was nog onvoltooid toe majoor Robert Anderson sy garnisoen van 85 man na die fort verhuis het op 26 Desember 1860. Op 20 Desember 1860 het afgevaardigdes van Suid-Carolina in 'n spesiale byeenkoms vergader en gestem om van die Federale Unie weg te breek.
Nadat Anderson sy manne na Fort Sumter verhuis het, het die Suide die Unie verlof geëis. Die Unie het geweier. Op 12 April 1861 het die konfederale troepe van Suid -Carolina van die nabygeleë Fort Johnson op die fort geskiet. Die tweedaagse bombardement het daartoe gelei dat die Unie die fort oorgegee het.
Op 14 April het majoor Anderson en sy manne uit die fort opgeruk en aan boord gegaan van skepe wat na New York was. Hulle het Sumter 34 uur lank verdedig totdat "die kwartiere heeltemal verbrand is, die hoofhekke deur 'n brand vernietig is, die kloofmure ernstig beseer is, die tydskrifte omring deur vlamme."
Die burgeroorlog het begin.
Die Suide het die fort tot 17 Februarie 1865 gehou toe die Konfederate ontruim is. Met Charleston nou in die hande van die Unie, is die Amerikaanse vlag wat laat sak het toe die fort in 1861 oorgegee is, bo Fort Sumter gehys. Byna twee jaar voor die datum is meer as 7 miljoen pond metaal op Fort Sumter afgevuur. Dit word beskou as een van die belangrikste historiese monumente in die Verenigde State.
Dinge om te weet tydens 'n besoek
Kyk vooraf na die weervoorspelling. Terwyl die uitstallings binne die verhaal van die fort en sy beroemde slag vertel, is die res van die cool dinge om te sien en te doen buite. As dit warm is, bring sonskerm en insekweerder.
Alhoewel piekniek nie by die fort toegelaat word nie, is daar 'n snackbar op die veerboot. Dit is ook slim om 'n hervulbare waterbottel en versnaperinge saam te bring terwyl u die wonderlike uitsig geniet. Daar is ook 'n klein boekwinkel wat geskiedenisboeke, memorandums uit die burgeroorlog en ander Fort Sumter -herinneringe verkoop.
Fort Sumter: Die burgeroorlog begin
Die middag van 11 April 1861 stoot 'n klein oop bootjie met 'n wit vlag van die punt van die nou skiereiland rondom die stad Charleston af. Die vaartuig het twee gesante voorgestel wat die regering van die Konfederale State verteenwoordig, twee maande tevore in Montgomery, Alabama. Slawe het die passasiers die byna drie en 'n half myl oor die hawe geroei na die dreigende hulk van Fort Sumter, waar luitenant Jefferson C. Davis van die Amerikaanse weermag geen verhouding gehad het met die pas geïnstalleerde president van die Konfederasie nie. Davis het die gesante gelei na die bevelvoerder van die fort, maj. Robert Anderson, wat sedert net na Kersfees daar opgesluit was met 'n klein garnisoen van 87 offisiere en manne wat die laaste gevaarlike simbool van federale mag in hartstogtelik afskeidende Suid -Carolina was.
Uit hierdie verhaal
Video: Deur die geskiedenis van die burgeroorlog
Verwante inhoud
Die Konfederate eis onmiddellike ontruiming van die fort. Hulle beloof egter veilige vervoer uit Charleston vir Anderson en sy manne, wat toegelaat sou word om hul wapens en persoonlike besittings te dra en die Stars and Stripes te groet, wat die Konfederate erken het, en dat u so lank gehandhaaf het. onder die moeilikste omstandighede. ” Anderson bedank hulle vir sulke eerlike, manlike en beleefde terme. ” Tog het hy gesê: “Dit is 'n eis waarmee ek spyt is oor my gevoel van eer en van my verpligting teenoor my regering, verhoed dat ek daaraan voldoen. Toe die gesante vertrek en die geluid van hul roeispane oor die vuurwapen grys water verdwyn, het Anderson geweet dat die burgeroorlog waarskynlik net ure ver is.
Honderd-en-vyftig jaar later weerklink die diepgaande implikasies van die oorlog nog steeds in Amerikaanse harte, hoofde en politiek, van die langdurige gevolge van slawerny vir Afro-Amerikaners tot hernieude debatte oor state ’ regte en vra vir die “ vernietiging ” van federale wette. Baie mense in die Suide beskou afstigting as 'n saak van eer en die begeerte om 'n gekoesterde lewenswyse te beskerm.
Maar die oorlog het ongetwyfeld gegaan oor die voortbestaan van die Verenigde State as 'n nasie. Baie het geglo dat as afstigting sou slaag, dit ander dele van die land in staat sou stel om om enige rede uit die Unie te breek. Die burgeroorlog het bewys dat 'n republiek kan oorleef, sê historikus Allen Guelzo van Gettysburg College. Die despote van Europa het lankal beweer dat republieke outomaties 'n noodlot het om te swig voor 'n eksterne aanval of om van binne af te ontbind. Die rewolusie het bewys dat ons onsself kan verdedig teen aanvalle van buite. Toe het ons tydens die totstandkoming van die Grondwet bewys dat ons reëls vir uself kan skryf. Nou het die derde toets gekom: of 'n republiek homself kan verdedig teen interne ineenstorting. ”
Generasies geskiedkundiges het gestry oor die oorsaak van die oorlog. Almal het destyds geweet dat die oorlog uiteindelik oor slawerny gaan, ” sê Orville Vernon Burton, 'n inheemse Suid -Carolina en skrywer van Die ouderdom van Lincoln. Na die oorlog het sommige begin sê dat dit regtig gaan oor state se regte, of 'n botsing van twee verskillende kulture, of oor die tarief, of oor die industrialiserende Noorde versus die landbou -suide. Al hierdie interpretasies het bymekaar gekom om die burgeroorlog uit te beeld as 'n botsing van twee edele beskawings waaruit swart slawe uit die lug geborsel is. ” Afro-Amerikaanse historici van W.E.B. Du Bois en John Hope Franklin het gesmeek om te verskil met die revisionistiese siening, maar hulle is oorweldig deur wit historici, beide Suidelik en Noordelik, wat tydens die lang era van Jim Crow die belangrikheid van slawerny in die vorming van die politiek van afstigting grootliks geïgnoreer het.
Vyftig jaar gelede was die kwessie van slawerny so gelaai, sê Harold Holzer, skrywer van Uitverkore president van Lincoln en ander werke oor die 16de president, dat die kwessie feitlik die federale kommissie verlam het wat belas was met die organisering van geleenthede ter herdenking van die eeufees van die oorlog in 1961, waar Afro-Amerikaners feitlik uitgesluit is. (Reëlings vir die sesjaarlikse bestaan is aan individuele state oorgelaat.) Destyds het sommige suidelike lede vyandig gereageer op enige klem op slawerny, uit vrees dat dit die toenemende burgerregtebeweging sou versterk. Eers later is Afro-Amerikaanse sienings oor die oorlog en die oorsprong daarvan uiteindelik gehoor, en die wetenskaplike mening het begin verander. Sê Holzer, “ Slegs in die afgelope jare het ons teruggekeer na die voor die hand liggende — dat dit oor slawerny gegaan het. ”
Soos Emory Thomas, skrywer van Die Konfederale Nasie 1861-1865 en 'n afgetrede professor in geskiedenis aan die Universiteit van Georgia, stel dit, “Die hart en siel van die afstigtingsargument was slawerny en ras. Die meeste blanke Suid -Afrikaners was voorstander van rasse -ondergeskiktheid, en hulle wou die status quo beskerm. Hulle was bekommerd dat die Lincoln -administrasie slawerny sou beperk, en hulle was reg. ”
Natuurlik kon niemand in die lente van 1861 die vier jaar lange oorlog en die gevolge van die menslike koste of die uitkoms daarvan voorsien nie. Baie Suid -Afrikaners het aangeneem dat afstigting op vreedsame wyse bewerkstellig kon word, terwyl baie Noordelinge gedink het dat 'n bietjie sabreling genoeg sou wees om die rebelle tot hul sinne te bring. Beide kante was natuurlik noodlottig verkeerd. Die oorlog sou 'n nuwe nasie oplewer, wat in 1865 baie anders was as wat dit in 1860 was, ” sê Thomas. Die oorlog was 'n konflik van epiese dimensies wat 620,000 Amerikaanse lewens gekos het, en het 'n rasse- en ekonomiese revolusie meegebring, wat die katoenekonomie in die suide fundamenteel verander het en vier miljoen slawe van losskakel in soldate, burgers en uiteindelik nasionale leiers verander het.
Die pad na afskeiding het begin met die stigting van die land tydens die konstitusionele konvensie van 1787, wat probeer het om die libertariese ideale van die Amerikaanse rewolusie te verdubbel met die feit dat mense in slawerny was. Met verloop van tyd sou die suidelike state al hoe meer vasberade word om hul ekonomieë op slawe te beskerm. Die stigters het ingestem om slawerny te akkommodeer deur aan slawestate addisionele verteenwoordiging in die kongres toe te staan, gebaseer op 'n formule wat drie-vyfdes van hul verslaafde bevolking getel het. Optimiste het geglo dat slawerny, 'n praktyk wat al hoe duurder word, natuurlik sou verdwyn, en daarmee saam die verkiesingsvervorming. Die uitvinding van die watte in 1793 het die produksie van die gewas en daarmee saam slawerny aangespoor. Daar was byna 900 000 verslaafde Amerikaners in 1800. Teen 1860 was daar vier miljoen en die aantal slawelstate het dienooreenkomstig toegeneem, wat 'n gevoel van dreigende nasionale krisis in die Suid -en die besondere instelling van die Suide aangewakker het.
'N Krisis het in 1819 plaasgevind toe Suid -Afrikaners met afstigting gedreig het om slawerny te beskerm. Die Missouri -kompromie die volgende jaar het die waters egter kalmeer. Ingevolge die bepalings daarvan sou Missouri as slawestaat tot die Unie toegelaat word, terwyl Maine as 'n vrystaat toegelaat sou word. En daar is ooreengekom dat toekomstige gebiede noord van 'n grenslyn binne grond wat deur die Louisiana -aankoop van 1803 verkry is, vry van slawerny sou wees. Die suide is in die Amerikaanse senaat gelykheid gewaarborg, selfs al het die bevolkingsgroei in die vrystate die voordele van die Suid -Afrikaners in die Huis van Verteenwoordigers laat afneem. In 1850, toe die toelating van goudryke Kalifornië uiteindelik die saldo van vrye state in die Senaat ten gunste van die Noord-Amerikaanse kus laat val het, het die Kongres as 'n toegewing in die suide die vlugwetlike slawewet goedgekeur, wat burgers van Noordelike state verplig het om werk saam met slawejagters om vlugtende slawe te vang. Maar dit het al vir baie suidelike leiers duidelik geword dat afskeiding ter verdediging van slawerny slegs 'n kwessie van tyd was.
Gedeeltelike twis versnel deur die 1850's. In die noorde het die Fugitive Slave Law selfs apatiese Yankees radikaliseer. Noordelike inwoners wou niks met slawerny te doen hê nie, sê historikus Bernard Powers van die College of Charleston. Die wet het hulle geskok toe hulle besef dat hulle gedwing kan word om voortvlugtende slawe in hul eie state te arresteer, dat hulle geskop en geskreeu word in die verstrengeling van slawerny. deur oop te maak vir slawerny se westelike gebiede wat hulle verwag het vir ewig gratis sou bly.
Aan die einde van die volgende jaar het die Kansas-gebied in guerrillaoorlog tussen pro-slawerny en anti-slawerny-magte uitgebreek, en meer as 50 sterf deur geweld. Die Dred Scott-besluit van die Hooggeregshof van 1857 het Noordelikes verder aangevuur deur in werklikheid te verklaar dat wette in die vrystaat wat slawerny uit eie bodem belet, in wese vervang is. Die besluit dreig om slawerny 'n nasionale instelling te maak. John Brown se aanval op Harper ’s Ferry, in Oktober 1859, het skynbaar slawe-eienaars se jarelange vrees dat afskaffers bedoel het om die Suide binne te val en hul slawe met geweld te bevry, bevestig. In 1858 het Abraham Lincoln, wat sy kandidatuur vir die Senaat verklaar het, die dilemma bondig gekenmerk: “Ek glo dat hierdie regering nie permanent half slaaf en half vry kan verduur nie. ”
Vir die Suide was die laaste strooi Lincoln se verkiesing tot die presidentskap in 1860, met slegs 39,8 persent van die stemme. In 'n vierrigtingwedstryd teen die Noord-demokraat Stephen A. Douglas, die konstitusionele vakbond John Bell en die gunsteling seun van die suide, Kentucky-demokraat John Breckenridge, het Lincoln nie 'n enkele kiesstem suid van die Mason-Dixon-lyn gekry nie. In haar dagboek vertel die Charleston socialite Mary Boykin Chesnut die reaksie wat sy op 'n trein gehoor het toe die nuus van Lincoln se verkiesing aangekondig is. Een passasier, onthou sy, het uitgeroep: “Nou dit. radikale Republikeine het die mag. Ek veronderstel dat hulle ons almal [John] sal bruin. Alhoewel Lincoln slawerny gehaat het, was hy nog lank nie 'n afskaffer nie en het geglo dat vrygemaakte swartes na Afrika of Sentraal -Amerika gestuur moet word, en het uitdruklik verklaar dat hy nie sou peuter nie met slawerny waar dit reeds bestaan het. (Hy het wel duidelik gemaak dat hy die uitbreiding van slawerny na nuwe gebiede teenstaan.)
Die sogenaamde Vuurvreters, die mees radikale Suider-nasionaliste wat die suidelike politiek oorheers het, was egter nie meer geïnteresseerd in kompromie nie. Suid -Carolina sal van die Unie afskei, so seker as die nag die dag opvolg, en niks kan dit nou verhoed of vertraag nie, behalwe 'n rewolusie in die Noorde, het die Suid -Caroliniër William Trenholm aan 'n vriend geskryf. “Die. Republikeinse party, aangesteek deur fanatisme en verblind deur arrogansie, het in die kuil gespring wat 'n regverdige Providence vir hulle voorberei het. Jong en oud manne het bymekaargekom om by milisieondernemings aan te sluit. Selfs kinders het weerstandstoesprake vir hul speelmaats gelewer en die bane gestamp met tuisgemaakte baniere.
In Desember 1860, 'n bietjie meer as 'n maand na die verkiesing in Lincoln, het die afskeidingskonvensie in South Carolina, wat in Charleston gehou is, 'n beroep op die Suide gedoen om by die Groot Slaweholding Confederacy aan te sluit en sy arms strek oor 'n gebied groter as enige mag in Europa besit. ” Terwyl die meeste Suidlanders nie slawe besit het nie, het slawe -eienaars veel meer as hul getalle beheer: meer as 90 persent van die afskeidingsbyeenkomsgangers was slawehouers. By die verbrokkeling van die Unie, beweer die Suid -Caroliniërs, was hulle maar die stigters wat die Verenigde State gestig het as 'n eenheid van slawehoustate. ” Hulle het bygevoeg dat 'n regering wat oorheers word deur die Noorde vroeër of later lei tot emansipasie, maak nie saak wat die Noorde beweer het nie. Afgevaardigdes het in die strate ingestroom en geskreeu, “Ons is kop bo water! ” toe kerkklokke lui, vreugdevure brul en vuurwerke deur die lug skiet.
Teen 1861 het Charleston dekades lank 'n ekonomiese agteruitgang beleef. Die stad, wat bekend is vir sy inwoners en sagmoedige maniere en sy grasieuse argitektuur, was nogal soos 'n bejaarde, sagte vrou. 'n bietjie verval in die wêreld, maar onthou nog steeds die eertydse waardigheid daarvan, ” soos een besoeker dit stel. Dit was 'n kosmopolitiese stad, met beduidende minderhede Franse, Jode, Iere, Duitsers en ongeveer 17.000 swartes (82 persent slawe), wat 43 persent van die totale bevolking uitgemaak het. Charleston was sedert die koloniale tyd 'n sentrum van slawehandel, en ongeveer 40 slawehandelaars het binne 'n blok met twee vierkante werke bedryf. Selfs terwyl wit Charlestonians in die openbaar roem op hul slawe en lojaliteit, het hulle gevrees vir 'n opstand wat hulle in hul beddens sou doodmaak. Mense praat voor [slawe] asof hulle stoele en tafels is, ” skryf Mary Chesnut in haar dagboek. Hulle maak geen teken nie. Is hulle onnosel dom? of wyser as wat ons stil en sterk is, wat hul tyd verbied? ”
Volgens historikus Douglas R. Egerton, skrywer van Jaar van meteore: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln en die verkiesing wat die burgeroorlog meebring, “Om die boeiende boere te wen — wat uiteindelik byna al die gevegte sou doen en die vuurvreter meedoënloos op wedloop gespeel het, en hulle gewaarsku dat, as hulle nie afstigting ondersteun nie, hulle kinders binne tien jaar of minder die slawe sou wees Negers. ”
Ondanks die agteruitgang daarvan, bly Charleston die belangrikste hawe aan die suidoostelike kus van die Konfederasie. Die skouspelagtige hawe is verdedig deur drie federale forte: die klein kasteel Pinckney, 'n kilometer van die stad se battery en 'n swaar gewapende Fort Moultrie, op die eiland Sullivan, waar die bevel van majoor Anderson was, maar waar die gewere daarop gewys het see, wat dit weerloos van land maak.
Op 27 Desember, 'n week na die afstigtingsverklaring van South Carolina, het Charlestonians wakker geword om te ontdek dat Anderson en sy manne van Fort Moultrie na die meer verdedigbare Fort Sumter weggeglip het. Vir afskeidingslede was Anderson se skuif soos 'n vonk in 'n tydskrif, en 'n Charlestonian, T. W. Moore, skryf aan 'n vriend. Alhoewel 'n militêre terugslag vir die Konfederate, wat verwag het om die federale troepe uit Moultrie te spier, het Anderson se beweging die vuurvreters in staat gestel om Washington die skuld te gee vir die vreedsame pogings om Suid-Carolina te verdedig.
Fort Sumter is in die 1820's beplan as 'n bastion van kusverdediging, met sy vyf kante, 'n binnekant wat groot genoeg is om 650 verdedigers en 135 gewere te huisves wat die skeepskanale na die Charleston -hawe beheer. Konstruksie was egter nog nooit voltooi nie. Slegs 15 kanonne was aan die binnekant van die fort aangebou, 'n konstruksieterrein met gewere, waens, klip en ander materiaal. Volgens Rick Hatcher, historikus van die National Park Service by die fort, is die baksteenmure van vyf voet dik ontwerp om weerstand te bied teen die kanonkoeëls wat deur die vloot van die 1820's gegooi kan word. Alhoewel niemand dit destyds geweet het nie, was Fort Sumter reeds verouderd. Selfs konvensionele gewere wat na die fort gerig is, kanonkoeëls waai wat stene en mortel met herhaaldelike stampe sou vernietig.
Anderson se mans kom uit Ierland, Duitsland, Engeland, Denemarke en Swede. Sy mag het ook inheemse Amerikaners ingesluit. Die garnisoen was veilig teen infanterie -aanval, maar byna heeltemal geïsoleer van die buitewêreld. Toestande was somber. Kos, matrasse en komberse was skaars. Vanuit hul dikwandige omhulsels kon die kanonniers Charleston se torings en die ring van eilande sien, waar bendes slawe en soldate reeds bastions opgerig het om die suidelike artillerie te beskerm.
Militiese mense wat jeuk na 'n geveg, stroom uit die omliggende platteland na Charleston. Daar sou binnekort meer as 3 000 van hulle voor Fort Sumter staan, onder bevel van die oproerige en hardnekkige Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, wat sy pos as superintendent van West Point bedank het om sy dienste aan die Konfederasie aan te bied.
Om te bewys dat dit 'n land is, moes die Suide bewys dat dit soewereiniteit oor sy gebied het, 'sê historikus Allen Guelzo. Andersins sou niemand, veral die Europeërs, hulle ernstig opneem nie. Sumter was soos 'n groot vlag in die middel van die Charleston -hawe wat in werklikheid verklaar het dat u nie die soewereiniteit het wat u beweer nie. ’ ”
Met kommunikasie van sy meerderes wat hom slegs sporadies bereik het, was Anderson swaar verantwoordelik. Hoewel Kentucky gebore en getoë was, was sy lojaliteit aan die Unie onwrikbaar. In die komende maande sou sy tweede bevelvoerder, kapt. Abner Doubleday —a die afskaffer van New York, en die man wat lankal verkeerdelik erken is dat hy bofbal uitgevind het, frustrasie toon by Anderson ’s “saction. &# 8221 “ Ek twyfel nie daaraan dat hy gedink het dat hy 'n werklike diens aan die land lewer nie, en Doubleday het later geskryf. Hy het geweet dat die eerste skoot wat deur ons geskiet is, die vlamme van 'n burgeroorlog sou aansteek wat die wêreld sou laat verdwyn, en probeer om die bose dag so lank as moontlik te blus. Tog kon 'n beter analise van die situasie hom geleer het dat die wedstryd reeds begin het en nie meer vermy kon word nie. ” Maar Anderson was 'n goeie keuse vir die rol wat hom getref het. Hy was beide 'n ervare soldaat en 'n diplomaat, ” sê Hatcher. Hy sou omtrent alles doen om oorlog te vermy. Hy het geweldige terughoudendheid getoon. ”
Anderson se vernaamste opperbevelhebber was die kreupele president, die demokraat James Buchanan, wat passief volgehou het dat, hoewel hy van mening was dat afskeiding onwettig was, niks daaraan kon doen nie. 'N Noordelikes met suidelike simpatie, het Buchanan sy lang loopbaan deurgebring om die Suide te akkommodeer, selfs om Suid -Carolina toe te laat om al die ander federale eiendomme in die staat in beslag te neem. Namate die krisis verdiep het, het Buchanan maande lank gewankel. Uiteindelik, in Januarie, stuur hy 'n wielstoomboot, Ster van die Westemet 'n vrag proviand en 200 versterkings vir die Sumter -garnisoen. Maar toe die Konfederale batterye haar by die ingang van die Charleston -hawe op haar afvuur, het die skip se skip die skip omgedraai en noordwaarts gevlug, wat die mans van Anderson aan hul lot oorgelaat het. This ignominious expedition represented Buchanan’s only attempt to assert federal power in the waters off Charleston.
Some were convinced the Union was finished. The British vice-consul in Charleston, H. Pinckney Walker, saw the government’s failure to resupply Fort Sumter as proof of its impotence. He predicted the North would splinter into two or three more republics, putting an end to the United States forever. The Confederacy, he wrote, formed what he called “a very nice little plantation” that could look forward to “a career of prosperity such as the world has not before known.” Popular sentiment in Charleston was reflected in the ardently secessionist Charleston Mercury, which scoffed that federal power was “a wretched humbug—a scarecrow—a dirty bundle of red rags and old clothes” and Yankee soldiers just “poor hirelings” who would never fight. The paper dismissed Lincoln as a “vain, ignorant, low fellow.”
While Buchanan dithered, six more states seceded: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. On February 4, the Confederate States of America declared its independence in Montgomery, Alabama, and named Mexican War hero, former Secretary of War and senator from Mississippi Jefferson Davis, its president. “The radicals felt they were making a revolution, like Tom Paine and Samuel Adams,” says Emory Thomas. Although Davis had long argued for the right of secession, when it finally came he was one of few Confederate leaders who recognized that it would probably mean a long and bloody war. Southern senators and congressmen resigned and headed south.
Secessionists occupied federal forts, arsenals and customhouses from Charleston to Galveston, while in Texas, David Twiggs, commander of federal forces there, surrendered his troops to the state militia and joined the Confederate Army. Soon the only significant Southern posts that remained in federal hands were Fort Sumter and Florida’s Fort Pickens, at the entrance to Pensacola Harbor. “The tide of secession was overpowering,” says Thomas. “It was like the moment after Pearl Harbor—people were ready to go to war.” Buchanan now wanted nothing more than to dump the whole mess in Lincoln’s lap and retire to the quietude of his estate in Pennsylvania. But Lincoln would not take office until March 4. (Not until 1933 was Inauguration Day moved up to January 20.)
The new president who slipped quietly into Washington on February 23, forced to keep a low profile because of credible death threats, was convinced that war could still be avoided. “Lincoln had been a compromiser his whole life,” says Orville Vernon Burton. “He was naturally flexible: as a lawyer, he had always invited people to settle out of court. He was willing to live with slavery where it already was. But when it came to the honor of the United States, there was a point beyond which he wouldn’t go.”
Once in office, Lincoln entered into a high-stakes strategic gamble that was all but invisible to the isolated garrison at Fort Sumter. It was in the Confederacy’s interest to provoke a confrontation that made Lincoln appear the aggressor. Lincoln and his advisers believed, however, that secessionist sentiment, red-hot in the Deep South, was only lukewarm in the Upper South states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, and weaker yet in the four slaveholding border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. Conservatives, including Secretary of State William H. Seward, urged the president to appease the Deep South and evacuate the fort, in hopes of keeping the remaining slave states in the Union. But Lincoln knew that if he did so, he would lose the confidence of both the Republican Party and most of the North.
“He had such faith in the idea of Union that he hoped that [moderates] in the Upper South would never let their states secede,” says Harold Holzer. “He was also one of the great brinksmen of all time.” Although Lincoln was committed to retaking federal forts occupied by the rebels and to defending those still in government hands, he indicated to a delegation from Richmond that if they kept Virginia in the Union, he would consider relinquishing Sumter to South Carolina. At the same time, he reasoned that the longer the standoff over Fort Sumter continued, the weaker the secessionists—and the stronger the federal government—would look.
Lincoln initially “believed that if he didn’t allow the South to provoke him, war could be avoided,” says Burton. “He also thought they wouldn’t really fire on Fort Sumter.” Because negotiating directly with Jefferson Davis would have implied recognition of the Confederacy, Lincoln communicated only with South Carolina’s secessionist—but nonetheless duly elected—governor, Francis Pickens. Lincoln made clear that he intended to dispatch vessels carrying supplies and reinforcements to Fort Sumter: if the rebels fired on them, he warned, he was prepared to land troops to enforce the federal government’s authority.
Rumors flew in every direction: a federal army was set to invade Texas. the British and French would intervene. Northern businessmen would come out en masse against war. In Charleston, the mood fluctuated between overwrought excitement and dread. By the end of March, after three cold, damp months camped on the sand dunes and snake-infested islands around Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter’s attackers were growing feverishly impatient. “It requires all the wisdom of their superiors to keep them cool,” wrote Caroline Gilman, a transplanted Northerner who had embraced the secessionist cause.
For a month after his inauguration, Lincoln weighed the political cost of relieving Fort Sumter. On April 4, he came to a decision. He ordered a small flotilla of vessels, led by Navy Capt. Gustavus Vasa Fox, to sail from New York, carrying supplies and 200 reinforcements to the fort. He refrained from sending a full-scale fleet of warships. Lincoln may have concluded that war was inevitable, and it would serve the federal government’s interest to cause the rebels to fire the first shot.
The South Carolinians had made clear that any attempt to reinforce Sumter would mean war. “Now the issue of battle is to be forced upon us,” declared the Charleston Mercury. “We will meet the invader, and the God of Battles must decide the issue between the hostile hirelings of Abolition hate and Northern tyranny.”
“How can one settle down to anything? One’s heart is in one’s mouth all the time,” Mary Chesnut wrote in her diary. “The air is red-hot with rumors.” To break the tension on occasion, Chesnut crept to her room and wept. Her friend Charlotte Wigfall warned, “The slave-owners must expect a servile insurrection.”
In the early hours of April 12, approximately nine hours after the Confederates had first asked Anderson to evacuate Fort Sumter, the envoys were again rowed out to the garrison. They made an offer: if Anderson would state when he and his men intended to quit the fort, the Confederates would hold their fire. Anderson called a council of his officers: How long could they hold out? Five days at most, he was told, which meant three days with virtually no food. Although the men had managed to mount about 45 cannon, in addition to the original 15, not all of those could be trained on Confederate positions. Even so, every man at the table voted to reject immediate surrender to the Confederates.
Anderson sent back a message to the Confederate authorities, informing them that he would evacuate the fort, but not until noon on the 15th, adding, “I will not in the meantime open my fire upon your forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this fort or the flag of my Government.”
But the Confederacy would tolerate no further delay. The envoys immediately handed Anderson a statement: “Sir: By authority of Brigadier-General Beauregard, commanding the provisional forces of the Confederate States, we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time.”
Anderson roused his men, informing them an attack was imminent. At 4:30 a.m., the heavy thud of a mortar broke the stillness. A single shell from Fort Johnson on James Island rose high into the still-starry sky, curved downward and burst directly over Fort Sumter. Confederate batteries on Morris Island opened up, then others from Sullivan’s Island, until Sumter was surrounded by a ring of fire. As geysers of brick and mortar spumed up where balls hit the ramparts, shouts of triumph rang from the rebel emplacements. In Charleston, families by the thousands rushed to rooftops, balconies and down to the waterfront to witness what the Charleston Mercury would describe as a “Splendid Pyrotechnic Exhibition.”
To conserve powder cartridges, the garrison endured the bombardment without reply for two and a half hours. At 7 a.m., Anderson directed Doubleday to return fire from about 20 guns, roughly one half as many as the Confederates. The Union volley sent vast flocks of water birds rocketing skyward from the surrounding marsh.
At about 10 a.m., Capt. Truman Seymour replaced Doubleday’s exhausted crew with a fresh detachment.
“Doubleday, what in the world is the matter here, and what is all this uproar about?” Seymour inquired dryly.
“There is a trifling difference of opinion between us and our neighbors opposite, and we are trying to settle it,” the New Yorker replied.
“Very well,” said Seymour, with mock graciousness. “Do you wish me to take a hand?”
“Yes,” Doubleday responded. “I would like to have you go in.”
At Fort Moultrie, now occupied by the Confederates, federal shots hit bales of cotton that rebel gunners were using as bulwarks. At each detonation, the rebels gleefully shouted, “Cotton is falling!” And when a shot exploded the kitchen, blowing loaves of bread into the air, they cried, “Breadstuffs are rising!”
Humor was less on display in the aristocratic homes of Charleston, where the roar of artillery began to rattle even the most devout secessionists. “Some of the anxious hearts lie on their beds and moan in solitary misery,” trying to reassure themselves that God was really on the Confederate side, recorded Chesnut.
At the height of the bombardment, Fox’s relief flotilla at last hove into sight from the north. To the federals’ dismay, however, Fox’s ships continued to wait off the coast, beyond range of rebel guns: their captains hadn’t bargained on finding themselves in the middle of an artillery duel. The sight of reinforcements so tantalizingly close was maddening to those on Sumter. But even Doubleday admitted that had the ships tried to enter the harbor, “this course would probably have resulted in the sinking of every vessel.”
The bombardment slackened during the rainy night but kept on at 15-minute intervals, and began again in earnest at 4 a.m. on the 13th. Roaring flames, dense masses of swirling smoke, exploding shells and the sound of falling masonry “made the fort a pandemonium,” recalled Doubleday. Wind drove smoke into the already claustrophobic casements, where Anderson’s gunners nearly suffocated. “Some lay down close to the ground, with handkerchiefs over their mouths, and others posted themselves near the embrasures, where the smoke was somewhat lessened by the draught of air,” recalled Doubleday. “Everyone suffered severely.”
At 1:30 p.m., the fort’s flagstaff was shot away, although the flag itself was soon reattached to a short spar and raised on the parapet, much to the disappointment of rebel marksmen. As fires crept toward the powder magazine, soldiers raced to remove hundreds of barrels of powder that threatened to blow the garrison into the cloudless sky. As the supply of cartridges steadily shrank, Sumter’s guns fell silent one by one.
Soon after the flagpole fell, Louis Wigfall, husband of Charlotte Wigfall and a former U.S. senator from Texas now serving under Beauregard, had himself rowed to the fort under a white flag to call again for Anderson’s surrender. The grandstanding Wigfall had no formal authority to negotiate, but he offered Anderson the same terms that Beauregard had offered a few days earlier: Anderson would be allowed to evacuate his command with dignity, arms in hand, and be given unimpeded transport to the North and permission to salute the Stars and Stripes.
“Instead of noon on the 15th, I will go now,” Anderson quietly replied. He had made his stand. He had virtually no powder cartridges left. His brave, hopelessly outgunned band of men had defended the national honor with their lives without respite for 34 hours. The outcome was not in question.
“Then the fort is to be ours?” Wig-fall eagerly inquired.
Anderson ordered a white flag to be raised. Firing from rebel batteries ceased.
The agreement nearly collapsed when three Confederate officers showed up to request a surrender. Anderson was so furious at having capitulated to the freelancing Wigfall that he was about to run up the flag yet again. However, he was persuaded to wait until confirmation of the terms of surrender, which arrived soon afterward from Beauregard.
When news of the surrender at last reached the besieging rebels, they vaulted onto the sand hills and cheered wildly a horseman galloped at full speed along the beach at Morris Island, waving his cap and exulting at the tidings.
Fort Sumter lay in ruins. Flames smoldered amid the shot-pocked battlements, dismounted cannon and charred gun carriages. Astoundingly, despite an estimated 3,000 cannon shots fired at the fort, not a single soldier had been killed on either side. Only a handful of the fort’s defenders had even been injured by fragments of concrete and mortar.
Beauregard had agreed to permit the defenders to salute the U.S. flag before they departed. The next afternoon, Sunday, April 14, Fort Sumter’s remaining artillery began a rolling cannonade of what was meant to total 100 guns. Tragically, however, one cannon fired prematurely and blew off the right arm of a gunner, Pvt. Daniel Hough, killing him almost instantly and fatally wounding another Union soldier. The two men thus became the first fatalities of the Civil War.
At 4:30 p.m., Anderson handed over control of the fort to the South Carolina militia. The exhausted, blue-clad Union soldiers stood in formation on what remained of the parade ground, with flags flying and drums beating out the tune of “Yankee Doodle.” Within minutes, the flags of the Confederacy and South Carolina were snapping over the blasted ramparts. “Wonderful, miraculous, unheard of in history, a bloodless victory!” exclaimed Caroline Gilman in a letter to one of her daughters.
A steamboat lent by a local businessman carried Anderson’s battle-weary band out to the federal fleet, past hordes of joyful Charlestonians gathered on steamers, sailboats bobbing rowboats and dinghies, under the eyes of rebel soldiers poised silently on the shore, their heads bared in an unexpected gesture of respect. Physically and emotionally drained, and halfway starved, Anderson and his men gazed back toward the fort where they had made grim history. In their future lay the slaughter pens of Bull Run, Shiloh, Antie-tam, Gettysburg, Chickamauga and hundreds more still unimaginable battlefields from Virginia to Missouri. The Civil War had begun.
Fergus Bordewich’s most recent book is Washington: The Making of the American Capital. Fotograaf Vincent Musi is based in Charleston, South Carolina.
Fort Sumter
On April 12th, 1861 the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, which led to the outbreak of America’s bloodiest war. Fort Sumter is a fascinating place to visit and only accessible by taking a 30 minute boat ride through the Charleston Harbor. After arriving at the fort, guests will have the opportunity to learn about the major events that led to the outbreak of the American Civil War. Historians will provide detailed information about the fort and its pivotal role in the war between the states.
The park also has a museum and small gift shop. After exploring the fort, cruise back to port, enjoying panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and Charleston's bustling harbor. The fort is quite large and requires a significant amount of walking and climbing stairs, so make sure you wear a comfortable pair of shoes. You should allow a minimum of one hour travel time and another hour to tour the fort. Buying tickets in advance either online or at the departure locations is highly recommended. The Fort Sumter ferry departs from the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center in Liberty Square next to the South Carolina Aquarium and also from Patriots Point Maritime Museum.
Fort Sumter Hotel
Die Fort Sumter House is a seven-story condominium building located at 1 King St., Charleston, South Carolina, originally built as the Fort Sumter Hotel. Work began on April 1, 1923, and guests were accepted starting in April 1924, but the formal opening was on May 6, 1924. The hotel cost $850,000 to build. [1] The 225-room hotel was designed by G. Lloyd Preacher of Atlanta, Georgia. [2]
The hotel was the site of a tryst between John F. Kennedy and a Danish woman with connection to the Nazis. On February 6, 1942, just after Kennedy arrived in Charleston for service with naval intelligence, he spent three nights at the Fort Sumter Hotel with a former Miss Denmark, Inga Arvad. The FBI was monitoring Arvad and taped the encounters. The information was then passed to Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, who, in an effort to separate his son from Arvad, had him reassigned to a PT boat in the Pacific, the now famous PT-109. John F. Kennedy remarked, "They shipped my ass out of town to break us up." [3]
Starting on July 22, 1942, [4] the hotel was used as the headquarters for the sixth naval district for $80,000 per year. [5]
It was refurbished and reopened as a hotel in 1946. [6]
In April 1947, Tennessee Williams and agent Audrey Wood met with Irene Selznick at the Fort Sumter Hotel to discuss her producing his newest play A Streetcar Named Desire (just recently renamed from the original title Poker Night). Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr, 2014, p. 127.
In 1956, the hotel considered an expansion of 60 to 100 rooms to accommodate the increase in convention business seen in Charleston. [7]
The hotel was sold to Sheraton Hotels in 1967 for $435,000. The chain spent a further $500,000 on renovations and renamed the property the Sheraton-Fort Sumter Hotel. [8] Sheraton sold the hotel to a group of local investors in 1973 for $850,000. They closed the hotel and spent $2 million converting the 225-room hotel into a 67-unit condominium complex. [9] The condo units were expected to sell from $36,000 to $120,000 for a penthouse unit. The addition of the penthouse units resulted in the creation of an eighth floor, but the change was barely noticeable from outside since it was done by reworking the roof of the building. [10]
Nadraai
The surrender of Fort Sumter sent shockwaves throughout the United States and Confederate States alike. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers which was filled immediately by some states while others were still reluctant to get involved. Patriotism on both sides had reached a high and young men began preparing for a full-scale war. While the Battle of Fort Sumter did not have any casualties it led to the bloodiest war in American History.
Fort Sumter would remain in Confederate hands throughout the war and would be the only hole in the Union Blockade. Several attempts were made to recapture the fort, but ultimately failed until General Sherman outflanked the Fort in his march up the coast. The Confederates then abandoned the fort and Major Anderson would return to raise the American flag that he had lowered.
Nadraai
Union losses in the battle numbered two killed and the loss of the fort while the Confederates reported four wounded. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening battle of the Civil War and launched the nation into four years of bloody fighting. Anderson returned north and toured as a national hero. During the war, several attempts were made to recapture the fort with no success. Union forces finally took possession of the fort after Major General William T. Sherman's troops captured Charleston in February 1865. On April 14, 1865, Anderson returned to the fort to re-hoist the flag he had been forced to lower four years earlier.
Fort Sumter Articles
Explore articles from the History Net archives about the Battle Of Fort Sumter
During the secession crisis that followed President Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860, many threats were made to Federal troops occupying forts in the South. Anderson, in command at the difficult-to-defend Fort Moultrie on Sullivan Island across the harbor from Charleston, began asking the War Department for reinforcements and making plans to move his men to one of the fortifications on more secure islands in the harbor—Castle Pinckney closer to Charleston or the unfinished Fort Sumter near the harbor’s entrance.
Following South Carolina’s secession on December 20, 1860, Governor Francis Pickens was pressured to do something about Anderson and his men since many believed that Anderson would not stay at Fort Moultrie but would take a better position at another of the harbor’s forts. On December 24, Pickens sent proxies to Washington to negotiate what would be done about the occupied forts and to ensure Anderson remained at Fort Moultrie. However, on December 26 Anderson put his plan into action: he assembled his men, loaded them and their families onto boats, and rowed to Fort Sumter. What followed was basically a siege of Fort Sumter, with supplies and communication controlled by Pickens.
On January 9, 1861, the Star of the West, a side-wheel merchant steamer that had been sent from New York with supplies and reinforcements for Anderson, was unable to reach Fort Sumter because Pickens had built up the harbor defenses and fired on it. Anderson, under orders to fire only in defense, could only watch as the ship was turned back.
Shortly after, on January 11, Pickens demanded surrender and Anderson refused. By January 20, the food shortage had become acute enough that Pickens was under criticism from moderates and sent food to the fort, which was refused by Anderson. Shortly after, Pickens allowed the evacuation of 45 women and children to provide some measure of relief.
On March 1, Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard arrived in Charleston. He had been appointed by Confederate president Jefferson Davis to take command of the military situation in Charleston. In the sort of twist of fate that would happen frequently during the war, Beauregard had been one of Anderson’s artillery students at West Point. Beauregard continued strengthening the harbor defenses and gun emplacements facing Fort Sumter.
Following his inauguration on March 4, 1861, Lincoln sent unofficial emissaries to observe the situation and report back to him while official negotiations with the Confederate government took place in Washington. He learned that Anderson would probably be out of food by mid-April. Anderson had indicated he needed supplies and reinforcements in early March and again on April 3, but did not received news or further instruction until April 8, when he received a letter from Washington informing him of that a relief expedition was being mounted. The Lincoln administration left the question of war up to the Confederates, which would be determined by whether or not they fired on the Federal supply ship and the fort, which the Federals did not intend to give up.
Ft Sumter - History
View of Fort Sumter in 1865 from a sand bar in Charleston harbor. Photo courtesy Library of Congress.
Associate Pages
Visitor Statistics Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie NHP
877,894 visitors
#86 Most Visited National Park Unit
Source: NPS 2019 Visitor Attendance, Rank among 378 National Park Units.
Park Size
231 acres (Federal) 235 acres (Total)
Park Fees
There is no entrance fee to visit Fort Sumter, however, there are charges for the 35 minute ferry ride to and from the fort through a private concessionaire. The total tour takes approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes.
$22 - Adults
$20 - Seniors
$14 - Children
Free - Under Three
Tours run at various times throughout the year, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in summer from two departure points, Patriots Point and Liberty Square. Check Spiritline Cruises for specific times.
Fort Moultrie, a unit of Fort Sumter, on Sullivan Island, is accessible by car, and has a small entrance fee. $3 adults (over 16), $5 (family up to four adults), $1 seniors. Under 16, free.
Fees subject to change without notice.
Weer
The sketch above shows the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Charleston harbor by Confederate gunboats, originally published in Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War, 1894. Right: Lithograph of Fort Sumter. Image courtesy Library of Congress.
Fort Sumter
There were many causes to the Civil War. Causes of state's rights, hinging on the the predominant debate of whether slavery would be expanded into new territories of the United States and whether that expansion would give one side or the other, south or north, an advantage in that debate on new legislation. But no matter the actual underlying rationale for why the nation would go to war over the issues of the day, there is no denying the fact that when Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860 in a four way contest with three Democratic candidates, who split the vote and gave victory to the Illinois Republican, that the nation, as we knew it, would be doomed, without a conflict to resolve those issues. Lincoln did not believe in the expansion of slavery into the new territories, stating, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free."
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Fort Sumter Then
Fort Sumter was the location where that debate came to its initial head. The first shot should have been directed toward Fort Moultrie, another Charleston harbor fort in Union hands when South Carolina announced its secession, but Anderson moved his defense to Sumter in the days following Confederate proclamations by General Pierre G.T. Beauregard that the Union surrender the forts. The first shot of the Civil War was fired into Fort Sumter at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861 by a Confederate battery.
Four months after the state of South Carolina to secede from the Union, the decision of Union commander Major Robert Anderson to hold firm and not surrender this fort would secure the movement toward war. The next four years would be spent in a deathly struggle to answer the questions posed, test the will of a people on what that answer would be, and secure the fate of a nation.
Fort Sumter Dates of Importance
December 20, 1860 - 169 South Carolina delegates vote to secede from the United States of America.
April 12, 1861 - First shot fired into Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War.
April 14, 1861 - Fort Sumter evacuated by Union troops after 34 hours of shelling. Major Anderson and his command were allowed to keep their weapons and flag.
February 1865 - Union regains command of Fort Sumter.
April 14, 1865 - Anderson raises U.S. flag over Fort Sumter.
Aftermath of the Battle - Not only did the bombardment lead to the capture of Charleston harbor by Confederate forces, but it left a shambled fort behind. The Union bombardment of the location for the twenty months after April 1861 did not help as well. End of the War - On April 14, 1865, two days after the surrender by Robert E. Lee at Appommatox Court House, the United States held a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Sumter with now General Robert Anderson returning to the fort where he began the war in defense of the forts.
Image above: Fort Sumter before the battle from the direction of Fort Johnson. Courtesy National Park Service. Photo below: Ruins of the officer's quarters and powder magazine at Fort Sumter today. Courtesy National Park Service.
Fort Sumter Now
Fort Sumter - Start your tour of Fort Sumter at the Visitor Education Center downtown. This will help put the battle there in context prior to boarding the ferry for your actual visit to the fort. At the fort, museum exhibits, cannons, and a walk around this historic fort at the entrance to the harbor offers a chance to visualize the battle that started four years of Civil strife. Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie were part of that four years of strife, too, withstanding a twenty month bombardment by Federal ironclads and shore guns from April 1863 forward. Confederate defenses held during that span, but southern troops would eventually evacuate the city of Charleston in February of 1865, leaving both forts behind.
Fort Moultrie - This fort is a unit of Fort Sumter and located on Sullivan's Island. It is accessible by car and contains exhibits, ranger guided tours, and a whole lot of history dating back to the Revolutionary War when this first fort on Sullivan Island was attacked by the British and repulsed by Colonial forces. Its history contains the story of American defenses of the coast from 1776 to World War II. This was the fort, in disrepair and less defensible that Fort Sumter, that Union Major Anderson and his men abandoned on the night of December 26, 1860 to take up the defense of the harbor from Fort Sumter. Unfortunately, access to Fort Sumter itself is not available from Fort Moultrie.
