Fort Moultrie, moved the garrison to Sumter in December 1860. Everybody knows that there was a failed attempt by President Buchanan to resupply and reinforce the garrison. Everybody knows that, after Lincoln took office, a second attempt was planned and launched. Everybody knows that on April 12, 1861, the Confederates under Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard began to bombard Sumter from a ring of shore batteries. Everybody knows that Anderson surrendered after a 34-hour bombardment.
What else does everybody know? That I cannot say, but recently I had occasion to read some details about the evacuation of Fort Moultrie, the transfer of the garrison to Fort Sumter, and the subsequent goings on at the fort, in Charleston and in Washington between December 1860 and April 1861. I learned that there was a great deal I did not know about Sumter and the start of hostilities. In this column, I will write about some of these things.
very reader of Civil War News knows what happened at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Everybody knows that Maj. Robert Anderson, U.S.A., commanding at
By Gould Hagler
On November 15, 1860, Anderson was ordered to take command at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island. Like nearly all coastal fortifications, this fort was not ready for war. The larger one in the harbor, Fort Sumter, was unfinished after three decades of on-again-off-again construction. The neglect was understandable: no enemy had threatened the Atlantic or Gulf coasts for nearly forty years.
Circumstances changed during the 1860 presidential campaign. South Carolina threatened secession if Lincoln won the election. When he did, it was certain that the threat was not an idle one. The hour was near.
The fort on Sullivan was all but indefensible. It was designed, of course, to repel an attack from the sea. Its land side faced what was quite naturally assumed to be friendly territory. Sand dunes blown against the walls made a convenient ramp to the top. Nearby houses made perfect positions for riflemen firing into Moultrie’s interior. The garrison was a small peacetime force, not one beefed up for defense. As the tension mounted during the fall, the garrison’s engineer,
