The Battle of Fort Sumter Begins

In early March of 1861, without Abraham Lincoln’s authorization, Secretary of State William Seward told Southern commissioners as well as the Northern press that Lincoln would not fight for Fort Sumter.

When the Commissioners demanded to meet with a Lincoln official on March 14, 1861, Seward properly declined, but agreed, in a rather complicated fashion, to meet with an intermediary, Supreme Court Justice Nelson, who then met with Supreme Court Justice John Campbell, the following day, March 15. In the initial meeting, Seward assured Nelson “that his policy was that of peace, and that he would spare no effort to maintain peace.”[1]

Later the same day (March 15), to clarify matters, Campbell and Nelson visited Seward. “What shall I say to the subject of Fort Sumter?” Campbell asked, in reference to meeting with the C.S.A. Commissioners. “You may say to him that before that letter reaches him [three days] the telegraph will have informed him that Sumter will have been evacuated,” Seward assured him.[2]

Lincoln had no idea that Seward had done this.

The commissioners from the South were elated, and they immediately wired Confederate President Jefferson Davis the news. It hit the papers immediately afterwards.

For the next several days, rumors of an evacuation flew through Washington and Charleston. “For several days each one successively has been named as ‘Evacuation Day’ and today a telegraph was received appointing tomorrow, but scarcely any one credits it,” Emma Holmes reported in her diary. “Beauregard says he will not allow Anderson to withdraw. He must surrender, for the necessity which compels the Government to give it up is caused by our numerous fine forts and batteries on Sullivan’s, Morris, and Coles Island, as well as Ft. Johnson.”[3] The Associated Press and the New York Times each reported repeatedly throughout the end of March and beginning of April that Fort Sumter was about to be evacuated. “Little doubt remains in the public mind at Washington that an evacuation has been determined upon,” the latter stated on March 16.[4]

But, Lincoln remained obstinate: “To so abandon that position, under the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous; that the necessity under which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it would be construed as a part of a voluntary pact; that at home it would discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to insure to the latter a recognition abroad; that in fact it would be our national destruction consummated,” Lincoln told Congress. “This could not be allowed.”[5]

On April 9^th, Governor Pickens and General Beauregard decided to open Anderson’s mail (they had previously promised him they wouldn’t do such a thing). The mail proved to be a report on how to resupply the fort with humanitarian aid.

On April 4, the President Lincoln had issued a letter to Major Robert Anderson, informing him of his decision to resupply him.  “Hoping still that you will be able to sustain yourself till the 11^th or 12^th inst. The expedition will go forward; and, finding your flag flying, will attempt to provision you, and, in case the effort is resisted, will endeavor also to reinforce you,” the letter read.

You will therefore hold out if possible till the arrival of the expedition. It is not, however, the intention of the President to subject your command to any danger or hardship beyond what, in your judgement, would be usual in military life; and he has entire confidence that you will act as becomes a patriot and a soldier, under all circumstances. Whenever, if at all, in your judgment, to save yourself and command, a capitulation becomes a necessity, you are authorized to make it.[6]

He also sent a note to Pickens through an emissary:

I am directed by the President of the United States to notify you to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only; and that, if such an attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be made without further notice, or in case of attack upon the fort.[7]

Lincoln publicly argued that his policy was a peace policy. Indeed, the president “did not consider the Government at war with the South, and did not intend it should by his act.” Further, he had argued, “the provisioning of the fort was ordered to be attempted, unaccompanied by armed demonstration.” Should the plan work, Lincoln “did not consider maintaining supremacy of the Federal Government any victory over the South, but simply a vindication of the faith he had always reposed in the ultimate good sense, and sense of justice among the American people.”[8]

Pickens and Beauregard were stunned–this was clearly not what they’d wanted. On April 10^th, The Charleston Mercury declared: “WAR DECLARED!” Jefferson Davis sent Beauregard a message: “Under no circumstances are you to allow provisions to be sent to Fort Sumter.”[9] Davis’s orders were clear: demand immediate evacuation, then fire, if not complied with.

Beauregard met with Anderson after receiving the message from Davis. He offered the following surrender terms: the Union men could take all property and possessions with them; give the men safe passage to any northern port; and the United States flag could be saluted on lowering.

Anderson and his officers vote: NO! It was unanimous. But they got Beauregard’s promise that he would send a warning shot first, should battle break out.

When they had received news that Lincoln would re-enforce, “The news acted like magic upon them,” Doubleday remembered. “They had previously been drooping and dejected; but they now sprung to their work with the greatest alacrity, laughing, singing, whistling, and full of glee.”[10]

At 4:30pm: “I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort,” Anderson’s note read. “It is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor, and of my obligations to my Government prevent my compliance.”[11] The major, however, also added, verbally: “Gentlemen, if you do not batter the fort to pieces about us, we shall be starved out in few days.”[12]

The C.S.A. men—but especially Beauregard and Senator Chesnut—took this seriously deciding that Anderson really wanted peace. They sent the message back to Davis.

Davis replied, fine, but go back out and negotiate.

Around midnight, C.S.A. negotiators returned to Fort Sumter and offered surrender terms yet again. Anderson was surprised, but he and his men debated the request for three hours. That had, to be certain, become very frustrated that the relief ships promised by President Lincoln had yet to show up.

Finally, the Union men gave their answer at 3:20am: NO! The official Union message read: “I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor and my obligations to my government prevent my compliance”[13]

At 4:30, C.S.A. Captain George S. James fired the first shot of the war. As promised, it was a warning shot–fired over Fort Sumter.

The Confederates, even more eager than the Black Republican from New York or the southern gentleman from Kentucky, opened fire on Fort Sumter at roughly 4:30 in the morning.[14] Some witnesses claimed the opening shot formed “an almost perfect palmetto” when it exploded over Fort Sumter.[15] The men of Fort Sumter saw nothing angelic in the explosion, but they did see something supernatural. “It was a capitol shot,” Captain James Chester recalled. “Then the batteries opened on all sides, and shot and shell went screaming over Sumter as if an army of devils were swooping around it.”[16] Charlestonians had a more positive view.

All last night the troops were under arms, and, at half past four this morning, the heavy booming of cannons woke the city from its slumbers. The battery was soon thronged with anxious hearts, and all day long they have continued, a dense quiet orderly mass, but not a sign of fear or anguish is seen. Every body seems relieved that what has been so long dreaded has come at least and so confident of victory that they seem not to think of the danger of their friends.  Every body seems calm and grave.[17]

The firing certainly made an impression on the citizens of Charleston. Many Charlestonians had anticipated the war to have begun the night before at 8:00 pm, and thousands had met at Battery Park, only to have been disappointed at the prevalence of peace.[18] Now, at 4:30am, the war was a reality, and Charleston buzzed with intense excitement. “The wind was in a direction to blow the sounds towards us, and from that time, until seven in the evening, we heard every gun,” Caroline Gilman recalled.  “Instantly, after every firing on the Islands and at Fort Sumter a cloud of white smoke rose before the explosion, and thus, the sight of every discharge was as distinct as the sound. We could hear the whiz of the balls, and feel the house shake at each concussion.”[19] The southern soldiers were excited as well. “Though these men afterwards learnt to sleep under fire, it can well be understood that there would not be much sleep that night,” Colonel J.G. Pressley, a Confederate, remembered. “We looked anxiously and often towards Fort Johnson, all intending to hear the first show, and determined not to lose the opportunity of witnessing one of the most notable events in the history of the State.”[20] With the exception of the calm Doubleday attempting to get a few additional hours of sleep despite the booming of the ordnance, the federals experienced a chilling elation. “The thrill that ran through our veins at this time was indescribable, none were afraid, the stern defiant look on each man’s countenance plainly told that fear was no part of his constitution,” Private John Thompson, a native of Ireland, wrote in a personal letter to his father in the old country, “but something like an expression of awe crept over the features of every one, as battery after battery opened fire and the hissing shot came plowing along leaving wreck and ruin in our path.”[21]

In response, Anderson’s men went into action, but Anderson couldn’t bring himself to fire back. Abner Doubleday had no such qualms, and he eagerly fired the first Union shot of the war—but not until 7:30am.

Doubleday then walked to the guns and fired.

In aiming the first gun fired against the rebellion I had no feeling of self-reproach, for I fully believed that the contest was inevitable, and was not of our seeking. The United States was called upon not only to defend its sovereignty, but its right to exist as a nation. The only alternative was to submit to a powerful oligarchy who were determined to make freedom forever subordinate to slavery. To me it was simply a contest, politically speaking, as to whether virtue or vice should rule.[22]

After his first four hours of firing, Doubleday found Captain Seymour coming to relieve him. “What in the world is the matter here, and what is all this uproar about?” Seymour playfully asked Doubleday. “There is a trifling difference of opinion between us and our neighbors opposite, and we are trying to settle it,” the Black Republican answered.[23]

Doubleday was stunned that the shots were doing nothing against the forts. Beauregard had fortified well!

The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.

[1]Campbell, “Facts of History,”123.

[2]Campbell, “Facts of History,”124.

[3]Marszalek, ed., Diary of Miss Emma Holmes, 11.

[4]“News of the Day,” New York Times (March 16, 1861), pg. 4. See also, “News of the Day,” New York Times (March 20, 1861), 4; “News of the Day,” New York Times (March 21, 1861), 4; “National Affairs,” New York Times (March 23, 1861), 1; “Highly Important News,” New York Times (March 27, 1861), 1; and “Important Intelligence,” New York Times (April 2, 1861), 1.

[5]Lincoln, Message to Congress, dated July 4, 1861, quoted in Nicolas and Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, vol. 3, pg. 382.

[6]Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 4, pp. 321-322.

[7]Quoted in Ramsdell, “Lincoln and Fort Sumter,” Journal of Southern History, 280.

[8]“The News in Washington,” New York Times (April 13, 1861), 1.

[9]Quoted in Klein, Days, 399.

[10]Doubleday, Reminiscences, 139.

[11]Quoted in Crawford, Genesis, 423.

[12]Stephen D. Lee, “The First Step in War,” 75.

[13]Harper’s Weekly, April 27, 1861, pg. 1

[14]Most sources claim the first shot to have been fired at 4:30, but Harper’s Weekly reported it as 4:27. See Harper’s Weekly (April 20, 1861).

[15]Swanberg, First Blood, 298.

[16]Chester, “Inside Sumter in ’61,” 66.

[17]Marszalek, ed., Diary of Miss Emma Holmes, pg. 25; and “The First Gun Fired by Fort Moultrie against Fort Sumpter,” New York Times (April 13, 1861), 1.

[18]“The War Imminent,” New York Times (April 12, 1861), 1.

[19]Gilman, “Letters of a Confederate Mother,” 506-507

[20]Colonel J.G. Pressley, “The Wee Nee Volunteers of Williamsburg District, South Carolina in the First (Gregg’s) Regiment—Siege and Capture of Fort Sumter,” Southern Historical Society Papers 13 (1885): 489.

[21]John Thompson, “A Union Soldier at Fort Sumter, 1860-1861,” South Carolina Historical Magazine 67 (1966): 102.

[22]Doubleday, Reminiscences, 145-46. Lieutenant Jefferson Davis of Indiana also claimed to have aimed the first gun fired for the Union. See James P. Jones, ed., “Charleston Harbor, 1860-1861: A Memoir from the Union Garrison,” South Carolina Historical Magazine 62 (1961): 148. Almost every one, however, gives Doubleday credit.

[23]Doubleday, Reminiscences, 148.

The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay.