First Shots at Fort Sumter

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First Shots at Fort Sumter
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• Attempts to Relieve Fort Sumter
• As of April 1861, the US only retained control of
  two forts in the South Fort Pickens at
  Pensacola, FL and Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC.
  Shortly after South Carolina seceded, the
  commander of the Charleston harbor defenses,
  Major Robert Anderson, moved his men from Fort
  Moultrie to Fort Sumter, located on a sandbar in
  the middle of the harbor. After refusing requests
  from the South Carolina government to vacate the
  fort, Anderson and the eighty-five men of his
  garrison settled in for what essentially became a
  siege. In January 1861, President Buchanan
  attempted to re-supply the fort, however the
  supply ship, Star of the West, was driven away by
  guns manned by cadets from the Citadel.
• Fort Sumter Attacked
• During March 1861, a debate raged in the
  Confederate government regarding how forceful
  they should be in trying to take possession of
  Forts Sumter and Pickens. Davis, like Lincoln,
  did not wish to anger the border states by
  appearing as the aggressor. With supplies low,
  Lincoln informed the governor of South Carolina,
  Francis W. Pickens, that he intended to have the
  fort re-provisioned, but promised that no
  additional men or munitions would be sent. This
  news was passed to Davis in Montgomery, where the
  decision was made to compel the fort's surrender
  before Lincoln's ships arrived.
• This duty fell to Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard who had
  been given command of the siege by Davis.
  Ironically, Beauregard had previously been a
  protégé of Anderson. On April 11, Beauregard sent
  an aide to demand the fort's surrender. Anderson
  refused and further discussions after midnight
  failed to resolve the situation. At 430am on
  April 12, a single mortar round burst over Fort
  Sumter signaling the other harbor forts to open
  fire. Anderson did not reply until 700 when
  Captain Abner Doubleday fired the first shot for
  the Union. After a 34-hour bombardment, and with
  his ammunition almost exhausted, Anderson
  surrendered the fort.