Fort Sumter, South Carolina – Civil War Research Paper

Introduction

There are numerous documentations that accounts for the American history. Most of these documentations give details on events such as colonization and slave trade in the country. It becomes fascinating to study the transition that United States has undergone since its establishment. There are other documents that accounts for some of the historical sites and their significance to the country. One of the sites that have been greatly featured in the country’s history is Fort Sumter.

Situated in the harbor of Charleston, Fort Sumter is a vital part of American history. It is believed that American civil war originated from this fort and spread to other parts of the country. As a result, there have been numerous documents that give reasons that triggered civil war in this region while others outline the progression of the civil war and its effects to the fort. The discussion of this paper aims at giving a historical account of the fort, how it was built and its significance to parties that fought in the American civil wars. It will also give the current status of the fort and its current use.

Building of Fort Sumter

The fort is located at the entrance to Charleston harbor and is named after Thomas Sumter a general. The 1812 war spurred the need for construction of a fort to strengthen the United States military along the coast which led to construction of fort Sumter. Its construction commenced in 1827 and went on up to 1860. It was built with granite from England which was used to make a sand bar at the entrance. The fort itself was built by brick. It was made up of 5 sides and had the capacity of handling 135 guns and 650 men though there was no time that the fort was full to the capacity. To ensure that it was hard to destroy the fort, the builders decided to make its walls thicker.

Confederate rebels fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861. This was at the time when Lincoln was president¹. The president had to act fast to ensure that his soldiers were not overpowered and the fort confiscated from them. The harbor was in command of Major Robert Anderson. Sumter was the most vital fort under Union control. To overthrow those manning the fort required a thorough training as it was hard to gain access into the fort. Beauregard continued training the South Carolina militia how to use guns in harbor ports.

Lincoln did not like war and he sent supplies to the harbor using Star of the West ship, which were blocked by the Confederates. This is after being informed that Anderson had food that would last him to the fifteenth. Lincoln tried to reduce tension by calling South Carolina’s governor to inform him about the supplies.

Acting under orders of President Jefferson Davis of Confederacy, General Beauregard commanded the Union to surrender Fort Sumter. The Union ignored this order prompting the Confederate to fire. This made Anderson surrender.

Abraham had a strong belief about the supremacy and need to protect the country’s constitution. This belief made him to call upon local militia to suppress any opposition against federal laws and territory². This is the fort that fired shots from a civilian merchant ship which initiated the American Civil war. This incident did not trigger the war, but was a bad sign of things to come. The civil war was triggered by a number of factors one of them being slavery.

North and South Carolina seemed to be following different rules and lifestyles. The north was more developed and densely populated. The south was less developed and with its main economic activity being agriculture. The campaigns against slavery affected very few people in the south because very few were slave holders. This battle came right after Lincoln was elected president, at the same time South Carolina started a session debate³. The session debate continued in other states like Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.

The state of South Carolina seceded in December 20, 1860. This army which later called itself union army occupied Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was a well built fort, and most important than Fort Moultrie. All the troops were bought from fort Moultrie to come defend fort Sumter.

This is a move opposed by the authority who felt that he should hand over the fort. Anderson’s men needed supplies, this would become difficult to get because there were no US troops in the area. President James did not want to escalate the war. At the same time he needed to protect the fort, hence Major Anderson remained there. He reached a compromise to send civilian transport to the port so that the rebels would not fire at unarmed civilians.

The delivery was made using a civilian ship, Star of the West which reached the Charleston Harbor. The rebels fired two shots at the ship, but their bullets did not get the target.

Importance of fort Sumter to the confederates

Confederates after taking fort Sumter made effort to strengthen it. They perceive the fort as important to their military ambitions as it had been constructed with most strong materials. This meant that it was hard for enemies to break into the fort. The manner in which the fort had been constructed gave its users an advantage over their enemies. It had various tires that were strategically located⁴. The fort’s barbette gave the confederates a wide angle from which they could attack their enemies.

It was possible to see their enemies approaching from far thus prepare to attack. By winning fort Sumter, the confederates believed that they would bar their enemies from attacking them. Being build of up- to-date materials, it was hard for attackers to get control of the fort. This meant that those who would manage to take its control were superior. Confederate taking control of the fort showed their superiority thus making their enemies fear them.

First Battle of Fort Sumter

On the night of December 26, 1860, General Anderson secretly removed the cannons from Fort Moultrie and relocated his soldiers to Fort Sumter. This was after realizing that fort Moultrie was defenseless. Sumter being strategically located and built of the state of the art materials offered good defense. The move was not received well by South Carolina government which found it as an insult. This led to them immediately ordering for the fort to be evacuated. During this period, President Buchanan was still in power. Lincoln was waiting to be inaugurated as the next president. The president went against their order and commanded his soldiers to organize an ambush on the confederates.

Three aides (Lieutenant Chisolm, Captain Stephen Lee and Colonel James Chesnutt) were sent in April 12 1861 to order for surrender of fort Sumter, Anderson declined. This was because Anderson new that they were to be supplied with food shortly thus they could be able to continue defending the fort. The aides went back to Beauregard who consulted his war secretary on the issue. He then decided to aides back and ordered them to think of whether to use force to get the fort. They approached Anderson again who discussed his conditions. For him he was willing to leave the port on April 15^th so long as he did not get other orders from home.

He claimed that as they had less food, they would leave immediately their supply got exhausted. Asked on the exact date, Anderson could not give the exact day they expected to leave. This was a trick as he knew that the president had authorized for a ship to resupply them with food and ammunition. All that was required is to trick the confederates until the supply arrives. By giving up the fort, it would appear that Lincoln had seceded to the confederates. This made him decide to supply his soldiers with food and ammunition rather than asking them to leave the fort. By Lincoln allowing the confederates to take fort Sumter, he could not be in a position to hold the Union together. After consulting his advisors, he decided to supply the soldiers guarding the fort.

According to the confederates, Anderson was to assure them that he was not going to attack their ships at all. However, he said that he could not relent from attacking them if their happen also to attack his fleet. They failed to come to agreement and the aid went to Fort Johnson which was close to Sumter. Here Chesnutt gave orders for firing of Port Sumter. The Confederate fired towards fort Sumter continuously for 34 hours. It is not known who the first person to fire the first bullet was. Edmund Ruffin, an agronomist, claims to have fired the first shot. It is also claimed that Lieutenant Henry ordered a firing by which James Island fired the first shot against fort Sumter⁵.

This shot was fired at 4.30 am and is believed to be the first shot⁶. The Union returned ineffective fire, which had little impact because it was mounted on a low tier as opposed to the highest tier (barbette tier). The colors of the Union fell during the attack prompting Lieutenant Norman J. Hall to risk his life to put it back up. In the process he burnt his eyebrows. No union soldier died in battle. However, a confederate soldier was hit by misfired cannon which made him bleed to death. The second soldier got injured by a shot salute. This was the 47th shot out of 100.

Surrender

As the fight intensified, the fort’s flag post fell. This left United States soldiers without a flag. Before Anderson and his team could come up with alternatives of hoisting the flag, the confederates sent their aides to enquire on whether it was an indication that they were about to surrender. Anderson agreed for a ceasefire at 2:30 p.m. the same day. By the evening they had curved out terms with respect to how Anderson and his men could evacuate the fort. The Union soldiers ended up succumbing to confederates pressure and handed the fort to them. No soldier from both frontiers was injured or killed during the fight.

To leave the fort, Anderson demanded that the confederate soldiers had to salute the United States flag by shooting in air a hundred times⁷. However, the shooting was stopped at the fiftieth time after it produced sparks that left one soldier dead (Daniel Hough) while scores of others got injured. Union troops spent the night in a confederate ship and later ferried to their ship which was waiting outside the harbor. The soldiers and their families sailed back to land that was under the control of the Union. This left the confederates with control of the fort.

After the War

Anderson and his troop got overpowered by the confederates. This is because they had inferior weapons and their food and weapon supply was delayed. Eventually the confederates emerged victorious taking control of the fort. As the fort had been made strongly and was strategically located, it gave the confederates an upper hand with respect to defense. It was hard for enemies to attack and overthrow them. The war left the fort in ruins. This led to the need for people to work in order to restore its initial value. The American soldiers took the responsibility of rebuilding the fort. As all its walls had been damaged, the military struggle to re-level the damaged walls⁸.

However, it was hard to raise them back to their initial height. This made them leave them at a lower height. The walls were also partially rebuilt to repair where they were completely damaged. Eleven of the initial rooms used for storing guns were completely rebuild as they had been damaged during the war. The third level of gun emplacement was eliminated as it was hard to restore it.

The defeat of the American soldiers led to Lincoln championing for all states to combine their efforts and come up with a strong troop to reclaim the fort from the confederates. With the magnitude of rebellion being low, Lincoln managed to lure the Northerners to support his idea. He managed to get support from approximately 75,000 volunteers. They waged a fight against the confederates which lasted for four years.

Eventually, the confederates succumbed and left the fort. For all this time, Charleston harbor was being controlled by confederates. The Union forces regained control of the fort several days after the confederates surrendered which resulted to disintegration of the confederacy. General Anderson hoisted Fort Sumter flag once again.

From 1876-1897, the fort acted as a light house station. No government or soldiers guarded the fort. Nevertheless, the war between the Americans and the Spanish made the military focus on the fort due to its military usefulness. The military started reconstructing some of the facilities that had gotten damaged over the time. They came up with a huge blockhouse in 1898. The house was named Battery Huger after General Isaac Huger who had died when participating in the war. The fort was not used during the First World War though there was a minor garrison in the fort to guard the two riffles kept in the house. By the time the second war erupted, the fort was not being used as a military base. It was only acting as a tourist end with numerous visitors coming to the fort.

Uses of fort Sumter today

After the Congress recognized the significance of fort Sumter, it decided to erect a monument at the site. Since then the fort has been used as one of the major tourist sites in the country. As a result, thousands of tourists visit the fort annually. For years, the fort has been used as a national park service. There are numerous materials and weapons used by the soldiers during the war that are still stored in the fort. It is this reason that makes the fort a tourist attraction. Scholars visit the site to collect information regarding the history of the fort. A guard station has been built in the fort which is used as life saving station. There are always people at the station who assist sailors in case of problems.

The light house in the fort is used to guide ships. As it is tall, it is possible for sailors to spot it from far. There are people in the fort who have volunteered to assist in rescuing people from wrecked ships. Despite the station being controlled by national park service department, it still acts as a lifesaving station as well as a navigation aid site. In addition, the fort acts as museum and different exhibitions are held in the site where tourists are informed about the historic events that took place in the fort and its current importance to the country.

Bibliography

Brewer, Paul. The civil war: state by state. San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2004.

Catton, Bruce. Picture history of the civil war. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1982.

Detzer, David. Allegiance: fort Sumter, Charleston and the beginning of the civil war. New York: Harcourt, 2001.

Eyewitness to History. “The first shot of the civil war: the surrender of fort Sumter, 1861.” Eyewitness, 2006. Web.

Hickman, Kennedy. “American civil war: battle of fort Sumter,” Military History Guide, 2010.

Ripley, Warren. Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War. Charleston, S.C.: The Battery Press, 1984.

Turner, John. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1890.

Wise, Stephen. Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1994.

Footnotes

1. Warren Ripley, Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War (Charleston, S.C.: The Battery Press, 1984), 78.
2. Bruce Catton, Picture History of The Civil War (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1982), 234.
3. Kennedy Hickman, “American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter,”. Web.
4. John Turner, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1890), 144-153.
5. Paul Brewer, The Civil War: State by State (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2004), 453-472.
6. David Detzer, Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston and the Beginning of the Civil War, (New York: Harcourt, 2001), 143-165.
7. EyeWitness to History, “The First Shot of the Civil War: The Surrender of Fort Sumter, 1861,” 2006. Web.
8. Stephen Wise, Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863 (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1994), 34-67.