The Battle at Fort Sumter
April 12, 4:40 A.M. That was the exact time the Civil War began. Edmund Ruffin from Virginia shot a gun towards Fort Sumter, initiating the bloodies American War ever to be. But why did he fire? Fort Sumter, located on an island off the coast of Charleston, had a commander not willing to surrender to South Carolina Confederate authoridies. That man was Major Robert Anderson. On April 10, Captain Steven D. Lee and Colonel James Chestnut, secessionists, had gone out to Fort Sumter to make a final demand for surrender. Anderson had refused, but stated that the people on the island would be starving in a few days. However, he stated that he would leave by noon, April 15, unless prior to that date they would receive news from the nation’s capital or received additional supplies. However, the southerners were not pleased with that answer. Major Anderson knew that Lincoln had sent out an unmanned ship loaded with food and supplies. At 3:20 the Confederates notified the men at Fort Sumter that in an hour they would attack.
During the fight, 43 Confederate guns ringed around Fort Sumter and bombed the island. The Union’s first shot was by Doubleday at around 7 in the morning of that day, marking the beginning of the 34 hour fight. The supply ships Anderson was expecting arrived on the afternoon of the 12th, but was kept outside the harbor by the southern artillery. The Union’s attempt to bomb the Confederate States of American did little damage. But the south did damage a lot. The next morning, a “hot shot,” or a cannon ball heated in a furnace to create a fire, sent from Fort Moultrie, burned the officer’s quarters. At 2 P.M., the north gave in and agreed to a truce because Anderson finally believed that help was not coming. That evening he surrendered his garrison.
In this battle, no one was killed during the engagement. However, 5 Federal Soldiers sheltered in Sumter’s brick caverns were injured. Also, during the 100-gun salute to the United States Flag, a pile of cartridges blew up from a spark, fatally injuring 1 Union soldier and injuring 3 others. On Sunday the 14th, Anderson and his garrison marched out of the fort and boarded ships heading to New York. Quoting him, “the quarters [of Fort Sumter] were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazines surrounded by flames.”
The South had won this time…but the Civil War, avoided so many times, had begun.
During the fight, 43 Confederate guns ringed around Fort Sumter and bombed the island. The Union’s first shot was by Doubleday at around 7 in the morning of that day, marking the beginning of the 34 hour fight. The supply ships Anderson was expecting arrived on the afternoon of the 12th, but was kept outside the harbor by the southern artillery. The Union’s attempt to bomb the Confederate States of American did little damage. But the south did damage a lot. The next morning, a “hot shot,” or a cannon ball heated in a furnace to create a fire, sent from Fort Moultrie, burned the officer’s quarters. At 2 P.M., the north gave in and agreed to a truce because Anderson finally believed that help was not coming. That evening he surrendered his garrison.
In this battle, no one was killed during the engagement. However, 5 Federal Soldiers sheltered in Sumter’s brick caverns were injured. Also, during the 100-gun salute to the United States Flag, a pile of cartridges blew up from a spark, fatally injuring 1 Union soldier and injuring 3 others. On Sunday the 14th, Anderson and his garrison marched out of the fort and boarded ships heading to New York. Quoting him, “the quarters [of Fort Sumter] were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazines surrounded by flames.”
The South had won this time…but the Civil War, avoided so many times, had begun.