This afternoon we traveled out to Fort Sumter. The day was beautiful and the breeze was well, like Amarillo on a super windy day. Apparently it's always like this in the Fall. In fact, our tour guide (we took a guided bus tour which I'll talk about in a later post) this morning told us, as we stood on the sea wall at the Battery, that it's always like this. It was so windy on the Battery this morning that we were nearly being blown over. What's funny is that the news weathermen will get onto that same seawall when a hurricane is coming in and talk about the wind. The same wind that they had today.
As for Fort Sumter, we took the one and only boat tour out there (though there are two points that you can leave from). On our way we saw several pods of dolphins swimming and playing in the water. You could tell when each side of the boat spotted some as you'd hear shrieks of pleasure from certain sections of the boat. I tried to take pictures of the dolphins, but those buggers are fast! So, alas, no pics worth posting. However, here is a picture of what remains of the Fort:
The building you see with a slanted roof in the middle was not there during Civil War times. It was added as a response to the Spanish American War when the U.S. believed it needed to enhance its fortifications.
The remaining portion of Fort Sumter is only about 20-25 feet tall. When it was completed shortly before the Civil War (and I do mean shortly), it was between 50-55 feet. At the time, that was a formidable structure.
The interesting history of this Fort all started when Abraham Lincoln was elected President in November 1860. South Carolina had threatened to secede if he were elected and made good on that promise by becoming the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. Tensions gradually mounted over the following week, and the Union charged Major Robert Anderson with the job of protecting all four Federal installations in the area from the secessioners. Originally, Major Anderson and his 85 men were stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island. However, during the night of December 26, 1860, he moved his men to Fort Sumter as it was the most impregnable of the fortresses. He flew the Union flag at Fort Sumter the following morning, alerting the South Carolinians of the change. They took it as an affront and proceeded to occupy all of the other forts in the area and build additional batteries. They also demanded that the Union soldiers, as we Southerners say, get the hell out.
At that time, the Fort was only about 90% completed and did not have most of the cannons installed. In fact, the vast majority of the weapons in the Fort were piled in the center of the parade grounds. General Anderson and his men spent the next several months readying the Fort for fighting. However, they were not able to install most of the guns by the time the firing began.
Also, in early 1861, President Buchanan sent a what was an attempted relief mission. He sent the Star of the West, a ship loaded with 200 reinforcements and several months of provisions. The Confederates got wind of the ship's coming and fired upon it as it tried to enter the harbor. The unarmed ship turned around and went back to New York.
In early March 1861, Brigadier General Pierre G.T. Beauregard took command of the Confederate troops in Charleston. He continued fortifying the city and harbor while the pressure increased for him to attack Fort Sumter. However, Beauregard wasn't keen on attacking Anderson. Anderson was his artillery instructor at West Point and they had remained friends. In fact, they remained friends through and even after the War. However, in April 1861, the pressure proved too great. Beauregard sent a final command to Anderson to surrender the Fort of be fired upon. Anderson refused.
On April 12, 1861 at 4:30 A.M. the Confederates fired a single cannon shot that exploded just above Fort Sumter. And thus, the first shot of the Civil War was fired. This shot was the signal for the rest of the Confederate artillery to open fire, and they did. Major Anderson withheld fire until 7 A.M. I don't know why he did this, but I can speculate that he had limited artillery and even more limited manpower. While the Fort did get hit quite a bit, the fire was not rifling fire, so it did little damage. It also helps that the Fort walls are five to six feet deep. What ended the battle for Major Anderson was a hot shot that hit the officers' barracks. Those barracks were made of wood and were next to the artillery. The fire in the officer's quarters ignited some of the gun powder in the artillery, which then exploded. In fact now only partial walls of the artillery remain.
During the battle, citizens of Charleston picnicked on the battery and watched the firing (which was several miles away). Others sat on their roofs and watched. Most thought the war would be over in a matter of weeks.
Shortly after, General Anderson surrendered. No men were killed in the battle. In fact, the only casualty of the battle was during the performance of one of Anderson's conditions of surrender. He had two conditions - (1) they were to be allowed to perform a 100 gun salute of the Union flag, and (2) they were to be allowed to return to the Union with no prisoners of war taken. During the 100 gun salute (I think it was on the 46th shot), a cannon misfired killing one of the Union soldiers. After that, Anderson shortened it to a 50 gun salute. The remaining Union soldiers returned to New York to a hero's welcome.
The Confederates held Fort Sumter for almost the entirety of the War. Although Union soldiers attacked the Fort many times, they did not finally gain control of the Fort until the last few months of the War. In fact, they finally gained the Fort after a 20 month long battle (the longest of the War). They only gained it then because Sherman's troops advancing North from Savannah cut off the supply lines to the Fort.
The constant bombardment from that long siege is the reason the Fort is so much shorter today. Ironically, the knocking down of the top two of the three total floors made the bottom floor more impregnable. The men inside the Fort piled the rubble against the remaining walls, thereby further strengthening them from fire.
Jello? What you been up to lately?
Posted by: Munchkin Mom | Saturday, October 03, 2009 at 12:50 PM