Return to Old News homepageby Richard Sheppard
In the Presidential election of November, 1860, Captain Abner Doubleday of the United States Army cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln, the anti-slavery candidate. The forty-one-year-old Captain Doubleday was living in the South, where slavery was an accepted institution, but he was a native of New York State. He served as second-in-command at Fort Moultrie, which guarded the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
Captain Doubleday was delighted when Lincoln won the election; then Doubleday was dismayed when the pro-slavery people of South Carolina refused to accept Lincoln as their President. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first Southern state to secede from the United States; and Captain Doubleday suddenly found himself based on foreign soil, facing a potential enemy in the state militia of the newly-independent "Republic of South Carolina." Governor Francis Pickens of South Carolina demanded that the United States Army immediately surrender Fort Moultrie to his state.
The commander of the fort, Major Robert Anderson, refused to leave Fort Moultrie, and vowed to defend federal property by force, if necessary. Captain Doubleday heartily approved of his commander's sentiment, although Fort Moultrie appeared to be indefensible.
The fort's regular peacetime garrison consisted of fewer than seventy artillerymen&emdash;a number sufficient to fire ceremonial salutes&emdash;and a small brass band. Against this federal force, Governor Pickens could quickly field thousands of South Carolina state militiamen.
In addition to being outnumbered, the federal soldiers in Fort Moultrie were badly situated to resist an attack by the people of South Carolina. Fort Moultrie had been designed to defend Charleston against naval invasion, so its protective ramparts faced the sea. The landward side of the fort was defended only by a low wall, which had been partly buried by drifting sand dunes, so that stray cows often wandered over the dunes and into the fort. The dunes were dotted with summer cottages, from which enemy riflemen might aim their weapons into the fort.
In consultations with his commanding officer, Major Robert Anderson, Captain Doubleday argued that the best defense for Fort Moultrie would be an aggressive surprise attack. As a first step, Doubleday proposed to burn down all the cottages behind the fort, to make certain that enemy snipers would never occupy them. Next, Doubleday wanted to aim the fort's cannon at the nearby town of Moultrieville. If the local civilians refused to recognize Abraham Lincoln as their President, then the United States Army should level their town with cannonballs, Doubleday thought.
Major Robert Anderson was reluctant to use such severe measures. The major was a native of Kentucky. He had until recently owned slaves and a plantation in Georgia. Although he was determined to loyally perform his duties as an officer of the United States Army, Major Anderson was in no hurry to start a civil war. He said, "In this controversy between the North and the South, my sympathies are entirely with the South."
Since Fort Moultrie seemed indefensible, Major Anderson decided to abandon it and withdraw his garrison to Fort Sumter, a new bastion on an artificial island in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter was still under construction. Workmen had not mounted all the guns or finished the barracks, but the fort's brick-faced walls, over eight feet thick and fifty feet high, were in place. Surrounded by water, the fort seemed ideally situated to resist attack by local infantry.
On the night of December 26, 1860, the federal soldiers secretly and stealthily evacuated Fort Moultrie. Captain Abner Doubleday led the first company of soldiers who boarded small boats and rowed to Fort Sumter, where they surprised a large camp of workmen.
Captain Doubleday wrote, "As we ascended the steps of the wharf, crowds of workmen rushed out to meet us, most of them wearing secession emblems. One or two Union men among them cheered lustily, but the majority called out angrily, `What are these soldiers doing here?'" Captain Doubleday formed his men, charged bayonets, and drove the workmen back into the fort. He then seized the guard-room, which commanded the main entrance.
Most of the workmen, whose sympathies were secessionist, were fired and sent ashore, but some pro-Union workmen were allowed to remain in the fort.
The next day, Governor Pickens of South Carolina denounced the movement of federal troops to Fort Sumter as an act of aggression. In retaliation, the governor ordered his state militia to occupy Fort Moultrie and aim its guns at Fort Sumter. The state militia also began planting batteries of artillery on islands around Charleston Harbor, from where they could pour shot and shell into Fort Sumter.
While preparing to reduce Fort Sumter by bombardment, Governor Pickens also took steps to starve the fort's garrison into submission. Deliveries of food and ammunition to the fort were prohibited, although the regular mail boat was allowed to deliver letters and newspapers to the federal soldiers, and to carry regular military dispatches to Washington.
Captain Abner Doubleday hoped that the United States Navy would soon send a fleet into the harbor to relieve Fort Sumter, but officials in Washington were reluctant to take such aggressive action. Outgoing President James Buchanan wanted to hand over an intact and peaceful Union to Abraham Lincoln, who would take office on March 4, 1861. The Buchanan administration, hoping to strengthen Fort Sumter without provoking South Carolina, decided to sneak supplies and reinforcements into Charleston Harbor aboard an unarmed merchant ship. The steamer Star of the West. was secretly chartered to carry a party of two hundred United States Army officers and men, with their arms and ammunition, from New York to Fort Sumter.
Although the voyage of the Star of the West was supposed to be a clandestine operation, Southern spies learned every detail of the mission, and revealed the secrets to the press. In Fort Sumter, Captain Doubleday read about the Star of the West and her mission in the Charleston newspapers.
Based on the timetable published in the newspapers, Captain Doubleday expected the relief ship to arrive on January 9, 1861. He arose at dawn that morning and went to the parapet of Fort Sumter to search for the Star of the West with his spyglass. He immediately saw the steamer approaching Charleston Harbor, belching smoke from her straining engines.
As Doubleday watched, a Rebel battery on Morris Island, manned by cadets from the Citadel, fired a warning shot across the bows of the Star of the West . The ship ignored this warning and continued steaming into the harbor. The cadets then opened fire with deadly intent. Doubleday saw geysers of spay leaping alongside the ship as cannonballs crashed into the sea.
Eager to retaliate against the Rebel batteries, Captain Doubleday ran to Major Anderson's quarters to ask permission to open fire. He found his commander still in bed. Major Anderson listened to Captain Doubleday's report, then said, "Have the long roll beaten and post the men at the parapet."
Doubleday ran out, called the drummers, and had the alarm sounded. He later wrote, "It took but a few minutes for men and officers to form at the guns in readiness for action."
Major Anderson must have felt that he was awakening to a nightmare. When he joined his men on the parapet, he could see the Star of the West steaming toward Fort Sumter through a Rebel cannonade from Morris Island and Fort Moultrie. The ship's crew was signaling with a large flag, requesting supporting fire from Fort Sumter.
Unsure of what to do, Major Anderson hesitated. If he ordered his men to fire on the Rebel guns in Fort Moultrie, he would be starting a civil war. If he held his fire, the Star of the West might be sunk because of his failure to support her.
Aboard the Star of the West, officers and men waited expectantly for Fort Sumter to open fire. A correspondent for the New York Evening Post , who had accompanied the expedition aboard the Star of the West, wrote in his notebook, "Why does not Major Anderson open fire on the battery and save us? We look in vain for help. The American flag flies at Fort Sumter, and the American flag at our bow and stern is fired upon, yet there is not the slightest recognition of our presence from the fort we look to for protection."
Finally, the captain of the Star of the West decided that he could expect no help from Fort Sumter. He turned his ship and retreated back to sea. Two Rebel cannonballs struck the Star of the West , but caused no injuries, before the ship escaped beyond range of the hostile guns.
In Fort Sumter, federal soldiers were crushing their hats in frustration. Captain Doubleday had to use all his authority to prevent his men from firing in violation of their orders.
Doubleday felt that his commander had made a serious mistake in failing to retaliate for South Carolina's attack on the Star of the West. Doubleday wrote, "It was plainly our duty to do all that we could [to defend the ship.] For anything we knew to the contrary, she might have been in a sinking condition [when she fled the harbor]. Had she gone down before our eyes, without an effort on our part to aid her, Anderson would have incurred a fearful responsibility by his inaction."
In Washington, the Buchanan administration took a more tolerant view of Major Anderson's inaction. Relieved that civil war had been averted, the administration ignored the whole incident.
Meanwhile, on his own initiative, Major Anderson decided to use economic pressure to retaliate against South Carolina. The major announced that the port of Charleston would be closed to to commercial shipping until Governor Pickens apologized for the attack on the Star of the West.
Captain Doubleday doubted that any non-violent measures would restore South Carolina to the Union. His pessimism seemed confirmed as other states joined South Carolina in secession. On February 10, 1861, six other states joined with South Carolina to form the Confederate States of America.
After that, Captain Doubleday felt that Major Anderson was sinking into gloomy lethargy. "He then seemed to lose all interest in the Union," Doubleday wrote, "and merely desired to become a spectator of the contest, not an actor. His efforts thenceforth were confined to making his fort secure against an assault. Hardly any amount of provocation could induce him to become the assailant."
On March 4, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the sixteenth President of the United States, the men in Fort Sumter had one month's supply of bread remaining. Major Anderson sent a letter to Washington, asking the new Lincoln administration to either send a relief expedition, or else grant permission to surrender Fort Sumter to the Confederates. Anderson hoped that the President would decide to surrender the fort.
By April 3, Anderson had not yet received an answer from the new administration. That day, a schooner flying the American flag tried to enter Charleston Harbor, and was attacked by Confederate guns. The vessel was a Yankee trader from Maine, bound for Savannah, Georgia, with a load of ice. The skipper had blundered into the harbor at Charleston by mistake. Major Anderson held his fire as the schooner escaped safely back to sea.
Four days later, on April 7, Major Anderson finally received instructions from the new Secretary of War, Simon Cameron. The secretary wrote that President Lincoln had decided to send a relief expedition to reinforce and resupply Fort Sumter.
"You will hold out, if possible, till the arrival of the [relief] expedition," Secretary Cameron commanded Major Anderson. "It is not, however, the intention of the President to subject your command to any danger or hardship beyond what, in your judgment, 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 your command, a capitulation becomes a necessity, you are authorized to make it."
In reply Anderson wrote, "We shall strive to do our duty, though I frankly say that my heart is not in the war which I see is to be thus commenced. That God will still avert it, and cause us to resort to pacific measures to maintain our rights, is my ardent prayer."
After the bread ran out on April 8, 1861, the men in Fort Sumter had nothing to eat but salt pork and water.
On April 10, Major Anderson a received an ultimatum from Confederate Brigadier General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, who had taken command of the all the Rebel forces around Charleston. Beauregard sent emissaries to Fort Sumter to demand that Anderson immediately surrender or else face attack.
After consulting with his officers, who unanimously voted against surrender, Anderson rejected Beauregard's demand. As the Confederate emissaries were leaving Fort Sumter, Major Anderson told them, "I will await the first shot, and if you do not batter us to pieces, we shall be starved out in a few days anyway."
After another day of negotiations, General Beauregard informed Major Anderson that he intended to commence bombarding Fort Sumter at dawn on April 12.
On the evening of April 11, the men of Fort Sumter made their beds in the "bombproof" casemates under the walls of the fort. Major Anderson instructed everyone to stay in bed until reveille was sounded at the usual hour the next morning.
Most of the Union soldiers were therefore still in bed when the Confederate bombardment began at 4:30 a.m.
Captain Abner Doubleday was awakened by a Confederate cannonball that "seemed to bury itself in the masonry about a foot from my head, in very unpleasant proximity to my right ear...In a moment the firing burst forth in one continuous roar, and large patches of both the interior and the exterior masonry began to crumble and fall in all directions....Nineteen batteries were now hammering at us, and the balls and shells from the ten-inch columbiads, accompanied by shells from the thirteen-inch mortars which constantly bombarded us, made us feel as if the war had commenced in earnest."
The men arose as usual at 6:30 and breakfasted on salt pork and water. Despite his scanty rations, Captain Doubleday admitted to feeling "somewhat merry" at the prospect of finally striking a blow against slavery. Captain Anderson, in contrast, was in a grim mood. Worried about potential casualties, he ordered his men to man only the light cannon in the lower tier of casemates, where they would be relatively safe.
Captain Doubleday wrote:
"As I was the ranking officer, I took the first detachment, and marched them to the casemates, which looked out upon the powerful iron-clad battery of Cummings Point.
"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...To me it was simply a contest, politically speaking, as to whether virtue or vice should rule."
To his dismay, Captain Doubleday soon discovered that the light cannon he was firing could not harm the Confederate fortifications. He wrote, "My first shot bounded off from the sloping roof of the battery opposite without producing any apparent effect. It seemed useless to attempt to silence the guns there; for our metal was not heavy enough to batter the work down, and every ball glanced harmlessly off."
Hoping to do some damage to the enemy, Captain Doubleday asked permission to fire the heaviest guns in Fort Sumter, which were mounted on top of the parapet. Major Anderson, however, felt that those heavy guns should not be manned because they were exposed to enemy fire. He insisted that his men should fire only the protected, lower tier of lightweight cannons.
Captain Doubleday wrote, "I regretted very much that the upper tier of guns had been abandoned, as they were all loaded and pointed, and were of very heavy caliber. A wild Irish soldier, however, named John Carmody, slipped up on the parapet and, without orders, fired the pieces there, one after another, on his own account. One of the ten-inch balls so aimed made quite an impression on the Cummings Point battery; and if the fire could have been kept up, it might possibly have knocked the iron-work to pieces."
As the battle raged, the men in Fort Sumter kept hoping to be rescued by a fleet of United States Navy warships. President Lincoln had dispatched a fleet to save the fort, but due to secrecy and confusion among the bureaucracies of Washington, the most powerful warships in the fleet sailed to the wrong destinations. Several small Navy ships reached the approaches to Charleston Harbor on April 12, but they lacked sufficient firepower to fight their way past the Confederate Forts. Unable to assist Fort Sumter, they remained outside the harbor, watching the battle from a safe distance.
Captain Doubleday wrote;
"The firing continued all day, without any special incident of importance, and without our making much impression on the enemy's works. They had a great advantage over us, as their fire was concentrated at the fort, which was in the center of a circle, while ours was diffused over the circumference. Their missiles were exceedingly destructive to the upper exposed portion of the work, but no essential injury was done to the lower casemates which sheltered us.
"Some of these shells, however, set the officers' quarters on fire three times; but the flames were promptly extinguished...
"The night was an anxious one for us, for we thought it probable that the launches, filled with armed men from the fleet, might take advantage of the darkness to come in with provisions and supplies. Then, too, it was possible that the enemy might attempt a night attack. We were on the alert, therefore, with men stationed at all the embrasures; but nothing unusual occurred. The batteries fired upon us at stated intervals all night long. We did not return the fire, having no ammunition to waste.
"On the morning of the thirteenth, we took our breakfast&emdash;or rather, our pork and water&emdash;at the usual hour, and marched the men to the guns when the meal was over.
"From 4 to 6:30 a.m. the enemy's fire was very spirited. From 7 to 8 a.m. a rainstorm came on, and there was a lull in the cannonading. About 8 a.m. the officers' quarters were ignited by one of the enemy's incendiary shells, or by a shot heated in the furnaces at Fort Moultrie. The fire was put out; but at 10 a.m. a mortar shell passed through the roof, and lodged in the flooring of the second story, where it burst, and started the flames afresh. This, too, was extinguished; but the hot shot followed each other so rapidly that it was impossible for us to contend with them any longer. It became evident that the entire block, being built with wooden partitions, floors, and roofing, must be consumed, and that the magazine, containing three hundred barrels of powder, would be endangered; for, even after closing the metallic door, sparks might penetrate through the ventilator. The floor was covered with loose powder, where a detail of men had been at work manufacturing cartridge bags out of old shirts, woolen blankets, etc.
"While the officers exerted themselves with axes to tear down and cut away all the woodwork in the vicinity, the soldiers were rolling barrels of powder out to more sheltered spots, and were covering them with wet blankets. The labor was accelerated by the shells which were bursting around us...We only succeeded in getting out some ninety-six barrels of powder, and then we were obliged to close the massive copper door, and await the result. A shot soon after passed through the intervening shield, struck the door, and bent the lock in such a way that it could not be opened again. We were thus cut off from our supply of ammunition, but still had some piled up in the vicinity of the guns...
"By 11 a.m. the conflagration was terrible and disastrous. One-fifth of the fort was on fire, and the wind drove the smoke in dense masses into the angle where we had all taken refuge. It seemed impossible to escape suffocation. Some lay down close to the ground, with handkerchiefs over their mouths, and others posted themselves near the embrasures, where the smoke was somewhat lessened by the draught of air. Everyone suffered severely. I crawled out of one of these openings, and sat on the outer edge; but [the Confederates] made it hot for me with their case-shot, which spattered all around. Had not a slight change of wind taken place, the result might have been fatal to most of us.
"Our firing having ceased, and the enemy being very jubilant, I thought it would be as well to show them that we were not all dead yet, and ordered the gunners to fire a few rounds more. I heard afterward that the enemy loudly cheered Anderson for his persistency under such adverse circumstances.
"The scene at this time was really terrific. The roaring and crackling of the flames, the dense masses of whirling smoke, the bursting of the enemy's shells, and our own which were exploding in the burning rooms, the crashing of the shot, and the sound of masonry falling in every direction, made the fort a pandemonium.
"When at last nothing was left of the building but the blackened walls and smoldering embers, it became painfully evident that an immense amount of damage had been done. There was a tower at each angle of the fort. One of these, containing great quantities of shells, upon which we had relied, was almost completely shattered by successive explosions. The massive wooden gates, studded with iron nails, were burned, and the wall built behind them was now a mere heap of debris, so that the main entrance was wide open for an assaulting party. The sally-ports were in a similar condition, and the numerous windows on the gorge side, which had been planked up, had now become open entrances."
Major Anderson had ordered his men to avoid firing any target that was not clearly a military installation. Captain Doubleday, in his eagerness to punish the Rebels, felt that his commander was being overly finicky. Captain Doubleday wrote;
"There was a large, first-class wooden hotel, near the shore, on Sullivan's Island, called the Moultrie House. It was only kept open during the summer, and was a favorite resort, for planters and others, to enjoy the fresh sea-breezes, and the beautiful drive to the beach at low tide. Since the Rebel occupation of Fort Moultrie, this hotel had been used as a depot and barracks for the troops in the vicinity. Just before the attack was made upon us, the Palmetto flag, which had waved over the building, was taken down; but I noticed with a spyglass that there was still quite a number of people, apparently troops, remaining in the house. I saw no reason why the mere lowering of the flag should prevent us from firing at them. I therefore aimed two forty-two pounder balls at the upper story. The crashing of the shot, which went right through the whole length of the building among the clapboards and interior partitions, must have been something fearful to those within. They came rushing out in furious haste, and tumbled over each other until they reached the bottom of the front steps, in one writhing, tumultuous mass."
At 12:48 p.m. on April 13, the flagstaff of Fort Sumter was shot down, and the American flag fell. Hoping that the fort was trying to surrender, a Confederate officer named Louis T. Wigfall, a former United States Senator from Texas, decided to visit the fort to negotiate. Without bothering to obtain authorization from his commander, General Beauregard, ex-senator Wigfall arrived unexpectedly at the fort in a skiff rowed by two slaves.
Sergeant James Chester described Wigfall's appearance at the fort as follows:
"It came the turn of one of the guns on the left face of the work to fire&emdash;we were now firing once in five minutes&emdash;and as the cannoneer approached for the purpose of loading, he discovered a man looking in at the embrasure. The man must have raised himself to the level of the embrasure by grasping the sill with his hands. A short but lively altercation ensued between the man and the cannoneer, the man pleading to be taken in lest he should be killed with his own shot and shell. He was hauled in, Thompson, the cannoneer, first receiving his sword, to the point of which a white handkerchief was attached...Once inside, the bearer asked to see Major Anderson. The major was soon on the spot and opened the conversation by asking, "To what am I indebted for this visit?" The visitor replied, "I am Colonel Wigfall, of General Beauregard's staff. For God's sake, Major, let this thing stop. There has been enough bloodshed already." To which the major replied, "There has been none on my side, and besides, your batteries are still firing on me." At which Wigfall exclaimed, "I'll soon stop that," and turning to Thompson, who still held the sword under his arm, he said, pointing at the handkerchief, "Wave that out there." Thompson then handed the sword to Wigfall, saying, in substance, "Wave it yourself." Wigfall received back his sword and took a few steps toward the embrasure, when the major called him back."
After some discussion with ex-senator Wigfall, Major Anderson offered to surrender on condition that he and his men be allowed to salute the flag before departing from the fort. Wigfall agreed, and Major Anderson ordered a white bed-sheet to be raised above the parapet. When the Confederate gunners saw this white flag, they ceased firing.
Everyone except ex-senator Wigfall was somewhat embarrassed when it turned out that he had exceeded his authority. The surrender had to be renegotiated by Major Anderson and three properly-authorized Confederate officers from General Beauregard's staff.
One of those Confederate officers, Stephen D. Lee, was astonished to learn that nobody in Fort Sumter had been killed by the Confederate bombardment. Lee later described the scene inside the fort as follows:
"At this time the fire was still raging in the barracks and settling steadily over the magazine...Many shells from the Confederate batteries, which had fallen in the fort and had not exploded, as well as the hand grenades used for defense, were exploding as they were reached by the fire. The wind was driving the heat and smoke down into the fort and into the casemates, almost causing suffocation. Major Anderson, his officers, and his men were blackened by smoke and cinders, and showed signs of fatigue and exhaustion, from the trying ordeal through which they had passed."
During the negotiations, one of the Confederate officers, mistaking a bottle of medicine for whiskey, helped himself to a drink, and swallowed a lethal dose of poison. His life was saved when Fort Sumter's surgeon applied a stomach pump.
After this near-fatal accident, one of the other Confederate officers remarked to Major Anderson that no Confederates had been wounded by fire from Fort Sumter.
"Thank God for that!" said Anderson.
Captain Doubleday was annoyed by Anderson's remark. He later wrote, "As the object of our fighting was to do as much damage as possible, I could see no propriety in thanking Heaven for the small amount of damage we had inflicted."
Unfortunately, the defenders of Fort Sumter suffered some casualties the next day, April 14, 1861, during the formal ceremony of surrender. They were firing their cannon in salutes to the American flag when a cartridge exploded prematurely, setting fire to a pile of cartridges. One soldier was killed outright, one was fatally wounded, and three others were badly hurt, creating a scene of carnage worse than any that had occurred during the actual battle.
On Monday morning Fort Sumter's defenders were carried by a chartered steamer to the small United States Navy fleet that still lay anchored outside the harbor. As the Union soldiers sailed past the Confederate battery at Cummings point, they were astonished to receive a show of respect from the Rebel gunners, who lined the beach and silently removed their hats as the federal soldiers sailed past.
Doubleday wrote, "When we reached New York we had a royal reception. The streets were alive with banners. Our men and officers were seized and forced to ride on the shoulders of crowds wild with enthusiasm. When we purchased anything, merchants generally refused all compensation."
As a reward for his service at Fort Sumter, Major Anderson was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the regular army; but he retired from regular service, saying that his nervous system had been undermined by the strain of events at Charleston.
Captain Abner Doubleday was made a brigadier general of volunteers and served with distinction in several major battles of the Civil War.
SOURCES:
"From Moultrie to Sumter." by Abner Doubleday. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Century Press. 1887.
Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie. by Abner Doubleday. Harper Brothers, Publishers. New York. 1876.
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