When was fort sumter fired on

But Lincoln would not take office until March 4. Not until was Inauguration Day moved up to January The new president who slipped quietly into Washington on February 23, forced to keep a low profile because of credible death threats, was convinced that war could still be avoided. He was willing to live with slavery where it already was. Once in office, Lincoln entered into a high-stakes strategic gamble that was all but invisible to the isolated garrison at Fort Sumter.

Lincoln and his advisers believed, however, that secessionist sentiment, red-hot in the Deep South, was only lukewarm in the Upper South states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, and weaker yet in the four slaveholding border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri.

Conservatives, including Secretary of State William H. Seward, urged the president to appease the Deep South and evacuate the fort, in hopes of keeping the remaining slave states in the Union.

But Lincoln knew that if he did so, he would lose the confidence of both the Republican Party and most of the North. At the same time, he reasoned that the longer the standoff over Fort Sumter continued, the weaker the secessionists—and the stronger the federal government—would look. Rumors flew in every direction: a federal army was set to invade Texas Northern businessmen would come out en masse against war. In Charleston, the mood fluctuated between overwrought excitement and dread.

For a month after his inauguration, Lincoln weighed the political cost of relieving Fort Sumter. On April 4, he came to a decision. He ordered a small flotilla of vessels, led by Navy Capt. Gustavus Vasa Fox, to sail from New York, carrying supplies and reinforcements to the fort. He refrained from sending a full-scale fleet of warships. The South Carolinians had made clear that any attempt to reinforce Sumter would mean war. In the early hours of April 12, approximately nine hours after the Confederates had first asked Anderson to evacuate Fort Sumter, the envoys were again rowed out to the garrison.

They made an offer: if Anderson would state when he and his men intended to quit the fort, the Confederates would hold their fire. Anderson called a council of his officers: How long could they hold out? Five days at most, he was told, which meant three days with virtually no food. Although the men had managed to mount about 45 cannon, in addition to the original 15, not all of those could be trained on Confederate positions. Even so, every man at the table voted to reject immediate surrender to the Confederates.

But the Confederacy would tolerate no further delay. Anderson roused his men, informing them an attack was imminent. At a. A single shell from Fort Johnson on James Island rose high into the still-starry sky, curved downward and burst directly over Fort Sumter. As geysers of brick and mortar spumed up where balls hit the ramparts, shouts of triumph rang from the rebel emplacements. To conserve powder cartridges, the garrison endured the bombardment without reply for two and a half hours.

The Union volley sent vast flocks of water birds rocketing skyward from the surrounding marsh. At about 10 a. At Fort Moultrie, now occupied by the Confederates, federal shots hit bales of cotton that rebel gunners were using as bulwarks. Humor was less on display in the aristocratic homes of Charleston, where the roar of artillery began to rattle even the most devout secessionists.

The sight of reinforcements so tantalizingly close was maddening to those on Sumter. The bombardment slackened during the rainy night but kept on at minute intervals, and began again in earnest at 4 a. At p. As fires crept toward the powder magazine, soldiers raced to remove hundreds of barrels of powder that threatened to blow the garrison into the cloudless sky. The grandstanding Wigfall had no formal authority to negotiate, but he offered Anderson the same terms that Beauregard had offered a few days earlier: Anderson would be allowed to evacuate his command with dignity, arms in hand, and be given unimpeded transport to the North and permission to salute the Stars and Stripes.

He had made his stand. He had virtually no powder cartridges left. His brave, hopelessly outgunned band of men had defended the national honor with their lives without respite for 34 hours. The outcome was not in question. The agreement nearly collapsed when three Confederate officers showed up to request a surrender. A highlight was weekend visits by citizens to include ladies bringing picnics and offering conversation and a change from the drudgery of training and daily garrison life.

While the attack was repelled, and the damage from this two and one-half hour engagement was light, it was a wake-up call. Following this attack, preparations were immediately undertaken to strengthen the fort against further attack by heavier and longer range Union artillery.

Between the ironclad attack in April and the first bombardment in August, these efforts were intense, with as many as mechanics and laborers engaged. The upper and lower casemates of the right flank or sea wall and the upper and lower rooms of the gorge wall were filled with sand and wetted cotton bales. These reinforcement efforts also included the building of bombproofs or bomb shelters and, later, communication tunnels.

While debris from the shelling played a role in the ongoing strengthening efforts, new materials hauled in night after night constituted the bulk of the repair and reinforcement. Repairs continued on a daily basis throughout the month Union bombardment, which began on August 12, The fort was under direct fire a total of days during that month timeframe. It was to be the longest siege under fire in US military history. Over 46, projectiles were fired against it with an estimated total weight in metal of 3, tons.

Confederate soldiers suffered at least 52 killed and wounded. The exact number of civilian and enslaved casualties was not carefully documented and thus remains unknown, although undoubtedly significant and thought to be roughly proportionate to the soldier casualties.

Life Under Fire Following the first heavy bombardment in August , cannons and powder were removed from the fort and deployed elsewhere in the harbor to avoid destruction. The size of the garrison shrunk to a daily average of about soldiers and enslaved people. Infantry soldiers replaced artillery soldiers. Life in the fort had become a living hell.

In addition to the stress and danger of exposure to exploding shells and the dank, dark, stifling atmosphere of the bombproofs, the quality and quantity of food and water deteriorated, and disease began to appear. Anderson was ready to stop fighting.

His men had done all that could be expected of them. They had fought well against a much stronger enemy. Anderson said he would surrender if he and his men could leave with honor. Down came the United States flag. And up went the white flag of surrender.

The battle of Fort Sumter was history. More than 4, shells had been fired during the 33 hours of fighting. But no one on either side had been killed — yet. Load more comments. Search Search. Audio menu. Learning English Broadcast. Previous Next. September 11, See comments Print. Embed share The code has been copied to your clipboard.

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