On December 26, 1860, Major Robert Anderson and about 70 Federal troops under his command left their garrison at Fort Moultrie and headed to the safety of Fort Sumter in the middle of Charleston Harbor. South Carolina had seceeded from the Union just 6 days earlier. Anderson felt that the move from the mainland was neccessary to ensure saftey.
After the move of the Union troops the two sides were at a stalemate. This continued until the early hours of April 12, 1861, when four Confederate emissaries went to Fort Sumpter, demanding its surrender; the negotiations failed.
The Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter at about 4:30 A.M. After 34 hours of shelling, Anderson realized that he had been beaten. He agreed to evacuate the fort on the 14th only if his men were permitted to fire a 50-gun salute to the Federal flag.
The salute began at 2:00 P.M. on the 14th. Halfway into the salute, a cartridge bag prematurely ignited, killing one man and wounding five others, one mortally. Anderson stopped the salute. By 4:00 P.M., the Federals filed out of the fort carrying the flag that had flown throughout the bombardment. The same flag would once again be triumphantly raised over the fort four years later. |
