The bloodiest conflict in American history began 164 years ago today 

History shows governments are formed and sustained on spilled – whether actual or threatened –  blood.

These United States are not altogether different in that regard.

And the bloodiest conflict in American history began 164 years ago today.

The city of Charleston, South Carolina, was one of the largest in the South in 1860. 

It would become strategically and symbolically one of the most important cities in the American Civil War. 

It became the epicenter of some the war’s most dramatic moments, including the beginning of secession, the firing on Fort Sumter, the sinking of the first ship (USS Housatonic) by a submarine (CSS Hunley), and the heroic exploits of the African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, portrayed in the 1989 movie Glory. 

For its role in holding the first state secession convention and firing the first shots of the War Between the States, it became known as the “Cradle of the Confederacy.”   

Secession comes

Charleston hosted the Presidential nominating convention for the Democrat Party in 1860. With the convention split and two candidates emerging, John C. Breckinridge and Stephen A. Douglas, Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the November election. 

As Lincoln was a vocal opponent of the expansion of slavery in the western territories, South Carolina politicians began arguing for secession. In December, a special secession convention was held to decide the issue. Begun in Columbia, because of a smallpox outbreak, the convention was moved to Charleston. 

Fearful of the probable policies of the new Republican administration, on December 20, 1860, the convention voted 169-0 in favor of seceding from the Union. The newspaper Charleston Mercury immediately issued its historically famous broadside “The Union Is Dissolved!” 

A delegation from South Carolina was sent to Washington to negotiate the transfer of federal property located within the state, including Fort Sumter. 

Fort Sumter and its construction

The fort was named after Revolutionary War General Thomas Sumter, who hailed from South Carolina. 

Located at the Harbor’s entrance, it was built to protect the port of Charleston from naval invasion after the War of 1812. 

The fort was built upon an artificial island. Seventy thousand tons of granite rubble, brought in from New England quarries, were used to create the 2.4 acre island.

By 1860, the fort was still under construction and not garrisoned. The island and the outer fortifications were complete, but the fort’s interior and some of the armaments remained unfinished.

It was built to house a garrison of 650 men and have a placement for 135 cannons on three separate tiers. The top tier featured open gun emplacements, while the lower tiers had gunrooms for cannons. 

Made of brick, and designed to support the load of bearing multiple tiers of cannon, the walls of Fort Sumter rose 50 feet and were five feet thick. 

An interesting feature, the fort had a network of underground tunnels that could be used for storage and moving troops and munitions safely. 

Major Anderson moves into Sumter

On the outskirts of the harbor, at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, was stationed a company of United States soldiers under the command of Major Robert Anderson. With roughly 85 men, Anderson felt vulnerable with the land approaches to his position. 

On December 26, 1860, Anderson made the decision to spike the cannons at Fort Moultrie, and to move his force into Fort Sumter, which he felt was more easily defended. 

So, the question that arose once South Carolina left the Union that had to be answered – Who owned Fort Sumter?

Fort Sumter represented one of numerous scenarios throughout the South in which the Southern States believed that, once they seceded, they had rightfully inherited all federal properties within their states. 

The Federal administration vehemently disagreed, believing that if it was built by the United States, it remained the property of the Union. 

Nothing happened until January 9, 1861, when the Union ship Star of the West arrived outside of Charleston with over 200 troops and supplies intended to reinforce Fort Sumter. South Carolina state militia shore batteries, including cadets from The Citadel, fired upon the vessel as it neared Sumter. The ship was struck three times, forcing it back out to sea.

A new nation formed

As six more states from the Deep South seceded from the Union on February 8, they formed their own government, the Confederate States of America, and elected Jefferson Davis the new government’s provisional President the following day.

Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States on March 4. He refused to recognize any legitimacy of the states leaving the Union, or the sovereignty of the new Confederate government. 

In the first crisis of the new administration, Lincoln decided to resupply Fort Sumter. A fleet was dispatched, even though Lincoln understood it could trigger war. 

Confederate President Jefferson Davis, learning of the fleet sailing to Charleston, ordered Fort Sumter to be evacuated by the Federal troops. If Major Anderson refused, the Fort was to be fired upon. 

As the nation braced for what would happen in Charleston Harbor, the noted Southern diarist Mary Chesnut wrote, “There stands Fort Sumter, and thereby hangs peace or war.” 

The question is decided

As the Union ships were soon to arrive, Major Anderson was presented with the ultimatum to evacuate or be fired upon. Anderson replied that he would continue to occupy the fort until his supplies ran out. The Southerners informed him that a bombardment would commence.

At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, a lanyard was pulled at Fort Johnson on James Island by Lieutenant Henry Farley. A 10-inch mortar fires the signal shot that informs the other batteries that the bombardment is to begin. Shells fly into Sumter from all directions. 

Anderson, who is outmanned and outgunned, waits until 7:00 a.m. and daylight to respond. For nearly 36 hours, the lopsided fight continued. 

At one point a shell struck the flagpole inside Sumter and the colors fell to the ground. They were hoisted back once the pole was hurriedly repaired. Many of the wooden buildings inside the fort and its main gate caught fire. 

Fire moved toward the main powder magazine, and Anderson had as many barrels as possible moved to safety, the rest thrown in the water. 

After 1:00 p.m. on April 13, Colonel Louis Wigfall set out on a small boat from Morris Island, waving a white handkerchief from his sword.  He met with Major Anderson, telling him, “You have defended your flag nobly, Sir. You have done all that it is possible to do, and General Beauregard wants to stop this fight. On what terms, Major Anderson, will you evacuate this fort?” 

Anderson was asked to evacuate, not surrender. Being low on ammunition, and with fires burning out of control, Anderson accepted and agreed to a truce at 2:00 p.m.

He felt he had defended his post with honor. 

The following morning, Anderson and his command took down their colors and prepared to leave the fort. Part of the agreed-upon color ceremony was for the Union to conduct a 100-gun salute. 

The only casualties inside Fort Sumter came during the color ceremony, when a round exploded prematurely, killing Pvt. Daniel Hough and mortally wounded another soldier. 

Anderson and his command left Charleston aboard the relief fleet that had been sent by Lincoln. They were not taken as prisoners. 

The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the first military action of the War Between the States. Lincoln’s immediate response was to call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the secessionist states. 

In response to Lincoln’s action, four states of the upper South – Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Virginia now voted to secede. 

Union attempts to retake Fort Sumter

Following the Confederate occupation of the fort, they completed construction and increased its armaments. 

The fort’s presence defended the city of Charleston and created a valuable hole in the Union naval blockade of the southern coastline.  Sumter became a symbol of the Confederate rebellion. 

The first Union assault on Sumter occurred in April 1863 with an ironclad fleet of 9 warships under the command of Rear Admiral Samuel Du Pont. They were met with heavy resistance not only by the fort but by shore batteries commanded by General P.G.T. Beauregard, who by this time had also fought at 1st Manassas (Bull Run) and at Shiloh. Underwater mines planted by the Confederates also posed a serious threat. 

The Union fleet sustained over 500 hits from Confederate gunners and withdrew. The following day, the ironclad Keokuk, which had been struck 90 times, sank. 

The Confederates repaired the fort and even managed to salvage the two 11-inch Dahlgren guns from the sunken Keokuk, which they deployed in the fort. 

On September 8, 1863, a force of 400 Union troops attempted to land at Fort Sumter, but the landing party was easily repulsed. Following the failed attack, Union Forces on adjacent Morris Island, which had been captured, commenced a bombing campaign on Sumter.

For the next 15 months, Union artillery pounded Sumter with 50,000 shells, effectively leveling the structure. Despite suffering over 300 casualties, the Southern garrison held onto the fort until February 1865. 

The final acts

It was not until Union General William Sherman threatened Charleston’s capture from the land approach that Fort Sumter’s Confederate defenders finally evacuated. 

Union forces reclaimed Sumter on February 22, 1865. 

After General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, at the behest of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, now General Robert Anderson returned to Fort Sumter for a ceremony and raised the American flag on April 14, 1865 – exactly 4 years after he had lowered it. 

But the symbolism of that act was overshadowed because just hours later that same evening, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

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