Why Sumter?
by Diana Loski
A 19th century lithograph of Fort Sumter
(Library of Congress)
The fateful, early morning hours of April 12, 1861 changed the course of American history forever. The bombing of Fort Sumter – a Federal garrison in Charleston Harbor – by Confederate artillerists was ordered by Pierre G.T. Beauregard. The action marked the beginning of the American Civil War. Since that terrible conflict, there have never been more American casualties incurred in any subsequent war involving American troops. When considering the two disastrous World Wars and the intense battles involved in them, it is sobering to consider, and wonder, why the bombing of a fort could bring on such hostilities.
Why was Fort Sumter so important? Why was Abraham Lincoln willing to risk war to save it?
The answer lies in decades of power struggles, the mindset of slave-owners and their intent to keep their “property”, and ultimately the unlikely election of a prairie lawyer who was underestimated by everyone, even men of his own party and Cabinet.
Since the Andrew Jackson Administration in the 1830s, no succeeding U.S. President had ever served for two terms by 1861. Those who managed to attain the Executive Mansion were usually Democrats, and the Whigs who were elected between them were weak and easily bullied by the slave-owning South. Even without the Executive Branch, the slave-owners held sway with their political power in the other branches of government, until they could elect one of their own as President again.
Though slaves had no basic human rights, they nevertheless were counted as three-fifths of a person. It enhanced the voting power in the Southern states. When James K. Polk was President, he initiated the Mexican War – a war to increase the United States land mass, slated for the expansion of slavery. When Abraham Lincoln spoke up against it during his only term in Congress, he was quickly criticized, and only served one term as a representative. When the Whig and war hero Zachary Taylor was elected as the 12th President, he served just over a year, dying mysteriously of what was believed to be food poisoning after a Fourth of July celebration. Notably, Taylor, a Southern man, refused to sign the new Fugitive Slave Act into law. His successor, Millard Fillmore, meekly signed the bill, creating a firestorm of opposition.
Senators like Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun worked continually on compromises to keep the nation afloat. Even Northern elected Presidents, like Franklin Pierce, sided with the South and slavery. Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court was headed by Roger Taney – a slave owner from Maryland.
The passionate feelings rose to a fever pitch when James Buchanan, the bachelor and lifelong politician from Pennsylvania, was elected in 1856. He had kept quiet about his views, but he maintained strict obedience to his party. His continued acquiescence to the fiery branch of pro-slavery Democrats only fueled the fire that was threatening to burst into conflagration.
With the controversial Dred Scott decision, the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the attempt by radical John Brown to start a slave revolt that led to his execution, the mini-war that started in Kansas and Nebraska with allowing the citizens of these new states to choose whether or not they wanted slavery, all exacerbated the situation. By the time of the election of 1860, the nation was already severely divided. When the vocal, anti-slavery lawyer from Illinois was elected in November 1860, the citizens in the deep South angrily decided that they no longer wanted to be part of the country. South Carolina was the first to secede on December 16, 1860. In the ensuing weeks, more secessions followed.
Although Lincoln had been duly elected in November, he could not take office until March of 1861 – a full four months later. The secessionists wasted no time during this interval to leave the country and cause havoc. Many committed acts of belligerence, including the takeover of several Federal forts in the South. These included Fort Johnson, Castle Pinckney, and Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor; the U.S. Arsenal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Fort Pike on Lake Pontchartrain, and Fort Macomb in New Orleans. James Buchanan did nothing to deter these acts of insurrection. The Federal forts were government property, and the states had no jurisdiction to take them. Many of the leaders of the garrisons at these places quickly handed over their commands – as most of them were Southern sympathizers. However, there were two holdouts: Lieutenant Adam Slemmer at Fort Pickens in Florida, and Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.1
Adam Slemmer was a Pennsylvania native and career soldier. He held Fort Pickens on an island near the Florida panhandle despite many demands from Alabama militia to surrender. Robert Anderson, a Kentucky man who was sympathetic to the South, nevertheless considered his oath to protect the United States an unbreakable one; he too refused to surrender.2
While Slemmer was able to retain his fort with reasonable security, Anderson was not in an enviable position. He had originally held the garrison at Fort Moultrie, but with successive attempts by the Charleston militia to oust him, he quietly moved his eighty men to Fort Sumter – a mile farther out in the harbor. Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan Island, was too close to shore and easily attacked from land. Since all the forts in Charleston Harbor had been constructed to fight against an invasion from sea, they were ill-equipped to fight their own populace on land.3
When the state leaders saw that Anderson had tricked them and moved to Sumter, they were enraged. Jefferson Davis, the newly elected President of the new Confederate States of America, ordered Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard to take over the troops in Charleston. Back in Washington, the outgoing President simply did nothing.4
When Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, he barely reached his new office in the Executive Mansion before the full force of what lay before him was exposed. He was handed a letter from the outgoing Secretary of War, a missive from Major Anderson. The despair was fully evident in Anderson’s letter. He was besieged with threats from South Carolina, and explained that Beauregard had already sent emissaries to demand his surrender, which was refused. He was running low on provisions, and he and his eighty men would run out of food and other necessities by the middle of April. He did not want to surrender.5
“It was a disheartening and almost impossible situation for the new administration,” remarked one historian. Lincoln had barely chosen his Cabinet. To make matters worse, a phalanx of office seekers thronged the White House, from almost the first day. William Henry Seward, Lincoln’s chosen Secretary of State, believed he was the actual leader of the administration. He insisted that Lincoln allow Sumter to fall, and spend their efforts on saving Fort Pickens. He explained that Sumter would be lost by the time they sent aid, and the act alone would bring war. Montgomery Blair, Lincoln’s new Attorney General, held the opposite view. A Democrat, he detested slavery, and sided with Lincoln when he ran for the Presidency. “It would be treason to abandon Fort Sumter,” Blair insisted. He added that, were Lincoln to allow Sumter to fall, he could be impeached for dereliction of duty.6
Lincoln showed his capacity for leadership almost immediately. He refused to decide quickly, realizing the full weight of the looming disaster. He resisted any reaction, preferring a deliberate answer after examining all possibilities. He limited hours for appointments to the hordes of office seekers, and met with his Cabinet on this pressing issue. With the exception of Seward and Caleb Smith (the Secretary of the Interior), the rest of the Cabinet agreed to the attempt to save Fort Sumter. It was, after all, Federal property. If Lincoln allowed those in rebellion to take it, where would they stop? How many more Federal forts, buildings, and areas would they continue to requisition for themselves? Lincoln knew there would be no end to continued insurrections if he allowed Sumter to fall.7
Lincoln hesitated on purpose, hoping that the Southern people would see reason and let calmer heads prevail. When that did not happen, Lincoln knew he had to act. He could not allow the men in uniform to flounder – a position he maintained for the rest of his tenure. He suffered sleepless nights as he considered the meager options. Finally, he issued the order to send the Powatan, a large cargo ship with two hundred additional troops, to reinforce Major Anderson. When Secretary Seward saw the order, he gasped at the decision. Lincoln firmly reiterated the order. He let Seward know that he, Lincoln, was President, and he would make the decision.8
After all, what was the point of having the office, and squandering it, along with the trust of the people who elected him? Even if it meant war. Lincoln realized the people from South Carolina would fire on Sumter, but at least they would be the instigators.
And they were.
Before the Powhatan could reach Fort Sumter, spies alerted Jefferson Davis, and Beauregard, that the ship with provisions was en route to Charleston Harbor. To take Sumter before the garrison could be strengthened, Beauregard fired upon the fort in the early morning hours of April 12, 1861. Anderson’s troops returned fire – and blistering volleys flew across the harbor. One shot broke the flagpole where the American flag flew, knocking it over. Men hurried to repair it so that the colors could fly again. Other shots hit targets within Fort Sumter that caused it to catch fire. Eventually, Major Anderson surrendered.9
Miraculously, there were no casualties for either side. Anderson and his men boarded a ship for New York, where they were hailed as heroes. Sumter fell to the Confederacy. Lincoln was not impeached. And war was the certain result.10
The awful war, four years long with between 620,000 and 820,00 casualties, claimed a generation of men from both North and South. Lincoln, too, did not survive it.
It seems improbable that a small, unfinished bastion a mile out in the Charleston Harbor would have been the catalyst for such a conflict. Over a century and a half later, the fort remains, with the U.S. flag flying above it – a symbol of the government of the people, and the man who refused to let it go for their sakes.
Sources: American Civil War Forum: civilwartalk.com. Curtis, William Eleroy. Abraham Lincoln. Philadelphia, PA: J.P. Lippincott Company, 1902. “Fort Sumter: Charleston Harbor, SC, April 12-14, 1861. Battlefields.org. Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. Perret, Geoffrey. Lincoln’s War. New York: Random House, 2004. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959.
End Notes:
1. American Civil War Forum, civilwartalk, p. 2.
2. Warner, Generals in Blue, pp. 7, 450.
3. Battlefields.org/Fort Sumter: Charleston Harbor, SC.
4. Ibid.
5. Perret, p. 9, Goodwin, p. 334.
6. Curtis, p. 233. Goodwin, p. 335. Perret, p. 17.
7. Curtis, p. 232.
8. Goodwin, p. 344.
9. Perret, pp. 30-31. Goodwin, p. 344. Warner, Generals in Gray, p. 22.
10. Battlefields.org/Fort Sumter: Charleston Harbor, SC.
