Fort Sumter | |
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape) | |
 View from north in 2009 | |
| Location | Charleston Harbor,South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°45′8″N79°52′29″W / 32.75222°N 79.87472°W /32.75222; -79.87472 |
| Area | 234.74 acres (0.95 km2)[2] |
| Built | 1829; 197 years ago (1829) |
| Visitation | 857,883 |
| Website | Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000101[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated HD | April 28, 1948 (1948-04-28) |
Fort Sumter is an incompletesea fort at the mouth ofCharleston Harbor,South Carolina, where thebattle that sparked theAmerican Civil War took place. Built on anartificial island in 1829 in response to theWar of 1812, which had exposed the inadequacy of American coastal defenses, it remained unfinished on April 12, 1861, when attacked byConfederate Forces and greatly damaged. Efforts at rebuilding after the civil war never completed the fort's original plan, but since the middle of the 20th century it has beenopen to the public and operated by theNational Park Service.
Named afterContinental Army officerThomas Sumter, Fort Sumter was ordered in response to theWar of 1812, which had exposed the inadequacy of existing American coastal fortifications to defend against naval attacks. It was built nearCharleston, South Carolina, as part of thethird system of U.S. fortifications to protect American harbors from a naval invasion. Constructed on an artificial island in the middle of the channel that provides Charleston with natural shelter, Fort Sumter was intended to dominate the harbor, reinforcing the protection provided by the shoreartillery batteries atFort Moultrie,Fort Wagner, andFort Gregg.
The artificial island was originally asand bar. In 1827, a group of engineers carried outdepth sounding and concluded that it was a suitable location for a fort. Construction began in 1829.[3] Seventy thousand tons of granite were transported fromNew England to build up the artificial island. By 1834, a timber foundation that was several feet beneath the water had been laid. However, the decision was made to build a (stronger) brick fort.
The brick fort is five-sided, 170 to 190 feet (52 to 58 m) long, with walls five feet (1.5 m) thick, standing 50 feet (15.2 m) over the low tide mark. Although never completed, it was designed to house 650 men and 135 guns in three tiers of gun emplacements.
Construction dragged out because oftitle problems, then problems with funding such a large and technically challenging project. Unpleasant weather and disease made the situation worse. The exterior was eventually finished, but the interior and armaments were never completed.[4][5]: 104–105
Early in the 19th century, South Carolina had owned several forts, namelyFort Moultrie,Castle Pinckney, andFort Johnson, but ceded them, along with sites for the future erection of forts, to the United States in 1805.[6]: 2 The forts were of questionable military value and costly to maintain, so when asked to cede them, the state complied.[5]: 103 This was not the last time that South Carolina would cede forts to the United States; on December 17, 1836, South Carolina officially ceded all "right, title and, claim" to the site of Fort Sumter to the United States.[6]: 4
Fort Sumter is notable for two battles, thefirst of which began theAmerican Civil War. It was one of a number of special forts planned after theWar of 1812, combining high walls and heavy masonry, and classified asThird System, as a grade of structural integrity. Work started in 1829, but was incomplete by 1861, when the Civil War began.
The attack on Fort Sumter is generally taken as the beginning of the American Civil War—the first shots fired. Certainly it was so taken at the time—citizens of Charleston were celebrating. The First Battle of Fort Sumter began on April 12, 1861, when South Carolina Militia artillery fired from shore on theUS Army garrison. These were (both sides agreed) the first shots of the war. The bombardment continued all day, watched by many happy civilians. The fort had been cut off from its supply line and surrendered the next day. MajorRobert Anderson took the flag with him as they evacuated.
TheSecond Battle of Fort Sumter (September 8, 1863) was a failed attempt by the Union to retake the fort, dogged by a rivalry between army and navy commanders. Although the fort was reduced to rubble, it remained in Confederate hands until it was evacuated asGeneral Sherman marched through South Carolina in February 1865.
A widely announced"End of the War" celebration took place at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865. The now-Major General Anderson, though ill and retired, came to the ceremony and raised the flag.[7]The assassination of President Lincoln, which occurred on the evening of that date, almost immediately overshadowed the festivities.
On December 26, 1860, only six days afterSouth Carolina seceded from the Union,U.S. ArmyMajor Robert Anderson abandoned the indefensibleFort Moultrie,spiking its large guns, burning its gun carriages, and taking its smaller cannon with him. He secretly relocated companies E and H (127 men, 13 of them musicians) of the1st U.S. Artillery to Fort Sumter on his own initiative, without orders from his superiors.[8]: 117 [full citation needed][8]: 103 [9][full citation needed][10][full citation needed][11] He thought that providing a stronger defense would delay an attack by South Carolina militia. The fort was not yet complete and less than half of thecannon that should have been available were in place, due to military cuts by PresidentJames Buchanan.[citation needed]
In a letter delivered January 31, 1861,South Carolina Governor Pickens demanded ofPresident Buchanan that he surrender Fort Sumter because "I regard that possession is not consistent with the dignity or safety of the State of South Carolina."[12] Over the next few months repeated calls for evacuation of Fort Sumter[8]: 13 [13] from the government of South Carolina and then fromConfederateBrigadier GeneralP. G. T. Beauregard were ignored. Union attempts to resupply and reinforce the garrison were repulsed on January 9, 1861, when shots fired by cadets fromthe Citadel prevented the steamerStar of the West, hired to transport troops and supplies to Fort Sumter, from completing the task.
After realizing that Anderson's command would run out of food by April 15, 1861,President Lincoln ordered a fleet of ships, under the command ofGustavus V. Fox, to attempt entry into Charleston Harbor and supply Fort Sumter. The ships assigned were the steam sloops-of-warUSSPawnee andUSSPowhatan, transporting motorized launches and about 300 sailors (secretly removed from the Charleston fleet to join in the forced reinforcement ofFort Pickens, Pensacola, FL); armed screw steamerUSSPocahontas;Revenue CutterUSRCHarriet Lane; steamerBaltic transporting about 200 troops, composed of companies C and D of the 2nd U.S. Artillery; and three hired tugboats with added protection against small arms fire to be used to tow troop and supply barges directly to Fort Sumter.[8]: 240 [14] By April 6, 1861, the first ships began to set sail for their rendezvous off theCharleston Bar. The first to arrive wasHarriet Lane, on the evening of April 11, 1861.[8]: 304
On Thursday, April 11, 1861, Beauregard sent three aides: ColonelJames Chesnut, Jr., CaptainStephen D. Lee, and Lieutenant A. R. Chisolm, to demand the surrender of the fort. Anderson declined, and the aides returned to report to Beauregard. After Beauregard had consulted the Confederate Secretary of War,Leroy Walker, he sent the aides back to the fort and authorized Chesnut to decide whether the fort should be taken by force. The aides waited for hours while Anderson considered his alternatives and played for time. At about 3:00 a.m., when Anderson finally announced his conditions, Colonel Chesnut, after conferring with the other aides, decided that they were "manifestly futile and not within the scope of the instructions verbally given to us." The aides then left the fort and proceeded to the nearbyFort Johnson. There, Chesnut ordered the fort to open fire on Fort Sumter.[8]: 59–60
On Friday, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederatebatteries opened fire on the fort, firing for 34 straight hours.Edmund Ruffin, noted Virginian agronomist and secessionist, claimed that he fired the first shot on Fort Sumter. His story has been widely believed, but Lieutenant Henry S. Farley, commanding a battery of two10-inch siege mortars onJames Island, actually fired the first shot at 4:30 a.m.[15]
No attempt was made to return the fire for more than two hours. The fort's supply of ammunition was not suited for the task; also, there were no fuses for their explosive shells, which means that they could not explode. Only solid iron balls could be used against the Confederate batteries. At about 7:00 a.m., CaptainAbner Doubleday, the fort's second in command, was given the honor of firing the Union's first shot, in defense of the fort. He missed, in part because Major Anderson did not use the guns mounted on the highest tier—the barbette tier, where the guns could engage the Confederate batteries better, but where the gunners would be more exposed to Confederate fire. The firing continued all day. The Union fired slowly to conserve ammunition. At night, the fire from the fort stopped, but the Confederates still lobbed an occasional shell into Sumter. On Saturday, April 13, the fort was surrendered and evacuated. During the attack, the Union colors fell. Lt.Norman J. Hall risked life and limb to put them back up, burning off his eyebrows permanently. A Confederate soldier bled to death having been wounded by a misfiring cannon. One Union soldier died and another was mortally wounded during the 47th shot of a 100-shot salute, allowed by the Confederacy. Afterward, the salute was shortened to 50 shots. Accounts, such as in the famous diary ofMary Chesnut, describe Charleston residents along what is now known asThe Battery, sitting on balconies and drinking salutes to the start of the hostilities.
![[Top] A photographic view of the Hot shot Furnace at right shoulder angle and a 10-in. columbard cannon pointing to Charleston;[16][Bottom] Exterior view of Gorge and Sally Port Ft Sumter April 1861 after its surrender](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aThe_Photographic_History_of_The_Civil_War_Volume_09_Page_046.jpg)
![Views of Ft Sumter; [Bottom] View of right angle](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aThe_Photographic_History_of_The_Civil_War_Volume_09_Page_045.jpg)
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![[Top] View of gorge and Sally port; [Bottom] Left gorge Angle](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aThe_Photographic_History_of_The_Civil_War_Volume_09_Page_048.jpg)
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![At Left North west casemates [left angle]; at right can be seen the start of the right angle](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSalient_with_North-west_Casemates%2c_Fort_Sumter_MET_DP266616.jpg)
TheFort Sumter Flag became a popular patriotic symbol after Major Anderson returned North with it. TheStar of the West took all the garrison members to New York City. There they were welcomed and honored with a parade on Broadway.
Union efforts to retake Charleston Harbor began on April 7, 1863, whenRear AdmiralSamuel Francis Du Pont, commander of theSouth Atlantic Blockading Squadron, led theironclad frigateNew Ironsides, the tower ironcladKeokuk, and themonitorsWeehawken,Passaic,Montauk,Patapsco,Nantucket,Catskill, andNahant in an attack on the harbor's defenses. (The 1863 Battle of Fort Sumter was the largest deployment of monitors in action up to that time.) The attack was unsuccessful: the Union's best ship, USSNew Ironsides never effectively engaged, and the ironclads fired only 154 rounds, while receiving 2,209 from the Confederate defenders (Wise 1994, p. 30). Due to damage received in the attack, the USSKeokuk sank the next day, 1,400 yards (1,300 m) off the southern tip ofMorris Island. Over the next month, working at night to avoid the attention of the Federal squadron, the Confederates salvagedKeokuk's two eleven-inchDahlgren guns (Ripley 1984, pp. 93–96). One of the Dahlgren guns was promptly placed in Fort Sumter.
The Confederates, in the meantime, were strengthening Fort Sumter. A workforce of just under 500 enslaved Africans, under the supervision of Confederate army engineers, were fillingcasemates with sand, protecting the gorge wall with sandbags, and building newtraverse,[17] blindages,[18] and bombproofs.[19] Some of Fort Sumter's artillery had been removed, but 40 pieces still were mounted. Fort Sumter's heaviest guns were mounted on the barbette, the fort's highest level, where they had wide angles of fire and could fire down on approaching ships. The barbette was also more exposed to enemy gunfire than thecasemates in the two lower levels of the fort.
A special military decoration, known as theGillmore Medal, was later issued to all Union service members who had performed duty at Fort Sumter under the command of Major-GeneralQuincy Adams Gillmore.
| Location | Armament |
|---|---|
| Left flank barbette | Two 10-inch (250 mm)columbiads |
| Left face barbette | Two 10-inch (250 mm)columbiads, two 8-inch (200 mm)columbiads, four 42-pounders |
| Left face, first tier casemates | Two 8-inch (200 mm) shell guns |
| Right face barbette | Two 10-inch (250 mm)columbiads, five rifled and banded 42-pounders |
| Right face, first tier casemates | Two 32-pounders |
| Right flank barbette | One XI-inch Dahlgren (From USSKeokuk), four 10-inch (250 mm)columbiads, one 8-inch (200 mm)Columbiad, one rifled 42-pounder, one 8-inch (200 mm) Brooke |
| Gorge barbette | Five rifled and banded 42-pounders, one 24-pounder |
| Salient, second tier casemates | Three rifled and banded 42-pounders |
| Parade | Two 10-inch (250 mm) seacoast mortars |
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![Interior View of Fort Sumter, taken by a Confederate photographer, 1864 [1863]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aInterior_view_of_Fort_Sumter%2c_Charleston%2c_S.C._taken_by_a_Confederate_photographer_in_1864_(i.e._1863)_LCCN2013651649.jpg)
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_Charleston_S._C.%2c_from_Robert_N._Dennis_collection_of_stereoscopic_views.jpg)
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After the devastating bombardment, both Major GeneralQuincy A. Gillmore andRear AdmiralJohn A. Dahlgren, now commanding theSouth Atlantic Blockading Squadron, determined to launch a boat assault on Fort Sumter for the night of September 8–9, 1863. Cooperation between the Army and Navy was poor. Dahlgren refused to place his sailors andMarines under the command of an army officer, so two flotillas set out towards Fort Sumter that night. The army flotilla was detained offMorris Island by the low tide. By the time they could proceed, the navy assault had already been defeated and the army flotilla returned to shore.
TheNavy's assault involved 400 sailors and Marines in 25 boats. The operation was a fiasco from beginning to end. Poor reconnaissance, planning, and communication all characterized the operation.CommanderThomas H. Stevens, Jr., commanding themonitorPatapsco, was placed in charge of the assault. When Commander Stevens protested that he "knew nothing of [the assault's] organization " and "made some remonstrances on this grounds and others." Dahlgren replied, "There is nothing but a corporal's guard [about 6–10 men] in the fort, and all we have to do is go and take possession." (Stevens 1902, p. 633). This underestimation of the Confederate forces on Dahlgren's part may explain why he was hostile to a joint operation wishing to reserve the credit for the victory to the navy. Less than half of the boats landed. Most of the boats that did land landed on the right flank or right gorge angle, rather than on the gorge where there was a passable breach. The Union sailors and Marines who did land could not scale the wall. The Confederates fired upon the landing party and as well as throwinghand grenades and loose bricks. The men in the boats that had not landed fired muskets and revolvers blindly at the fort, endangering the landing party more than the garrison. The landing party took shelter in shell holes in the wall of the fort. In response to a signal rocket fired by the garrison, Fort Johnson and the Confederate warship CSSChicora opened fire upon the boats and landing party. A number of the boats withdrew under fire and the landing party surrendered. The Union casualties were 8 killed, 19 wounded, and 105 captured (including 15 of the wounded). The Confederates did not suffer any casualties in the assault.
After the unsuccessful boat assault, the bombardment recommenced and proceeded with the varying degree of intensity, doing more damage to Fort Sumter until the end of thewar. The garrison continued to suffer casualties. The Confederates continued to salvage guns and other material from the ruins and harassed the Union batteries onMorris Island withsharpshooters. The Confederates mounted four 10-inch (250 mm)columbiads, one 8-inch (200 mm) columbiad rifled, and two rifled 42-pounders, in the left face, bottom tier casemates.
The last Confederate commander, Major Thomas A. Huguenin, a graduate ofThe Citadel, never surrendered Fort Sumter, but GeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman's advance through South Carolina finally forced the Confederates to evacuate Charleston on February 17, 1865, and abandon Fort Sumter. The Federal government formally took possession of Fort Sumter on February 22, 1865.
Anderson, now amajor general, returned to Sumter with the flag he had been forced to lower four years earlier, and on April 14, 1865, raised it in triumph over the ruined fort.Henry Ward Beecher was present and subsequently spoke at length about the occasion.
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When the Civil War ended, Fort Sumter was in ruins. The U.S. Army worked to restore it as a useful military installation. The damaged walls were re-leveled to a lower height and partially rebuilt. The third tier of gun emplacements was removed. Eleven of the original first-tier gun rooms were restored with 100-pounderParrott rifles.
From 1876 to 1897, Fort Sumter was used only as an unmanned lighthouse station. The start of theSpanish–American War prompted renewed interest in its military use and reconstruction commenced on the facilities that had further deteriorated over time. A new massive concrete blockhouse-style installation was built in 1898 inside the original walls, armed with two12-inch M1888 guns, one on adisappearing carriage. Named "Battery Huger" in honor of Revolutionary War GeneralIsaac Huger, it never saw combat. This battery was deactivated in 1947, and in 1948 the fort becameFort Sumter National Monument under the control of theNational Park Service.[20]
One hundred and forty-seven years after it was sent, a rolled up telegraphic message was found in a trunk belonging to Col. Alexander Ramsay Thompson of New York and eventually given to a museum in Charleston, S.C. The telegram was dated April 14, 1861 from the Governor of South Carolina toGazaway Bugg Lamar in New York, reading in part:[21]
Fort Sumter surrendered yesterday after we had set all on fire... F.W. Pickens
In 1966, the site was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[1][22][20] TheCivil War Trust (a division of theAmerican Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and preserved 0.23 acres (0.00093 km2) of historic land related to the battles at Fort Sumter.[23]
Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park encompasses three sites in Charleston: the original Fort Sumter, the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center, andFort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. Access to Fort Sumter itself is by a 30-minute ferry ride from the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center orPatriots Point. Access by private boat is no longer allowed.[24]
The Visitor Education Center's museum features exhibits about the disagreements between the North and South that led to the incidents at Fort Sumter. The museum at Fort Sumter focuses on the activities at the fort, including its construction and role during the Civil War.
April 12, 2011, marked the 150th Anniversary of the start of the Civil War. There was a commemoration of the events by thousands of Civil War reenactors with encampments in the area. A United States stamp of Fort Sumter and afirst-day cover were issued that day.
On June 28, 2015, in the aftermath of the events of June 17, 2015, when amass shooting took place atEmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, the five small flags that were arranged in a semi-circle around the large flagpole flying the 50-star United States flag at Fort Sumter were lowered so that the South Carolina flag could be flown at half staff. Those flown include a 33-starUnited States flag, aConfederate First National Flag (Stars and Bars), aSouth Carolina State Flag, a Confederate Second National Flag (Stainless Banner), and a 35-star United States flag. This display was added to Fort Sumter National Monument in the 1970s. In August 2015, the flagpoles were removed to create a new exhibit. The four historic national flags now fly on the lower parade ground.[25]
By December 2019,sea level rise led to a Park Service decision to move some of the large rocks "originally installed to protect the fort from the sea," farther from the fort's walls, in order to create a protectivebreakwater andwetland.[26]
