71. Breaking of the Storm (1861) BY SECRETARY LEROY POPE WALKER, BRIGADIER-GENERAL PIERRE GUSTAVE TOUTANT BEAUREGARD, AND MAJOR ROBERT ANDERSON Walker served as Confederate secretary of war during the first year of the Rebellion, but was not otherwise eminent. Beauregard had been an officer in the United States army, but resigned to take charge of the Confederate defences of Charleston: during the war he rose to the rank of general, and served with distinction in different parts of the Confederacy. Anderson was of southern birth, and a veteran of thirty-five years' service in the United States army; his firm stand for the Union and his sagacious operations in Charleston harbor, together with his sturdy defence of Sumter, give him a just claim to remembrance among the preservers of the Union. The attack on Sumter placed on the South the onus of aggression. - Bibliography as in No. 70 above. L. P. WALKER: A CHARLESTON, April 8, 1861. UTHORIZED messenger from Lincoln just informed Governor Pickens and myself that provisions would be sent to Sumter peaceably, otherwise by force. G. T. BEAUREGARD. . . General BEAUREGARD, Charleston: MONTGOMERY, April 10, 1861. If you have no doubt of the authorized character of the agent who communicated to you the intention of the Washington Government to supply Fort Sumter by force you will at once demand its evacuation, and if this is refused proceed, in such manner as you may determine, to reduce it. Answer. L. P. WALKER: L. P. WALKER. CHARLESTON, April 10, 1861. The demand will be made to-morrow at 12 o'clock. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Brigadier-General. HEADQUARTERS PROVISIONAL ARMY, C. S. A., Charleston, S. C., April 11, 1861. SIR: The Government of the Confederate States has hitherto forborne from any hostile demonstration against Fort Sumter, in the hope that the Government of the United States, with a view to the amicable adjustment of all questions between the two Governments, and to avert the calamities of war, would voluntarily evacuate it. There was reason at one time to believe that such would be the course pursued by the Government of the United States, and under that impression my Government has refrained from making any demand for the surrender of the fort. But the Confederate States can no longer delay assuming actual possession of a fortification commanding the entrance of one of their harbors, and necessary to its defense and security. I am ordered by the Government of the Confederate States to demand the evacuation of Fort Sumter. My aides, Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee, are authorized to make such demand of you. All proper facilities will be afforded for the removal of yourself and command, together with company arms and property, and all private property, to any post in the United States which you may select. The flag which you have upheld so long and with so much fortitude, under the most trying circumstances, may be saluted by you on taking it down. Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee will, for a reasonable time, await your answer. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Maj. ROBERT ANDERSON, G. T. BEAUREGARD, Brigadier-General, Commanding. Commanding at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, S. C. FORT SUMTER, S. C., April 11, 1861. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor, and of my obligations to my Government, prevent my compliance. Thanking you for the fair, manly, and courteous terms proposed, and for the high compliment paid me, I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brig. Gen. BEAUREGARD, ROBERT ANDERSON, Major, First Artillery, Commanding. Commanding Provisional Army. . . General BEAUREGARD, Charleston: MONTGOMERY, April 11, 1861. Do not desire needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state the time at which, as indicated by him, he will evacuate, and agree that in the mean time he will not use his guns against us unless ours should be employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid the effusion of blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the fort as your judgment decides to be most practicable. HEADQUARTERS PROVISIONAL ARMY, C. S. A., MAJOR: In consequence of the verbal observation made by you to my aides, Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, in relation to the condition of your supplies, and that you would in a few days be starved out if our guns did not batter you to pieces, or words to that effect, and desiring no useless effusion of blood, I communicated both the verbal observations and your written answer to my communications to my Government. If you will state the time at which you will evacuate Fort Sumter, and agree that in the mean time you will not use your guns against us unless ours shall be employed against Fort Sumter, we will abstain from opening fire upon you. Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee are authorized by me to enter into such an agreement with you. You are, therefore, requested to communicate to them an open answer. I remain, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Maj. ROBERT ANDERSON, Commanding Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, S. C. FORT SUMTER, S.C., April 12, 1861. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt by Colonel Chesnut of your second communication of the 11th instant, and to state in reply that, cordially uniting with you in the desire to avoid the useless effusion of blood, I will, if provided with the proper and necessary means of transportation, evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th instant, and that I will not in the mean time open my fires upon your forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this fort or the flag of my Government by the forces under your command, or by some portion of them, or by the perpetration of some act showing a hostile intention on your part against this fort or the flag it bears, should I not receive prior to that time controlling instructions from my Government or additional supplies. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ROBERT ANDERSON, Major, First Artillery, Commanding. Brig. Gen. BEAUREGARD, Commanding. : FORT SUMTER, S. C., April 12, 1861-3.20 a. m. SIR By authority of Brigadier-General Beauregard, commanding the Provisional Forces of the Confederate States, we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time. We have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servants, JAMES CHESNUT, Jr., Aide-de-Camp. STEPHEN D. LEE, Maj. ROBERT ANDERSON, Captain, C. S. Army, Aide-de-Camp. U. S. Army, Commanding Fort Sumter. The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, First Series, (Washington, 1880) I, 13-301 passim. 72. Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861) BY MAJOR JOHN GRAY FOSTER AND MAJOR ROBERT ANDERSON Foster was in charge of the engineering operations of the United States troops at Charleston, and he had superintended the successful transfer from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. During the war he rose to the command of departments. For Anderson, see No. 71 above. — Bibliography as in No. 70 above. A. FOSTER'S ACCOUNT [April 12, 1861.] AT 41 a.m. a signal shell was thrown from the mortar battery on James Island; after which the fire soon became general from all the hostile batteries. At 7 a.m. the guns of Fort Sumter replied, the first shot being fired from the battery at the right gorge angle, in charge of Captain Doubleday. . . . The supply of cartridges, 700 in number, with which the engagement commenced, became so much reduced by the middle of the day, although the six needles in the fort were kept steadily employed, that the firing. was forced to slacken, and to be confined to six guns - two firing towards Morris Island, two towards Fort Moultrie, and two towards the batteries on the west end of Sullivan's Island. At 1 o'clock two United States men-of-war were seen off the bar, and soon after a third appeared. The fire of our batteries continued steadily until dark. The effect of the fire was not very good, owing to the insufficient caliber of the guns for the long range, and not much damage appeared to be done to any of the batteries, except those of Fort Moultrie, where our two 42pounders appeared to have silenced one gun for a time, to have injured the embrasures considerably, riddled the barracks and quarters, and torn three holes through their flag. . . . The effect of the enemy's fire upon Fort Sumter during the day was very marked in respect to the vertical fire. This was so well directed and so well sustained, that from the seventeen mortars engaged in firing 10-inch shells, one-half of the shells came within or exploded above the parapet of the fort, and only about ten buried themselves in the soft earth of the parade without exploding. In consequence of this precision of vertical fire, Major Anderson decided not to man the upper tier of guns, as by doing so the loss of men, notwithstanding the traverses and bomb-proof shelters that I had constructed, must have been great. . . . . . . The effect of the direct fire from the enemy's guns was not so marked as the vertical. For several hours firing from the commencement a large proportion of their shot missed the fort. Subsequently it improved, and did considerable damage to the roof and upper story of the barracks and quarters, and to the tops of the chimneys on the gorge. . . . The night was very stormy, with high wind and tide. . . . The enemy threw shells every ten or fifteen minutes during the night. The making of cartridge bags was continued by the men, under Lieutenant Meade's directions, until 12 o'clock, when they were ordered to stop by Major Anderson. To obtain materials for the bags all the extra clothing of the companies was cut up, and all coarse paper and extra hospital sheets used. |