Now the third test had come: whether a republic could defend itself against internal collapse. Generations of historians have argued over the cause of the war. All these interpretations came together to portray the Civil War as a collision of two noble civilizations from which black slaves had been airbrushed out.
Du Bois to John Hope Franklin begged to differ with the revisionist view, but they were overwhelmed by white historians, both Southern and Northern, who, during the long era of Jim Crow, largely ignored the importance of slavery in shaping the politics of secession.
Arrangements for the sesquicentennial have been left to individual states. At the time, some Southern members reacted with hostility to any emphasis on slavery, for fear that it would embolden the then-burgeoning civil rights movement.
Only later were African-American views of the war and its origins finally heard, and scholarly opinion began to shift. Most white Southerners favored racial subordination, and they wanted to protect the status quo. They were concerned that the Lincoln administration would restrict slavery, and they were right. Many Southerners assumed that secession could be accomplished peacefully, while many Northerners thought that a little saber rattling would be sufficient to bring the rebels to their senses.
Both sides, of course, were fatally wrong. Over time, the Southern states would grow increasingly determined to protect their slave-based economies. The founding fathers agreed to accommodate slavery by granting slave states additional representation in Congress, based on a formula that counted three-fifths of their enslaved population. Optimists believed that slavery, a practice that was becoming increasingly costly, would disappear naturally, and with it electoral distortion.
Instead, the invention of the cotton gin in spurred production of the crop and with it, slavery. There were nearly , enslaved Americans in A crisis had occurred in , when Southerners had threatened secession to protect slavery. The Missouri Compromise the next year, however, calmed the waters. Under its provisions, Missouri would be admitted to the Union as a slave state, while Maine would be admitted as a free state.
And, it was agreed, future territories north of a boundary line within land acquired by the Louisiana Purchase of would be free of slavery. The South was guaranteed parity in the U. But it had already become clear to many Southern leaders that secession in defense of slavery was only a matter of time. Sectional strife accelerated through the s. By late the next year, the Kansas Territory erupted into guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and antislavery forces; the violence would leave more than 50 dead.
The decision threatened to make slavery a national institution. In a four-way contest against Northern Democrat Stephen A. He did make clear that he would oppose the expansion of slavery into new territories. However, the so-called Fire-eaters, the most radical Southern nationalists who dominated Southern politics, were no longer interested in compromise.
Republican party, inflamed by fanaticism and blinded by arrogance, have leapt into the pit which a just Providence prepared for them. Men young and old flocked to join militia companies. By , Charleston had witnessed economic decline for decades. It was a cosmopolitan city, with significant minorities of French, Jews, Irish, Germans—and some 17, blacks 82 percent of them slaves , who made up 43 percent of the total population. Charleston had been a center of the slave trade since colonial times, and some 40 slave traders operated within a two-square-block area.
Are they stolidly stupid? If Anderson marched his men out of the fort, they could take their arms and private property. He might also fire a salute to his flag, and Beauregard would supply him with transportation to any US Army post that he chose.
Anderson read the demand and asked for time to consult with his officers. They joined him in unanimous defiance, and the major drafted a polite refusal. As he handed it to the three aides, he remarked that if the Confederates did not batter the fort to pieces, the garrison would be starved out in a few days anyway.
Chesnut, Chisholm, and Lee carried back both the written message and the oral communication, which they supposed Anderson might have meant as an unofficial plea for time. Beauregard consulted with officials in Montgomery, and late that night he sent his emissaries back to the fort with another proposal. If Anderson would specify an hour when hunger would force him to evacuate and would promise not to fire unless fired upon, the Confederates would not bombard the fort.
This message reached Anderson after midnight. The major took his time formulating a reply, and in the early hours of April 12 he presented them with his answer: he calculated that he would evacuate at noon on Monday, April 15, unless he were resupplied by that time. That proved unacceptable, for the Confederates wanted to prevent the arrival of the supplies and end the crisis. The Confederate officers left the fort at , warning Anderson that the bombardment—and, inevitably, civil war, would begin in one hour.
Some six thousand Confederate troops encircled Charleston Harbor that morning. Several dozen cannon and mortars bore on Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter boasted more than four dozen usable guns, but the garrison could man only a few of them at a time.
James that he might fire a signal gun at the specified time. At in the morning, at Fort Johnson, a gunner in James' mortar battery pulled the lanyard on a ten-inch mortar. The projectile arched high over the harbor, bursting in midair over Sumter. Major Anderson's men made their way to shelter, and the citizens of Charleston began climbing to their rooftops for a better view of the battle. A few more guns opened up here and there, and within half an hour every Confederate battery in the harbor that could reach Fort Sumter was firing at it.
The Sumter garrison stood to reveille that morning in the bombproofs instead of on the parade. Anderson divided his men into three reliefs, each of which was to work the guns for two hours.
Anderson could count only seven hundred cartridges in the entire fort, and six men were already busy sewing new ones from blankets and spare uniform parts. Like many Third System fortifications, Fort Sumter proved a costly endeavor, and construction slowed again in due to lack of funding. Commanded by Major Robert Anderson , these companies were stationed at Fort Moultrie, a dilapidated fortification facing the coastline.
Recognizing that Fort Moultrie was vulnerable to a land assault, Anderson elected to abandon it for the more easily defensible Fort Sumter on December 26, A standoff ensued until January 9, , when a ship called the Star of the West arrived in Charleston with over U. South Carolina militia batteries fired upon the vessel as it neared Charleston Harbor, forcing it to turn back to sea.
Major Anderson refused repeated calls to abandon Fort Sumter, and by March there were over 3, militia troops besieging his garrison. A number of other U. With the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln in March , the situation soon escalated. Knowing that Anderson and his men were running out of supplies, Lincoln announced his intention to send three unarmed ships to relieve Fort Sumter. Having already declared that any attempt to resupply the fort would be seen as an act of aggression, South Carolina militia forces soon scrambled to respond.
On April 11, militia commander P. Beauregard demanded that Anderson surrender the fort, but Anderson again refused. In response Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter shortly after a.
Captain Abner Doubleday —later famous for the myth that he invented baseball—ordered the first shots in defense of the fort a few hours later. The first shots of the Civil War had been fired. With his stores of ammunition depleted, Anderson and his Union forces had to surrender the fort shortly after 2 p. No Union troops had been killed during the bombardment, but two men died the following day in an explosion that occurred during an artillery salute held before the U.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter would play a major part in triggering the Civil War. These West Point soldiers knew how to command. Their communications before and during the battle reflect the courtesy and professionalism of career officers.
Regardless of any personal feelings he may have felt toward Anderson, Beauregard had his orders. He instructed his aide-de-camp to send the major this formal heads-up on April 12 at a.
Library of Congress. Close Video. Charleston Harbor, SC Apr 12 - 14, How it ended Confederate victory. In context By , the country had already experienced decades of short-lived but ultimately failed compromises concerning the expansion of slavery in the United States and its territories.
Before the Battle In Charleston, the birthplace of secession, tempers are on edge. During the Battle. Union Aftermath Union. Estimated Casualties. Union 0. Questions to Consider 1. How did secession and the outbreak of civil war affect enslaved people and their southern owners? What common experience did Beauregard and Anderson share before Fort Sumter? Fort Sumter: Featured Resources.
Civil War Video. Civil War Primary Source. Civil War Article. Civil War Battle Map. Fort Sumter: Search All Resources.
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