McFreedom

My brother, Nathan, and I were talking last night. He's been reading Founding Brothers, which he said is a riveting read. It's several stories about the founding of the Republic, and one of the things that stuck him was how they decided not to decide the slavery question - because it was too hard - and in the end, of course, made it much harder. Which led us to talk a bit about the Civil War. He expressed that he didn't really have a very good idea how, exactly the war got started. I mean, everyone knows about Fort Sumter, but exactly how did that come about - were there negotiations, was it a surprise attack, was it expected...?

I set out to do some Googling, and found a gem of a site called "Crisis at Fort Sumter." It's plain ugly, but the content is very well done. It provides a timeline from Lincoln's election in November of 1860, through the winter of 1861; Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, and the attack in April 12, as well as its immediate aftermath.

The great thing about the site is that you may go as deep into it as you like. You can skip along the surface, and get the basic facts, or you can drill down and learn the advice Lincoln was getting from individual advisors on a day-by-day basis.

One of my favorite stories there is that of the fall of Fort Sumter, on April 13, 1861. Two days prior, Confederate General Beauregard dispatched three aides to Fort Sumter, to demand that Major Anderson, the fort's commander, evacuate. Anderson, while not interested in having his men killed for what was a target of no military value, had received his orders directly from the Commander In Chief, and informed the aides that "his sense of honor and his obligations to his government prevented his compliance." Despite this, negotiations continued through the night (some think Anderson was stalling). In the end, Anderson promised to evacuate the fort if not resupplied by the 15th (the garrison was running very low on food), and promised not to fire upon the southerners, "unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this fort or the flag of my Government." Three hours later, the aides notified Anderson that the General would "open fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." Anderson's offer to withdraw on the 15th was somewhat disingenuous, since both he (and the southerners) knew that a Federal resupply mission was to arrive before then. The Confederates attacked the fort as promised, with canon.

Early in the afternoon on the 13th, Sumter's flagstaff fell down. The fort raised another, but in the confusion, the Confederate side thought perhaps the fort was surrendering, and parley began. At 8 PM, a deal was struck for the fort's evacuation. At noon on the 14th, the American flag was lowered at Fort Sumter. Anderson put the flag under his arm and marched the garrison out of the fort and onto a steamer. Anderson recalled that he "[M]arched out of the fort Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns." He and his garrison were given a hero's welcome in New York. No life was lost on either side.

Four years later to the day, on April 14th, 1865, he was back in Fort Sumter, now as Major General Robert Anderson (retired). Anderson raised the same flag over the fort, and gave a speech; the north had won the civil war.

That night, in Washington, President Lincoln attended a play at Ford's Theatre...