"U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson had to make a decision. His small garrison was stationed in old Fort Moultrie, located on the northeast shore of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina....On November 24, 1860, Anderson asked Secretary of War Floyd for reinforcements....Finally, Secretary of War Floyd sent him reinforcement: one man, Lieutenant R. K. Meade, a Virginian. This tepid response helped Major Anderson make his decision. He now knew that he could not stay in Fort Moultrie...The garrison now held a fort surrounded by water, one they could defend. Major Anderson believed that both the North and the South would be thankful he had made his move. He reported to the Secretary of War's adjutant general, Colonel Cooper: 'Colonel: I have the honor to report that I have just completed, by the blessing of God, the removal to this fort [Fort Sumter] all of my garrison... We have one year's supply of hospital stores and about four months' supply of provisions for my command... The step which I have taken was, in my opinion, necessary to prevent the effusion of blood. But Anderson's move, which was meant to protect the peace, served as a rallying cry for war in the North. In the South the move was called even worse. The Charleston Courier shouted: "Maj. Robert Anderson, U.S.A., has achieved the unenviable distinction of opening civil war'." ~Nancy Colbert, The Firing on Fort Sumter
The Firing on Fort Sumter by
When South Carolina seceded from the United States, President Abraham Lincoln refused to withdraw federal troops from Fort Sumter. The beleaguered fort was the site of the first shots of the Civil War.
Allegiance by
Foreward by Gene Smith, author of Lee and Grant An original and deeply human portrait of soldiers and civilians caught in the vortex of war. So vividly does Allegiance re-create the events leading to the firing of the first shot of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, that we can feel the fabric of the Union tearing apart. It is a tense and surprising story, filled with indecisive bureaucrats, uninformed leaders, hotheaded politicians, and dedicated and honorable soldiers on both sides. The six-month-long agony that began with Lincoln's election in November sputtered from one crisis to the next until Lincoln's inauguration, and finally exploded as the soldiers at Sumter neared starvation. At the center of this dramatic narrative is the heroic figure of Major Robert Anderson, a soldier whose experience had taught him above all that war is the poorest form of policy. With little help from Washington, D.C., Anderson almost single-handedly forestalled the beginning of the war until he finally had no choice but to fight. David Detzer's decade-long research illuminates the passions that led to the fighting, the sober reflections of the man who restrained its outbreak, and individuals on both sides who changed American history. No other historian has given us a clearer or more intimate picture of the human drama of Fort Sumter.
Leadership and Command in the American Civil War by | Hours of Operation | Contact Us | Social Media | |||
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