Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War

1
Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War

• April 12, 1861

2
Background

• Three Federal forts in Charleston, S.C.
• Castle Pinckney- obsolete in 1861 federal
  government did not think it was worth rearming
• Fort Moultrie- 77 men garrison under Major Robert
  Anderson fort in bad shape small artillery
  pieces
• Fort Sumter- built on a man made island just
  about completed by 1861 not all the guns mounted
• S.C. wants all forts yielded

3
Buchanans Reaction

• Buchanan would not yield the forts
• December 26, 1860- Anderson and troops move from
  Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter
• Move made because Fort Moultrie could be attacked
  from the rear
• S.C.- calls the move aggressive
• January,1861- unarmed transport ship Star of the
  West sent to Fort Sumter with food and weapons
• S.C.- fires at it and it retreats

4
Lincolns Plan

• Anderson told to hold the fort and make a good
  defense
• Provisions at the fort adequate until mid-April,
  1861
• Lincolns decision- notified S.C. that the fort
  would be provisioned and not reinforced
• C.S.A.- force the issue before the relief ship
  got to Fort Sumter
• Anderson given an ultimatum to surrender he
  refuses
• 430 A.M. April 12, 1861- S.C. opened fire on the
  fort

5
The Battle

• 34 hour bombardment
• No one killed
• Garrison surrendered and went North
• S.C. took the fort

6
Lincolns Reaction and the Southern Response

• April 15, 1861- Lincoln calls for 75,000 three
  month militiamen
• April 19, 1861- calls for a blockade of the
  Southern seacoast
• Lincolns move considered an act of war
• Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina
  that had voted down secession earlier now joined
  the C.S.A.
• Richmond, Va.- now the capital of the C.S.A.

7
The Border States

• Four slave states remained part of the U.S.
• Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware and Maryland
  essential to the U.S. for it to win the war
• Lincoln sent in troops immediately for the
  purpose of preserving the Union
• Lincoln publicly declared he was not fighting to
  free the slaves