Confederate guns around the harbor opened fire on something. Its a symposium on the warren east, hosted by the emergency bill war blog. Welcome back to the emergence of a war symposium, great to have you with us my name is chris mackowski. Our next speaker today comes to us, actually from our sister site emerging revolutionary war. Mark maloy its a historian with a National Park service and hes like what can i do thats revolutionary war . And i said, mark know this is a civil war. So we decided we would let him come talk about fort sumter because its the closest we can get to the war to the revolutionary era. Mark is a delightful historian, a wonderful guy, i wish i could get him to laugh on cue. The most distinctive feature that we are like is his laugh. But we are delighted to have him, and he came here today to speak about the first shots of the civil war act fort sumter. Mark. Thank you very much for that introduction, chris. And its a pleasure to be able to speak out this symposium for the emerging civil war. We love we would love to have done an, inperson but being able to do a digitally like, this is a wonderful way to do it as well. As chris mentioned, my main passion is the American Revolutionary war. But i work for the National Park service, and we take care of a lot of important civil war sites. I actually started my career with the National Park service, as an intern down at fort sumter in charleston, South Carolina. I worked there for about a, year in Charleston South Carolina if youve never been its a beautiful town. Theres a lot of history. Revolutionary war history, but most People Associated with its important civil war history. And the war started there, like an 1861, in a. Probably over the next 45 minutes were gonna go over the buildup to the first shots of the civil war, there. Im going to tell you about the battle that happened on april 12th, and april 13th. And then im going to tell you what happened to fort sumter in the city, following that for the rest of the war. And then whats there today, in kind of what you can see. And definitely encourage hero, if you get a chance, to go down and visit at some point. Hopefully after covid, well be able to check out a lot of these important historical sites, that are pretty well preserved down there. But i really loved the battles at fort sumter. And theres a lot of highprofile characters and personalities involved in the opening shots of the war. Im gonna go through some of those, as we talk today. Fort sumter also is a microcosm of the civil war, and how it started off at as this kind of gentlemanly chivalry engagement, that was remarkably bluntless. And it led to the bloodiest war in american history. And the war really devolves, especially in charleston, where there its utah cities happening. And it becomes a very bloody war they are in charleston, towards the end. And its also a really important story to know and understand. If youre gonna study the civil war, historians often are debating the causes of secession, and why the south succeeded. But its also, the secession didnt necessarily mean there would be a shooting war. So its important to understand how the four shots actually came to be fired, to understand why the war broke out as well. And fort sumter, at its time was a symbol. It was a highly symbolic, and it still is to this very day. So its really important to understand that as well. But the story of fort sumter, of course starts with the secession of South Carolina. Which happened on december 20th, 1860. After Abraham Lincoln was elected in november, they held their convention. Originally was in columbia, then they went to charleston. Internals and what kind of a hotbed for secession. A lot of secessionists there. They were very eager to leave the union. And on the summer, 20th they voted unanimously, 169 zero to secede from the union. And that day was failed in charleston, in the city, with all sorts of celebrations. There were fireworks, bonfires, military braids, all sorts of things as day struck out on their own. And as you can see in the broadside, the charleston mercury, the newspaper down, theyre proclaimed loudly that the union is dissolved. But in order to understand the military situation in Charleston Harbor, you have to see what the geography looks like. So you can see this map, from about that time in 1861, showing the city of charleston. You notice its on a peninsula, founded by two rivers. Charles joni is like to say charleston is where the two rivers converge to flown form the atlantic ocean. You can see Charleston Harbor is rearended all around by numerous violence. And there were four main fortifications in the harbor, that historically, or in that harbor to defend the city against really foreign invasion. So you can see, just off of the side of the city, its a small little show, a little fortification. Lets see if i can use the pointer here, so you can see it right here. Just to the south of the city of charleston is james island, which i hadnt know forward they are called fort johnson. Here, in the middle of the harbor, on an island, was fort sumter. And then over here, on solomons island, in the north end of the harbor signed, was forum mortal treat. These were the four principal forts. And it was full forced, maltreat that United States soldiers were stationed at the time. And so, this is the commander of the Union Soldiers. They were in charleston when South Carolina succeeded. The name was major Robert Anderson. And he is in command of companies of the first u. S. Artillery. Really, only about 85 men, that hes commanding, that are in charleston. Its important to realize how small the United States army was. He only had about 15,000 Union Soldiers, across the entire nation, at the time. So they were kind of spread, out all across the country. And like i, said in less than 100 in Charleston Harbor. And of those 85 men, eight were musicians in the original band. So it was a pretty sleepy post most of them, and its interesting, who were in the artillery were immigrants. They came from, a lot of them came from ireland, and germany. In major Robert Anderson is an interesting figure as well, because hes actually a southerner. Hes from kentucky. And he was very much against the idea of secession, but he really was in favor of any sort of war. He writes that his heart wasnt really in the war that he foresaw coming. And he was in a tricky situation, here. Because basically it came down to Property Rights in Charleston Harbor, where these federal forests, these installations, were part of the new republic of South Carolina, or where they part of the United States government . And thats where, a lot of the argument will come over, as far as who should fire the first shot. But his father was a revolutionary war veteran, who actually fought with George Washington at the battle of trenton and princeton. And he had many other officers under his command go on to play Important Roles during the war. He had lieutenant norman hall, who would go on to have an Important Role as gettysburg. Same thing with saima crawford, who was a surgeon. He had lieutenant Jefferson Davis, not who was the president of the confederacy, but jefferson c davies, who would go on and fight in the western theater of the war. And captain truman see more. Who would lead troops later in the bottle. Interesting how many of his officers and up having Important Roles later, in the war. This was probably one of the officers under his command who would have a big role later in the war, to, captain Abner Doubleday. He will probably have a very big role at gettysburg. Hes probably more famous today because people think he started the baseballs, which is not true, but its how hes remembered. Most of the officers under Robert Anderson were not abolitionists, and were not really republicans. But Abner Doubleday why, is he was very outspoken about it. A lot of people in charleston like that. So he was singled out in a lot of the newspapers, for a lot of their things. But hes going to be outspoken in his defense of the union, and in haze wanting to get rid of slavery. Well Robert Anderson felt that what happened was South Carolina militias were flowing into the city of charleston. Anderson didnt think he would be able to hold his position. And on december 26, hes going to make a bold move. Hes gonna move his entire force across the harbor, into fort sumter. This act in and of itself, some south carolinians saws an act of war. Because they view these installations as going to South Carolina. So moving troops into that fort, they were very much opposed to. But anderson didnt think he could hold 40 mile, tree because you are so close to the mainland. And he felt that houses and things right around the fort, southerners would be able to get their inquiry into his men. So he didnt think he would be able to hold position. So he moves over to fort some tour. This is an image showing them rising the American Flag inside fort sumter. But its very interesting because it gives you a glimpse on the inside of fort sumter. Now fort sumter what started back in 1829, and it was still under construction when anderson moves his men there, in the summer of 1860. So they are still working, on it 30 years after they started it. As you can see, inside the forward, it was almost 90 complete. You can see there are imposing laws, that stood 50 feet high. There were three tiers of artillery placements. The fort was pretty massive for that time. And originally, it was built to hold over 600 men. Of course, anderson doesnt have that many. Hes not even going to be able to use all the canyons. It was built to hold 135 gannons, and there were only about 60 at the fourth, at this time. Because of his man, power he is mankind only have about ten cannons, during the actual battle. But let me also show you, this is what it looks like from the outside. Fort sumter was a pretty imposing fortress, sitting in the middle of the harbor. And whats gonna happen is, once Charles Jennings seal large American Flag in fort sumter, they are outraged. Immediately a governor is gonna order all of the installations around the harbor to be seized by South Carolina troops. So here you can see images at some of the South Carolina relations, a king over a castle. At this time they didnt even have a symbol for their state yet, you can see they are carrying a flag here with a star on, and they just took off the boat. But quickly, the south charlestonians are gonna dump as your symbol, a treat. And thats actually where was built, is to side of the famous revolutionary war battled back in 1776. During that battle, the fort that was in that location, was made out of palmetto trees. The softwood of the palmetto trees actually absorb the shock of british cannonball. And the british invasion force was bush backed, in june of 1776. And South Carolina is going to adopt this as their symbol. And you will still see it to the, state on South Carolina state flag. And that takes it back to the revolutionary war history. But this is the actually fly carried by the palmetto guards. Which was a local militia group, that is gonna be stationed over on one side, during the initial bombardment of fort something. This is giving you a good map about a good view of whats looks like in Charleston Harbor, in 1861. You can see sullivans island. They took four multi and started building batteries. Nearly even built a floating battery, which is basically a raft, and they put cannons on, and they covered it. Its almost like an ironclad. They float in the harbor, they could fire on the fort from their. They were going to take on for johnson and castle big. Me and this island, would play an Important Role, not only during the first battle, but then later in the war, as well. In that position, theyre gonna fortify that island as well. And theres a battery they, are manned by some students from the citadel. There was a military college, here in charleston. And in january, of 1861, president buchanan is going to send a ship down to resupply and reinforce fort sumter. As the ship is entering, the ship was cars start of the west. As it was entering, Charleston Harbor the citadel could then fire on the ship, and unifier a few rounds as warning shots and then when the fire actually hit the ship. The ship does not fire back. Its going to turn around and leave. You can see the drawing of the citadel cadets firing on the ship. Some claim these were the first shots of the civil war. That would probably be citadel cadets and alumni. But there was no return fire. What basically happens, it goes back into a stalemate in Charleston Harbor, trying to figure out whats going to happen next. So basically what happens, as the stalemate continues, six more Southern States are going to secede from the union in january, february, march of 1851. Sorry 1861. They come from alabama, form the Confederate States of america. Theyre going to create their own constitution, government, elected Jefferson Davis, and start forming an army. The new Confederate States are going to appoint this man pierre beauregard. He resigned to join the confederacy. When he was a student at west point, who was his professor . None other than major roger anderson. Now you have the pupil and teacher on opposite sides, what will turn out to be the first battlefield of the civil war. Now, sumter is going to continue to sit there as a symbol of the impasse thats happened in the country at that time. There was a woman, mary chestnut, who has a wonderful civil war diary, in charleston at this time. Mary chestnut writes, in april 1861, there stands fort sumter. There was this constant fear that eventually war would bring out and trusted harbor would be the scene of it. Basically, whats happening is nobodys sure whats going to happen once president lincoln becomes president. That happens in 1 1861. How is he going to handle a situation differently than buchanan . There are numerous political attempts to avert war. Theres a Peace Convention in washington, d. C. Theres numerous compromises to push off war. A peace delegation from the Confederate States. All these are rejected. Lincolns going to reject acknowledging the Confederate States of america, believing secession was illegal and had no actual authority. So, all the communications between the United States government and South Carolina in the confederates is going to be through governor francis pickens, who they viewed as legitimate. Something was. Happening on the ground. Anderson and his men were running out of food and supplies. Hewasnt going to stay there forever. What is lincoln going to do . Lincoln comes up with the idea to send a relief force that would just deliver food and supplies to andersons men. But if they were opposed, if they were fired upon, they would bring reinforcements as well. The confederate government views this, the delivering of food, as an act of war. Again, they didnt believe they had the right to the fort. So, on april 4, the relief expedition is sent by lincoln to Charleston Harbor. On april 10, president Jefferson Davis tells beauregard to tell anderson the next day, april 11, james chestnut, mary chestnuts husband, who used to be a senator and South Carolina, who resigned and was now a colonel. He, along with captain stephen lee and Alexander Chisholm are going to go out to fort sumter. They row out there. They meet with anderson. Anderson says he is going to be starved out in just four days, and he will leave then. Chestnut will take that message to beauregard. Around midnight, they say basically that they would need to leave immediately. And anderson doesnt agree to this. And so chestnut tells anderson we will fire on you in exactly one hour. The time was 3 30 in the morning. His wife is back in charleston. She writes in her diary, that time, i do not pretend to go to sleep. How can i . The orders are he shall be fired upon. I count four st. Michaels bells and i begin to hope. At half past 4 00, the heavy blooming of cannons. I pray like i never prayed before. Right after chestnut meets with anderson, hes in his group, going to go over james island to fort johnson. They were joined also by a former virginia congressman, we see on the right side here, named roger prior. And roger pryor was a fire eater. He was pushing to get virginia to secede. And whats going to happen is chestnuts going to tell the commander of the mortar battery, this man on the left, who actually died later in the battle of south mountain. He gives him the command to fire the first shot at 4 30. James is going to give roger pryor the opportunity to fire the first shot. So instead, a lieutenant henry s. Farley is given command to fire. Hes going to yank the lanyard. The cannonball arcs into the sky. That was the signal for the batteries surrounding. This was the first shot of the civil war. Some people say that wasnt the first shot. And often you hear the first shot was this man who fired the first shot. And this guy is edmund ruffin, who is a really fascinating historical figure. He was very much a fire eater. He actually gained National Fame for being an agriculturalist before the civil war. He was from virginia. From 1855 on, he devoted himself to nothing but preaching secession, sometimes known as the father of secession. He traveled all across the country, giving speeches. He writes pamphlets, always looking to provoke secession. He actually snuck in and was able to witness the hanging of john brown. And he went down to charleston to watch the secession of South Carolina. And he goes out to Morris Island, and here he is almost 70 years old, and the palmetto guards allow him into their company. You can see hes wearing the uniform of palmetto guards. And theyre going to give him the opportunity to fire the first shot after the signal went off. Hes at the iron battery in Morris Island. He yanks the battery. This shot is the first one thats going to hit fort sumter. He fires and hits the fort. Abner doubleday was in the fort, actually remembers hearing that first hitting the fort. He believes it was complement of mr. Ruffin. Ruffin is going to keep a diary throughout the war, which is a great resource to not only see what he was thinking, but the civilian perspective of the whole war. When he finds out about the defeat of general lees army, rather than submit to yankee rule, hes going to put his rifle in his mouth, and shoot himself in the head, commit suicide. Some argue he fired the first and last shot of the civil war. Once the battery opens up on fort sumter, there is no response. There are 43 cans cannons surrounding fort sumter. They are all firing. Anderson is trying to conserve his powder. Its not until 7 00 a. M. The union are going to fire back. That was fired by Abner Doubleday. He fires the first shot in return. All of a sudden, you have both sides firing back at each other. This is going to go on for hours and hours. And every two minutes, the confederates are firing from different batteries all around the entire island. You can see an image of them firing on the fort. The bombardment is going to last a total of 34 hours. Meanwhile, in the city of charleston, you can see people rental rooftops and ran to watch the bombardment. Some other to where civilians were watching this battle, some were celebrating, some weeping as well. You can see the batteries firing on all sides. You can see smoke billowing out of fort sumter, as well. In addition to artillery shells and artillery shots, theyre also firing hotshot, where they take cannonballs, put it in a furnace until it got redhot and these were originally used to fire at ships, but theyre using them on fort sumter. They start getting successful and they hit some of the buildings. Andersons men are trying to fire back at the confederates and put out fires within the fort. And it starts getting pretty chaotic inside the fort. Anderson, at one point hes only had six cannons hes firing back. Meanwhile, who appears on the coast but the expedition that was sent to relieve major anderson . Confederates were scared this group was going to try and land and try and attack them or join in on the fight. But they dont join in at all, much to the consternation of supporters because they were wondering if they would get relief or help during this battle. But this doesnt happen. Here, you see an image of the fire, the firing going on. Doubleday writes memoirs after the war where he describes pretty much everything that happens. He has a great quote that shows you how chaotic heit it was. Causing great flakes of masonry to fall in all directions. The immense mortar shells came down in a vertical direction and buried themselves in the ground, their explosion shook the fort like an earthquake. Overnight, the union stops firing to conserve ammunition. But theyre going to resume on the morning of the 13th. On the 13th, theyre going to fire and theyre actually going to catch the officers quarters on fire, and that leads to a larger fire. Theres fear the fire is going to get to the powder magazine, which would blow up the fort. Its around this time, around 1 00 p. M. , when a cannonball hits a union flag flying over the fort, knocked it to the ground. Quickly, some of the union defenders climb up and they replaced as a hail of cannonballs are flying around replace the American Flag on top of the fort. When the confederates see the flight go down, a big cheer erupts. They think anderson is surrendering. He hops into a row boat, rows out to the fort, and he immediately starts negotiating with major anderson through brazier, whos saying, are you surrendering the fort anderson the fort . Anderson doesnt want to, but then realizes he should surrender. He agrees hell surrender the fort. When beauregards men see the white flag up, theres confusion because we fall had no authority to negotiate surrender. But after discussing with chestnut, anderson agrees to surrender the fort. Theyd be given generous terms. Theyd be able to take the flag down and salute it. Theyd all be able to go back to new york and take their personal possessions and flags. They agree to this. On the next day, april 14, is when the union prepares to leave. While theyre firing their salute it was supposed to be a 100 gun salute when they get to number 47, disaster happens. Private daniel howe is loading the cannon when the canon goes off. It rips his arm. Hes going to bleed out and die. Some of the powder ignites the powder around the canon and an explosion happens. About a half dozen are wounded. One of the men wounded was morally so. These are the first fatalities of the civil war. When anderson surrenders the fort, he would ask, the confederates have any casualties . They said no. Anderson didnt have casualties during the actual battle either, which is remarkable. Then anderson cries out, thank god, because he didnt want to be responsible for some of these first deaths. And so theyre going to stop it at a 50 gun salute rather than 100 gun salute. They go back with the relief expedition back to new york. Edwin ruffin at the head, carrying the palmetto flag. Theyre going to raise the palmetto flag and the Confederate States of america flag over fort sumter. What was the response to this . Lincoln first of all, sumter becomes a rallying cry. The confederate fires on fort sumter. They fire on the American Flag. People are rallying to join with the union army. Lincoln is going to call april 15, 75,000 volunteers to suppress the southern confederacy. By doing that, the army at that time was only 15,000. You can imagine how big an army that is. And these men, just calling those volunteers is going to drive virginia to secede, join the confederacy, and three other states, and thus the civil war began. Because of that, focus on the work quickly goes to virginia, where a lot of fighting is going to happen, such as manassas. But fort sumter stood as a symbol of where the first shot was fired. What happens to anderson . They are greeted as heroes. Thousands come to new york to see the flag that they brought back with them that had been fired on by confederates. Like i said, many are going to go off and do much bigger things during the civil war. And some of them are going to die of disease and other things during the war. Probably one of the more interesting stories is the man you see in the back row, second from the right. His name is richard meade. He was a virginian who fought with andersons men. When virginia succeeds, he resigns secedes, he resigns and joins the Confederate Army before he doesies of disease during the war. Charleston, union is going to come back to South Carolina. Confederates are quick to fortify the entire harbor. You can see the massive amount they are going to build around the harbor. The union is going to eventually make that as one of their headquarters. Eventually, to get a foothold. Theyre going to try taking it by land and meet utter disaster in june of 1862. After that disaster, theyre going to keep trying to capture fort sumter by sea. Theyre going to do a large ironclad attack on april of 1853. 1863. Once they get on more silent, they Morris Island, theyre going to try to capture the whole island. If youve seen the movie, glory, this is where the battle of fort wagoner happens. Eventually, they are going to abandon Morris Island. Once the union captures Morris Island, theyre less than half a mile from fort sumter. Artillery has grown leaps and bounds by this point. The artillery during the first battle, it was only accurate up to about a mile. By this point, they have rifle, artillery to about four or five miles. The union have a large cannon, the swamp angel, firing rounds into the city of charleston, which was a distance of about four miles. Once they get onto Morris Island, the union is going to hammer fort sumter. Theyre going to fire on it almost continuously, all throughout 1864 and 1865. And its just going to be an unrelenting attack. The new rifle artillery demolishes the wall. This is what it looked like by that point. They smash through these brick walls. What they didnt realize, its making it stronger, basically turned fort sumter into one giant earthworm. They would be living like rats inside it and put landing groups on their to try to capture it. Those would be repulsed, as well. Like i said, the war starts devolving. South carolina refuses the symbolic importance of fort sumter, really refuses to give up fort sumter. This is an image by conrad chapman, who painted all sorts of scenes from that time around Charleston Harbor. And you can see this lone confederate sentry standing there with the confederate flag. In the distance, you can see the union blockade, all the vessels, and you can also see Morris Island, where they were shelling fort sumter from. Not only were they shelling fort sumter, they were hitting the city of charleston. So, what Confederate Forces do, they put Union Prisoners of war in charleston and let the union know that they might hit some of their own men. In retaliation to this, the union takes confederate prisoners down and put them on the edge of Morris Island to use them as human shields. So, here again, how this war had devolved from this gentlemans warfare to, by the end, theyre literally using prisoners as human shields. But over the course of and this is another shot after the war at what fort sumter looked like. Over the course of two years, the union is going to fire 3500 tons of metal into the island. And like i said, just turn it into one giant earthwork. But they never do capture it. Theyre never able to capture fort sumter. Confederates are going to hold charleston until february, 1855. By that point, sherman continued 1865. By that point, sherman continued his march to the sea. He goes to columbia instead of charleston. It basically made indefensible the city of charleston. In 1865, they evacuate charleston and fort sumter. The next day, Union Soldiers finally get back to fort sumter and they raise the American Flag over it. General sherman, charleston had been ravaged by being shelled during the war. They suffered a fire in 1861 that burned out a lot of the city. General sherman and many Union Soldiers wanted revenge for having started the war. He wrote, i doubt any city was more terribly punished than charleston. But as the people had been agitating for war and discord and finally inaugurated the civil war, the judgment of the world would be charleston deserved the fate that befell her. Befell her. On april 14, anderson returns to fort sumter to reraise the American Flag over fort sumter. And the celebration was overshadowed that same night when president Abraham Lincoln was shot in washington, d. C. At fords theater. So, whats fort sumter today . Today, if you go visit the fort it was used by the u. S. Military in the 1940s and now is a part site for park service. There is no more of those three tiers of walls. Theres only one level of the brick wall around the island. Youll see this large, black battery built during the spanishamerican war. Very little fabric from the original 1861 still exists, but it does exist on different places on the island. Inside the battery is a Wonderful Museum that has a lot of objects related to the battle. This is what it looks like inside today. Some of the case mates are surviving, so you can check those out. You can see the ruins over e here of the different barracks and officers quarters, as well as monuments to the defenders of the fort. You can still see some of the actual, you know, artillery that was fired during that siege from 18631865 from Morris Island, still embedded in the brick walls. Amazing you can still see that piece of history. Inside the museum there, you will see the actual flag. This is the storm flag andersons men flew during the battle. They also had a larger garrison flag, which is another site run by the National Park service down there. Fort sumter, of course its not the only site to see. This is what Fort Moultrie looks like. This is where some of the first shots were fired by the confederates, the site of the revolutionary war battle. You can check out that. They interpret all of Coastal Defense from 1776 on up to world war ii. Probably one of the neatest sites is to go to fort johnson, where that first initial shell was fired by. Captain George S James theres a marker denoting that as the first shot of the civil war. Morris island is really cool. Thats where fort wegner was. But that has changed a lot due to the tides, so theres nothing out there. All the earthwork has been washed away. Theres no monuments or markers. Its only accessible by boat, so its difficult to get out there. You have multiple sites to check out, but charleston overall is a beautiful city. A lot of people associate it with this story, but the history goes all the way back, even before the revolutionary war, and a lot of the original buildings and sites still exist, so its a wonderful place to visit and involve yourself in a lot of history there. Yeah, thank you very much. If you want to read more about this, read more about the initial battle, i recommend alleiggiance, very good overview of that first battle. If you want to read the sea of charleston hopefully next year, the former historian, rick hatcher, who i had the privilege of working with, is going to have an emerging civil war series book called thunder in the harbor that should cover all of this. But thank you all very much. I appreciate the ability and opportunity to speak here today