Why was sumter an important fort

The battle of Fort Sumter took place in April At that time, the Secession of South Carolina from the Union in December brought the threat of a civil war. Major Anderson therefore decided to withdraw his troops from the land forts to the Fort Sumter. But even with more than a hundred troops, Major Anderson was in desperate need of reinforcements as well as food and ammunition supplies. As such, a steamer known as Star of the West with soldiers and new supplies was sent by President Buchanan.

It was however fired at and forced to steam away before landing either the soldiers or supplies. As geysers of brick and mortar spumed up where balls hit the ramparts, shouts of triumph rang from the rebel emplacements. To conserve powder cartridges, the garrison endured the bombardment without reply for two and a half hours. The Union volley sent vast flocks of water birds rocketing skyward from the surrounding marsh.

At about 10 a. At Fort Moultrie, now occupied by the Confederates, federal shots hit bales of cotton that rebel gunners were using as bulwarks. Humor was less on display in the aristocratic homes of Charleston, where the roar of artillery began to rattle even the most devout secessionists. The sight of reinforcements so tantalizingly close was maddening to those on Sumter. The bombardment slackened during the rainy night but kept on at minute intervals, and began again in earnest at 4 a.

At p. As fires crept toward the powder magazine, soldiers raced to remove hundreds of barrels of powder that threatened to blow the garrison into the cloudless sky. The grandstanding Wigfall had no formal authority to negotiate, but he offered Anderson the same terms that Beauregard had offered a few days earlier: Anderson would be allowed to evacuate his command with dignity, arms in hand, and be given unimpeded transport to the North and permission to salute the Stars and Stripes.

He had made his stand. He had virtually no powder cartridges left. His brave, hopelessly outgunned band of men had defended the national honor with their lives without respite for 34 hours. The outcome was not in question. The agreement nearly collapsed when three Confederate officers showed up to request a surrender.

Anderson was so furious at having capitulated to the freelancing Wigfall that he was about to run up the flag yet again. However, he was persuaded to wait until confirmation of the terms of surrender, which arrived soon afterward from Beauregard.

When news of the surrender at last reached the besieging rebels, they vaulted onto the sand hills and cheered wildly; a horseman galloped at full speed along the beach at Morris Island, waving his cap and exulting at the tidings.

Fort Sumter lay in ruins. Flames smoldered amid the shot-pocked battlements, dismounted cannon and charred gun carriages. Astoundingly, despite an estimated 3, cannon shots fired at the fort, not a single soldier had been killed on either side. Beauregard had agreed to permit the defenders to salute the U. Tragically, however, one cannon fired prematurely and blew off the right arm of a gunner, Pvt. Daniel Hough, killing him almost instantly and fatally wounding another Union soldier.

The two men thus became the first fatalities of the Civil War. Physically and emotionally drained, and halfway starved, Anderson and his men gazed back toward the fort where they had made grim history. In their future lay the slaughter pens of Bull Run, Shiloh, Antie-tam, Gettysburg, Chickamauga and hundreds more still unimaginable battlefields from Virginia to Missouri.

The Civil War had begun. Fergus M. The Civil War A Smithsonian magazine special report. Wikipedia On the afternoon of April 11, , a small open boat flying a white flag pushed off from the tip of the narrow peninsula surrounding the city of Charleston. Anderson ordered a white flag to be raised.

Firing from rebel batteries ceased. Commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Du Pont arrived in Charleston with a fleet of nine ironclad warships, seven of which were updated versions of the famed U. While Du Pont had hoped to recapture Fort Sumter—by then a symbol of the Confederate rebellion—his attack was poorly coordinated and met with unfavorable weather conditions. In collaboration with Fort Sumter, Confederate batteries commanded by P.

Only one Union soldier was killed during the battle, but one of the ironclads, the Keokuk, sank the next day. Five Confederates were killed during the attack, but the damage to Fort Sumter was soon repaired and its defenses improved. After being met with heavy fire from Fort Sumter, Union General Quincy Adams Gillmore turned his guns on the fort and unleashed a devastating seven-day bombardment.

On September 8 a force of nearly Union troops attempted to land at Fort Sumter and capture the post by force. Union Rear Admiral John Dahlgren mistakenly believed the fort was manned by a skeleton crew, but the landing party was met by over Confederate infantry, who easily repulsed the assault. Following the failed infantry attack, Union forces on Morris Island recommenced their bombing campaign on Fort Sumter. Over the next 15 months, Union artillery effectively leveled Fort Sumter, eventually firing nearly 50, projectiles at the fort between September and February Despite suffering over casualties from the Union bombardments, the beleaguered Confederate garrison managed to retain control of the fort until February Only when Union General William T.

Sherman was poised to capture Charleston did the Confederates finally evacuate. Union forces would reclaim Fort Sumter on February 22, Robert A. Anderson and Abner Doubleday, the two commanding officers from the original siege of Fort Sumter, would both return to the fortress on April 14, , for a flag raising ceremony. After the Civil War, the derelict Fort Sumter was rebuilt and partially redesigned.

It would see little use during the s and s and was eventually reduced to serving as a lighthouse station for Charleston Harbor. It was a bold move that outraged the Confederates. While Anderson and his troops were stationed at Fort Sumter, supplies were running dangerously low, and the tension between his force and the Confederates was at an all-time high.

The Confederates demanded that he surrender the fort. Anderson refused, and still requested from the Union that supplies be sent so that he and his troops could survive. However, Confederates released fire on the ship, and the supplies were unable to be delivered, leaving Anderson and his troops struggling. Pickens that he was going to send more supplies to the soldiers in Fort Sumter, to which he received an ultimatum—evacuate the fort, or else.

Anderson refused to surrender the fort once again.