Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-04-21
FIFTTETH ANNIVERSARY
OF FIRING FORT SUMTER

demanded from President Buchanan
the delivery OF Fort Sumter, promising
to take possession OF II with a force not
exceeding 25 men. Odd to relate, the
president saw nothing d~erogatory in
this demand, and replied that the rea-
son he had not reinforced the garrison
was that he still relied upon the honor
Of the South Carolinans that they
would not be assaulted whilst they re-
manned In their present condition In
his agony OF indeclsion he hoped that
commissioners would be sent by the
Charleston convention to treat with
congress on the subject" All this time
Major Anderson. very cautiously, had
been preparing for his master move.
He had fixed on Christmas day for the
transfer, but II was not until the 26th
that everything was In readiness. The
women and children OF the post had
been removed to the unoccupied bar
racks on James island, known as Fort
Johnson, a mile and a quarter to the
west OF Sumter. In five rowboats the
surprised garrison, who knew nothing
OF the plan Tin fact, only n officer
had been informed) found themselves
landed at the sally port at Sumter,
where they were met by the ESQ
workmen, som Of whom cheered
feebly, while many who wore
secession cockades angrily demanded
Nt~ sN~SN'A ~ hAiS q
These indictments were sent the next
day to Charleston. In Fort Moultrie
had been left a small detachment with
orders to spike the guns, burn the gun
carriages, destroy as much property as
possible, AMI then join the others at
i, Sumter,
! The CONSERVATION and indignation
aroused throughout the south by An
derson's able shifting OF his force can
hardly be exaggerated. Governor
Pickens demanded, peremptorily, that
he return at once n evacuate the
fort. This the brave major declined to
do, and the state forces Immediately
seized the arsenal, Castle P~inckney, the
abandoned Fort Moultrie, and John
sons island. 1t was not long before
they began TO erect batteries n pre-
pare for actual war.
Judge Jeremiah S. Black, of Penn
sylvania, attorney general of the Unit
ed States, one of the three northern
and who were members of Buchanan's
cabinet, wrote at this time as follows,
In making reference to the propriety
ana wisdom of Major Anderson's &C
ton:
He has saved the country, 1 solemn
ly believe, when it's day was darkest
done everything which mortal nan
could do to repair the fatal error
! which the administration has COM
mitted in not sending down troops
enough to hold all the forts. He has
kept the strongest one. He still COM
mands the harbor. We may still exc
cute the laws If we try. It is q
strange assumption of right on the
part of (South Carolina) to say
that the United States troops must re-
main In the weakest position they can
find in the harbor. 1t is not a menace
1T Is simply self-defense."
There was a limit to Anderson's
powers OF resistance-that exacting
limit beyond which men cannot go-the
necessity for food. On January 2 Sen
ator Wigfall. of South Carolina, had
telegraphed a potent message to
Charleston, at the time when Floyd,
forced by pressure, had handed in his
resignation. Holt succeeds Floyd" he
wired, ut means war. tut off all sup
plies from Anderson and take Sumter
as soon as possible" Under Blacks in
sistence-he had now succeeded to the
position OF secretary of war-General
Scott began to stir at last. Yet il was
the commander-in-chief who later was
to write his advice, in the critical sit
uation, to the secretary Of state that
the south should be allowed to go, that
the national government should say &C
the seeding states owe whom Jeffer-
son Davis had been inaugurated presi-
dent on February Is, Maynard sis
ters, depart in peace!"
1t was decided, nevertheless, that re-
Inducements must be sent, and the
Star Of the West, a steamer of the
New Orleans line, was chosen by Gen
eral Scott and ordered to be embarked
as secretly as possible from Govern
or's Island with 200 men and quantities
of food and supplies. But despite all
secrecy, Charleston was informed lone
1 hafnTn tho time yXyIan fh;-
and helpless vessel should arrive. The
instructions sent to Anderson to open
fire. in case the confederate batteries
opposed any attempt to reach him,
were delayed, and the g~arrison's first
intimation of a ships coming to their
relief was a paragraph in a Charleston
Venin paper or January 8. Early in
the morning of the 9th the Star of the
West was off the port. With her col
orS at the peak she steame I'D the
channel AS she got abreast Of Cum
mings Point, which was a mile and
three-quarters from Fort Sumter and
Fort Moultrie. she was fired upon.
two shots striking her. There was no
preparation for her reception at Fort
Sumter; her appearance was a COM
plete surprise. Nc guns were fired
from the silent fortress in retort to
the confederate batteries. On January
IL the Star of the West was back once
iilOic Ah 4NC" - itE voyage Was
fruitless.
It was strange that during all this
time communication was still kept up
between the forts commander and the
authorities at Washington, but the de-
lay was growing costly. The postpone
ment Of any forcible action was prov
ing more n more fatal.
On January IL, four hulks were sunk
across the harbor entrance: on the
afternoon of the same day the secre-
tary of state OF South Carolina, Nc
Grath, and Jamison, the secretary of
war, came in a BOAT to Sumter and
demanded from Anderson the delivery
OF the fort. Parleying ensued, but moth
ing came OF 1t. Delay upon delay fol-
lowed, and all this time guns were
being mounted, forts We're being built.
n an iron-clad floating battery was
being constructed in Charleston for the
purpose OF bringing Sumter to terms.
When Abraham Lincoln at last was
ilaugurated and Buchanan stepped
aside, the new president clearly saw
the situation, II Sumter was given up
1t would amount to admitting the in
dependence of the seeding states, or
accepting the onus OF commencing war.
He perceived thai IL Was necessary