The Coolidge examiner., 1935-12-13


Entry of Major Andersons c.
BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON
ECEMBER %, 1860 was one of the
~ 4 most fatefu Christmases in the his
tory of the United States. On that
4 night 75 years ago little force of
E@a soldiers stole quietly out of fort
=: :: : !: : =: : !:
N2I...:0W located on a sandy island outside an
n xYl|URE Atlantic seaport, entered boats and
\ tHAM I silently rowed across the water to
\ E8NT& 1 the shelter of another fort in the
hNlllfl1NH middle of the entrance to the har
4 VIOlNNW / Dor. Although their commander had
AknlaIaA n perfect right to lead his garrison
from one fOrtifcatiOn to the other,
this move was fraught with the most serious
consequences.
For he was Robert Anderson, major of the
First artillery of the United States army the
post which he evacuated was Fort Moultrie and
the one he entered was Fort Sumter in the har
Dor of Charleston, S. c.. Four months later
shot went screaming across the water of that
harbor and when 1t struck Fort Sumters brick
walls it set 100000 Americans against each
other in the greatest civil war in history.
The story of the firing on Fort Sumter, the
curtain raiser to the drama of the War Between
the States is a familiar one to most Americans,
for 1t is found in every school history ever pub
lished But the story of the events on that fate
full Christmas night, which led inevitably to the
opening of hostilties in April, 1861, is not so
well known.
Robert Anderson was a kentuckian who had
been graduated from West Point in 1925. He
had served with distinction in two Indian wars
the Black Hawk uprising in Illinois in 1882
and the campaigns against the Seminoles in
Florida later-and promoted to captain in
1S41. Subsequently he served as assistant ad
jutant-general to Gen. Winfield Scott was severe
ly wounded in the attack on FL Molino del Rey
in the Mexican and promoted to major in
1857.
When he took command of the United States
military post of Charleston harbOr on November
20, 1860 the dispute over slavery between the
North and the South had drifted inevitably into
the question of the right of a state to secede
from the Union and he found himself in the hot
bed of the Secession mOvement-South Carolina.
That states withdrawal from the Union seemed
certain and when it did withdraw it was almost
certainty also that the South Carolinians would
seize all United States property within the bor-
ders of their state. Insofar as Anderson was
a native of one slave state and connected by
marriage with the people of another it was
hoped by some that he would hand the
forts which had been entrusted to him, to the
South Carolihians, and it feared by others
that he would resign his commission and join the
SecessiOnists. But as later events proved,
neither side understood the true character of
the man.
Ten days before the South Carolina conven-
tion took the final step of severing the bonds
of that state with her sister states in the Union,
Anderson busted himself strengthening the de-
fenses of both Fort Moultrie, which he had gar
risoned. and Fort Sumter, which was also under
ic all
consisted of nine officers, 80 artllerymen. 10
musicians and 30 laborers-a total of 109 of
which only 63 were cOmbatants. With this little
band he determined to defend the flag to which
he had sworn allegiance and to maintain his
post to the last.
Watchful of all approaches to Fort Moutrie,
after December II no w"s admitted within
the works unless he was known to some officer
of the garrison His justification for this action
was the fact that the South CarOlinians were
arming and it seemed almost a certainty that
they intended to seize Forts MOultrie and Sumter
and Castle Pinclney. On December 20 South
Carolina adopted its Ordinance of Secession and
the South CarOnans Immediately began to act
as though they were free citizens of another
country. In fact, the Charleston papers, as an
indication of the independence of their state,
began announcing occurrences in the Northern
states under the head of foreign news" Soon
volunteer troops began to pour into Charleston
where their equippng and drilling began.
Anderson WAS well aware of the danger and
delicacy of his position. In private letter which
he wrote December u he set forth the pre-
cariOuS ..ature of his pOstioA-with a garrison
of only 60 men, in an aged fortress the walls of
which were only II feet high and within hun
dred yards of sandhills which commanded the
position and afforded good cover for sharpshOoters
to pick off his gunners, he confessed that eff
attacked in force by any one but a simpeton,
there is scarce possibility of our being able to
hold out long enough for friends to come to
our succor."