Raising the Flag at Fort Sumter
Raising the Flag at Fort Sumter was a ceremony—a newspaper called it a "performance"—that took place at Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday, April 14, 1865, four years almost to the day after the Fort Sumter Flag was lowered at the beginning of the American Civil War. General Lee had surrendered at Appomattox on Sunday, April 9. It was intended to symbolically mark and celebrate the Union victory and the end of the war. It has been forgotten because President Lincoln was assassinated that evening. Reports on the  ceremony and on Lincoln sometimes appeared on the same page, along with ads for "Our American Cousin," the play Lincoln was seeing at Ford's Theater. The ceremony at Fort Sumter, though well documented, is missing from the two books on the role of Fort Sumter during the Civil War. Lowering of the flag on April 13, 1861. The attack by South Carolina militia on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 was considered at the time the beginning of civil war. The issue was clear: the Confederacy wanted Union troops out of its territory. The most important Union "outpost" in  Confederate territory was Fort Sumter. The Union refused to withdraw its soldiers and relinquish the fort. It was the obvious place for North-South fighting to begin. The only questions were when it would start, and who would fire first. The South Carolinians fired first. The bombardment was watched from the city by jubilant and sometimes inebriated civilians. The surrender of the fort was celebrated in the city with a 100-gun salute. When the Union garrison surrendered and evacuated Fort Sumter on April 13, their commander, Major Robert Anderson, took its damaged flag with him. On the 14th, General  Beauregard gave a ball in celebration of the surrender of the fort. The flag exhibited. Anderson brought the flag to New York City for an April 20, 1861 patriotic rally, where it was flown from the Equestrian statue of George Washington. More than 100,000 people thronged Manhattan's Union Square in what was, by some accounts, the largest public gathering in the country up to that time. The flag was "sacredly preserved" in a small wooden box, and taken from town to town in the North for fundraising. It was exhibited on patriotic occasions, and became widely known as a  Union patriotic symbol. Charleston re-taken by Union forces on February 18, 1865. On February 18, 1865, Rebel (Confederate) forces withdrew from Charleston after setting fire to several thousand bales of cotton, which fire spread to buildings; the first task of Union forces was to help residents extinguish the fires. "The flag which General Anderson hauled down nearly four years ago...[was] raised amid deafening cheers" by Captain Henry M. Bragg, according to newspaper reports of the 21st. One report says it was raised by a Major Hennessey, but does not state it was the same flag that was lowered  in 1861. On February 22, the New York Chamber of Commerce unanimously resolved to ask President Lincoln to send now-Major General Robert Anderson by ship to Fort Sumter, so that he could raise the flag. Celebrations of March 4, postponed to March 6. The Committee for Celebration of the Union Victories unanimously resolved on February 25 "that the people of the city of New York do hereby invite the co-operation of every loyal municipality in the Union, to unite in a general celebration of the successes of Union arms, on Saturday, the 4th of March, ensuing at midday , that by the sound of cannon, the ringing of bells and the uprising of the voices of the people, the national heart may be made glad and gratitude and honor be rendered to the gallant men, that have preserved the life of the Union." March 4 was also the date of Lincoln's 2nd Inauguration, but at the time this was a much more local event than it became later, and no reason not to celebrate elsewhere Lincoln's and the Nation's war victories. Because of rain the celebration was postponed until March 6; the delay added impetus to  the celebrations because news arrived of General Sheridan's victory at the Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia. In Oregon, the 6th was observed "with parade [sic], rejoicings, firing of guns and illumination in every part of this state". In San Francisco business was "entirely suspended". In New York City, "the procession was the most imposing ever witnessed here", and in Union Square the crowd was "probably the largest ever seen in New York". One of "the imposing displays" in tne procession was that of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, with their six-horse teams splendidly decorated, drawing trucks upon which were  erected "magnificent pavilions filled with young ladies, operating Singer machines in the manufacture of army clothing. On the insides of the pavilions was inscribed: 'We clothe the Union armies while Grant is dressing the rebels.'" They were escorted by a full band and 1,000 men, employees of the company. Also on exhibit was "a complete model of the original "Monitor", which fought the "Merrimac", and representations of Fort Sumter as it now appears after four years battering from Union guns, with the old flag again floating over it; a full battery of cannons, captured from the rebels, will form one  of the features of the procession, and will be manned by veterans, who will fire salutes at various points." Call for a national "Day of Thanksgiving". That the war was ending, with the Union victorious, was obvious to everyone. Richmond fell on April 2. The newspaper headline was "The End". Celebrations started to erupt all over the North. As reported by the Associated Press, on April 8 a group of Wall Street merchants requested of President Lincoln a "National Thanksgiving Day", asking him to "select a fitting time and an appropriate manner, to be hereafter determined, to celebrate the victories  achieved in securing the final triumph of the Nation, to the end that the people of New York may have an opportunity to evince their gratitude and affection for the [illegible] great leader of the American army, Ulysses S. Grant, and the gallant officers and soldiers whose deeds have rendered his name immortal." They posted the letter in the rotunda of the Customs House, where they met, so that the public could add their signatures before it was sent to the President. Already by April 8, plans for a ceremony on the 14th had been made. On April 9, Lee  surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. This was generally regarded as the end of the war. Designation of April 14. Lincoln never declared a thanksgiving day; he was in Richmond, where on April 4 he "gave a public reception in Jeff. Davis' parlor" (in the White House of the Confederacy). However, the governors of a half dozen states designated the 14th as a day of thanksgiving. First was Governor Reuben Fenton of New York. He declared "the 14th of April instant (the day appointed for the ceremony of raising the United States flag on Fort Sumter) as a day of  thanksgiving, prayer and praise to Almighty God, for the signal blessings we have received at His hands; and I hereby recommend religious societies of all denominations to open their places of worship, and the people, abstaining from their usual avocations, to assemble therein, and with grateful hearts unite in prayer and praise to Him who has so mercifully remembered us in the hour of our greatest need and peril." John Brough, Governor of Ohio, envisioned a more secular celebration: The fourth anniversary was the 13th, not the 14th, as the press immediately pointed out, but it was too late to  do anything about it. Another problem was that the 14th was also Good Friday; Reuben Fenton, Governor of New York, in response to "the wishes now made known to me of patriotic persons representing some of our religious denominations", changed the designated celebration day to Thursday, April 20. However, Henry Ward Beecher, America's leading minister, just before departing for the celebrations in Charleston, pointed out (incorrectly) that Good Friday was not only the day of Jesus's Crucifixion, it was also the day of His Resurrection. The celebrations did take place on the 14th. Section::::"A grand illumination": Lincoln's  speech on April 11. This is from a newspaper headline, and "illumination" was meant literally. The world in 1865 was a darker (and quieter) place compared with today (2021), when indoor light usually was based on animal fat, dim candles or whale oil lamps. Lighting bright enough to light up the outdoors was still new. Electric light was decades away: this was gas lighting, using gas manufactured from coal rather than hard-to-transport natural gas, and then the new manufactured fuel kerosene. To have a large building, like the U.S. Capitol, the White House, or the partially-completed Washington  Monument brightly lit at night was, at the time, impressive and even awe-inspiring. The newly illuminated streets also allowed happy crowds to assemble and watch parades. As a result, "illumination" was the usual expression of public joy. For example, there were illuminations in Charleston upon Lincoln's election in 1860, because it made South Carolina's secession much more likely, and this was for many in Charleston cause for rejoicing. On April 11, by the light of a "grand illumination," Lincoln at the White House delivered his "last speech" to "an immense throng". A book has been devoted to  this speech alone. He announced that "a call for a national thanksgiving" was being prepared. Among other topics discussed was conferring franchise on "the colored man", which Lincoln now was for, starting by conferring it "on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers." John Wilkes Booth, who was already plotting against Lincoln, heard the President give this speech. He remarked that "this means nigger citizenship. ...That is the last speech he'll ever make." Illuminations in Washington, D.C., on April 13. On Thursday, April 13, the city lit up: The New-York Herald commented thus  the next day: The entire front page of the "Washington Evening Star", in very small type, was dedicated to descriptions of the illuminations: The report continues with descriptions of the displays at City Hall, the American Telegraph office, the Bank of Washington, Hook & Ladder Company No. 1, all the hotels and stores, the mayor's house, and so on for a very long list of others. Activities of April 14, 1865. Raising of the flag in Charleston. A party of 180, including "a large delegation of Mr. Beecher's congregation", sailed on the "Oceanus" from New York for Charleston on  April 10, arriving on the afternoon of the 13th. "It was our welcome mission to announce the joyful news in Charleston of Lee's surrender," which was received with "wild shouts of enthusiasm". The "Arago" brought many more, and numerous other steamers from Savannah, Georgia and Beaufort, South Carolina, were "thronged with visitors". The following day, Friday the 14th, the many celebrants were transported to Fort Sumter, where a new wharf had been constructed, They were so numerous that a flotilla of boats was necessary. The "Canonicus" took the lead, followed by the steamers "Blackstone, Oceanus, Delaware, W. W. Colt , Molly Baker, Golden Gate," and "Anna Maria". Also participating was the famous USS "Planter", under fugitive slave Captain Robert Smalls, who had in 1862 stolen the steamer, hoodwinked the maritime defenders of Charleston into believing he was on an authorized trip, piloted it past them and surrendered it to the Union Navy, rescuing himself, his family, and the other enslaved crew members. The "Planter" transported the Black residents of and visitors to Charleston who wanted to attend the Fort Sumter celebrations. Robert Anderson, now a major-general, though ill and retired, returned to Fort Sumter and raised the flag back  up. Author Shelby Foote quotes Anderson as saying, "I thank God that I have lived to see this day," as he took the flagpole's halyards in his hands. By designation of President Lincoln, the key "address" at the event was from Henry Ward Beecher, the country's "star" clergyman of the day. Wm. Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, also participated. The ceremony was well publicized in advance, through press releases. "The staff of General Hatch" held a ball on the 14th in Charleston, the evening of the day of the celebration of raising the Stars  and Stripes at Fort Sumter. It was held in the same hall as that of General Bureauregard's, four years previous. The same caterer and even the same dishes were used on both occasions. "But few of the whites, of whom we were told considerable numbers were in the city, showed themselves. Those whom we did meet expressed in their faces sullen contempt and hatred." Celebrations elsewhere. In Washington D.C. there was a torch light parade of about 2,000, starting at the Arsenal, then to the White House, then to the residence of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who addressed  the group, as did General A. D. Foster, "of Sumter renown". There were bands and Howitzers in the parade, and it was to end with fireworks. Grover's Theater devoted the evening to a celebration of the victory. "Koppitz has set music to the new poem 'When Sherman marched down to the Sea' which will be most effectively sung by Miss Effie Germon." In Columbus, Ohio, "the Union celebration", as it was called in the published programme, began at 6 AM with 100 guns, repeated at noon and at 6 PM. Speeches were followed by a torch-light procession and  fireworks. In Bellows Falls, Vermont, "the people became wild with excitement, a rush was made upon the sexton who was thrown out after he had cut the bell rope [to prevent the church bell from being rung] and one man had received some injury, and the people scaled the steeple and rang the bell loud and long and cheered for the Union, while those in the street below responded lustily. At one time there was an inclination among the incensed populace to burn the church. The village is in an uproar. Guns, bells, horns and engines are making all the  noise they can. Business has been suspended, the fire company is parading the streets, the public schools are let out, and the children are marching about with banners, bells and ribbons." In Bangor, Maine, the "Stars and Stripes" was raised over the city by kites. A "monster kite" read "U.S. Grant". In Philadelphia, "the colored people" had a parade and presented a flag to the Twenty-fifth Regiment of the United States Colored Troops. Other celebrations were planned for Monday the 17th. Assassination of President Lincoln. At about 10:25 PM, President Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre by John  Wilkes Booth; he never regained consciousness and died the next morning. Booth's plan was to "paralyze the nation by a simultaneous striking down of all its executive forces." It had been announced in the paper that General Grant would be at Ford's Theater with the President and Mrs. Lincoln, but he left town and did not attend. An accomplice, Louis Powell, attacked and seriously injured Secretary of State William H. Seward and two of his sons. Another conspirator was expected to kill Vice President Johnson, but he lost his nerve and did not. Raising the Flag at Fort