Fort Sumter Surrenders! Civil War Begins!

13 April 1861:

When we last left our combatants at Fort Sumter, it was raining and the Union forces had ceased firing for the day.  But the Confederates kept-up a periodic barrage throughout the night.  Come dawn, all help breaks loose again.  The Charleston forces resumed their bombardment, while the Federals responded as best they could and waited for the promised relief.  Captain Fox, after having his ships driven back from the fort yesterday by artillery fire, found the seas too rough on the 13th and decided to wait until nightfall to carry out his resupply mission. 

Meanwhile, the "hot shot" rounds (cannonballs that had been heated in furnaces) of the Confederates were severely damaging the fort, with fires breaking out all over.

Fort Sumter giving and receiving fire, but also ON FIRE

In fact, by noon the main gate and most of the wooden structures were in flames.  As the flames moved closer and closer to where the garrison stored the 300 barrels of gunpowder it had left, Major Anderson and his men struggled to move the much needed powder to safety.  But 2/3 of Fort Sumter's powder was still left in the main ammunition magazine, when the Major ordered the building sealed and had the remaining barrels tied together and thrown into the sea (he was hoping to retrieve them later though), for safety's sake.  Both sides kept up their fire, but the advantage was all on the Confederate's side.

Confederate flag flying over Fort Sumter

Finally, at 1300, the fort's flagpole was knocked down, spurring several parties of men to initiate parleys with Major Anderson in the hopes of ending the conflict, by seeing the fort surrendered into Confederate hands.  Encouraged by the use of the word "evacuate" as opposed to "surrender" and faced with hungry and exhausted men, low ammunition and fires burning out of control, Major Anderson agreed to surrender the Federal installation known as Fort Sumter to Confederate forces under the command of General P. G. T. Beauregard.



 And so it was that at 1430, on 13 April 1861, the first battle of the Civil War was ended.  Major Anderson and his men gave a 50 gun salute and then the garrison marched out of Fort Sumter and onto the unused resupply vessels.  The flag that had flown over the gallant defenders, was saved by Major Anderson and became a rally point for supporters of the Union.

However, the lack of casualties on either side during this 34 hour conflict (no one had been so much as injured) belied the horrendous bloodshed that was to wash over this nation for the next four years.

At last the Sumter siege was over.......but the war was only just beginning.