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.

Battle of Shiloh / Pittsburg Landing

Speaking of General Buell, 7 April 1862 is the second day of fighting in the Battle of Shiloh (also known in the South as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing).

Shiloh was a major battle in the Civil War and one of the bloodiest.  Though both sides tended to ignore what was going on in the Western Theater, this one battle did draw some attention, for two main reasons.  First, was because the day of fighting on 6 April had gone so well for the Confederates (they had manage to push Grant's troops all the way to the river, where they spent the night protected only by artillery) that it seemed impossible that they should not carry the next day of fighting as well.  Second, was the sheer bloodiness of the fighting, the end tally of casualties proved to be the costliest in American history up to that time, with well over 23,000.

As darkness fell on 6 April 1862, the heart wrenching cries of the wounded and dying men could be heard in both Confederate and Union camps.  While the shelling from Union gunboats made the night miserable for the Confederates, the Federals spent the night no better, camped along the shore at Pittsburg Landing and a thunderstorm made both sides miserable.  Unable to withstand the agonizing voices of the wounded, Grant took shelter under a tree and with Sherman began planning for the next day's battle.  "Well Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Sherman remarked.  "Yes," replied Grant.  Lick 'em tomorrow though."

The Confederates (now led by General Beauregard after General Albert Sidney Johnston had been killed) were overly confident that tomorrow would bring a "complete victory" to quote from Beauregard's telegram to President Davis.  Though Sherman and other officers had been surprised and some even routed on 06 April and Grant was indeed trapped at Pittsburg Landing, victory was not as much a garantee as Beauregard proclaimed it to be.  For there had been stiff resistance to the Confederate advance in several places, the Hornet's Nest being the most famous and costly to the Rebels in time, and Grant had a large number of troops at Pittsburg Landing as well as an impressive defense in the form of artillary.  Also, Beauregard had perhaps made a major tactical error in haulting the assault at dusk and not pressing on.

Come the morning of 07 April 1862, there was a nasty surprise awaiting an uninformed General Beauregard, in the form of General Don Carlos Buell and reinforcements which had arrived late yesterday evening.  Once again outnumbering the Confederates, Grant ordered a counterattack.  And at dawn the Federal forces engaged in a massive one.  Grant and Buell launched their assaults separately, but with a great deal of coordination going on down at lower levels.  The Confederate units however were all entangled with each other and there was little unit cohesion.  The Union forces made steady progress in reclaiming their lost camps (where the Confederates had waited out the rains of the last night in more comfort than they had).

By early afternoon Beauregard found his forces mostly back where they had started from prior to 06 April 1862.  He eventually launched a series of counterattacks, but by late afternoon the last of these assaults failed to gain any ground when the Confederates were flanked and severely repulsed.  Low on ammunition and with over 10,000 men dead, missing or wounded, Beauregard, realizing that he had lost the initiative, knew that he could advance no further and so withdrew to a position beyond Shiloh Church.  In the evening of 07 April 1862, the Confederates began an orderly retreat back to Corinth.

In the aftermath of this bloody conflict both commanding generals' reputations would suffer.  Beauregard would lose the respect of President Davis (never to be regained) and would be forever vilified for "losing the Battle of Shiloh" by not fighting on into the evening on 06 April.  Grant's reputation would suffer thanks to reporters (far from the battle) who spread rumors that Grant was drunk and told stories of his men being bayoneted in their tents due to a lack of preparedness.  Grant's superior, General Henry Halleck, even reorganized the armies, relegating Grant to an impotent position as his second in command.  But President Lincoln refused to fire him, saying, "I can't spare this man; he fights."  Sherman's reputation, on the other hand, was made by Shiloh, his steadfastness under enemy fire and amid the chaos of the battle, made-up for his defensive lapses preceding Shiloh.

Eventually though, Grant was vindicated for his performance at the Battle of Shiloh.  His clear judgment retained under a very strenuous and chaotic situation and his ability to clearly see the larger tactical picture, devise a resourceful strategy and then implement it, were the keys to giving Federal forces the ultimate victory.

Unfortunately, the Battle of Shiloh was also instrumental in bringing home to both Federal and Confederates alike that this war was going to be a very bloody affair and one with no clear end in sight.  In fact, there would be three more longs years full of battles just like Shiloh.