Major Robert Anderson
Hero of Fort Sumter
Major Robert Anderson was born on June 14, 1805 near Louisville, Kentucky. His family had a tradition of soldiering, so it was natural for young Robert to join the military. He graduated from West Point in 1825, then served a stint as this brother Richard’s secretary when the latter was U.S. Minister to Columbia. Anderson eventually became an artillery instructor at West Point. Some of his students later became famous as Civil War generals, men like P.G.T. Beauregard, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Braxton Bragg
Anderson’s Military Career Before 1860
Anderson did see his share of action during his long career. He commanded Illinois volunteers in the Black Hawk War of 1832, and fought at the Battle of Bad Axe. In a twist of fate, he had the distinction of mustering in and mustering out a lanky young volunteer captain by the name of Abraham Lincoln.
A few years alter Anderson saw service in Florida against the Seminole Indians. Unfortunately the semi-tropical swamps were unhealthy, and the young officer contracted fevers that would plague remain with his for the rest of his life.
Anderson could have stayed home during the Mexican War, because his health was precarious. But he insisted on serving, and was wounded in the Battle of Molina del Rey. His gallantry won him a brevet (honorary) rank as Major. For the next decade or so he largely worked in administration. In the 1850s, for example, he produced a military textbook on artillery sieges. In 1857 he was promoted to the (real, not honorary) rank of Major, 1st Artillery.
Anderson and the Fort Sumter Crisis
Already in his late 50s, Anderson was considering retirement. But on November 15, 1860, he received orders to command Forts Moultrie and Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The issue of slavery was dividing the nation along sectional lines. South Carolina, a “rabid” secessionist state, was threatening to leave the Union if Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected. Anderson, a southerner and one who had briefly owned slaves, was considered the right man for the post. Charleston was a powder keg, and it was hoped the presence of a moderate southerner at the forts might dampen the fuse of Civil War
Sure enough, within weeks of Lincoln’s election South Carolina seceded from the Union, followed by six more states from the lower south. The rebel states soon formed the Confederacy, and demanded that all former federal properties—military posts included --be turned over to them.
Major Anderson refused to surrender to the Confederate authorities, much to their surprise and anger. He was a southerner, but over 30 years in the army had made him loyal to the United States. Fort Moultrie was run down, nearly obsolete, and could be approached from the rear. Anderson decided to evacuate his command from Moultrie to Fort Sumter, located on an artificial island in Charleston harbor. Sumter was an imposing three-tiered brick fort, though many of its guns had not been mounted. Anderson had only about 80 men, and the fort was designed to hold some 650. One officer, Captain Abner Doubleday, is popularly supposed to have “invented” and named baseball.
Anderson Becomes an Instant National Hero
As the weeks wore on, and Anderson refused to submit, he became an “instant” national celebrity to the North. An enterprising photographer, George S. Cook, went out to Sumter and photographed Anderson. The negatives went north, where they sold for 20 cents apiece. As many as 1,000 prints a day were made—and apparently sold—during the crisis
Lincoln did not want to be the one who fired the first shot—yet he could not meekly give in to the Confederates and order surrender. He adopted a brilliant middle course—to let the Confederates know he was sending a supply ship only, not military reinforcements.
The Start of the Civil War
The Confederates would not allow a resupply. About 4:30 on the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter. It was the beginning of a bloody Civil War. Anderson and his little garrison replied as best they could, but they were outgunned, and food and ammunition was low. After a grueling 34 hour bombardment, Major Anderson accepted Confederate terms, ironically given by his former student, General P.G.T. Beauregard. Anderson surrendered the fort, and was allowed to depart to the north.
Anderson went on a recruiting tour of the north, and was briefly military head of the Department of Kentucky, a sensitive post. Ill heath still plagued him, and he officially retired from the army in 1863. But in 1865, the Confederacy defeated at last, Anderson came back to Fort Sumter and raised the same flag that had flown over it in 1861. Major Robert Anderson died in 1871.
Sources:
James M. McPherson,Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstuction (McGraw Hill, 1992)
Major Robert Anderson
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