664 



SUMTER. 



STJMTER, (FORT.) Vigorous operations were 

 commenced on this fort, which is one of the 

 defences of Charleston, in the month of August, 

 1860, with a view of placing it in a good defen- 

 sive position as soon as possible. The case- 

 mate arches supporting the second tier of guns 

 were all turned; the granite flagging for the 

 second tier was laid, on the right face of the 

 work ; the floors laid, and the iron stairways 

 put up in the east barrack ; the traverse circle 

 of the first tier of guns reset ; the blue-stone 

 flagging laid in all the gun-rooms of the right 

 and left faces of the first tier ; and the construc- 

 tion of the embrasure of the second tier com- 

 menced, at the time that the fort was occupied 

 by Major Anderson. Then the fears of an im- 

 mediate attack and disloyal feelings induced the 

 greater portion of the engineer corps to leave. 

 But those that remained of this corps, fifty-five 

 in number, reduced towards the end of the in- 

 vestment to thirty -five, were made very effec- 

 tive in preparing for a vigorous defence. The 

 armament of the fort was mounted and sup- 

 plied with maneuvering implements; machi- 

 coulis galleries, splinter-proof shutters, and 

 traverses, were constructed ; the openings left 

 for the embrazures of the second tier were 

 filled with brick and stone and earth, and those 

 in the gorge with stone and iron and lead con- 

 crete ; mines were established in the wharf and 

 along the gorge ; the parade was cleared, and 

 communications opened to all parts of the fort, 

 and through the quarters. 



This fort was occupied by Major Anderson 

 on the night of the 26th of December. It is 

 the largest of the forts in Charleston harbor. It 

 is a work of solid masonry, octagonal in form, 

 and pierced on the north, east, and west sides 

 with a double row of port-holes for the heaviest 

 guns, and on the south, or land side, in addition 

 to openings for guns, loop-holes for musketry. 

 It stands in the middle of the harbor, like a 

 monster on the bosom of the waters, and near 

 the edge of the ship channel. The armament 

 consists of one hundred and forty guns, many 

 of them being the formidable ten-inch colum- 

 biads. The wharf, or landing, is on the south 

 side, and exposed to a cross fire from all the 

 openings on that side. At twelve o'clock on 

 the 2Tth, the stars and stripes were hoisted 

 over the fort, and Charleston knew for the first 

 time that Major Anderson was in full pos- 

 session. The garrison now consisted of eighty 

 men, as follows : 



Officers, 10 ; Band, 15 ; Artillerists, 55. Total, 80. 



There were in addition fifty-five of the en- 

 gineer corps, which was subsequently reduced, 

 as before mentioned, to thirty-five. 



This movement on the part of Major Ander- 

 son created great excitement in Charleston. 

 The authorities of South Carolina immediately 

 conceived that the honor of their sovereign and 

 independent State was involved, and that it 

 was their duty to obtain possession of the 

 fort, either by negotiation or by force. If the 

 State was independent and sovereign, she could 

 not allow a fort within her territory to be 

 peacefully occupied by a foreign power. So, 

 on the other hand, if the President of the 

 United States conceived that he had no power 

 to enter into negotiations with a State, or to 

 surrender a portion of the common property of 

 the Union, he must refuse all offers for nego- 

 tiation, and prepare to defend the common 

 property. The State authorities immediately 

 commenced the preparation of batteries to re- 

 duce the fort, and also opened negotiations for 

 its surrender. 



Governor Pickens first demanded a surrender 

 of the fort from Major Anderson. He replied, 

 on the llth of January, that he had " no power 

 to comply with such a demand." On the same 

 day, the Governor prepared a demand on the 

 President for the fort, and proposed to account 

 for the property in any future settlement be- 

 tween the United States and the State of South 

 Carolina. This demand was despatched to 

 Washington by J. W. Hayne, envoy of South 

 Carolina to "Washington. On his arrival, he 

 was addressed by several Senators from the 

 other seceded States, under date of January 

 15th. They desired him to postpone for a time 

 the delivery of the letter with which he was 

 charged to the President of the United States, 

 and urged their community of interest, of des- 

 tiny, and of position, as a reason why he should 

 postpone action, and allow time for consulta- 

 tion. He agreed to do this, upon the condition 

 that, "until he can hear from his Government, 

 no reinforcements shall be sent to Fort Sumter, 

 pledging himself that, in the mean time, no at- 

 tack shall be made upon that fort." 



The Senators, through Messrs. Fitzpatrick, 

 Mallory, and Slidell, transmitted the corre- 

 spondence between them and Mr. Hayne to 

 the President, asking him to take into con- 

 sideration the substance of the said corre- 

 spondence. The reply came through Mr. Holt, 

 who gave no pledge that he would not attempt 

 to reenforce Fort Sumter. The only remark 

 was, that it was not at present deemed neces- 

 sary to reenforce Fort Sumter, but, if deemed 

 necessary, every effort would be made to reen- 

 force it. 



The Senators to whom this was addressed 

 did not regard it as satisfactory, but told Mr. 

 Hayne that they felt certain that at present no 

 attempt would be made to reenforce Sumter, 

 and upon their judgment he postponed the 

 delivery of his letter to the President. On the 

 24th, he stated to the Senators, that he had, 



