Sl'MTER. 



665 



the day before, forwarded the correspondence 

 to Charleston. The reply of the State Govern- 

 ment was lengthy, and bore down heavily upon 

 the tone of Mr. Holt's answer to the letter of 

 the Senators. 



Col. Hayne was instructed to deliver his 

 letter conveying the demand for the surrender 

 of Fort Sumter ; also, to ask if the President was 

 to be understood as asserting the right to send 

 reinforcements to Fort Sumter, stating that the 

 assertion of such right, with the attempt to ex- 

 ercise it, would be regarded by South Carolina 

 as an act of war. If the President refused to 

 deliver the fort, then Col. Hayne was to com- 

 municate that fact immediately. The Presi- 

 dent's answer could be transmitted within a 

 reasonable time to the Government at Charles- 

 ton, and Col. Hayne was not instructed to wait 

 for it. 



The final reply of the President, through. Mr. 

 Holt, the Secretary of War, was made on the 

 6th of February. That reply closes with these 

 words: "If, with all the multiplied proofs 

 which exist of the President's anxiety for peace, 

 and of the earnestness with which he has pur- 

 sued it, the authorities of that State sfcall as- 

 sault Fort Sumter, and peril the lives of the 

 handful of brave and loyal men shut up within 

 its walls, and thus plunge our common country 

 into the horrors of civil war, then upon them 

 and those they represent must rest the respon- 

 sibility." (See UNITED STATES.) 



The question of attacking the fort was finally 

 referred to the Confederate Congress at Mont- 

 gomery. By that body all military matters 

 were placed under the charge of the President 

 of the Confederate States. 



As it had been resolved to remove the wo- 

 men and children from the fort, they were, by 

 the permission of the South Carolina authorities, 

 taken to Charleston and placed on board the 

 steamer Marion, bound to New York. She left 

 on Sunday, February 3d ; and as she proceeded 

 down the harbor, having among the passengers 

 the wives twenty in number and the children 

 of the soldiers stationed in the fort, quite an 

 exciting scene occurred, which an eye-witness 

 thus described : " On nearing the fort, the 

 whole garrison was seen mounted on the top 

 of the ramparts, and when the ship was passing, 

 fired a gun and gave three heart-thrilling cheers 

 as a parting farewell to the dear loved ones on 

 board, whom they may possibly never meet 

 again this side the grave. The response was 

 weeping and ' waving adieus' to husbands and 

 fathers a small band pent up in an isolated 

 fort, and completely surrounded by instruments 

 of death, as five forts could be seen from the 

 steamer's deck with their guns pointing towards 

 Sumter." 



Major Anderson, writing to the War Depart- 

 ment, about March 1st, expressed his convic- 

 tion that Fort Sumter would soon be attacked. 

 He could then clearly discern with the naked 

 eye the arrangements for the assault, which he 

 beh'eyed would be of the most determined char- 



acter. The fortification -was only then entirely- 

 completed. The utmost ingenuity of himself and 

 brother officers had been employed to strengthen 

 every part, and to provide means for resisting 

 the attack, which was certain to come. 



Preparations were made under the direction 

 of the Confederate Government to capture the 

 fort, until the llth of April, when the follow- 

 ing correspondence took place between the com- 

 mander of the Confederate forces, Gen. Beaure- 

 gard, and the commander of the fort, Major 

 Anderson : 



HEAD-O.TTABTEBS PEOVBIOJJAL A KMT C. 8. A., ) 

 OOARLKSTOX, 8. C., April 11, 1S61 2 r. M. ) 



SIB: The Government of the Confederate States 

 has hitherto forborne from any hostile demonstration 

 against Fort Sumter, in the hope that the Government 

 of the United States, with a view to the amicahle ad- 

 justment of all questions between the two Gorern- 

 ments, and to avert the calamities of war, would vol- 

 untarily evacuate it. There was reason at one time to 

 believe that such would be the course pursued by the 

 Government of the United States ; and under iba't im- 

 pression my Government has refrained from making 

 any demand for the surrender of the fort. 



But the Confederate States can no longer delay as- 

 suming actual possession of a fortification commanding 

 the entrance or one of their harbors, and necessary to 

 its defence and security. 



I am ordered by the Government of the ConfederatD 

 States to demand' the evacuation of Fort Sumter. My 

 aides, Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee, are authorized 

 to make such demand of you. All proper facilities 

 will be afforded for the removal of yourself and com- 

 mand, together with company arms and property, 

 and all private property, to a'ny post in the Lnited 

 States which you may elect. The flag which you have 

 upheld so long and with so much fortitude under the 

 most trying circumstances, may be saluted bj you on 

 taking it down. 



Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee will, for a reason- 

 able time, await your answer. 



I am, sir, very respectfully, 

 Your o'bedient servant, 



G. T. BEAUREGARD, 

 Brigadier-General Commanding. 

 Major ROBERT ANDERSON, Commanding at Fort Sumter, 



Charleston Harbor, S. C. 



HZAD-QCABTIES, FOET SrJITEE. S. C., ) 



April llth, 1861. ) 



GENERAL : I have the honor to acknowledge the re- 

 ceipt of your communication demanding the evacuation 

 of this fort, and to say in reply thereto that it is a de- 

 mand with which I regret that my sense of honor and 

 of my obligations to my Government prevent my com- 

 pliance. 



Thanking you for the fair, manly, and courteous 

 terms proposed, and for the high compliment paid me, 

 I am, General, very respectfully, 



Your obedient servant, 



ROBERT ANDERSOX, 

 Major U. S. Army, Commanding. 

 To Brig.-Gen. G. T. BEACEEGARD, Commanding Pro- 

 visional Army C. S. A. 



HEAD-QFARTEES PROVISIONAL AKMT C. 8. A., ? 

 CHARLESTON, April 11, 1S61 11 p. M. $ 



MAJOR : In consequence of the verbal observations 

 made by you to my aides, Messrs. Chesnut and Lee, in 

 relation to the co'ndition of your supplies, and that 

 you would in a few days be starved out if our guns did 

 not batter you to pieces or words to that effect ; and 

 desiring no useless effusion of blood, I communicated 

 both the verbal observation and your written answer 

 to my communication to my Government. 



If you will state the time at which you will evacuate 

 Fort'Sumter, and agree that in the mean time you will 



