8UMTER. 



669 





They soon returned with the approval of all 

 the conditions desired, except the saluting the 

 flag as it was lowered ; and this exception was 

 subsequently removed after correspondence. 



The evacuation was completed after saluting 

 the flag ; in doing which, one man was instant- 

 ly killed, one mortally and four severely wound- 

 ed, by the premature discharge of a gun and 

 explosion of a pile of cartridges. 



After the cessation of fire, about 600 shot 

 marks on the face of the scarp wall were count- 

 ed, but they were so scattered that no breached 

 effect could have been expected from such fire, 

 and probably none was attempted except at the 

 right gorge angle. The only effect of the direct 

 fire during the two days was to disable three 

 barbette guns, knock off large portions of the 

 chimneys and brick walls projecting above the 

 parapet, and to set the quarters on fire with hot 

 shot. The vertical fire produced more effect, as 

 it prevented the working of the upper tier of 

 guns, which were the only really effective guns 

 in the fort, being columbiads, 8-inch sea-coast 

 howitzers, and 42-pounders principally, and also 

 prevented the use of the columbiads arranged in 

 the parade to be used as mortars against Cum- 

 mings' Point. 



The weakness of the defence principally lay 

 in the lack of cartridge bags, and of the mate- 

 rials to make them, by which the fire of the 

 fort was all the time rendered slow, and tow- 

 ard the last was nearly suspended. 



The contest continued thirty-two hour?, and 

 the weapons used were of the most destructive 

 character, and in skilful hands, but no life ap- 

 pears to have been lost on either side. 



The garrison was taken by the steamer Isabel 

 to the Baltic, which lay off the harbor, and 

 thence transported to New York. The naval 

 force and supplies which had been sent to the 

 relief of the fort by the Government, arrived 

 off Charleston harbor previous to the com- 

 mencement of the assault, but were prevented 

 from entering the harbor by a gale of wind, 

 until after the attack began. The vessels, how- 

 ever. continued outside, and there was no com- 

 munication between them and the fort. 



The force and supplies thus sent by the Gov- 

 ernment was composed as follows : 



VESSELS. GrXS. HEX. 



Sloop-of-war Pawnee, ........ 10 200 



Sloop-of-war Powhatan, ....... 11 275 



Cutter Harriet Lane, ........ 5 96 



Steam transport Atlantic, ....... 353 



Steam transport Baltic ........ 160 



Steam transport Illinois, ....... 300 



Steamtug Yankee ........ Ordinary crew. 



Steamtug Uncle Ben, ...... Ordinary crew. 



Total number of vessels, ......... 8 



Total number of guns, (for marine service,) . . 26 

 Total number of men and troops, ...... 1,3SO 



Nearly thirty launches, whose services are 

 useful in effecting a landing of troops over 

 shoal water, and for attacking a discharging 

 battery when covered with sand and gunny 

 bags, were taken out by the Powhatan, and 



by the steam transports Atlantic, Baltic, and 

 Illinois. 



The official notification of the surrender of 

 the fort, sent by Major Anderson to the War 

 Department, was as follows : 



STEAMSHIP BALTIC, off Sandv Hoot, I 

 April 18, 1S61 10.80 A. M., via Sew York, f 

 Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty -four hours, 

 until the quarters were entirely burnt, the main gates 

 destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, 

 the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door 

 closed from the effects of heat ; four barrels and three 

 cartridges of powder only being available, and no pro- 

 visions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of evac- 

 uation offered by General Beauregard being the same 

 offered by him on the llth instant, prior to the com- 

 mencement of hostilities and marched out of the fort 

 on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors 

 flying and'drums beating, bringing away company and 

 private propertv, and saluting mv flag with nftv gnus. 



EGBERT ANDERSON; 



Major First Artillery Commanding. 

 Hon. SIMON CAMERON, 



Secretary of War, Washington. 



Major Anderson is a native of the State of 

 Kentucky. He received his first commission as 

 brevet 2d Lieut, of 2d Artillery, on July 1st, 

 1825, and was an acting Inspector-General in 

 the Black Hawk war, and received the rank of 

 brevet Captain in August, 1838. for his success- 

 ful conduct in the Florida war. On Sept. 8th, 

 1847, he was made brevet Major for his gallant 

 and meritorious conduct in the battle of Molino 

 del Eey in Mexico. Upon an improvement of 

 his health, after the surrender of Fort Sumter, 

 he was appointed Brigadier-General, and or- 

 dered to the Department of Kentucky. (See 

 KENTUCKY.) Here, his health again failing 

 him, he was obliged to retire from active 

 service. 



In South Carolina the removal of Major An- 

 derson with his little force from Fort Moultrie 

 to Fort Sumter was regarded as a hostile act. 

 In the North the act was considered, at the 

 time, as favorable to peace. It was thought 

 that while Fort Monltrie was comparatively 

 weak, and might provoke the assault of a law- 

 less multitude, the impregnable strength of Fort 

 Sumter placed it beyond such a contingency, 

 as it could be reduced only by a regular and 

 protracted siege ; thus an immediate collision 

 was avoided. The act was done on his own re- 

 sponsibility, under the liberty allowed in his in- 

 structions, thinking that by such a step he 

 would make himself secure against attack, pro- 

 tect the lives of his soldiers, and could better 

 guard the puhlic property ; for, in his position 

 at Fort Sumter, he could easily command, and if 

 necessary silence, the batteries of Fort Moultrie. 



On the reception of the news of the surren- 

 der, a salute of thirty guns was fired at Read- 

 ing. Penn., in honor of Major Anderson. Three 

 salutes with the same object were fired in Phila- 

 delphia. A hundred guns were fired in Boston, 

 Mass. ; and the citizens of Taunton, in the same 

 State, voted to present him a sword. The ex- 

 citement occasioned by this attack united the 

 North in support of the Government. 



