Battle of Fort Sumter Facts & Worksheets

• Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard took command of Charleston’s forces in March 1861. Under his direction, the Confederates drilled their troops and positioned over 6,000 men with heavy artillery around the harbour. 
• By the time Lincoln became president on 4 March 1861, Anderson’s garrison had only a few weeks of food left. Sending soldiers could risk war, but doing nothing might appear weak. Lincoln decided to send a ship with food only, making clear it carried no weapons. At the same time, Confederate leaders demanded that the Union troops leave Fort Sumter. These events set the stage for open conflict, as both sides prepared for the possibility of battle, and no peaceful solution remained.

Key Decisions that led to the Battle of Fort Sumter:

• Lincoln Resupplies Fort Sumter – Lincoln sent food only to the fort, making sure there were no weapons, to help the Union soldiers without looking aggressive.
• Use of Small Night Ships – The supplies were sent at night on small ships to avoid provoking the Confederates.
• Lincoln Refuses to Recognise the Confederacy – He would not negotiate with the Confederate government because he did not see it as a real country.
• Confederates Demand Surrender – President Davis ordered General Beauregard to demand that Fort Sumter surrender before the supply ships arrived.
• Confederates Ready to Attack – If the Union refused, Beauregard could attack the fort, even though some leaders worried it would make the South look like the aggressor.
• Union Defends the Fort – Major Anderson and his officers decided to hold the fort as long as they could, preparing for a possible attack.

BOMBARDMENT

Timeline of the Bombardment and Surrender of Fort Sumter:

12 April 1861

• • 4.30 am: The first shot of the Civil War was fired by Lt. Henry Farley from Fort Johnson.
  • Confederate guns at Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, the floating battery, and Cummings Point began bombarding Fort Sumter.
  • Edmund Ruffin fired one of the first shells from the Iron Battery. Charleston residents watched the explosions.
  • 6.00 am: Union soldiers had roll call and breakfast.
    • 7.00 am: Captain Abner Doubleday fired the first Union shot, but missed. The Union garrison had only 85 men and could use only 21 of the fort’s 60 guns safely.
  • Confederate ‘hot shot’ set fires in the fort’s wooden buildings.
  • Union supply ships tried to reach the fort, but Confederate fire forced them back.
  • 7.00 pm: Rain put out many fires, and Confederate fire slowed for the night.

13 April 1861

• • Morning: Bombardment resumed, fires spread towards the magazine. Union soldiers tried to move gunpowder to safety.
  • 1.00 pm: The fort’s flagpole was knocked down. Colonel Louis Wigfall waved a white flag to signal a truce.
  • 2.00 pm: Major Anderson agreed to a truce.
  • 2.30 pm: Union soldiers formally surrendered Fort Sumter.
  • During the 100-gun salute to the US flag, a pile of cartridges exploded, killing Privates Daniel Hough and Edward Galloway and wounding four others. These were the first deaths of the war.
  • Remaining Union soldiers were evacuated to ships.
  • Major Anderson took the Fort Sumter flag north, which became a symbol of the Union cause.
• The bombardment of Fort Sumter began at 4.30 am on 12 April 1861, signalling the start of the American Civil War. The first shot was fired by Lieutenant Henry S. Farley from Fort Johnson, following the command of Captain George S. James. Forty-three guns and mortars, positioned at Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, the floating battery, and Cummings Point, then opened fire under orders from Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard. 
• To conserve ammunition, Beauregard instructed his men to fire in an anti-clockwise sequence around the harbour, with a two-minute pause between shots. One of the first shells was fired by Edmund Ruffin, a Virginia secessionist, from the Iron Battery at Cummings Point. The loud artillery woke the residents of Charleston, who rushed out to watch the explosions over the water.
• Major Robert Anderson held his fire until daylight. By 6 am, his men assembled for roll call and breakfast. At 7 am, Captain Abner Doubleday fired a shot at Cummings Point, but missed. Anderson faced serious limitations: he had only 85 men and could not operate all 60 guns effectively. The fort’s best cannons were on the upper tier, where his men would have been exposed to enemy fire, so he used only 21 guns on the lower level.
• Many of the guns could not reach the enemy batteries because they were designed to defend against ships at sea, not high-trajectory land artillery. Supplies of ammunition were low, with only 700 powder cartridges at the start of the battle. Workmen had to sew more cartridges, sometimes using socks from Anderson’s personal wardrobe. Because of these shortages, Anderson carefully limited the fort’s fire to just six guns aimed at the main Confederate batteries.
• Meanwhile, Union ships sent to resupply Fort Sumter faced heavy artillery. Gustavus V. Fox, leading the relief expedition, arrived at 3 am on the steamer Baltic, but most of the fleet was delayed until 6 pm, and one warship, USS Powhatan, never reached the fort. Small boats carrying supplies tried to approach, but Confederate fire forced them to pull back. Fox hoped Anderson could hold the fort until dark on 13 April, when conditions might allow another attempt.
• During the bombardment, the Confederates aimed heated cannonballs, known as ‘hot shot’, at the fort’s wooden buildings, such as the barracks and officers’ quarters. These fires could have been more dangerous than the artillery shells themselves. A rain shower at 7 pm on 12 April extinguished most of the flames, and firing was reduced overnight.
• By morning, the bombardment resumed. The hot shots set fire to the main gate and wooden buildings, and flames spread towards the fort’s ammunition magazine, where 300 barrels of gunpowder were stored. Anderson’s men tried to move the barrels to safety, but the tide kept bringing them together, and some were ignited by Confederate fire. Despite the danger, the Union soldiers continued to fire their guns as much as they could.

SURRENDER

• After 34 hours of bombardment, it became clear that Fort Sumter could not hold out. Major Robert Anderson and his small Union garrison were low on food, ammunition and supplies, and fires inside the fort were spreading towards the gunpowder magazine. Much of the fort’s walls and wooden buildings had been damaged by Confederate fire.
• At 1 pm on 13 April 1861, the fort’s central flagpole was knocked down, which made the Confederates wonder if the fort was ready to surrender. Colonel Louis Wigfall took a small boat from Morris Island, waving a white handkerchief to signal a truce, and dodged incoming Confederate fire to reach Anderson. Anderson, encouraged that Wigfall said ‘evacuate’ instead of ‘surrender’, agreed to a temporary truce at 2 pm, recognising that his men were hungry, exhausted, and low on ammunition after enduring more than 3,000 Confederate rounds without losing a man.
• Fort Sumter then raised Wigfall’s white handkerchief on the flagpole, and he returned to Morris Island, where he was hailed as a hero. However, a delegation of Confederate officers later came to the fort, unaware of Wigfall’s authority, and Anderson threatened to resume firing. General Beauregard himself then sent a second set of officers with the same terms, and the agreement was reinstated.