Today In History: Fort Sumter Is Returned to the Union

The first morning after Fort Sumter was occupied, Chaplain Matthias Harris offered a prayer of supplication for the blessing of Heaven as Old Glory was raised on the flagstaff. This was the flag Anderson had brought from Fort Moultrie. The band played and the men presented arms. The ceremony was followed by spontaneous cheers for the colors.

--Sidney Forman, former Librarian of Teachers College, Columbia University, The Firing of Fort Sumter, p. 33.

On February 17th, 1865 the Confederate Army retreated from Charleston, South Carolina as General William T. Sherman of the Union advanced with his troops.  Strategically located in the middle of Charleston Harbor, and known as the birthplace of the first battle of the Civil War, Fort Sumter -- was thus unofficially returned to the Union.  It stands, along with Fort Moultrie, a series of fortifications on nearby Sullivan Island, as a national monument to American freedom.

The American Civil War began on April 12th, 1861 when the Confederates shelled Fort Sumter,  a federal fort in Confederate-claimed territory that President Abraham Lincoln refused to abandon. South Carolina had seceded from the Union in 1860, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis had ordered the assault led by General (P.G.T.) Pierre  Gustave Toutant-Beauregard, to assert the legitimacy of the eleven Confederate States of America which seceded from the Union between December 1860 and May 1861.

It was not until April 14, 1865 that the United States flag was officially raised over the fort by Major General Robert Anderson, four tumultuous years after he surrendered it - - marking the end of the Civil War that began with deep disagreements between the North and South over the institution of slavery.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• M, J. W.  (1865, Feb 28). Charleston: Full Details of the Occupation by Our Troops. The Great Explosion. Gen. Gillmore's Reception. A Glance at the City and a Talk with the Citizens. Condition of Fort Sumter. Chicago Tribune (1860-1872) 
• Fort Sumter -- 1681--1965; Historical Sketch pf the Bombardment and Surrender of Fort Sumter in April, 1861.  (1865, Apr 14). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• The Story of Fort Sumter: Gen. Woodford Tells Brooklyn Pupils of Its Capture. His Lecture First in a Series to Be Given by Union Generals -- Major Anderson's Occupation of the Old Fort Against Orders -- Vivid Picture of the Rasising of the Flair-- Many Days of Siege, and Then Came the Evacuation.  (1894, Apr 14). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• Duffus, R.L. (1936, Apr 12). The Spark That Set the Nation Ablaze: Guns at Fort Sumter, 75 Years Ago Today, Took Burning Issues from Courts to Battlefield. New York Times (1923-) 
• Jeffords, D.B.  (1959, Jul 19). Where the Civil War Began: Fort Sumter Restoration Goes on as Civil War Centenary Years. New York Times (1923-) 
• Mullady F., & Kofoed, W. H. (1960, Apr 03). Lincoln's Salute to Fort Sumter. New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Hart, S. (1961, ). A Century Later: Accent on Unity. The Sun (1837-) 
• James, E. K. (1962, Mar 18). Fort Sumter, Plantation Homes Are Attractions of Charleston: Old City Charm May Delay a Visit to Fort. Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) 
• Johnson, G. (2006, Dec 19). South Carolina Secedes from Union. Philadelphia Tribune (1912-) 
• Jonsson, P. (2011, Apr 12). Fort Sumter Cannons Sound Again: The Civil War 150 Years Later: Fort Sumter Marked the Start of the Civil War, with Confederates Shelling It on April 12, 1861. Today, the Cannon Rolls Still Reverberate in a Country That Remains at Peace, But Torn by Ideological Divides. The Christian Science Monitor (1908-)

Tips:

• Burlingame, Michael. Lincoln and the Civil War. 1st ed., Southern Illinois University Press, 2011.  e-book.
• Crawford, Samuel Wylie. The Genesis of the Civil War : The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861. Digital Scanning, 2000. e-book.
• Forman, Sidney. The Firing on Fort Sumter. Nelson Doubleday, Inc., 1961.  Closed Stacks Curr ; E471.1 .F67 1961.
• Hendrix, Michael Patrick. A History of Fort Sumter : Building a Civil War Landmark. 1st ed., History Press, 2014. e-book.
• Lofton, John. Denmark Vesey’s Revolt : The Slave Plot That Lit a Fuse to Fort Sumter. 1st ed., Kent State University Press, 2013. e-book.

Images:

• The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Fort Sumter "Repossessed" by the Union, February 18, 1865". New York Public Library Digital Collections.
• Fort Sumter, 2009. Wikimedia Commons. 

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