Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-'61

CHAPTER I.. Fort Moultrie in 1860.

FORT MOULTRIE IN 1860.

The Garrison of Fort Moultrie.--Early Indications of Secession.--Situation of the Fort.--Edmund Ruffin and Robert Barnwell Rhett.--The Secretary of War.--Arms sent to the South.--Colonel Gardner.--Captain Foster ordered to Charleston Harbor.--The Officers at Fort Moultrie.--Communications with Northern Men by Cipher.--Proscription of Antislavery Men in Charleston.--Position of Charleston Merchants.--The Secession Leaders only prepared to resist Coercion.--The Mob proves Unmanageable.--General Scott's Letter to the President, October 29th.--The Situation in November.--No Instructions from Washington.--Colonel Gardner's Report to General Wool. Page 13

CHAPTER II.. Preparations for Defense.

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENSE.

Defeat of Captain Seymour's Expedition on the Ashley.--Mayor Macbeth's Explanation.--Captain Foster's Work on Fort Moultrie.--Governor Gist convenes the South Carolina Legislature.--Creation of a Standing Army.--Arrival of Masons from Baltimore.--Situation of Fort Sumter.--A Dramatic Incident.--Secretary Floyd's Action.--Horace Greeley's Advocacy of the Right of Secession.--The Situation November 18th. 30

CHAPTER III.. Preliminary Movements of the Secessionists.

PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS OF THE SECESSIONISTS.

Arrival of Major Anderson.--Huger's Opposition to a Premature Assault on Fort Moultrie.--Anderson's Report to the Secretary of War.--Active Preparations by the South Carolinians.--Meeting of Congress.--Attempts at Compromise.--Secession Batteries at Mount Pleasant.--Arrival of Major Buell with Written Orders.--Vain Efforts to Strengthen Castle Pinckney.--Northern Opinion.--Public Meeting in Philadelphia. 41

CHAPTER IV.. The Removal to Fort Sumter.

THE REMOVAL TO FORT SUMTER.

Passage of the Secession Ordinance.--Governor Pickens's Proclamation.--Judge Petigru's Visit to Fort Moultrie.--Floyd's Treachery.--Yancey's Lectures in the North.--The Removal to Sumter. 55

CHAPTER V.. The First Overt Act.

THE FIRST OVERT ACT.

The New Quarters.--Seizure of Castle Pinckney by Charleston Troops.--Raising the Flag at Fort Sumter.--The Sergeant's Daughter.--Major Anderson's Position.--The Charleston Troops take Fort Moultrie.--A Military Problem.--Condition of Fort Sumter.--Governor Pickens's Commission.--A New Outrage. 68

CHAPTER VI.. Effect of Anderson's Movement.

EFFECT OF ANDERSON'S MOVEMENT.

President Buchanan Aroused.--Excitement in Charleston.--The Situation at the Beginning of 1861.--Governor Pickens's War Measures.--"My heart was never in this War". 82

CHAPTER VII.. The "star of the West."

THE "STAR OF THE WEST."

Promise of Succor.--Fatal Delay.--A Contumacious Chaplain.--Visit from our Ladies.--Governor Pickens's Cabinet.--Appearance of the Star of the West.--The Vessel fired upon from Morris Island and Fort Moultrie.--Major Anderson's Protest.--Governor Pickens's Reply. 92

CHAPTER VIII.. A Resort to Diplomacy.

A RESORT TO DIPLOMACY.

Major Anderson's Proposed Diplomatic Negotiations.--Defensive Preparations.--Changes in the Cabinet.--Meade's Defection.--Anecdote of Governor Pickens.--Battery at Cummings Point.--Soldiers' Families Removed.--A Threatening Letter.--Confederate Visitors to the Fort.--Organization of the Confederate Government. 107

CHAPTER IX.. The Crisis At Hand.

THE CRISIS AT HAND.

South Carolina's Grievances.--Inauguration of President Lincoln.--Determination to Re-enforce Sumter.--An Audacious Proposal.--The Shannon.--New Rebel Batteries Unmasked.--Formal Notice of Bombardment. 123

CHAPTER X.. The Bombardment.

THE BOMBARDMENT.

The First Shot.--Defective Guns.--John Carmody's Exploit.--Destructive Effects of the Bombardment.--Burning of the Officers' Quarters.--Terrific Conflagration. 143

CHAPTER XI.. The Evacuation.

THE EVACUATION.

Senator Wigfall's Volunteer Mission.--Terms of Evacuation Settled.--The Question of Casualties on the Other Side.--Salute to the Flag.--Occupation of the Fort by Southern Troops.--Embarkation.--Welcome in New York.--Conclusion. 161

APPENDIX. 179

REMINISCENCES OF FORTS SUMTER AND MOULTRIE IN 1860-'61.

CHAPTER I.. Fort Moultrie in 1860.

FORT MOULTRIE IN 1860.

The Garrison of Fort Moultrie.--Early Indications of Secession.--Situation of the Fort.--Edmund Ruffin and Robert Barnwell Rhett.--The Secretary of War.--Arms sent to the South.--Colonel Gardner.--Captain Foster ordered to Charleston Harbor.--The Officers at Fort Moultrie.--Communications with Northern Men by Cipher.--Proscription of Antislavery Men in Charleston.--Position of Charleston Merchants.--The Secession Leaders only prepared to resist Coercion.--The Mob proves unmanageable.--General Scott's Letter to the President, October 29.--The Situation in November.--No Instructions from Washington.--Colonel Gardner's Report to General Wool.

The summer of 1860 found me stationed at the head-quarters of the First United States Artillery at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. I was captain of Company E, and second in command to Brevet Colonel John L. Gardner, who was lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. The regimental band and Captain Truman Seymour's company (H) also formed part of the garrison. The other forts were unoccupied, except by the ordnance-sergeants in charge.

Charleston, at this period, was far from being a pleasant place for a loyal man. Almost every public assemblage was tinctured with treasonable sentiments, and toasts against the flag were always warmly applauded. As early as July there was much talk of secession, accompanied with constant drilling, and threats of taking the forts as soon as a separation should occur.

To the South Carolinians Fort Moultrie was almost a sacred spot, endeared by many precious historical associations; for the ancestors of most of the principal families had fought there in the Revolutionary War behind their hastily improvised ramparts of palmetto logs, and had gained a glorious victory over the British fleet in its first attempt to enter the harbor and capture the city.

The modern fort had been built nearly on the site of the ancient one. Its walls were but twelve feet high. They were old, weak, and so full of cracks that it was quite common to see soldiers climb to the top by means of the support these crevices afforded to their hands and feet. The constant action of the sea-breeze had drifted one immense heap of sand against the shore-front of the work, and another in the immediate vicinity. These sand-hills dominated the parapet, and made the fort untenable. Indeed, it was originally built by the engineers as a mere sea-battery, with just sufficient strength to prevent it from being taken by a coup de main. As an overpowering force of militia could always be summoned for its defense, it was supposed that no foreign army would ever attempt to besiege it. The contingency that the people of Charleston themselves might attack a fort intended for their own protection had never been anticipated.

Our force was pitifully small, even for a time of peace and for mere police purposes. It consisted of sixty-one enlisted men and seven officers, together with thirteen musicians of the regimental band; whereas the work called for a war garrison of three hundred men.

The first indication of actual danger came from Richmond, Virginia, in the shape of urgent inquiries as to the strength of our defenses, and the number of available troops in the harbor. These questions were put by a resident of that city named Edmund Ruffin; an old man, whose later years had been devoted to the formation of disunion lodges, and who became subsequently noted for firing the first gun at Fort Sumter. His love of slavery amounted to fanaticism. When the cause of the Rebellion became hopeless, he refused to survive it, and committed suicide.

In the beginning of July, Robert Barnwell Rhett, and other ultra men in Charleston, made violent speeches to the mob, urging them to drive every United States official out of the State; but as many influential Secessionists were enjoying the sweets of Federal patronage under Buchanan, we did not anticipate any immediate disturbance. To influence his hearers still more, Rhett did not hesitate to state that Hamlin was a mulatto, and he asked if they intended to submit to a negro vice-president.

It is an interesting question to know how far at this period the Secretary of War himself was loyal. Mr. Dawson, the able editor of the Historical Magazine, is of opinion, after a careful investigation of the facts, that Floyd at this time was true to the Union, and that he remained so until December 24th, when it was discovered that he had been advancing large sums of money from the Treasury to contractors, to pay for work which had never been commenced. To make the loss good, nearly a million of dollars was taken from the Indian Trust Fund.

Finding he would be dismissed from the Cabinet for his complicity in these transactions, and would also be indicted by the Grand Jury of the District of Columbia, he made a furious Secession speech, sent in his resignation, and suddenly left for the South. Mr. Dawson founds his opinion in this case upon the statement of Fitz John Porter, who was a major on duty in the War Department at the time, and therefore apparently well qualified to judge. Floyd's actions toward us, however, were not those of a true man, and I am of opinion that his loyalty was merely assumed for the occasion. He sent seventeen thousand muskets to South Carolina, when he knew that Charleston was a hot-bed of sedition, and that in all probability the arms would be used against the United States. Greeley says, in his "American Conflict," that during these turbulent times Floyd disarmed the Government by forwarding one hundred and fifteen thousand muskets, in all, to the Southern Confederacy. In addition to this, he sold large quantities of arms to S.B. Lamar, of Savannah, and other Secessionists in the South, on the plea that the muskets thus disposed of did not conform to the latest army model. Just before his resignation, he continued the same policy by directing that one hundred and twenty-four heavy guns should be shipped from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Ship Island, Mississippi, where there was no garrison, and to Galveston, Texas. Yet this was the official upon whom we were to rely for advice and protection. This was the wolf who was to guard the fold.

Our commander, Colonel Gardner, had done good service in the War of 1812 and in Mexico; but now, owing to his advanced age, was ill fitted to weather the storm that was about to burst upon us. In politics he was quite Southern, frequently asserting that the South had been treated outrageously in the question of the Territories, and defrauded of her just rights in other respects. He acquiesced, however, in the necessity of defending the fort should it be attacked; but as he lived with his family outside of the walls, he could not take a very active part himself. Indeed, on one occasion, when a Secession meeting was held in our immediate vicinity, accompanied with many threats and noisy demonstrations, he sent word to me to assume command at once in his place.

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