Wednesday December 26, 1860

Anderson Moves to Fort Sumter

Major Robert Anderson, concerned about the defensibility of his position at Fort Moultrie, removed his garrison to Fort Sumter. Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island was intended to protect Charleston from hostile action from the sea. Its guns pointed towards that direction and the post was vulnerable to attack by land. Sumter, located in the harbor itself, was safer. Anderson's force consisted of approximately ten officers, seventy-six enlisted men, forty-five women and children, and an ever diminishing group of laborers who would eventually number about fifty-five. The women and children were evacuated from the fort on the morning of February l, 1861.

• Click here for Charleston Mercury's story of the harbor's forts prior to Anderson's move.

Commentary

Bibliography: Swanberg, First Blood, pp. 89-108; Meredith, Storm Over Sumter, pp. 55-62, 115-16; Crawford, Genesis of the Civil War, p. 132.