"Surrender in the American Civil War" Topic

"ajor Robert Anderson never expected to become the first hero of the American Civil War. On 19 April 1861, he stood on board the USS Baltic as it steamed into New York Harbor, escorted by a fleet of ships cheering their arrival. On board was the garrison of Fort Sumter, which Anderson had surrendered to Confederate forces a few days earlier. Since December 1860, when South Carolina seceded from the Union, Anderson's small garrison had been in a state of crisis, with diminishing supplies and unclear guidance from Washington. Anderson had refused Confederate General Pierre G.T. Beauregard's initial demand for surrender on 11 April, but after 34 hours of bombardment and with the fort on fire, Anderson raised the white flag. Having secured the fort, Confederate officials granted Anderson and his men safe passage.

During the voyage north, they had no idea what kind of reception they would receive when they arrived in New York. To their surprise, they ‘were received with unbounded enthusiasm'. To honour Anderson and his men, the city held an enormous rally in Union Square, an event which would have been appropriate for a victorious general. More than 100,000 New Yorkers (the New York Times reported it as ‘the entire population of the city') flooded the park and the surrounding streets. Anderson was praised by a series of orators as a ‘gallant commander', ‘the Hero of Fort Sumter', who had survived ‘the smoke and flame'. Praise for Anderson was not restricted to the North. The Richmond Daily Examiner heaped ‘the highest honour and credit on the gallant Major in command and the noble band of heroes that so faithfully served under him'. For his part, Robert Anderson seemed somewhat embarrassed by the whole affair. A career military man, he had never sought the spotlight…."

Main page

Armand

some say fort sumter others say fort pillow

i wonder if sumter held out for a diplomatic period rather than a real military one. a show because no help could get to him and after the show surrender was unavoidable. anderson was really abandoned to do the best of a bad job. what happened to him during the rest of the war? he did not sign a parole so what happened?

Anderson was promoted to brigadier general and put in command in Kentucky (he was from that state). When his health broke down he was succeeded by Sherman. When HIS health (supposedly) broke down, he was succeeded by Buell.

After Charleston SC was abandoned by the Confederates (due to Sherman's march), Anderson raised the (same) flag over Fort Sumter.

Thanks.

Armand

Is this from David Silkenat's book on Surrender in the ACW?

I did think it was very clever to come up with something that has some novelty, in a conflict so massively documented