By agreement they weren't allowed to go to Sumter that bullshit 'retreat' is just Bullshit Anderson was supposed to stay at Moultrie and he was either order to move to sumter or did it on his own
Fort Moultrie was one of three active federal fortifications in Charleston Harbor, each with different challenges. Years of neglect had weakened Moultrie’s defensive capabilities; nearby terrain rose higher than the fort’s walls. Castle Pinckney, situated at the mouth of the Cooper River, was in good condition, but garrisoned only by an ordnance sergeant and his teenage daughter. The unfinished Fort Sumter was the most important of the three—a fact not lost on Anderson. In a December 9, 1860, report from Fort Moultrie, he wrote, “Fort Sumter is a tempting prize, the value of which is well known to the Charlestonians, and once in their possession, with its ammunition and armament and walls uninjured and garrisoned properly, it would set our Navy at defiance, compel me to abandon this work, and give them the perfect command of this harbor.”
South Carolina Militia Occupies Fort Moultrie. After Maj. Anderson moved his command to Fort Sumter (visible in the harbor), South Carolina established a military garrison (A . Vizitelly, Artist, Library of Congress)
Two days later, Maj. Don Carlos Buell delivered verbal instructions from Secretary of War John B. Floyd to Anderson, stating that “an attack on or attempt to take possession of any one of them [the forts] will be regarded as an act of hostility, and you may then put your command into either of them which you may deem most proper to increase its power of resistance.” Prompted by South Carolina’s secession on December 20, the commencement of state patrol boats operating between Forts Sumter and Moultrie, the size of his garrison and the growing threat of hostile action, Anderson transferred his command to Fort Sumter on the night of December 26, 1860.
In a message earlier that day to Adj. Gen. of the Secretary of War Samuel Cooper, Anderson wrote, “The step I have taken was, in my opinion, necessary to prevent the effusion of blood.” The next day he wrote to Floyd saying, “I abandoned Fort Moultrie because I was certain that if attacked my men must have been sacrificed, and the command of the harbor lost…the garrison never would have surrendered without a fight.” Despite Anderson’s desire to “prevent the effusion of blood” and avoid the sacrifice of his command, the chain of events that followed resulted in the commencement of overt hostilities four months later.
On December 27, Francis Pickens, the newly elected governor of South Carolina, demanded that Anderson return to Fort Moultrie. The major refused. Pickens also ordered the state militia to occupy Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney and the U.S. Arsenal, all of which occurred without incident. Then, South Carolina forces began building defensive works around the harbor. Some were directed at Fort Sumter, others on Morris and Sullivan’s Islands were directed to fire into the shipping channels. On James Island, the long-abandoned Fort Johnson was occupied and guns mounted. Simultaneously, inside Fort Sumter, Anderson’s command, aided by three Army Corps of Engineer officers and 40 civilian employees, began mounting cannon and improving the fort’s defenses. |
