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Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861)
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General SummaryOn April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, SC, demanded the surrender of the U.S. garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Robert Anderson refused. On April 12, Confederate batteries opened fire on the fort, which was unable to reply effectively. At 2:30 p.m., April 13, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. From 1863 to 1865, the Confederates at Fort Sumter withstood a 22-month siege by Union forces. During this time, most of the fort was reduced to brick rubble.(This information is reproduced from the National Park Service’s Fort Sumter National Monument and American Battlefield Protection Program websites.)For more information, visit the National Archives’ Treasures of Congress Online Exhibit.Also, see the Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: Letters, Telegrams, and Photographs Illustrating Factors that Affected the Civil War.
Biographical SummaryNational History Day, National Archives and Records Administration, and USA Freedom Corps developed the 100 Milestone Documents of U.S. History project as presented at http://www.OurDocuments.gov. This replication of the documents of that site grants users full-search access to this essential collection.
Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861)
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S.S. Baltic, off Sandy Hook
Apr. Eighteenth, Ten Thirty A. M.
Via New York.
Hon. S. Cameron. Secy.War. Washn.
Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty four hours until the quarters were entirely burned the main gates destroyed by fire. The gorge walls seriously injured. The magazine surrounded by flames and its door closed from the effects of heat. Four Barrells and three cartridges of powder only being available and no provisions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard being on same offered by him on the eleventh inst. prior to the commencement of hostilities and marched out of the Fort Sunday afternoon the fourteenth inst. with colors flying and drums beating. Bringing away company and private property and saluting my flag with fifty guns.
Robert Anderson
Major First Artillery.
Commanding.
Chicago: Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861) in Telegram from MAJ. Robert Anderson to Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary, Announcing His Withdrawal from Fort Sumter, April 18, 1861; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917; Record Group 94; National Archives. Original Sources, accessed April 26, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=GBZDM6QZRNCCHFX.
MLA: . Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861), in Telegram from MAJ. Robert Anderson to Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary, Announcing His Withdrawal from Fort Sumter, April 18, 1861; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917; Record Group 94; National Archives., Original Sources. 26 Apr. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=GBZDM6QZRNCCHFX.
Harvard: , Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (1861). cited in , Telegram from MAJ. Robert Anderson to Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary, Announcing His Withdrawal from Fort Sumter, April 18, 1861; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917; Record Group 94; National Archives.. Original Sources, retrieved 26 April 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=GBZDM6QZRNCCHFX.
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