War Begins

The newly elected President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, prepared a draft of his inaugural address. At the same time, he met with a delegation of Virginia Unionists and they informed him of the tense situation in their state. The border states, in particular, Virginia, claimed the attention of both Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Virginia was the most populous of the slave states and it had considerable industrial capacity. In addition, its prestige in the country was immense; many of the early patriots had come from Virginia. Maryland was also strategic; Baltimore was the fourth largest port in the country. The capital of the country was surrounded by Virginia and Maryland. The domino effect was also a worry, if Virginia seceded, North Carolina would go too and so probably would Tennessee. If all of the border states sided with the Confederacy, Washington would be cut off from the Union and the Lincoln administration would be in grave danger. On the other hand, if all of the border states remained in the Union, the Confederacy would be in dire straits. Because of this, both the Union and Confederacy vied for the allegiance of this vital border region.

Lincoln went as far as to reassure Virginia that he would not use force to recover government property that seceding states had seized prior to his inauguration. He did make it clear, however, that the government would defend Fort Pickens and Fort Sumter should they be attacked. Fort Sumter were running low on supplies and Lincoln made up his mind that he was going to send provisions to the Fort. He notified the governor of South Carolina, Francis Pickens, that "an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumpter with provisions only, and that , if such an attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition, will be made, without further notice, or in case of an attack on the Fort." The Confederate secretary of war demanded the evacuation of the fort, and if refused, the use of force was authorized. The commander of the fort, Major Anderson, informed P.G.T. Beauregard that he would defend the fort, but if the Confederate forces did not open hostilities, he was so short of food that they would be starved out and would abandon the Fort by April 15th, 1861. Beauregard was ordered not to take any hostile action, but when the relief fleet arrived outside of Charleston harbor, things changed. Anderson was handed am ultimatum and when he refused to surrender, the batteries surrounding the fort were ordered to stand ready. At 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861, a signal shell was fired and by 5 AM, the bombardment was well underway. At 7 AM, Fort Sumter returned fire. After sustaining thirty-three hours of shelling, Anderson surrendered. The relief ships were allowed to take Anderson and his men north.

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