Fort Sumter in Pictures: The Civil War's First Battle

Major Robert Anderson, Fort Sumter

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Thrust reluctantly onto center stage during one of America’s most turbulent chapters, Maj. Robert Anderson was given command of the Charleston defenses on November 15, 1860, just as the secession crisis entered its most critical phase.

A graduate of West Point and veteran of several campaigns, Anderson remained fiercely loyal to the Union despite his Kentucky roots and pro-slavery leanings. His defiant professionalism during the standoff at Fort Sumter earned him the status of the Union’s first Civil War hero.

(See Civil War reenactment pictures.)

Updated April 12, 2011

Transport into Fort Sumter

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Artist Alfred Waud sketched this scene of the small dock and sally point used by Major Anderson on December 26, 1860, to bring all his men into the relative safety of Fort Sumter’s walls.

After South Carolina seceded on December 20, the Union commander decided he could not hold nearby Fort Moultrie because of its lightly defended landward approaches. Since the transfer took place under cover of darkness, Waud likely composed this scene while observing a typical supply or communication detail with a telescope from across the harbor.

Waud would soon become one of the Civil War’s most prolific and famous field artists. Hundreds of his sketches would be reproduced as engravings on the pages of the New York Illustrated News and Harper’s Weekly.

(Related: "Civil War at 150: Expect Subdued Salutes, Rising Voices.")

Updated April 12, 2011

Prayer at Fort Sumter in 1860

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

A chaplain offers up a prayer as Major Anderson kneels with some of his men assembled in Fort Sumter’s parade ground on the day after all the Union forces took up residence there.

This illustration accompanies an article in Harper’s Weekly about what was fast becoming the hottest story of the day. Northern readers were already enthralled with the story of the brave commander and his men who had just staked everything on holding out in Fort Sumter.

(Interactive Map: Battlefields of the Civil War.)

Updated April 12, 2011

Rebel Troops Occupying Fort Moultrie

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Across the harbor—and on the other side of the contest—special artist Frank Vizetelly of the Illustrated London News captured this scene of South Carolina state troops occupying Fort Moultrie not long after Anderson abandoned it to move his headquarters to Fort Sumter (visible in the distance).

An interesting detail in this picture is the distinctive “Palmetto” flag flying over the fort. Since the Confederacy was just taking shape, South Carolina used its own distinctive state colors that bore a patriotic symbol dating back to the Revolutionary War. In 1776, a force of Carolinians under the command of Colonel William Moultrie defended this same spot behind the walls of a fort made of palmetto logs.

Updated April 12, 2011

Secession Cartoon with Fort Sumter

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

This cartoon from early 1861 ridicules the two opposing leaders in the rapidly escalating secession crisis against the backdrop of Fort Sumter. In late December 1860, the governor of South Carolina, Francis Pickens, sent a delegation to Washington to negotiate with lame-duck President James Buchanan for the “transfer” of Fort Sumter.

Although Buchanan had offered almost no resistance to the seizure of Federal property by the seceding Southern states, he balked at giving up Fort Sumter.

By this time it was common knowledge that Buchanan had no plan to deal with the threat to the Union and he was content to wait for President-elect Lincoln to be sworn in (Inauguration Day was on March 4 until 1933). Consequently, through January and February of 1861, Buchanan stalled while Pickens and other newly minted Confederates pushed for a showdown.

Updated April 12, 2011

Morris Island Gun Installation Illustration

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Since no war had been declared, special artist William Waud (brother of Alfred) was free to cover the story developing in Charleston Harbor along with other Northern correspondents. In this sketch, Confederate artillery officers supervise the installation of a gun at one of the Morris Island fortifications south of Fort Sumter.

As seen here, much of the heavy labor that went into shoring up the fortifications ringing the harbor was supplied by conscripted slave crews.

Updated April 12, 2011

Bombardment of Fort Sumter

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The dramatic battle panorama of the bombardment of Fort Sumter appeared in numerous versions across the country in the weeks and months after the fight.

This classic print clearly shows the intense crossfire unleashed against the fort from Fort Moultrie (left) and Cumming’s Point on Morris Island (right). The arcing shot trails represent mortar fire that could reach over the thick walls to hit the more vulnerable—and flammable—structures in the fort’s interior.

Among the inaccuracies that commonly show up in these illustrations are guns firing from Fort Sumter’s upper two tiers. During the actual bombardment, the Union garrison only returned fire from the well-protected lower tier.

Updated April 12, 2011

Union Returning Fire Inside Fort Sumter

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

A romanticized scene inside Fort Sumter during the bombardment on April 12 shows Federal gunners returning fire.

To keep his men as safe as possible from Confederate fire, Major Anderson only used a handful of guns in the fort’s well-protected lower tier to hit back at the enemy batteries. Because these guns could not be elevated (they had, by design, been laid to fire directly at ships), the Union return fire did little damage to the Confederate positions.

Like Fort Sumter itself, the surrounding hostile fortifications were most vulnerable to shells that could be fired in an arc over their thick walls and earthworks.

Updated April 12, 2011

Fort Sumter Under Heavy Bombardment

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Harper’s Weekly ran its story on the battle with this pair of illustrations: The top shows the classic scene of Sumter under heavy bombardment while the lower panel offers a somewhat fanciful interpretation of what it looked like across the harbor in a Confederate battery.

In reality, return fire coming from Fort Sumter was largely ineffective and not nearly as dangerous as the illustration suggests. Neither side had a soldier killed by enemy fire despite all the shot and shell filling the air.

Updated April 12, 2011

Fort Sumter Flag

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

After the surrender and evacuation of the fort, the flag that flew over Fort Sumter was soon held up as a sacred patriotic relic.

During the battle, the flagpole was toppled by shellfire but was heroically remounted on a makeshift stand. Major Anderson kept the flag when he left the fort and it was soon widely reproduced for publication.

Updated April 12, 2011

American Flag Over Sumter Poster

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The attack on Fort Sumter and the American flag quickly became the rallying cry that Lincoln needed to mobilize Northern public opinion.

Among the thousands of patriotic broadsides and posters that soon became a common sight was this sentimental masterpiece with a rendering of the Sumter flag in the evening sky—and the even more improbable inclusion of the fort itself standing in a distant lake.

Updated April 12, 2011