Strangers in a Strange Land

If the state of South Carolina disestablished itself from the U.S. Government, what was to become of the U.S. troops who had been stationed in Charleston? Should they stay or should they leave? These were the questions U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson asked himself - and his superiors in Washington, D.C. (He and his men were stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island near Charleston's harbor - a fort held by the U.S. Government for nearly 100 years.) Anderson was told to basically hold down the fort (Moultrie, that is) until he felt the men's safety was at risk. But when the state actually seceded, he felt that may be the case. So six days after the state's secession, he packed up his men and they rowed out into the harbor to Fort Sumter, a not-yet-completed structure built on a sandbar at the harbor's entrance, and awaited further instructions. And waited. And waited.