The Day of Reckoning

Shortly after 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, local residents stood at the Battery (White Point Garden) to watch Confederate troops shell the U.S. Army troops at Ft. Sumter from the islands surrounding it. (No shots were ever fired from what we now call the Battery.) After 34 hours, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered. There was some confusion with the surrender. A Confederate envoy, led by Col. Louis T. Wigfall (a former senator from Texas) headed over to the fort and assured Anderson that Beauregard would agree to the terms of his surrender. Subsequently, Anderson's men lowered the U.S. flag. Upon seeing a white flag flying at the fort, Beauregard then sent an envoy to the fort to help the Union troops extinguish fires that had been caused by the shelling. Anderson happened to mention to U.S. officers this second envoy what the terms of surrender were. However, Beauregard did not know Wigfall had already been there, and he had not planned to permit the U.S. troops to salute the American flag at the official surrender ceremony. Anderson became irritated at the mix-up and directed his men to return to their battle stations and hoist the American flag again. But the officers in this second envoy assured Anderson that Beauregard would likely agree to the terms, so the surrender was put in writing and forwarded to Beauregard who approved the surrender (including the salute to the U.S. flag by Anderson's men). At the ceremony, a cannon discharged prematurely and killed one U.S. soldier. This was the first casualty of the Civil War.