



Produced by Greg Bergquist and The Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)







[Illustration: FORT SUMTER.]




  REMINISCENCES
  OF
  FORTS SUMTER AND MOULTRIE
  IN 1860-'61


  BY ABNER DOUBLEDAY
  BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL U.S.A.

  [Illustration]


  NEW YORK
  HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS
  FRANKLIN SQUARE
  1876




  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
  HARPER & BROTHERS,
  In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.




INTRODUCTION.


Now that the prejudices and bitter partisan feeling of the past are
subsiding, it seems a fitting time to record the facts and incidents
connected with the first conflict of the Rebellion. Of the eleven
officers who took part in the events herein narrated, but four now
survive. Before the hastening years shall have partially obliterated
many circumstances from my memory, and while there is still an
opportunity for conference and friendly criticism, I desire to make,
from letters, memoranda, and documents in my possession, a statement
which will embody my own recollections of the turbulent days of 1860 and
1861.

I am aware that later and more absorbing events have caused the earlier
struggles of the war to recede in the distance; but those who were in
active life at that time will not soon forget the thrill of emotion and
sympathy which followed the movements of Anderson's little band, when it
became its duty to unfold the flag of the Union against a united South
in arms.

I know how difficult it is to write contemporaneous history, or even to
give a bare detail of facts, without wounding the susceptibilities of
others; but whenever I have felt called upon to give my own opinion, I
have endeavored to do so in the spirit of Lincoln's immortal
sentiment--"With malice toward none; with charity for all."




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

FORT MOULTRIE IN 1860.


The Garrison of Fort Moultrie.--Early Indications of
Secession.--Situation of the Fort.--Edmund Ruffin and Robert Barnwell
Rhett.--The Secretary of War.--Arms sent to the South.--Colonel
Gardner.--Captain Foster ordered to Charleston Harbor.--The Officers at
Fort Moultrie.--Communications with Northern Men by
Cipher.--Proscription of Antislavery Men in Charleston.--Position of
Charleston Merchants.--The Secession Leaders only prepared to resist
Coercion.--The Mob proves Unmanageable.--General Scott's Letter to the
President, October 29th.--The Situation in November.--No Instructions
from Washington.--Colonel Gardner's Report to General Wool.      _Page_ 13


CHAPTER II.

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENSE.

Defeat of Captain Seymour's Expedition on the Ashley.--Mayor Macbeth's
Explanation.--Captain Foster's Work on Fort Moultrie.--Governor Gist
convenes the South Carolina Legislature.--Creation of a Standing
Army.--Arrival of Masons from Baltimore.--Situation of Fort Sumter.--A
Dramatic Incident.--Secretary Floyd's Action.--Horace Greeley's Advocacy
of the Right of Secession.--The Situation November 18th.                30


CHAPTER III.

PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS OF THE SECESSIONISTS.

Arrival of Major Anderson.--Huger's Opposition to a Premature Assault on
Fort Moultrie.--Anderson's Report to the Secretary of War.--Active
Preparations by the South Carolinians.--Meeting of Congress.--Attempts
at Compromise.--Secession Batteries at Mount Pleasant.--Arrival of Major
Buell with Written Orders.--Vain Efforts to Strengthen Castle
Pinckney.--Northern Opinion.--Public Meeting in Philadelphia.           41


CHAPTER IV.

THE REMOVAL TO FORT SUMTER.

Passage of the Secession Ordinance.--Governor Pickens's
Proclamation.--Judge Petigru's Visit to Fort Moultrie.--Floyd's
Treachery.--Yancey's Lectures in the North.--The Removal to Sumter.     55


CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST OVERT ACT.

The New Quarters.--Seizure of Castle Pinckney by Charleston
Troops.--Raising the Flag at Fort Sumter.--The Sergeant's
Daughter.--Major Anderson's Position.--The Charleston Troops take Fort
Moultrie.--A Military Problem.--Condition of Fort Sumter.--Governor
Pickens's Commission.--A New Outrage.                                   68


CHAPTER VI.

EFFECT OF ANDERSON'S MOVEMENT.

President Buchanan Aroused.--Excitement in Charleston.--The Situation at
the Beginning of 1861.--Governor Pickens's War Measures.--"My heart was
never in this War".                                                     82


CHAPTER VII.

THE "STAR OF THE WEST."

Promise of Succor.--Fatal Delay.--A Contumacious Chaplain.--Visit from
our Ladies.--Governor Pickens's Cabinet.--Appearance of the Star of the
West.--The Vessel fired upon from Morris Island and Fort
Moultrie.--Major Anderson's Protest.--Governor Pickens's Reply.         92


CHAPTER VIII.

A RESORT TO DIPLOMACY.

Major Anderson's Proposed Diplomatic Negotiations.--Defensive
Pre