Fort Sumter was one of many small artificual island forts spanning down the east coast of the U.S. It was located among other forts protecting Charlston harbor. The island was made out of granite and sea shells. The fiasco over Fort Sumter took place in the 120 days between Lincoln's election and inaguration in 1861. In this time, the former federally controlled fort in southern territory changed hands in a bloodless yet consequential and momentous span of events. Lincoln at the time was not yet president and under the constitution did not have any more power in the matter than the next man; however, he held considerable influence. The Buchanan administration was mainly focused on retaining Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens and proposing several compromises in order to keep the country united. All in all though, Buchanan was a lame duck and Lincoln was faced with a decision that would decide the fate of the country. "The commander of Fort Sumter, Major Robert Anderson had sent word to Washington that supplies were running low." Lincoln's decision on what to do next would either set off a war or allow the deep south and seceded states to cement its claim as a separate and powerful country. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy did not want to take the fort by force immediately until the south had gained foreign support and because there were still several slave states loyal to the union that he wanted to side with the south and not be scared away. At first the confederacy demanded its surrender immediately and with Anderson denial, the next step would have to be left up to old Abe. Much like Henry Clay, Lincoln made a wise, compromise-minded decision to send supplies to maintain the fort but not (well-needed) arms and soldiers as stated in his letter to the South Carolina authorities. This showed his somewhat neutral desire to peacefully resist the formation of a separate Southern country but not so much as to cause an all out war. Lincoln was in all right a master of compromise while at times taking affirmative action when needed. His decisions not only reflected his own ideals but the aspirations of his party, the North, and the Nation as a whole; so he needed to take into consideration completely opposite desires in multiple matters, Fort Sumter being one of them. In a way, he let the south decide their fate starting with their victory at Fort Sumter. In the end, his decision to "passively" let the south take the fort by force proved to be beneficial for the North and drew the battle lines both geographically and figuratively in the sense that the south looked more like the bad guy in trying to split from the union and needed to be stopped by the North.
Fun facts: No one was killed in the bombardment except a donkey.
Also a few guys died when a cannon exploded in their surrender solute blast or what ever.
"The Battle of Fort Sumter Summary & Facts | Civilwar.org." Civil War Trust: Saving America's Civil War Battlefields. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fort-sumter.html>.
"Dilemmas of Compromise." Tulane University. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. < http://www.tulane.edu/~sumter/Dilemmas/Dilemmas_intro.html>.
"Fort Sumter." United States American History. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h98.html>.
lovely!~
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