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Sumter (FORT named after Gen)

FORT, (named after Gen.

Thomas Sumter, 1734-1832), an American fort associated with both the beginning and the end of the Civil War; built of brick, in the form of a truncated pentagon 38 feet high, on a shoal, partly artificial, in Charleston Harbor, 3½ miles from the city. On the withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union in December, 1860, Major Anderson, in command of the defenses of the harbor, abandoned the other forts, and occupied Fort Sumter, mounting 62 guns, with a garrison of some 80 men. The attack on the fort was opened by General Beauregard April 12, 1861, and it surrendered on the 14th; this event marked the beginning of the war. The Confederates strengthened it, and added 10 guns and 4 mortars. In April, 1863, an attack by a fleet of monitors failed. In July batteries were erected on Morris Island, about 4,000 yards off, from which in a week 5,000 projectiles, weighing from 100 to 300 pounds, were hurled against १०