It was about noon when Robert Anderson raised the American flag over Fort Sumter. Today, it is a mostly forgotten event, certainly less riveting than the photographed huddled forms atop Mount Suribachi, and less venerated than Francis Scott Key penning “The Star-Spangled Banner.” That the Fort Sumter scene has faded from memory is ironic, because it was far more important and had much greater immediate and long-range impact than any similar event in American history, far more than any words spoken by Lincoln until his 1863 Gettysburg Address. Anderson’s simple – and really quite normal – act of raising that totem of the United States deeply stirred the national porridge of patriotism. From that moment – or at least the time of a couple weeks later when Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper simultaneously included emotional depictions of the ceremony – the fate of Fort Sumter became a symbol of the nation. Fort Sumter stopped being merely one of dozens of federal forts inside seceded states. Sumter had been “important” for weeks; not it became an emotional magnet.
[….]
Just before noon those at the fort gathered. Wylie Crawford was at Moultrie at the time, but he interviewed some who were there and wrote a note in his diary about the ceremony at Sumter. The band, he said, stood on the ramparts, far above the parade. Anderson’s soldiers remained below. The workmen squeezed together in clumps toward the sides, while a small armed guard of soldiers eyed them carefully. Women and children solemnly milled about the detritus of the fortress building materials. Anderson stood by the flagstaff with the halyard in his hand, as a sergeant positioned himself nearby holding the flag across his hands. In the middle of the group was Reverend Matthias Harris, who had just arrived.
When everyone was in place, Major Anderson took off his hat, knelt on the ground, and, while still holding the rope, bowed his head. Others on the parade kneeled as well. Harris raised his voice. He thanked the Lord that the garrison had made it safely across. He prayed with great feeling that the flag they were about to raise would soon float again over a united nation, one that would remain prosperous and at peace. He asked God that this flag never be dishonored.
Author’s Note:
[As to the newspaper accounts] Both accounts were dated January 26, 1861, but appeared almost two weeks earlier, exactly the same, word for word. Frank Leslie’s states that the story came from “a Baltimore gentleman who was also present,” pp. 145-46; Harper’s, p. 49. Who was the source of the story? Frank Leslie’s also claimed that it had the only “news artist” in Charleston. A number of mechanics were from Baltimore, and so was Foster’s brother-in-law, Edward Moale of Baltimore. On that very day Harper’s wrote Anderson, asking him to supply them with information, but there is no evidence he did so: Harper’s to Anderson, December 27, 1860, RA. But Crawford, hall and Seymour did send things, especially drawings, to the magazine, and were paid to do so: see, e.g., Crawford to his brother, February 21, 1861, SWC; Harper’s Weekly, March 23, 1861, p. 190.
Source:
Detzer, David. “Dueling Flags.” Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War. New York: Harcourt, 2002. 128-29. Print.
Further Reading:
[Robert Anderson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anderson_(Civil_War)
Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization
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