The Cannons Roar: Fort Sumter and the Start of the Civil War—An Oral History

When Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) was elected president of the United States in 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Other Southern states quickly followed and seized federal property in their states. Major Robert Anderson (1805–71), U.S. Army commander of Fort Sumter, located in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor, refused to surrender. That provoked a standoff between federal officials and Confederate and South Carolina authorities. On April 12, 1861, over a 24-hour period, Confederate batteries bombarded the fort, which initiated the Civil War. Former journalist Chadwick (American history, Rutgers Univ.; The First American Army) weaves together quotes from newspapers, letters, and diaries to give an in-depth and firsthand look at the crisis leading up to the attack on Fort Sumter and the attack itself. The varied and divergent views of many different witnesses, Black and white, are fully represented here. The feelings of gloom, uncertainty, and fear that hung over the nation are expertly portrayed. Chadwick’s combined use of lesser-known and better-known sources provides a fresh new look at this pivotal moment in U.S. history.