The bloodless bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter occurred on April
13, 1861. The garrison was generously permitted to retire with the
honors of war. The evacuation of that fort, commanding the entrance to
the harbor of Charleston, which, if in hostile hands, was destructive of
its commerce, had been claimed as the right of South Carolina. The
voluntary withdrawal of the garrison by the United States Government had
been considered, and those best qualified to judge believed it had been
promised. Yet, when instead of the fulfillment of just expectations,
instead of the withdrawal of the garrison, a hostile expedition was
organized and sent forward, the urgency of the case required its
reduction before it should be reenforced. Had there been delay, the more
serious conflict between larger forces, land and naval, would scarcely
have been bloodless, as the bombardment fortunately was. The event,
however, was seized upon to inflame the mind of the Northern people, and
the disguise which had been worn in the communications with the
Confederate Commissioners was now thrown off, and it was cunningly
attempted to show that the South, which had been pleading for peace and
still stood on the defensive, had by this bombardment inaugurated a war
against the United States. But it should be stated that the threats
implied in the declarations that the Union could not exist part slave
and part free, and that the Union should be preserved, and the denial of
the right of a State peaceably to withdraw, were virtually a declaration
of war, and the sending of an army and navy to attack was the result to
have been anticipated as the consequence of such declaration of war.
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