Anderson robert author biography civil war

He also was in charge of transporting Black Hawk to Jefferson Barracks after his capture, assisted by Jefferson Davis. Returning to regular Army service as a first lieutenant in , he served in the Second Seminole War as an assistant adjutant general on the staff of Winfield Scott and was promoted to captain in October He was severely wounded at Molino del Rey while assaulting enemy fortifications, for which he received a brevet promotion to major.

Due to his wounds, Anderson was on sick leave of absence during — He was then in garrison at Fort Preble, Maine, from to He then returned to garrison duty at Fort Preble from to In the fall and summer of , he was a member of a commission which examined the curriculum of West Point and its system of discipline. Anderson was considering retirement when, on November 15, , he was ordered to relieve Brevet Colonel John L.

Although he had little actual command experience, his superiors in Washington hoped that his Southern roots would appease South Carolina. They also expected that he would be cautious and tactful in his duties, thereby avoiding actions provocative to South Carolina. Although Anderson did indeed exercise his duties with caution and tact, South Carolinians were not appeased, and the state seceded on December 20, On January 9, , the Star of the West was fired upon by South Carolinia gunners while attempting to deliver supplies to Fort Sumter.

Although Anderson's troops never returned fire, the date is now considered by many to be the official beginning of the Civil War. By April 5 Confederate General P. Floyd who probably chose Anderson in light of his supposed Southern sympathies. Because of his background, and because he had married the daughter of a wealthy Georgia slave holder, but without much other justification, as he was a quiet and reticent man, Anderson was considered pro-southern and a defender of slavery.

It is true that he, through his marriage, had become the owner of a small number of slaves, but he sold them all shortly before the beginning of the Civil War. In any case, it was expected that he would be cautious and tactful in his duties, thereby avoiding actions provocative to South Carolina. Southerners as well thought Anderson would be sympathetic to their demands that the forts be turned over to the Confederacy.

Indeed, Anderson himself seemed to think that if war could be avoided, the seceding states might, ultimately, return peaceably to the Union. However, apparently nobody had counted on his rigid concept of duty. He liked to say that he lived by his father's religion and General Washington's politics, and that he needed only three documents to guide his path: the Ten Commandments, the Constitution, and the book of army regulations, and he apparently threw in his lot with the Union without hesitation.

Through his resolution and patience he made an essential contribution to the Union war effort by getting Beauregard to fire first. Given little assistance by the Buchanan Administration, Anderson was greatly perturbed by having to choose between war and peace. He took matters into his own hands on December 26, following the secession of the state six days earlier, when he moved his two-company garrison from barely defensible Fort Moultrie to unfinished Fort Sumter in the middle of the harbor.

Decades in the building, it was a large and solid structure of concrete slabs erected on an artificial island overlooking the seaward approaches to Charleston. During this entire period he had had no specific instructions from the administration in Washington. Secretary of War Floyd did send to him Don Carlos Buell, then a captain attached to the War Department, with memorized verbal instructions which Buell, after having seen the condition of Ft.

Moultrie, then interpreted in a manner which left Anderson some leeway to decide for himself, whether to transfer or not to Sumter. Taking advantage of the holiday season and reduced surveillance on the part of the South Carolina milita, Anderson carried out the move during the early evening of December 26, , thus embarrassing President Buchanan and inflaming Southern public opinion.

After the unannounced relief ship Star of the West was fired upon by Carolinian gunners on January 9, , Anderson, not wishing to start a war, withheld his fire. Allegedly, the doctor who delivered Ethel Anderson Clift told her when she was an adult that she was the illegitimate daughter of Maria Anderson and Woodbury Blair, but no documentation exists to verify the relationship.

Virtually all sources that advance this theory reference Ethel's own statements or Clift's biographies. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikisource Wikidata item. American Civil War Union Army officer — This article is about the Union officer in the American Civil War.

For the Confederate officer in the same war, see Robert H. Anderson Confederate officer. For other uses, see Robert Anderson disambiguation. Anderson, c. West Point Cemetery. Early life and career [ edit ]. Civil War [ edit ]. Fort Sumter [ edit ]. Further information: Battle of Fort Sumter. See also: Raising the Flag at Fort Sumter. Status as national hero [ edit ].

Symbolism of the American flag [ edit ]. Assignments [ edit ]. Later life [ edit ]. Family [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ].

Anderson robert author biography civil war

Archived from the original on October 30, Retrieved January 30, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. October 1, Retrieved July 22, George W. Kleber, ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky.