Fort Sumter Flag-1860

On April 14th, 1865, General Robert Anderson raised a 33-star American Flag over the ruins of Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.  It was the same Flag he lowered four years earlier, to the day, at the beginning of the Civil War.  The event symbolized the end of the bloodiest chapter in American history.  A few hours later, in a theater 500 miles to the north, an assassin’s bullet ended the life of the Great Emancipator who preserved the union through this horrific time.

Dark clouds of civil war had been gathering almost since the nation’s inception.  With the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, the storm broke.  Before his inauguration, seven state seceded, South Carolina being the first.  In December of 1860, Anderson, then a major, gathered the small contingency of Federal troops stationed at Charleston into the unfinished Fort Sumter. 

Early on the morning of April 12th, the Confederates unleashed a bombardment on Fort Sumter lasting 34 hours.  At 1PM the large garrison Flag flying over the fort was hit.  Soldiers rushed to save the Flag and raised it again. 

Union troops put up a valiant defense, but with ammunition and food running out, Anderson accepted the Confederate’s terms of surrender.  The following day, the Flag was lowered, and the fort evacuated.

Upon arrival in New York City, the Flag was hung from a statue of George Washington.  The Flag toured the country, raising funds for the war effort.  Seeing the Fort Sumter Flag set off a wave of patriotism.  Flags flew from every church steeple and over government buildings.  The invention of the sewing machine and establishment of the Annin Flagmakers company made American Flags affordable for average Americans.  During the Civil War it became the custom to display an American Flag to show allegiance to the Republic for which it stands.

Two Fort Sumter Flags still exist.  The larger garrison flag, which flew over the fort during the bombardment, badly beaten but not destroyed.  Also, the smaller storm flag, in better condition.  Both were in the possession of Anderson’s widow.  After her death, their daughter presented the Flags to William Taft, then Secretary of War.  Currently, both Fort Sumter Flags are archived by the National Park Service.

Source material includes:

Barns, Frank. “Fort Sumter National Monument” (1956) National Park Service Historical Handbook Series No. 12. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hh/12/index.htm

Calabro, Marian. “Annin Flagmakers: An Illustrated History” p 14, (2013) Corporate History.net LLC https://annin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Annin_History_Book.pdf

Canby, George. “The Evolution of the American Flag” pp. 93-96, (1909) Ferris & Leach

Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 02 July 1892. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1892-07-02/ed-1/seq-14/

Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 07 May 1905. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1905-05-07/ed-1/

Furlong, William and McCandless, Byron. “So Proudly We Hail, The History of the United States Flag” pp. 201-202, (1981) Smithsonian Institution Press 

Library of Congress. “The Prayer at Sumter” (1861) Photograph. United States Charleston Fort Sumter South Carolina, https://www.loc.gov/item/00652804/

Malory, Mark. “The History of Fort Sumter” (2023) American Battlefield Trust https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/fort-sumter-history

National Park Service. “Fort Sumter Garrison Flag” (1860) https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/flags/fosu2.htm

National Park Service. “Fort Sumter Storm Flag” (1860) https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/flags/fosu3.htm

Preble, George. “Our Flag, Origin and Progress of the Flag of the United States of America” pp. 311-363, (1872) Kessinger’s Legacy Reprint 

Spalding, Brett. “Historic Fort Sumter Flags to Be Removed from Park Museums for Conservation” (2023) National Parks Service. Retrieved 27 September 2024 from https://www.nps.gov/fosu/learn/news/historic-fort-sumter-flags-to-be-removed-from-park-museums-for-conservation.htm