Timeline for the Battle of Fort Sumter
- April 11, 1861. 3:45 P.M. General
Beauregard sends two of his aides out to Fort Sumter to offer the terms of
surrender.
- April 11, 1861. 4:30 P.M. Major Anderson
states that they will not surrender and the two aides took this message back to
General Beauregard.
- April 11, 1861. 5:15 P.M. The message entered Beauregard’s
hands.
- April 11, 1861. At Montgomery, Confederate Secretary of War,
L.P. Walker, replied to General Beauregard as such after he read the reply from
Major Anderson. “'Do not desire
needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state the time at
which, as indicated by him, he will evacuate, and agree that in the meantime he
will not use his guns against us, unless ours should be employed against Fort
Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid the effusion of blood. If this, or its
equivalent, be refused, reduce the fort as your judgment decides to be most
practicable'”(Lee).
- April 12, 1861. 12:45 A.M. The same aides went to Anderson, and
a message based on the statement above entered his hand at the time shown.
- April 12, 1861. 3:15 A.M. Major Anderson’s reply finally got
to the aides, after being stalled by Anderson until that time. His reply was
that he would evacuate his men on the 15th, if he did not receive
orders from the Government, or additional aid. He declined not to not open fire
on the enemy if they showed any hostilities towards their flag.
- April 12, 1861. 3:20 A.M. The aides, finding this message
unsatisfactory,
gave Major Anderson a notification. “‘FORT SUMTER, S.C., April
12, 1861, 3:20 A.M. - SIR: By authority of Brigadier-General Beauregard,
commanding the Provisional Forces of the Confederate States, we have the honor
to notify you that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one
hour from this time. We have the honor to be very respectfully, Your obedient
servants, JAMES CHESNUT JR., Aide-de-camp. STEPHEN D. LEE, Captain C. S. Army,
Aide-de-camp'” (Lee).
- April
12, 1861. 4 A.M. Captain James, from the Confederate army, woke his command, then offered the chance to General Roger
A. Pryor to fire the first shot of the Civil War. Pryor declined and James fired the
shot. It woke all the people in Charlestown Harbor, and the Civil War had
begun.