Head Quarters,
Confederate States Army,
charleston, South Carolina,
April 13, 1861.
Major:
I have the honor to report that between one and two o'clock
this afternoon, the flag having fallen at Fort Sumter, and its fire having
ceased, I left Morris's Island, with the consent and approval of General Simons
to demand the surrender of the work, and offer assistance to the garrison.
Before reaching the Fort the flag was again raised. On
entering the work I informed Major Anderson of my name and position on the
staff of the Commanding General, and demanded the surrender of the Fort to the
Confederate States.
My attention having been called to the fact that most of our
batteries continued their fire, I suggested to Major Anderson that the cambric
handkerchief, which I bore on my sword, had probably not been seen, as I
crossed the Bay, and requested him to raise a white flag; which he did. The
firing then ceased from all our batteries — when Major Anderson lowered his
flag and surrendered the Fort.
The time and manner of the evacuation are to be determined
by General Beauregard.
Before the surrender I expressed the confident belief to
Major Anderson that no terms would be imposed, which would be incompatible with
his honor as a soldier, or his feelings as a gentleman — and assured him of the
high appreciation in which his gallantry and desperate defence of a place, now
no longer tenable, were held by the Commanding General.
Major Anderson exhibited great coolness, and seemed relieved
from much of the unpleasantness of his situation by the fact that the proposal
had been made by us that he should surrender the work, which he admitted to be
no longer defensible.
I take great pleasure in acknowledging that my success in
reaching the Fort was due to the courage and patriotism of Private William
Gourdin Young, of the Palmetto Guard; without whose aid I could not have
surmounted the obstacles.
I have the honor to
be with the highest respect.
Louis T. Wigfall.
major D. R. Jones,
Asst. Adjutant General,
Confederate States Army.
SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in
’61, p. 45-6
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