Fort Sumter, South Carolina, January 9, 1861.
Sir: Two of your batteries fired this morning upon an
unarmed vessel bearing the flag of my Government. As I have not been notified
that war has been declared by South Carolina against the Government of the
United States, I cannot but think that this hostile act was committed without
your sanction or authority. Under that hope, and that alone, did I refrain from
opening fire upon your batteries. I have therefore respectfully to ask whether
the above-mentioned act, one I believe without a parallel in the history of our
country or of any other civilized government, was committed in obedience to
your instructions, and to notify you, if it be not disclaimed, that I must
regard it as an act of war, and that I shall not, after a reasonable time for
the return of my messenger, permit any vessel to pass within range of the guns
in my fort. In order to save, as far as lies within my power, the shedding of
blood, I beg that you will have due notice of this, my decision, given to all
concerned. Hoping, however, that your answer may be such as will justify a
further continuance of forbearance upon my part, I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
Robert Anderson,
Major First
Artillery, Commanding.
To His Excellency the
Governor of South Carolina.
SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the
Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 188
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