1861 April 13th

April 13 1861 Saturday

Battle of Fort Sumter, SC
Surrender of Fort Sumter, SC (CWSAC Decisive Battle – Confederate Victory)

Fort Sumter Operations

Alabama. Lieutenant John Lorimer Worden USN was seized near Montgomery and placed in prison. He was apprehended after he had successfully carried secret orders to Captain Henry A Adams, who was in command of USS Sabine and the senior officer present in the Pensacola area. The orders were to reinforce and hold Fort Pickens in Pensacola Bay.

Florida. USS Sabine (Captain Henry A Adams) began the blockade of Pensacola Harbour. The reinforcements and supplies which reached the fort on 12 April made it possible to establish the new Union Department of Florida with headquarters at Fort Pickens. This organisation comprised the state of Florida and was the first base of operations for naval and military operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Major Harvey Brown (2nd US Artillery) was appointed to command the Department of Florida. Within a month he was promoted to Colonel (5^th US Artillery). Brown had been serving as military commander of Washington, DC, and of Fort McHenry, until January 1861 when he was assigned to Fort Pickens.

Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter continued and a shell hit the officers’ quarters, starting a serious fire that threatened the main magazine. The Confederate gunners observed that hot shot had set fire to buildings within the walls and fired more of the same kind of projectiles until by noon several fires were alight inside the fort. The Union gunners in the casemates began to be in danger from the fires. During the 34-hour bombardment, about 4,000 artillery and mortar rounds fell on the fort. The flagstaff was shot away at 1.30 pm and some confusion ensued whether the fort was actually being surrendered when former Senator Luis Trezevant Wigfall arrived at the fort under a flag of truce. At 2.30 pm Major Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to Trezevant and was granted full honours of war. Anderson agreed to evacuate the garrison the following day. (CWSAC Decisive Battle – Confederate Victory)

Texas. Fort Davis was abandoned by Union forces.

Union Organisation

USA: The Department of Florida was established with headquarters at Fort Pickens, comprising the state of Florida transferred from the Department of the East.
USA: Major Harvey Brown (2nd US Artillery) was appointed to command the Department of Florida, arriving on 18 April 1861.

Commander in Chief: President Abraham Lincoln
Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of War: Simon Cameron
Secretary of the Navy: Gideon Welles

Pacific Squadron: John Berrien Montgomery

General–in-Chief: Winfield Scott

Department of the East: John Ellis Wool

Department of Florida established: Harvey Brown awaited

Department of New Mexico: William Wing Loring

Department of the Pacific: Albert Sidney Johnston interim Edwin Vose Sumner awaited

District of Oregon: George Wright

Department of Texas: Carlos Adolphus Waite

Department of Utah: Philip St George Cooke

Department of Washington: Charles Ferguson Smith

Department of the West: William Selby Harney

Confederate Organisation

CSA: The Defences of Savannah was established, comprising the area around Savannah, Georgia, and Fort Pulaski.
CSA: Brigadier-General Alexander Robert Lawton was appointed to command the Defences of Savannah, arriving on 17 April 1861. He was currently Colonel of the 1st Georgia Militia and was awaiting a Confederate commission. His grade of Brigadier-General was backdated to the date of this assignment.
CSA: Alexander Robert Lawton was promoted to Brigadier-General PACS on 28 August, to rank from 17 April 1861.

Commander in Chief: President Jefferson Finis Davis
Vice-President: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Secretary of War: Leroy Pope Walker
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Russell Mallory

Department of Louisiana: David Emanuel Twiggs

“Forces in New Orleans” “Army of Louisiana”: Braxton Bragg

Department of South Carolina: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard

“Forces in Charleston”: Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard

Department of Texas: Earl Van Dorn awaited

Department of West Florida: Braxton Bragg

“Forces in Pensacola”: Braxton Bragg

Defences of Savannah established: Alexander Robert Lawton awaited

Forces in Harper’s Ferry”: Kenton Harper

Union Generals

Major-General USA

Winfield Scott

Brigadier-General USA

John Ellis Wool
William Selby Harney
Edwin Vose Sumner

Brigadier-General USA (Staff)

Joseph Eggleston Johnston

Confederate Generals

Note: Italics, awaiting confirmation of the commission

Major-General PACS

David Emanuel Twiggs

Brigadier-General ACSA

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
Braxton Bragg

Brigadier-General PACS

Alexander Robert Lawton