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Title: The Flag Replaced on Sumter
A Personal Narrative

Author: William A. Spicer

Release Date: December 13, 2007 [EBook #23846]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE

FLAG REPLACED ON SUMTER.

_A PERSONAL NARRATIVE_

BY

WILLIAM A. SPICER.

READ BEFORE THE

RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

FEBRUARY, 1884.

PROVIDENCE:
PRINTED BY THE PROVIDENCE PRESS COMPANY.
1885.

COPYRIGHT,
1885.

[Illustration: THE ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER IN APRIL, 1861.]

THE FLAG REPLACED ON SUMTER.

"What's hallowed ground? 'Tis what gives birth
To sacred thoughts in souls of worth!
Peace! Independence! Truth!"--_Campbell._

[Illustration]

Immediately upon the election of Abraham Lincoln as President, in
November, 1860, a predetermined plan of secession was entered upon by
the leading public men of the South, on the plea that his election was
dangerous the interests of slavery. In February, 1861, seven of the
slave States having united in the movement, an independent government
was organized, under the name of the Southern Confederacy, and
Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as President with great pomp, at
Montgomery, Alabama; so that on the fourth of March, the day of Mr.
Lincoln's inauguration at Washington, the flag of the United States
was flying at only three points south of the Capital, viz: Fort
Sumter, Fort Pickens, and Key West.

South Carolina naturally led the scheme of disunion, passing the
ordinance of secession on the twentieth of December, 1860, and
immediately proceeding to secure possession of the national property
in the State, particularly the forts in Charleston harbor.

To prevent this, Major Robert Anderson, an able and loyal southern
officer, commanding a small garrison of United St