Fort Sumter and Karl Marx

[Alistair_McCello]

I have been recently reading through some articles on the American Civil War written by Karl Marx and I came across something I had never heard before.

@Karl Marx

On April 11 (1861) their General Beauregard had learnt in a meeting with Major Anderson, the commander of Fort Sumter, that the fort was only supplied with provisions for three days more and accordingly must be peacefully surrendered after this period. In order to forestall this peaceful surrender, the secessionists opened the bombardment early on the following morning (April 12), which brought about the fall of the fort in a few hours. News of this had hardly been telegraphed to Montgomery, the seat of the Secession Congress, when War Minister Walker publicly declared in the name of the new Confederacy:

From: The North American Civil War

In a quick search I was not able to find any confirmation that the Confederates intentionally opted to avoid a peaceful surrender of the fort in preference for an act of war. In fact the only mention of the communication I found was in General Beauregard’s own reports of the incident in which he indicates that Marx is mistaken:

@Gen. Beauregard

As, in consequence of a communication from the President of the United States to the governor of South Carolina, we were in momentary expectation of an attempt to re-enforce Fort Sumter, or of a descent upon our coast to that end from the United States fleet then lying at the entrance of the harbor, it was manifestly an imperative necessity to reduce the fort as speedily as possible, and not to wait until the ships and the fort should unite in a combined attack upon us. Accordingly my aides, carrying out my instructions, promptly refused to accede to the terms proposed by Major Anderson, and notified him in writing that our batteries would open upon Fort Sumter in one hour.

From: P.G.T. Beauregard’s Report of the Bombardment of Fort Sumter

I am curious if anyone has any other sources that confirm or refute Marx’s claim? Was he using misinformation to bolster his argument (intentionally or not)?

[Freddy_the_Pig]

Marx’s account is not correct. The Confederates knew that Fort Sumter was about to run out of provisions (because Anderson had told them), but they also knew that a resupply expedition was under way and might arrive at any moment. President Lincoln had sent official notice of the latter to the Governor of South Carolina.

Lincoln also notified the Governor that the resupply expedition would be peaceful; it would only carry provisions and would not initiate hostilities. However, it would be backed by warships sailing outside the harbor, and if the Confederates fired upon the resupply operation, war would be on and the warships would naturally sail into the harbor and join the fight.

Beauregard quite naturally decided to reduce the fort before the resupply expedition arrived.

However, note that his account also slants the truth a little bit; to say that “the ships and fort would unite in an attack upon us” implies that the North might have fired the first shots, which was not the case (and which Beauregard knew not to be the case). However, the ships would have joined in the reply of the fort to a Confederate attack, so military logic obviously favored an immediate assault.