Fort Sumter Case

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On December 20, 1860, South Carolina made a decision to secede from the United States Union. A few days later, from Charleston, South Carolina over 50 federal troops took off to Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is an island in the Charleston Harbor which was considered part of the Northern United States government. However, southerners from South Carolina thought it belonged to the new Confederacy. Four months later, the earliest Civil War engagement took place on this disputed soil.
Before his administration ended, President James Buchanan sent 200 soldiers and supplies on an unarmed merchant vessel to reinforce Commander Robert Anderson. Robert Anderson was the commanding officer at Fort Sumter, and he was labeled as a former slave owner who was unquestionably loyal to the Union. When the unarmed merchant boat reached its destination it quickly left because South Carolina weaponry began firing on it. Unfortunately, Anderson and his soldiers stationed at the harbor, no longer got support, food or supplies. The fate of Fort Sumter lay in the hands of the incoming president or presidents. …show more content…

Although Lincoln thought of the Southern secession as artificial, Jefferson Davis sent a group of commissioners to Washington to transfer Fort Sumter to South Carolina which was part of the Confederacy and solidify the separation. Now, it was more than evident that Lincoln needed to act urgently in order to reunite the United States and Fort Sumter. Lincoln was caught between a rock and a hard place because Fort Sumter was quickly running out of supplies and nearly every decision he made had the potential to end

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