Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 5.djvu/19

Rh son dismantled Fort Moultrie and removed his command by boats over to Fort Saunter. The following account of the effect of this removal of Major Anderson upon the people, and the action of the government, is taken from Brevet Major-General Crawford s &quot;Genesis of the Civil War. General Crawford was at the time on the medical staff and one of Anderson s officers. His book is a clear and admirable narrative of the events of those most eventful days, and is written in the spirit of the utmost candor and fairness. In the conclusion of the chapter describing the removal, he says:

The fact of the evacuation of Fort Moultrie by Major Anderson was soon communicated to the authorities and people of Charleston, creating intense excitement. Crowds collected in streets and open places of the city, and loud and violent were the expressions of feeling against Major Anderson and his action. . . . [The governor of the State was ready to act in accordance with the feeling displayed.] On the morning of the 2 7th, he dispatched his aide-de-camp, Col. Johnston Pettigrew, of the First South Carolina Rifles, to Major Anderson. He was accompanied by Maj. Ellison Capers, of his regiment. Arriving at Fort Sumter, Colonel Pettigrew sent a card inscribed, &quot;Colonel Pettigrew, First Regiment Rifles, S. C. M., Aide-de-Camp to the Governor, Commissioner to Major Anderson. Ellison Capers, Major First Regiment Rifles, S. C. M.&quot;. . . Colonel Pettigrew and his companion were ushered into the room. The feeling was reserved and formal, when, after declining seats, Colonel Pettigrew immediately opened his mission : &quot;Major Anderson,&quot; said he, &quot;can I communicate with you now, sir, before these officers, on the subject for which I am here?&quot; &quot;Certainly, sir,&quot; replied Major Anderson, &quot;these are all my officers; I have no secrets from them, sir.

The commissioner then informed Major Anderson that he was directed to say to him that the governor was much surprised that he had reinforced &quot;this work.&quot; Major Anderson promptly responded that there had been no reinforcement of the work; that he had removed his command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, as he had a right to do, being in command of all the forts in the harbor. To this Colonel Pettigrew replied that when