Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 5.djvu/21

Rh had reason to believe that they meant to land and attack him from the north; that the desire of the governor to have the matter settled peacefully and without bloodshed was precisely his object in removing his command from Moultrie to Sumter; that he did it upon his own responsibility alone, because he considered that the safety of his command required it, as he had a right to do. &quot;In this controversy,&quot; said he, &quot;between the North and the South, my sympathies are entirely with the South. These gentlemen, said he (turning to the officers of the post who stood about him), &quot;know it perfectly well.&quot; Colonel Pettigrew replied, &quot;Well, sir, however that may be, the governor of the State directs me to say to you courteously but peremptorily, to return to Fort Moultrie.&quot; &quot;Make my compliments to the governor (said Anderson) and say to him that I decline to accede to his request; I cannot and will not go back.&quot; &quot;Then, sir,&quot; said Pettigrew, &quot;my business is done,&quot; when both officers, without further ceremony or leavetaking, left the fort.

Colonel Pettigrew and Major Capers returned to the city and made their report to the governor and council who were in session in the council chamber of the city hall. That afternoon Major Anderson raised the flag of his country over Sumter, and went vigorously to work mounting his guns and putting the fort in military order. The same afternoon the governor issued orders to Colonel Pettigrew, First regiment of rifles, and to Col. W. G. De Saussure, First regiment artillery, commanding them to take immediate possession of Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie. Neither fort was garrisoned, and the officers in charge, after making a verbal protest, left and went to Fort Sumter, and the Palmetto flag was raised over Moultrie and Pinckney. In the same manner the arsenal in Charleston was taken possession of by a detachment of the Seventeenth regiment, South Carolina militia, Col. John Cunningham, and Fort Johnson on James island, by Capt. Joseph Johnson, commanding the Charles ton Riflemen. The governor also ordered a battery to be built for two 24-pounders on Morris island, bearing on Ship channel, and his order was speedily put into execu-