Robert Anderson (Civil War)
Robert Anderson | |
|---|---|
 Lithograph of Major Robert Anderson | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/ | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1825–63 |
| Rank | Brevet Major General |
| Commands held | Fort Sumter |
| Battles/wars | Black Hawk War Second Seminole War Mexican-American War American Civil War (Battle of Fort Sumter) |
Robert Anderson (June 14, 1805 – October 26, 1871) was an American military leader. He served as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War, known for his command of Fort Sumter at the start of the war. He is often referred to as Major Robert Anderson, referring to his rank at Fort Sumter.
Early life
Anderson was born in "Soldier's Retreat," near Louisville, Kentucky. He graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1825 and received a commission as a brevet second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. He served in the Black Hawk War of 1832 as a colonel of Illinois volunteers, where he had the distinction of twice mustering Captain Abraham Lincoln in and out of army service. Returning to the Army as a first lieutenant in 1833, he served in the Second Seminole War as an assistant adjutant general on the staff of Winfield Scott, and in the Mexican-American War, where he was severely wounded at Molino del Rey, and for which he received a brevet promotion to major. He eventually received a permanent promotion to major of the 1st U.S. Artillery in the Regular Army on October 5, 1857. He is the author of Instruction for Field Artillery, Horse and Foot in 1839.[1]
Civil War
As Southern states began to secede, Major Anderson, a pro-slavery Kentuckian, remained loyal to the Union. He was the commanding officer of Fort Sumter at Charleston Harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, when at the time it was bombarded by forces of the Confederate States of America. The artillery attack was commanded by Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, who had been Anderson's student at West Point. The attack began April 12, 1861, and continued until Anderson, badly outnumbered and outgunned, surrendered the fort on April 14. The battle began the American Civil War. No one was killed in the battle on either side, but one Union soldier, Daniel Hough, was killed during a 100-gun salute.
Anderson's actions at Fort Sumter made him an immediate national hero. He was promoted to brigadier general, effective May 15. Anderson took the fort's 33-star flag with him to New York City, where he participated in a Union Square patriotic rally that is thought to have been the largest public gathering in North America up to that time. Anderson then went on a highly-successful recruiting tour of the North. His next assignment placed him in another sensitive political position, commander of the Department of Kentucky (subsequently renamed the Department of the Cumberland), in a border state that had officially declared neutrality between the warring parties. He served in that position from May 28, 1861, until failing health required his replacement, by Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman, on October 6, 1861. He officially retired from the Army on October 27, 1863, and saw no further active service.
Later life
Days after Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox and the effective conclusion of the war, Anderson returned to Charleston in the uniform of a brevet major general (ranking as of February 3, 1865) and, four years after lowering the 33-star flag in surrender, raised it in triumph over the recaptured but badly battered Fort Sumter during ceremonies there. (The same evening, April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated).
A notable post-war achievement of Anderson took place in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1869, when he visited Braintree to discuss the future of the U.S. Army with the founder of the United States Military Academy, Major General Sylvanus Thayer. An outcome of that visit was establishment of the Military Academy's Association of Graduates (AoG).[2]
Anderson died in Nice, France, and is buried at West Point Cemetery.
Family
Anderson's brother, Charles Anderson, served as Governor of Ohio from 1865 to 1866. Another brother, the Rev. William C. Anderson, served as President of Miami University from 1849–1854. Their nephew, Thomas M. Anderson, was a brigadier general who fought in the Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War.
Major Robert Anderson was the great-grandfather of actor Montgomery Clift. He was also the first cousin twice removed of William Clark and George Rogers Clark.
See also
References
- Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Lawton, Eba Anderson, Major Robert Anderson and Fort Sumter, 1861 (New York, 1911).
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
- "Robert Anderson Biography". Retrieved 2006-10-01.
- "Hollywood Gothic" and the Alabama Three