Sunday, April 14, was the day in which Major Robert Anderson would formally surrender his Federal garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
Anderson surrendered to Brigadier-General P.G.T. Beauregard, commanding the Confederates at Charleston, according to the terms that Beauregard had offered on the 11th. The Federals would be allowed to keep their arms and property, and they would be given transportation to any destination that Anderson selected. They would also be allowed to fire a 100-gun salute to their flag before hauling it down for the last time.
Boats in the harbor were filled with people who had come out to witness the surrender ceremony, including Beauregard and South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens. Beauregard sent an officer to the fort to give Anderson’s men all their mail that had been held back. The men read their mail, packed their belongings, and prepared for the salute. The U.S.S. Baltic was slated to take the men out of the harbor, but she drew too much water and so the transport steamer Isabel was assigned the task instead…