Robert Anderson (Civil War)

Robert Anderson
Lithograph of Major Robert Anderson
Place of burial	West Point Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1825–63
Rank	Brevet Major General
Commands	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. Later, in 1871 he died in France at age 65.

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.

Civil War

Further information: [[:Battle of Fort Sumter]]

As Southern states began to secede, Major Anderson, a pro-slavery, former slave-owner from Kentucky, 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.

Robert Anderson's telegram announcing the surrender of Fort Sumter.

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.

General Anderson's last assignment of his military career was as commanding officer of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island, in August 1863. By coincidence, Fort Adams had been General Beauregard's first assignment after his graduation from West Point. Anderson officially retired from the Army on October 27, 1863, and saw no further active service.

Later life

Maj. Robert Anderson, photo by Mathew Brady

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 "father 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).

Gravesite at the West Point Cemetery

Anderson died in Nice, France, and is buried at West Point Cemetery.

Family

Major Robert Anderson with family

Anderson's mother Sarah Marshall was first cousin to Chief Justice John Marshall. Anderson's brother, Charles Anderson, served as Governor of Ohio from 1865 to 1866. Another brother, William Marshall Anderson, was a Western explorer and Ohio attorney. A zealous Catholic and Confederate sympathizer, he briefly moved to Mexico during the reign of Emperor Maximilian in hopes of establishing a Confederate colony there. W. Marshall Anderson's son, Thomas M. Anderson, was a brigadier general who fought in the Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War.

Anderson was the uncle of Ambassador Larz Anderson, a Washington, D.C. socialite, who donated his house to serve as the headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was also the great-grandfather of actor Montgomery Clift and the first cousin twice removed of William Clark and George Rogers Clark.

See also

• List of American Civil War generals

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.