The smoke still rises over Fort Sumter out there in Charleston Harbor.

Five days after the end of the battle, almost 900 miles to the north,

Major Robert Anderson dictates a telegram.

S.S. Boltic, off Sandy Hook, April 18, 1030 AM.

Via New York, Honorable S Cameron Secretary of War, Washington.

Having defended Fort Sumter for 34 hours until the quarters were entirely burned, the

main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames and its door closed from the effects of heat.

Four barrels and three cartridges of powder only being available and no provisions remaining but pork.

I accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Boergard,

being on same offered by him on the 11th,

prior to the commencement of hostilities,

and marched out of the fort Sunday afternoon the 14th

with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private property and saluting

my flag with 50 guns.

Robert Anderson, major first artillery commanding.

Anderson had lost Fort Sumter to the Confederate States of America,

and though this battle had now ended,

the Civil War had only just begun. Hello and

I'm Don Wildman.

Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina was a coastal garrison, part of the federal government's

so-called third system. 45 brick and stone fortifications constructed in the early 19th century

to guard vital seaports and coastal waters.

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