Major Robert Anderson: Saluted for retreating to Fort Sumter?
Some takes on Major Anderson removing his force from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter in Charleston’s harbor (from The New-York Times December 29, 1860):
WHAT IS THOUGHT OF MAJ. ANDERSON’S MOVEMENT.; A SALUTE IN WILMINGTON, DEL.
WILMINGTON, Friday, Dec. 28.
The citizens of Wilmington are firing a salute of twenty-one guns in honor of Maj. ANDERSON and his gallant band.
COMMENTS OF THE PRESS.
We give below extracts from various papers commenting upon the movement of Maj. ANDERSON:
From the Boston Courier.
We must own that the news of the transaction in Charleston harbor was learned by us yesterday with a prouder beating of the heart. We could not but feel once more that we had a country — a fact which has been to a certain degree in suspense for some weeks past. What is given up for the moment is of no consequence, provided the one point stands out clear, that the United States means to maintain its position where its rights exist, and that its officers, civil and military, intend to discharge their duty. The concentration of the disposable force in Charleston harbor in a defensible post is thus a bond of union. It is a decisive act, calculated to rally the national heart. * *
We are not disposed to allow the Union to be broken up for grievances of South Carolina, which might be settled within the Union; and if there is to be any fighting, we prefer it within, rather than without. The abandonment of Fort Moultrie was obviously a necessary act, in order to carry into effect the purpose contemplated with such an inferior force as that under the command of Maj. ANDERSON. …
You can read the opinions of other newspapers at The New York Times Archive
From the same issue of The New-York Times more evidence of Major Anderson not taking a wishy-washy approach:
DISCHARGE OF THE EMPLOYES AT FORT MOULTRIE.
BALTIMORE, Saturday, Dec. 29.
The Sun of this city has on its bulletin a special dispatch from Charleston saying that the carpenters and bricklayers from Baltimore, employed on Fort Sumter, having refused to bear arms against South Carolina, were discharged by Maj. ANDERSON this morning.
Some people in the North are looking for some type of decisive action (as opposed to The Old Public Functionary).
