Who fired the first gun at Sumter?
I wish to correct an error which has almost passed into an historical fact.
It is this: That
Edmund Ruffin, of
Virginia, did not fire the first gun at
Fort Sumter, but that
Captain George S. James, of
South Carolina, afterward killed when a
Lieutenant-Colonel at Boonesboroa, Md., did fire it.
The writer was a Captain of the
South Carolina army at the time, and an
Aide-de-Camp on the staff of
General Beauregard.
He now has before him a diary written at the time, and there can be no mistake as to the fact.
The summon for the surrender or evacuation was carried by
Colonel Chesnut, of
South Carolina, and
Captain S. D. Lee.
They arrived at
Sumter at 2:20 P. M. April 11th.
Major Anderson declined to surrender, but remarked ‘he would be starved out in a few days if he was not knocked to pieces by
General Beauregard's batteries.’
This remark was repeated to
General Beauregard, who informed
President Davis.
The result was, a second message was sent to
Major Anderson by the same officers, accompanied by
Roger A. Pryor, of
Virginia, and
Colonel Chisholm, of
South Carolina.
The messengers arrived at
Sumter at 12:25 A. M. April 12th.
Major Anderson was informed that if he would say that he would surrender on April 15th, and in the meantime would not fire on
General Beauregard's batteries, unless he was fired on, he would be allowed that time; also that he would not be allowed to receive provisions from the
United States authorities.
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The
Major declined to accede to this arrangement, saying he would not open fire unless a hostile act was committed against his fort or his flag, but that if he could be supplied with provisions before the 15th of April he would receive them, and in that event he would not surrender.
This reply being unsatisfactory,
Colonel James Chesnut and
Captain S. D. Lee gave the
Major a written communication, dated ‘
Fort Sumter, S. C., April 12, 1861, 3:20 A. M.,’ informing him, by authority of
General Beauregard, that the batteries of
General Beauregard would open fire on the fort in one hour from that time.
The party, as designated, then proceeded in their boats to
Fort Johnson, on
James Island, and delivered the order to
Captain George S. James, commanding the mortar battery, to open fire on
Fort Sumter.
At 4:30 A. M. the first gun was fired at
Fort Sumter, and at 4:40 the second gun was fired from the same battery.
Captain James offered the honor of firing the first shot to
Roger A. Pryor, of
Virginia.
He declined; saying he could not fire the first gun. Another officer then offered to take
Pryor's place.
James replied: ‘No!
I will fire it myself.’
And he did fire it. At 4:45 A. M., nearly all the batteries in harbor were firing on
Sumter.
Mr. Edmund Ruffin (who was much beloved and respected) was at the iron battery on
Morris Island.
I always understood he fired the first gun from the iron battery, but one thing is certain-he never fired the first gun against
Fort Sumter.
George S. James did. Nor did he fire the second gun. He may have fired the third gun, or first gun from the iron battery on
Morris Island.
Yours respectfully,
The above extract having come to my notice, I desire to give the facts as to the part that
Edmund Ruffin, of
Virginia, took in the firing on
Fort Sumter.
I have before me his journal, written at that time, and will copy what bears upon the subject:
‘
April 12, (1861).—Before 4 A. M. the drums beat for parade, and our company was speedily on the march to the batteries which they were to man. At 4:30 a
signal shell was thrown from a mortar battery at
Fort Johnson, which had been before ordered to be taken as the command for immediate attack, and firing from all the batteries bearing on
Fort Sumter next began in the order arranged, which was that the discharges should be two minutes apart, and the
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round of all the pieces and batteries to be completed in thirty-two minutes, and then to begin again.
The night before, when expecting to engage,
Captain Cuthbert had notified me that his company requested of me to discharge the first cannon to be fired, which was their 64-pound Columbiad, loaded with shell.
Of course I was highly gratified by the compliment, and delighted to perform the service—which I did. The shell struck the fort at the northeast angle of the parapet.
By order of
General Beauregard, made known the afternoon of the 11th, the attack was to be commenced by the first shot at the fort being fired by the Palmetto Guard, and from the iron battery.
In accepting and acting upon this highly appreciated compliment, that company had made me its instrument,’ &c.
The above, as written at that very time, would fully establish the fact that the first shot was fired by
Edmund Ruffin, and it will be observed that the
signal shot which he refers to at
Fort Johnson at 4:30 A. M., is the same that
S. D. Lee claims as the first shot at
Fort Sumter at the same time (4:30 A. M.). Now the two might easily be confounded, and to prove that the one from the iron battery, fired by
Edmund Ruffin, was actually the first gun on
Fort Sumter, I will give comments of the press of that date.
The Charleston
Courier said: ‘The venerable
Edmund Ruffin, who as soon as it was known a battle was inevitable, hastened over to
Morris Island, and was elected a member of the Palmetto Guard, fired the first gun from Stevens's iron battery.
All honor to the chivalric Virginian!
May he live many years to wear the fadeless wreath that honor placed upon his brow on our glorious Friday!’
From the
Charleston correspondent of New York
Tribune.—
‘The first shot from Stevens's battery was fired by the venerable
Edmund Ruffin, of
Virginia.
That ball will do more for the cause of secession in the Old Dominion than volumes of stump speeches.’
The Charleston
Mercury says the first gun fired from the iron battery off
Cummings's Point was discharged by the venerable
Edmund Ruffin.
He subsequently shot from all the guns and mortars used during the action.
A Mobile paper had the following:
‘
A Sublime Spectacle.—The mother of the Gracchi, when asked for her jewels, pointed to her children and said, “There they are.”
With the same propriety can the ‘Mother of States’ point to her
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children as the brightest jewels she possesses.
At the call of patriotism they are not laggard in responding to it, and
Virginia blood has enriched every battle-field upon American soil.
And we thank God the spirit has not departed from her, but burns as brightly in the breasts of her children as in the days of her
Washington and her Henry.
But of the many bright examples that she has furnished of patriotism the most sublime is the conduct of the venerable
Edmund Ruffin, whose head is silvered over by more than eighty winters, who, when the war-cloud lowered over the gallant city of
Charleston, volunteered as a private, and with his knapsack on his back and musket on his shoulder tendered his services to
South Carolina to fight against the aggression upon her rights.
It was his hand that pointed and fired the first
gun at Fort Sumter. The world has pointed to the conduct of
Cincinnatus, who, when his country was invaded by a hostile foe, left his plow in the furrow to take command of her forces, and after he had driven out the invader and restored his country to peace and prosperity, resigned his position and returned to his plow.
By this one act he embalmed his memory in the breasts of his countrymen and of all patriots throughout the world.
The conduct of
Cincinnatus was not more patriotic than that of
Edmund Ruffin, and side by side in the niche of fame will their names be recorded by every patriotic heart.’
From the New York
Post:
‘
Shot and Hemp.—A Charleston dispatch states that the “first shot from Stevens's battery was fired by the venerable
Edmund Ruffin, of
Virginia.”
A piece of the first hemp that is stretched in
South Carolina should be kept for the neck of this venerable and bloodthirsty
Ruffian.’
From the above quoted expressions it would indeed be impossible to conclude otherwise than that the first gun on
Fort Sumter was shot by
Edmund Ruffin, and that such should be recorded as an historical fact.
In fact, the above from
S. D. Lee is the first intimation of a doubt on this subject that has ever been brought to the notice of any of the descendants of
Edmund Ruffin.
To all who knew
Edmund Ruffin it would have been useless to say more than that throughout his manuscript he speaks of it as a fact.
To those to whom he was a stranger I would say that many more comments of the press of that date establish the same fact; those of the
South being loud in his praise, and those of the
North being still more vindictive.
