381. Fall of Fort Sumter , April ,1861
The strength of Lincoln ＇ s resolve was soon tested . When South Carolina seceded , Major Anderson , commanding the United States forces at Charleston , withdrew from the land forts to Fort Sumter , built on a shoal in the harbor . He had with him only eighty fighting men and was sorely in need of food and am - munition . Buchanan sent a steamer , the Star of the West , to Charleston with supplies and soldiers . But the Confederates fired on her , and she steamed away without landing the soldiers or the supplies . Lincoln waited a month , hop - ing that the secessionists would come back to the Union of their own accord . Then he decided to send supplies to Major Anderson and told the governor of South Carolina of his decision . Immediately ( April 12) the Confeder - ates opened fire on Fort Sumter . On April 14 Anderson surrendered . The next day President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for sev - enty - five thousand volunteers .
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