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| Souvenir from April 1865 flag-raising (Courtesy Glen Hayes), Peter Hart puts flag back up during 1861 bombardment |
If you look closely at the illustration on the dust jacket for Erick
Larson’s “The Demon of Unrest,” you will notice something small, but colorful at dead center. The object is surrounded by Fort Sumter’s brick walls, flames and smoke and the bright streaks
of incoming artillery fire.
It's the U.S. flag flying defiantly as garrison commander Col. Robert Anderson
and his soldiers bravely withstand the furious Confederate bombardment that
launched the Civil War in April 1861. Anderson felt not only the burden of
defending the bastion, but also safeguarding the American flag. He surrendered
only after his supplies were depleted, parts of the interior were on fire and his exhausted, outnumbered troops
could not carry on.
I read Larson’s compelling book a couple months back and thought back to
two posts I have written about the National Park Service taking three historic Fort Sumter flags off display last year to give them time to rest from exposure
to light. Among them is the 20-foot-by 10-foot storm flag, which flew during
the 34-hour bombardment.
As Larson recounts, Anderson told Confederates hours before the attack
he would not fire “unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this
fort or the flag of my Government."
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| Some members of the flag-removal team in front of the storm flag at Fort Sumter (NPS photo) |
Rebel batteries, naturally, took aim at the storm flag, which has 33 stars, once the
early-morning assault began, and they eventually brought it down.
“A ball or shell shattered its staff and the great flag
collapsed into the smoke below. ‘Then arose the loudest and longest shout of
joy – as if this downfall of the flag, with its cause, was the representation
of our victory,’ Southern firebrand Edmund Ruffin wrote in his diary,” Larson
writes.
The flag, to the Union garrison, was “a tactile representation
of nationhood” and must be made to fly again. (Robert Anderson, left)
“Sumter’s unofficial infantryman, Peter Hart, the New
York City police officer who had accompanied Anderson’s wife on her surprise visit
to the fort, set off through the smoke and fire and came back with a long spar
to replace the shattered flagstaff,” Larson writes. “Hart also retrieved the
flag and nailed it by its edge to the spar. He then fixed the spar to a gun
carriage on the parapet level, all this while fully exposed to Confederate
fire. Once again the wind caught the flag. It did not fly as high as it had,
but at intervals wind gusts created temporary clearings that revealed the flag
gamely flying amid striations of smoke.”
Confederates treated Anderson and his men honorably after
the surrender, and he took the storm flag with him. It immediately became a patriotic symbol
for the remainder of the conflict and raised the status of the Star-Spangled
Banner to what we know today. Anderson was treated as a hero in North.
As Military Images publisher Ronald S. Coddington wrote, Anderson later told an acquaintance of the flag: “I knew that it would never come down in
disgrace.”
In a twist of fate, Anderson, a retired general, returned
to Charleston at war’s end to raise the flag again over the battered fortress
(more about that below). An aside: Visitors to the fort today who take the first boat river over in the morning can help rangers raise the U.S. flag.
Q&A with Fort Sumter staffer about impact of book
I recently asked Brett Spaulding, chief of
interpretation for Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, about the renewed interest on the
site brought by “The Demon of Unrest.” (At right, damaged flagpole after Confederate bombardment, Library of Congress)
Q. I
am curious as to what kind of attention or questions the book has posed to
rangers at the park. Do guests or historians bring up particular aspects of the
book's scholarship?
A. “The
Demon of Unrest” is frequently mentioned by visitors to Fort Sumter as a reason
for their interest in visiting our site. Common questions are about the
mindsets of the major players of the pre-Civil War standoff – the courage and
inner conflict of Major Robert Anderson, and the march to war among both
hardcore secessionists and typical white Charlestonians.
Q.
Did the park provide any resources or materials for Larson? Did the staff learn
new things from the book that might be helpful with interpretation?
A. Fort
Sumter & Fort Moultrie NHP was not involved in the research or writing of “The
Demon of Unrest”, though writer Erik Larson visited the fort in the spring of
2024. The book reinforced existing research on the environment of pre-war
Charleston, and helped visitors make connections between influential
“fire-eater” secessionists and the crisis at Fort Sumter.
Q.
The storm flag in particular: Have you learned anything new about it? What
details does the park have on its status and location during the bombardment?
A. The book, unfortunately, gives an inaccurate impression of which of our historic flags
flew during the bombardment. On page 10, Larson refers to Anderson, within an
hour of the bombardment, raising a flag “twenty feet high by thirty-six long”
over Fort Sumter. However, a New York Times article dated May 21, 1861, citing
conversations with Major Anderson, specifically states that Anderson flew the
smaller of his two flags. The smaller of the two flags in our collection, the
storm flag, measures ten by twenty feet and was the original flag that flew
during the bombardment. Based on historic images of the fort, we believe the
flagpole’s original location to be near the left flank of the fort, not far
from the fort’s modern-day entrance. (The larger garrison flag was taken down shortly before the bombardment and replaced by the sturdier storm flag.)
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| Storm flag, top, garrison flag and the Confederate Palmetto Guard flag (NPS) |
Q.
The Palmetto Guard flag -- Have you learned anything new about it? Did Edmund
Ruffin carry it into the fort and hold it during Anderson's surrender? Do
you have any idea where it was made and when?
A. We
do not have further information on the origins of the Palmetto Guard flag. The
earliest citation we have found for it is The New York Times article of
December 1, 1860.
Edmund Ruffin’s presence in the Palmetto Guard is backed
up by the historical record. We do not have evidence to dispute that the Guard
chose to let Ruffin bear the flag – he was a well-known secessionist leader and
had been given the honor of firing the first shot from their battery.
Contemporary accounts do place Ruffin in the fort on April 14, the day of the
ceremony.
Q.
Can you please tell me where all three flags are currently being stored, and in
what fashion (tube, flat, etc.)? (At left, one of the flags being removed in 2023, NPS photo)
A. The Palmetto
flag and the storm flag are both stored in our curatorial facility. The garrison
flag is stored in a trusted specialty art storage facility in Texas via
government contract due to its immense size and more fragile nature. All three
flags are stored and were professionally packed by a team of conservators,
museum staff and art movers. The flags are interleaved with and wrapped with
archival materials and are stored rolled an archival tube for preservation
purposes.
Q. I know the Harpers Ferry Center experts have
said they all will need some kind of work, mounts, repairs, new frames, etc. at
some point. Has any of that work begun, or is it too early?
A. The
garrison flag specifically has been identified as needing additional
conservation work. Plans for this work have been prepared but will not go into
effect until the permanent home for this flag is ready (this includes facility
and exhibit renovations). This is to ensure the flag is packed and moved as few
times as possible while it transitions from its current storage unit to the
conservation lab, and finally to its permanent home. We are currently
speculating that this work may be able to be scheduled in approximately three
years.
Q.
How long do you think each banner will be kept in the dark, so to speak?
A. Currently,
the answer to this question is uncertain. The park does not plan on returning
any flags to exhibit at Fort Sumter specifically due to the difficulty with
accessing this site in the event of an emergency, and the higher difficulty
with safely moving the flags to and from this site. The flags could go on
exhibit at other sites and through other means. The most likely involves
ongoing plans for a redesign of exhibit spaces at Liberty Square.
Q.
Has any decision or further discussion been had on the fate of the three flags?
A. Discussions
about the flags are active and ongoing. The park is devoted to ensuring that
all flags are properly cared for and stored. The garrison flag has been the
largest point of discussion and planning since it is the only flag currently
off site and in need of conservation. The Palmetto and storm flags are both
stable, and their future plans will be determined when exhibit renovations are
scheduled and planned.
POSTSCRIPT: Collector has flag-raising relic
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| Storm flag (waving behind white pole) about to be raised in 1865 (Library of Congress) |
Glen Hayes of New York has collected Gettysburg artifacts and
memorabilia for about 57 years (more on that in a future post), but he also has
a few Fort Sumter-related items.
The most prominent is a souvenir from April 14, 1865, when Anderson, 59,
and his son returned to the fort to again raise the storm flag he took with him
in 1861. In June 2023, Military Images magazine wrote about ferns, loose
flowers and bouquets that had been placed near the flag before its raising, a
symbol of a restored union.
Hayes bought the relic that features mounted remnants of the flora and a
portrait of Anderson and an uncommon photograph taken inside the fort that day,
showing the large flag attached to two poles decorated with bunting.
The Military Images article states Anderson cried and told
the large crowd that it had been “the cherished wish of my heart” to restore
the flag to its rightful place. With him was Peter Hart, the man who reattached the flag
during the bombardment four years before.
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| Photo of Robert Anderson by Brady (Courtesy Glen Hayes) / Storm flag (Library of Congress) |
“With the reading of Psalms concluded, Hart stepped
forward carrying a mailbag that contained the original flag, nail holes and
all. At this the crowd broke into a tumult of cheers. Three Navy sailors
attached the flag to a halyard; they added roses, mock orange blossoms, and an
evergreen wreath,” wrote Larson.
Hayes told the Picket in an email he bought the item from
a relic dealer in about 1981. The caption reads: “Some of the leaves & ferns that
fell from the boquet on the flag raised in position from where the Confederates
made us take it down at Fort Sumpter SC in the Civil War. 1865”
The maker of the collage is not known.
“I purchased
it because it was a good example of the end of the Civil War. Also, the relic
is what you would call a ‘silent witness’ to the events of that day,” Hayes
said. “Also, because it had the uncommon scene of the actual flag as it was
being raised. It is ironic looking at the picture and seeing all the happy
people in the photo, they not knowing that that evening Pres. Lincoln would be
assassinated. Also, that Lincoln had been invited to the ceremony but couldn't
attend. How history could have changed if he went.”
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| Gun tool for Austrian weapon (Courtesy Glen Hayes) |
Hayes years
ago acquired a piece of wood from the Star of the West, a vessel Confederates
fired upon in January 1861 when it attempted to supply the Federal garrison, an
episode thoroughly documented in “The Demon of Unrest.”
The other
item is a gun tool for a model 1854 Austrian Lorenz rifle. “Both sides used that rifle but seeing
how the Confederates occupied Fort Sumter for 4 years it was probably from a
Confederate soldier,” Hayes told the Picket.
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