Correspondence and Other Papers, Relating to Fort Sumter (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Correspondence and Other Papers, Relating to Fort Sumter Sir Two of your batteries fired this morning upon an unarmed vessel bearing the żag of my Government. As I have not been notified that war has been declared by South Carolina against the Government of the United States, I cannot but think that this hostile act was committed Without your sanc tion or authority. Under that hepe, and that alone, did I refrain from opening fire upon your batteries. I have the honor, therefore, respectfully to ask Whether the above-mentioned act - one I believe Without a parallel in the history of our country, or of any other civilized Government Was committed in obedience to your instructions, and to notify you if it be not disclaimed, that I must regard it as an act of war, and that I shall not, after a reasonable time for the return of my messenger, permit any vessels to pass within range of the guns of my Fort. In order to save as far as in my power the shedding of blood, I beg that you will have due notification of this my decision, given to all concerned. Hoping, however, that your answer may be such as will jus tify a further continuance of forbearance on my part, I have the honor to be, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, (signed) robert anderson, Major lst Artillery U. S. A., Commanding. Fort sumter, S. January 9, 1861. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.