No fuses? One wonders how Anderson was later able to fire all those canon balls at the Confederates for hours and hours in April.
On December 31, 1861, Major Anderson in Fort Sumter sent the US Government a communique that said "[We] can command this harbor as long as our Government wishes to keep it." [Source: "Days of Defiance" by Maury Klein, page 192]. On January 9, 1861 Major Anderson threatened South Carolina Governor Pickens that he [Anderson] would block any ship within range of Fort Sumter's guns from entering Charleston Harbor [Link].
This threat was made after South Carolina had fired on the commercial ship, the Star of the West, which had tried that same day to sneak 200 armed US soldiers hiding below decks with three months provisions and ammunition into Fort Sumter. The Star of the West had been warned off by a picket ship that fired across the Star of the West as it started to enter the harbor. The Star ignored the warning and continued on into the harbor only to be hit later by a couple of shots. It then turned around and left the harbor. It scraped bottom on the bar as it was leaving.
Governor Pickens replied that President Buchanan had been warned that an attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter would be viewed as an act of hostility. Pickens further said to Anderson that the state would defend its waters and repel such an attempt. Anderson didn't follow through on his threat to fire on ships in the harbor.
Rustbucket. If I make not mistaken. Either our good friend 4CJ or Pearidge or LG, put out some very interesting. Numbers, and sources of how from a free market, stand point Slavery. Was well on it’s way out of the South it was posted years and years ago. I myself was taken back by it.
I was wrong, Anderson commanded only 85 men, of which 8 were musicians. Spherical case shot is a fused round, which can be set to explode at a predetermined range, showering the target with shrapnel. This round is used against artillery batteries and ships crews. Solid shot is just that, a sold iron ball. It is for punching holes in ships.
All of Andersons fuses had be captured when the Confederate forces occupied the Federal arsenal in Charleston. Without the fuses, case shot is the same as solid shot, it wont explode. Beauregard had 6000 men and 45 big guns to counter any threat Sumter offered. The fort was built to protect the entrance to the harbor. Most of its guns faced seaward, away from Charleston. At any one time, Anderson could only man 10 guns. Davis, Beauregard and Pickens, all recognized the fact that while an imposing structure, Sumter was of little real threat to Charleston. Hardly in a position to “besiege” Charleston. On the night of April the 12th, Anderson told Beauregard’s representatives, he would surrender the for at noon an April the 15th. Davis decided not to wait those two days.