ColorizedPast
Corporal
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2016
- Location
- Hangzhou, China (Wisconsin, USA)
Major General Robert Anderson (USA)
Anderson was born at "Soldier's Retreat," the Anderson family estate near Louisville, Kentucky, on 14 June 1805. His father served as aide-de0camp to the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolutionary War, and his mother was a cousin of Chief Justice John Marshall. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1825 and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment of Artillery.
He served as secretary to his older brother who was serving as the U.S. Minister to Gran Colombia. He served in the Black Hawk War of 1832 as a colonel of Illinois volunteers, twice mustering Abraham Lincoln in and once out of army service. He was in charge of transporting Black Hawk to Jefferson Barracks after his capture, assisted by Jefferson Davis.
He served in the Second Seminole War as an assistant adjutant general on the staff of Winfield Scott. During the Mexican-American War, he participated in the Siege of Vera Cruz, the Battle of Cerro Gordo, the Skirmish of Amazoque, and the Battle of Molino del Rey. He was severely wounded at Molino del Rey while assaulting enemy fortifications, for which he received a brevet promotion to major.
When South Carolina seceded in December 1860, Major Anderson, a pro-slavery, former slave-owner from Kentucky, remained loyal to the Union. He was the commanding officer of Union forces in Charleston, South Carolina, moving his small garrison from Fort Moultrie to the more modern and defensible Fort Sumter in the middle of Charleston Harbor. In February 1861, the Confederate States of America was formed and Jefferson Davis ordered the fort be captured. Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, one of Anderson's former pupils at West Point, commenced an artillery attack on 12 April 1861 and continued until Anderson, badly outnumbered and outgunned, surrendered the fort on 14 April.
His actions in defense of Fort Sumter made him an immediate national hero. He was promoted to brigadier general. Anderson took the fort's 33-star flag with him to New York City, where he participated in a Union Square patriotic rally that was the largest public gathering in North America up to that time. He then went on a highly successful recruiting tour of the North. He was placed in command of the Department of Kentucky (subsequently renamed the Department of the Cumberland). On 7 October 1861, his failing health caused him to relinquish his command to Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman.
Anderson's last assignment was a brief period as commanding officer of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island, in August 1863. He officially retired from the Army on 27 October 1863 "for Disability resulting from Long and Faithful Service, and Wounds and Disease contracted in the Line of Duty", but continued to serve on the staff of the general commanding the Eastern Department until 22 January 1869. On 3 February 1865, Anderson was brevetted to the rank of major general for "gallantry and meritorious service" in the defense of Fort Sumter.
After Robert E. Lee's surrender, Anderson returned to Charleston in uniform and, four years after lowering the 33-star flag in surrender, raised it in triumph over the recaptured but badly battered Fort Sumter during ceremonies there on 14 April 1865, mere hours before Lincoln's assassination.
Anderson died in Nice, France on 26 October 1871.
Anderson was born at "Soldier's Retreat," the Anderson family estate near Louisville, Kentucky, on 14 June 1805. His father served as aide-de0camp to the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolutionary War, and his mother was a cousin of Chief Justice John Marshall. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1825 and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment of Artillery.
He served as secretary to his older brother who was serving as the U.S. Minister to Gran Colombia. He served in the Black Hawk War of 1832 as a colonel of Illinois volunteers, twice mustering Abraham Lincoln in and once out of army service. He was in charge of transporting Black Hawk to Jefferson Barracks after his capture, assisted by Jefferson Davis.
He served in the Second Seminole War as an assistant adjutant general on the staff of Winfield Scott. During the Mexican-American War, he participated in the Siege of Vera Cruz, the Battle of Cerro Gordo, the Skirmish of Amazoque, and the Battle of Molino del Rey. He was severely wounded at Molino del Rey while assaulting enemy fortifications, for which he received a brevet promotion to major.
When South Carolina seceded in December 1860, Major Anderson, a pro-slavery, former slave-owner from Kentucky, remained loyal to the Union. He was the commanding officer of Union forces in Charleston, South Carolina, moving his small garrison from Fort Moultrie to the more modern and defensible Fort Sumter in the middle of Charleston Harbor. In February 1861, the Confederate States of America was formed and Jefferson Davis ordered the fort be captured. Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, one of Anderson's former pupils at West Point, commenced an artillery attack on 12 April 1861 and continued until Anderson, badly outnumbered and outgunned, surrendered the fort on 14 April.
His actions in defense of Fort Sumter made him an immediate national hero. He was promoted to brigadier general. Anderson took the fort's 33-star flag with him to New York City, where he participated in a Union Square patriotic rally that was the largest public gathering in North America up to that time. He then went on a highly successful recruiting tour of the North. He was placed in command of the Department of Kentucky (subsequently renamed the Department of the Cumberland). On 7 October 1861, his failing health caused him to relinquish his command to Brig. Gen. William T. Sherman.
Anderson's last assignment was a brief period as commanding officer of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island, in August 1863. He officially retired from the Army on 27 October 1863 "for Disability resulting from Long and Faithful Service, and Wounds and Disease contracted in the Line of Duty", but continued to serve on the staff of the general commanding the Eastern Department until 22 January 1869. On 3 February 1865, Anderson was brevetted to the rank of major general for "gallantry and meritorious service" in the defense of Fort Sumter.
After Robert E. Lee's surrender, Anderson returned to Charleston in uniform and, four years after lowering the 33-star flag in surrender, raised it in triumph over the recaptured but badly battered Fort Sumter during ceremonies there on 14 April 1865, mere hours before Lincoln's assassination.
Anderson died in Nice, France on 26 October 1871.
Bringing the