Under cover of night in Charleston Harbor, Major Anderson consolidates his forces at Fort Sumter

At dusk, Major Robert Anderson quietly evacuated Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor and occupied Fort Sumter nearby.  South Carolina authorities awoke the next morning to find that almost all federal forces in the area now concentrated at one strongpoint and seemingly preparing for a siege.  This dashed Southern hopes of a peaceful transfer of federal property to the newly independent state and further complicated the ongoing confusion and growing hostility between the secessionists and the Buchanan administration.  (By John Osborne)