Robert Anderson's Life
Was born in Kentucky on June 14, 1805. Anderson graduated from the U.S Military Academy in 1825 receiving a commission in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. He served as a colonel of Illinois volunteers during the Black Hawk War in 1832. Additionally, during the Second Seminole War of 1837, Anderson was assigned the assistant adjutant general on the Winfield Scott, then by 1839 he published the manual Instruction for Field Artillery, House and Foot. 8 years later he received a promotion to become major. To rectify the situations of investigations of military installations throughout the South, Robert Anderson replaced the garrison's elderly commander,Bvt. Col. John L. Gardner. He was regarded as an eminently competent and discreet officer, and perceived as a diplomatic gesture of no hostility. Less than a week after Anderson emerged from Fort Sumter, 100,000 people gathered around in Manhattan's Union Square Park to salute the flag he rescued from the fort after his surrender. Both the man and the flag went on tour cross the North, raising funds for the war effort. Both, Anderson and the Fort Sumter flag, returned to Charleston for a ceremony to celebrate the end of the war, and the reunification of the nation. Finally, on the same night four years later the banner was raised upon the fort, and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.