Anderson, Robert (1805-71) Union army officer and hero of Fort Sumter, born in Jefferson County, Kentucky. A slaveholder who was nonetheless devoted to the idea of the Union, Anderson was assigned to command three forts in Charleston, South Carolina in 1860. After succession, having moved from the less defensible Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, he refused Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard's demand for surrender and held the fort for two days under bombardment, finally surrendering on April 14, 1861, with full honors of war. He returned to Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865, to raise the flag he had lowered there four years earlier.
Robert Anderson was said to have sworn in Abraham Lincoln, who saw brief service during the Black Hawk War (1832).See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.




