SW062 Fort Sumter Union Civil War Commander Battled Seminole at Loxahatchee in 1830s

In April 1861, following a steady barrage of artillery that left him unable to resupply his garrison, the commander of the Union outpost of Fort Sumter, in Charleston’s harbor, surrendered his command to the new Confederates States of America. Some argue that the actions of U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson, an old Seminole War hand, may have sealed the fate unfavorably for the new CSA. While he ordered his men to return cannon fire to the onshore batteries, he specifically prohibited shelling of the heart of Charleston, with all the loss of civilian life and structural destruction. By acting in response to CSA provocations, Anderson positioned his command to be viewed as both a victim of Confederate aggression and as a heroic defender of sovereign federal rights and authority.

Who was Robert Anderson and how did assignments in a longer military career shape his temperament as commander of Fort Sumter? Dr. Wesley Moody fills us in. He has embarked on a full-scale biography of Anderson, whom, incredibly, has never had a biography written about him. Our listeners will find it of note that Anderson enjoyed extensive service in Florida, fighting at the Battle of Loxahatchee River, near present-day Jupiter, Florida, and on the staff of General Winfield Scott.

Florida-native, Dr. John Wesley Moody III, has been a professor of history since 2007, Dr Moody has worked as a professor of history at Florida State College at Jacksonville.  Born and raised in Pensacola, Dr. Moody received a Bachelor's from the University of Southern Mississippi; a Master’s degree from University of West Georgia; and a Ph.D. from Georgia State University. He specializes in 19th century American history, specifically military. He is in preliminary stages of a textbook proposal to tell Florida history from first European contact to the present. He is also presently in preliminary stages for a biography of Major Robert Anderson, the commander at Fort Sumter when the first shots there began the military aspects of the American Civil War. Dr Moody is author of four books already, including Demon of the Lost Cause: Sherman and Civil War History; Seven Myths of the Lost Cause; the Battle of Fort Sumter; and a biography of a civil war Marine.

Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. 

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