The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

On Election Day of November 6, 1860—six months before the events of the Introduction—Abraham Lincoln cast his vote for President of the United States. Lincoln was one of four candidates for President, hoping to unseat current President James Buchanan’s Democratic Party. Lincoln won the election with 40% of the national vote total, infuriating many people in the Southern states, who worried that he would try to outlaw enslavement.

Lincoln did not understand the furor from the South, since he had never said that he planned to abolish enslavement where it already existed. Lincoln did not yet fully appreciate the existential fear that the enslavers held for him, especially in South Carolina.

That same November, Major Anderson—a US Army veteran of the Mexican-American War—took over responsibility for federal forces in Charleston. His predecessor had a lax management style that had made Fort Sumter and the nearby Fort Moultrie vulnerable to attack should South Carolina secede from the United States.

Charleston at the time had 32 brokerages for enslaved people, and many visitors felt a sense of brutality emanating from the city. Enslaved people of all ages were sold at these markets. Anderson and his wife, Eba, were unbothered by the existence of enslavement.