Today in History:

Major Anderson Refuses to Surrender!

Major ROBERT ANDERSON,

Commanding at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, S. C.

FORT SUMTER, S. C., April 11, 1861.

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor, and of my obligations to my Government, prevent my compliance. Thanking you for the fair, manly, and courteous terms proposed, and for the high compliment paid me,

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBERT ANDERSON,

Major, First Artillery, Commanding.