Editing Fort Sumter (section)

====Recovery of Fort Sumter====
{{main|Celebrations at the end of the American Civil War}}
The last Confederate commander, Major Thomas A. Huguenin, a graduate of [[The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina|The Citadel]], never surrendered Fort Sumter, but General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]'s advance through South Carolina finally forced the Confederates to evacuate Charleston on February 17, 1865, and abandon Fort Sumter. The Federal government formally took possession of Fort Sumter on February 22, 1865.

Anderson, now a [[Major general (United States)|major general]], returned to Sumter with the flag he had been forced to lower four years earlier, and on April 14, 1865, raised it in triumph over the ruined fort. [[Henry Ward Beecher]] was present and subsequently spoke at length about the occasion.