Tension between South Carolina and the national government reached its peak shortly after Abraham Lincoln’s election, prompting President James Buchanan to replace New England-born Colonel John L. Gardner (1793–1869), then commander of the Charleston federal garrison at Fort Moultrie, with Southern-born Major Robert Anderson on November 15, 1860.
Anderson was a professional soldier and a graduate of West Point with 36 years of experience. He was Southern-born and hailed from the slaveholding state of Kentucky. While Anderson had carved out a respectable career in his country’s army, he also had enormous family shoes to fill. His father, Richard Clough Anderson (1750–1826), was a prominent soldier during the American Revolution. The elder Anderson entered service as a captain in the 5th Virginia Regiment and later attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. He saw action in several engagements during the Revolutionary War, including the crossing of the Delaware and the fight against Hessian soldiers at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. He also served as an aide-de-camp to the famed Marquis de Lafayette.
Richard Anderson settled in Kentucky after the Revolutionary War, near what is now Louisville, the birthplace of his son Robert. Both father and son played critical roles in their respective eras: Richard assisted in establishing a new nation, while his son Robert played a pivotal role in the opening of the American Civil War as commander of Fort Sumter when it was fired upon on April 12, 1861.