In 1861 the South bombards Fort Sumter.In 1861 the South bombards Fort Sumter.In 1861 the South bombards Fort Sumter.
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William Gwaltney
- Self - Historian
- (as William W. Gwaltney)
- …
Elizabeth Fox Genovese
- Self - Historian
- (as Elizabeth Fox-Genovese)
- …
Storyline
Featured review
The Ball Begins.
This is a generally reliable, balanced, and informative series and this episode is no exception.
It treats mainly the secessionist movement in the South, particularly in South Carolina, and especially in Charleston, and the political machinations that preceded the first firing of a Confederate gun on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
The South framed the conflict in terms of states rights, correctly, and primary among those rights was the legitimacy of slavery. Morality aside, the South's economy flourished on the work of slaves. Cotton was a much more valuable commodity then than it is now. The invention of the cotton gin processed enormous quantities of cotton, taking the seeds out of the bolls, and it cultivation became more labor intensive than ever. The South resembled the near-feudal society of England, with aristocrats and servants.
The North had developed differently. It was an industrial society, not a traditional agricultural one. Boatloads of immigrants landed in the North, and worked under often appalling conditions in the factories. Few immigrants landed in the South. Who wants to compete for wages with slaves? Politically, Lincoln, the first Republican president, was a pragmatist. However he felt about the morality of slavery, his highest priority was preserving the union. But it's difficult to do that when the Southern half of the country is not only unwilling to compromise but is anxious to secede.
In an attempt of mollify the South, Lincoln sent to command Fort Sumpter a Southern-born major, Robert Anderson, whose family owned slaves. A graduate of West Point, Anderson had said his sympathies lie with the South but he was committed to the US government. There were only about 80 soldiers at the fort. Anderson's second in command was Abner Doubleday, who is credited with having invented the game of baseball.
It was no use. Fort Sumter was a federal fort located in the middle of Charleston Harbor and Charlston claimed it as Southern territory. The firm man to pull a lanyard on the fort was an elderly Southerner who thirsted for war with the overbearing North.
Sumter, surrounded by Confederate cannon and lacking any supplies, eventually surrendered with a small number of casualties. The president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate himself, foresaw the misery a war would cause and reluctantly accepted the office. Lincoln was even less happy. After South Carolina seceded, several other states of the Deep South followed, occupying federal offices like court houses and post offices. For Lincoln, allowing the Confederacy to occupy the federal for at Charlseton meant a validation of the Confederacy.
At the start, the conflict was a war of gentlemen. The commander of Confederate forces, Genearl Pierre Beauregard, visited Fort Sumter and offered Major Anderson an ultimatum: surrender or be fired on. Anderson had to refuse but suggested that if Beauregard waited a few days the fort would be starved out anyway. The two men had known each other at West Point.
Beauregard ordered the bombardment to begin one hour later, which it did, at night. The rooftops of Charleston were crowded with spectators for whom the whizzing burning shells had all the excitement of the Fourth of July celebrations. Sumter was surrounded on all sides by half a dozen batteries and stood no chance. Sumter and his troops were allowed to sail back to New York without imprisonment.
It was four bloody years before Sherman bombarded Sumpter again and took possession of the wreckage. The elderly fire eater who had sworn never to live under the domination of "the vile Yankee race" and who had fired the first shot that hit the fort, wrapped himself in a Confederate flag and shot himself through the head. Robert Anderson, a broken man since the surrender, was invited back to raise the flag over the fort again. He died later than year.
It treats mainly the secessionist movement in the South, particularly in South Carolina, and especially in Charleston, and the political machinations that preceded the first firing of a Confederate gun on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
The South framed the conflict in terms of states rights, correctly, and primary among those rights was the legitimacy of slavery. Morality aside, the South's economy flourished on the work of slaves. Cotton was a much more valuable commodity then than it is now. The invention of the cotton gin processed enormous quantities of cotton, taking the seeds out of the bolls, and it cultivation became more labor intensive than ever. The South resembled the near-feudal society of England, with aristocrats and servants.
The North had developed differently. It was an industrial society, not a traditional agricultural one. Boatloads of immigrants landed in the North, and worked under often appalling conditions in the factories. Few immigrants landed in the South. Who wants to compete for wages with slaves? Politically, Lincoln, the first Republican president, was a pragmatist. However he felt about the morality of slavery, his highest priority was preserving the union. But it's difficult to do that when the Southern half of the country is not only unwilling to compromise but is anxious to secede.
In an attempt of mollify the South, Lincoln sent to command Fort Sumpter a Southern-born major, Robert Anderson, whose family owned slaves. A graduate of West Point, Anderson had said his sympathies lie with the South but he was committed to the US government. There were only about 80 soldiers at the fort. Anderson's second in command was Abner Doubleday, who is credited with having invented the game of baseball.
It was no use. Fort Sumter was a federal fort located in the middle of Charleston Harbor and Charlston claimed it as Southern territory. The firm man to pull a lanyard on the fort was an elderly Southerner who thirsted for war with the overbearing North.
Sumter, surrounded by Confederate cannon and lacking any supplies, eventually surrendered with a small number of casualties. The president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate himself, foresaw the misery a war would cause and reluctantly accepted the office. Lincoln was even less happy. After South Carolina seceded, several other states of the Deep South followed, occupying federal offices like court houses and post offices. For Lincoln, allowing the Confederacy to occupy the federal for at Charlseton meant a validation of the Confederacy.
At the start, the conflict was a war of gentlemen. The commander of Confederate forces, Genearl Pierre Beauregard, visited Fort Sumter and offered Major Anderson an ultimatum: surrender or be fired on. Anderson had to refuse but suggested that if Beauregard waited a few days the fort would be starved out anyway. The two men had known each other at West Point.
Beauregard ordered the bombardment to begin one hour later, which it did, at night. The rooftops of Charleston were crowded with spectators for whom the whizzing burning shells had all the excitement of the Fourth of July celebrations. Sumter was surrounded on all sides by half a dozen batteries and stood no chance. Sumter and his troops were allowed to sail back to New York without imprisonment.
It was four bloody years before Sherman bombarded Sumpter again and took possession of the wreckage. The elderly fire eater who had sworn never to live under the domination of "the vile Yankee race" and who had fired the first shot that hit the fort, wrapped himself in a Confederate flag and shot himself through the head. Robert Anderson, a broken man since the surrender, was invited back to raise the flag over the fort again. He died later than year.
- rmax304823
- Dec 3, 2015
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