Posted on 04/13/2021 6:43:41 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
CHARLESTON, Friday, April 12.
The ball has opened. War is inaugurated.
The batteries of Sullivan's Island, Morris Island, and other points, were opened on Fort Sumpter at 4 o'clock this morning.
OUR CHARLESTON DISPATCHES.
Fort Sumpter has returned the fire, and a brisk cannonading has been kept up. No information has been received from the seaboard yet.
The military are under arms, and the whole of our population are on the streets. Every available space facing the harbor is filled with anxious spectators.
CHARLESTON, Friday, April 12.
The firing has continued all day without intermission.
Two of Fort Sumpter's guns have been silenced, and it is reported that a breach has been made in the southeast wall.
The answer to Gen. BEAUREGARD'S demand by Major ANDERSON that he would surrender when his supplies were exhausted, that is, if he was not reinforced.
Not a casualty has yet happened to any of the forces.
Of the nineteen batteries in position only seven have opened fire on Fort Sumpter, the remainder are held in reserve for the expected fleet.
Two thousand men reached this city this morning and embarked for Morris Island and the neighborhood.
CHARLESTON, Friday, April 12.
The bombardment of Fort Sumpter continues.
The Floating Battery and Stephens Battery are operating freely, and Fort Sumpter is returning the fire.
It is reported that three war vessels are outside the bar.
CHARLESTON, Friday, April 12.
The firing has ceased for the night, but will be renewed at daylight in the morning, unless an attempt is made to reinforce, which ample arrangements have been made to repel.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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You have to give Lincoln an immense amount of credit. He played the long game refusing to fire the first shot knowing if the Confederates shoot first that will unite the North. I have seen Major Anderson’s grave at West Point.
I wish this never would have happened.
Really missing Lincoln right now.
Years ago I read about this some where, and I seem to recall a Sgt. Haggerty(?? Irish name)vs the CSA, he fired off all the cannons. (That was about 40 yrs ago, when I was into the CW books.) The war also ended on this date, when Lee surrounded to Grant. If I remember correctly, on the property of the owner who’s property was also at the first battle.
Your memories have slightly shifted: the house at the center of the Manassas (Bull Run) battle belonged to Mr. Wilmer McLean and his family. After the fright of that battle, Mr. McLean moved to Appomattox and his home there became the site of Lee’s surrender to Grant.
The day a recognized sovereign nation attacked the United States of America.
Poor choice.
"CHARLESTON, Friday, April 12.
The ball has opened. War is inaugurated."
Please notice, there's no disagreement between news reports from Charleston and New York that firing on Fort Sumter is the beginning of civil war.
Nobody then claimed that war actually began somewhere else, at some other time or from some other events.
Confederates firing on Fort Sumter was the beginning of war, just as was Pearl Harbor and 9/11/2001.
This article notes that Confederates can only finance their government by forced loans from their banks.
It then also notices that Union tariff revenues in 1861 are actually ahead of 1860 year-to-date, despite the negative effects of the new higher Morrill Tariff.
Well... the day a pretend but internationally unrecognized conspiracy of "...combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings..." attacked the United States, thus triggering Pres. Jefferson's 1807 Insurrection Act (which replaced Pres. Washington's 1792 "Calling Forth Act") for the call-up of Federal troops.
But yes, all things considered, it was a poor choice.
As a Damn Yankee residing in the South, I’m being charitable to the “states’ rights” perspective. Giving all benefit of doubt, an attack was perpetrated and put down in due course.
Now, may the USA likewise retake Portland, Seattle, and other sites of Antifa insurrections.
“Nobody then claimed that war actually began somewhere else, at some other time or from some other events.”
Indeed.
The final point of nuance: was the island CSA property (from which Union troops were to be driven from), or USA property (to be seized as a threat to an important harbor)?
Didn’t remember the name, but I remember the spindle table where the surrender took place. I found one in Sackets Harbor at an antique barn. Sold it years ago, and I know it isn’t the one from the Mc Lean house, Libby Custer had that one. Too many names to remember after 81 yrs. Yes Grant was stationed at Sackets Harbor early in his career. Its a known fact up there. 2 lawyers from NYC bought the whole fort for about 200k and tuned the place into condo. It had a parade field and Enlisted barracks still there. Oh and the Victorian Homes. A really nice place at the junction of Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence. Geeez I miss being up there, but not in the winter.
What about him sending that fleet of warships with orders to attack them while knowing full well that if those warships carried out his orders, it would be war, and the Union would have fired first.
What about that?
And then there is the matter of Lieutenant Porter commanding the Powhatan in Pensacola and attempting to fire on the confederate shore batteries. Since his orders came directly from Lincoln (bypassing the normal chain of command in the navy) one must think that Lincoln intended for him to open fire on the confederates, thus triggering the war.
What about that?
I agree that Lincoln was playing a game, but what sort of game was it really?
That's because the propaganda was put out by the same lying sources from Washington DC and New York that recently said there was a massive extremist racist riot that happened in Washington DC January 6th and was a massive threat to the existence of the government while actual murders, arsons, robberies and assaults in Portland and elsewhere were "Peaceful protests."
When the massive lie machine starts it's wheels turning, most people are going to believe it.
I didn't even know that Lincoln had sent a fleet of warships against the confederates in Charleston for the vast majority of my life. I had never heard anyone mention this little detail. I can only conclude this is because they wanted to spread a single narrative, that the Confederates started it, and "Great Leader" was entirely blameless in triggering the war.
And now I know that was just a lie.
So why are they lying? Same reason they are lying about the Washington DC "riots" of January 6th. To maintain their power.
For the purpose of creating a fictional legal justification for invading states that sought independence, Lincoln asserted they never left the USA.
For the purpose of denying them their constitutional rights after they had been beaten by the 4 times larger manpower of the Northern states, they were regarded as having "left" the United States.
Their status existed in a quantum state of superposition, being both "in" the Union and "out" of the Union simultaneously, depending upon what abuse of power needed to be justified at any given time.
They don't call it the Gulf of Tonkin Incident for nothing.
I meant to say the Fort Sumter Incident.
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