Pedantic non-sequiturs don’t help.
Of course I don’t expect a one-line modern summary will perfectly explain/match the decisions of millions living centuries ago.
Of course the one incident wasn’t the only fight-starter for people who were looking for a fight.
And your commentary, while interesting & accurate, has little to do with my point. US military (of whatever pedantic branch) pulled out of all other sites, ceding control to the South; the _one_ site retained was literally built by US military (wasn’t a natural land area), and supplying it was by fair use (ocean access, akin to the Berlin Airlift) ... so when the South started shelling the island, that was a fair line crossed.
BTW I live near GA, and witness the fruit of Sherman’s March to this day.
“... US military (of whatever pedantic branch) pulled out of all other sites, ceding control to the South; the _one_ site retained was literally built by US military ... so when the South started shelling the island, that was a fair line crossed.
BTW I live near GA, and witness the fruit of Sherman’s March to this day.” [ctdonath2, post 123]
Gotta admit - dismissing any US armed service as “pedantic” is a new twist. Dilettantes do that.
Wrong yet again, about control of coast-defense fortifications in ACW.
You might trouble yourself to learn about Ft Pickens, on Santa Rosa Island at the entrance to Pensacola Bay. The Union retained possession of it when Florida joined the Confederacy, while mainland defenses and the fortifications on Perdido Key (west of the harbor entrance) were taken over by Confederate forces.
The Union garrison at Ft Pickens engaged in two heavy artillery exchanges with the Confederate defenses, the first late in 1861, the second on New Years Day 1862; CSA forces eventually withdrew. Ft Pickens was one of a small number of facilities on Southern territory to remain in Union hands for the duration of the war.
Details matter...dilettantes frequently brush them aside in the stampede to embrace the big, fancy, high-flown “truths” - after which they deem themselves wise. But any moderately serious student of military history learns - sooner or later - that the high-flown stuff hasn’t any meaning, unless the details are solid.
Over the course of my active duty career, I was required to unscramble the thinking of a number of high-ranking officers on just that topic. Your own thinking cannot be superior to theirs.
How has local knowledge of Sherman’s March affected your outlook?