The Civil War: Fort Sumter

If someone asked me, what is the most solemn historical event; I would answer "9/11." However there is one other event I consider very solemn. That event is the first shot fired at the start of the Civil War. Some people I've communicated with think the Civil War was totally unnecessary. I've heard from more than one person the opinion that the South and the North would have eventually re-united.

President Abraham Lincoln felt that remaining one nation was very important. He had a serious problem which he labored over for weeks: The South wanted Fort Sumter. Lincoln was unwilling to give up Fort Sumter and unwilling to negotiate with the South. The Fort was located at Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. Lincoln decided to attempt to re-supply the Fort. The logic was that if the South fired the first shot, it would galvanize the North.

The South considered itself deceived by the statements of Secretary of State William Seward. When the South learned that President Lincoln had sent the Federal Fleet to re-supply Fort Sumter, the South became enraged and Davis gave General P.T.G. Beauregard permission to attack Fort Sumter.

General Anderson, who commanded the fort declined offers to surrender. Consequently, the Fort was bombarded one hour later. The first shot was fired by Edmund Ruffin.

The question on my mind is: If Secretary of State William Steward had not misled the South with regard to President Lincoln's intentions, would the South have fired the first shot? Jefferson Davis was keenly aware that firing the first shot would galvanize the North. Hence I don't think he would have been inclined to fire the first shot if not enraged by what he considered deceitful acts of the Lincoln administration. However, I think the delivery of food to Fort Sumter would have left Davis no choice but to fire the first shot. Especially since the Federal Fleet was visible and was considered a threat.

Anderson's artillery was no match against Beauregard's. Unless the Federal Fleet interfered, Fort Sumter was doomed. The Federal Fleet did not interfere. And President Lincoln got his wish. The North was outraged by the attack on Fort Sumter.

Thus started the war in which more Americans were killed than any other war in our history. Brother fought against brother. Families were divided. Many people never learned what happened to their loved ones.

I think the one painful decision that illustrates the sadness of the Civil War was the difficult decision by General Robert E Lee not to accept General Scott's offer of the position of Commander of the Union forces. Lee loved our nation deeply and spent the whole night making his painful decision. His problem was that accepting General Scott's order would mean ordering men to fire on his neighbors. General Lee's sole purpose in fighting the war was to defend his state and his neighbors.

That summarizes why I consider the incident at For Sumter one of the most solemn events in the history of our great nation.

--
References:

One excellent reference on this topic is a web site that contains the contents of Harper's Weekly which was a popular newspaper. The URL of this site is:

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/the-civil-war.htm

For purposes of this article, the specific issue of Harper's Weekly is the one published on January 26, 1861. The URL is provided below:

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/major-anderson-ft-sumter_Dir/first-shot-civil-war.htm

The following URL is provided for those who would like to learn more about James Seward:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASseward.htm

And here is the URL for those who would like to learn more about General P.T.G. Beauregard

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/General_P_G_T_Beauregard.htm