There had been talk that, if a civil war began, it would begin at Fort Sumter. Sat in the harbor near Charleston, South Carolina, it was a fort that the United States held. Indeed, it was here that the first shots of the war would be fired. It was one thing to read about the events reported in the newspaper—focusing on the result: its surrender—but something else altogether to read an account from someone in the fort. Years later, Abner Doubleday wrote of his experience, in Fort Sumter, from the bombardment to its surrender on April 14, 1861.
(more…)Tag: Edmund Ruffin
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The Outbreak of the Civil War
Within a matter of weeks of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency beginning, the gravest crisis of perhaps any president confronted him and the nation: civil war. (more…)
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The Precursor to the Winter of Secession
Washington in 1860. Photographer Unknown. Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the Election of 1860 was disconcerting news for the South. It was the most recent event in a string of events that seemingly endangered the southern way of life and the future of the country. At a time when many northerners suspected southern threats of secession were but a bluff, there was evidence that the country had already split and the formalities were soon to follow. (more…)
Last Best Hope of Earth 