| April 8 |  |
Editor says, what if the Confederacy didn't open fire at Fort Sumter? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1861, on this day the commander at Charleston Harbor, General P.G.T. Beauregard (pictured) was instructed "under no circumstances are you to prevent provisions to be sent to Fort Sumter" in a telegraph from the Confederate Secretary of War, Leroy Pope Walker.
Showdown at Fort SumterSince his inauguration on March 4th, President Abraham Lincoln been under intense pressure to order the evacuation of Major Robert Anderson and his garrison from Fort Sumter. Believing that giving up the Fort meant giving up the Union, the decision to evacuate had been postponed so long that the only option now appeared to be unconditional surrender. But during the last week of March, Northern opinion against evacuation had hardened.
The confrontation appeared to have reached a point of no turn when the Fort ran out of provisions. But in a stroke of genius, acting upon a suggestion from Gustavus V. Fox, Lincoln chose to resupply by sending unarmed tugs carrying provisions instead of using warships to force Charleston Harbour.
The trouble was that Lincoln had only been a Commander-in-Chief for four weeks. His only military service consisted of just thirty days as a captain of volunteers and fifty days as a private entering the fight against Chief Black Hawk's Sac and Fox Indian tribe under General Zachary Taylor. Records show he was an ineffective leader of men, having been reprimanded twice, once for failing to stop his men from stealing Army booze and getting drunk and again for shooting off their weapons in camp. When his thirty-day hitch as an officer was up, he signed over as a private in an Independent Ranger company, and when that was over, in twenty days, he reupped for thirty more in an Independent Spy Corps.
Whereas his adversary, the Confederate President Jefferson Davis had served with great distinction as the 23rd US Secretary of War. As a result of this superior experience, Davis immediately sensed that it was a trap to fire the first shop by attacking a "mission of humanity" bringing "food for hungry men".
Realising that Lincoln had been outplayed by a master, fears for the preservation of the Union began to grow. Perhaps there were something worst than a Civil War. Cessation without an armed struggle, or perhaps a belligerent response from the Union might provoke intervention from the other Great Powers.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© McPherson, James M. "1861: showdown at Sumter: only hours after being sworn in, Lincoln faced the most momentous decision in presidential history" published in the Winter 2010 Edition of American Heritage MagazineStory Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Abraham Lincoln, Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbour, Robert Anderson, Beauregard. Editor says, please note that we have repurposed this story from the source articles.
~ Lincon was a master strategist and studied military history intensely under a brilliant tutor, who was murdered by a Confederate sympathizer just across the Potomac from Washington. That was the first shot of the war. Fort Sumter wasn't necessary.
~ If it didn't start over Ft. Sumpter it would have started somewhere else. The rage itching up on both sides over the years was just getting too big. A lot of Notherners had had it with the South's arrogance and often use of Federal authority to over ride State powers in the North. They didn't like the sight of Quadroon aond Octooron children on the slave markets and all kinds of horror stories that went with them. Democrats had lost control of the Federal Governement and could nto expect to recover that power anytime soon. Some would argue that the first shots of the civil war were fired by anti slavery terrorists trying to take over the Federal arsonal at Haprers Ferry and start a slave rebellion. Still if the south didn't fire on forces coming in to supply Ft Sumpter, the garrison would be resupplied and reenforced giving Lincoln the means to shut Charleston down, literally plugging the harbor with her guns. The war would start shooting somewhere else.
~ I have to agree with Mr. Ryan...
~ In truth it wasn't Fort Sumter that started the ACW, as the above two posters have said, but the declaration of cessation itself. Once the South had done that it was merely a matter of time before the shooting started as the North was determined to preserve the Union, whilst the South was just as determined to leave.
~ However, the Southern decision to fire on Fort Sumter would place the onus of the first shot squarely on the Southern states in the eyes not only of Northerners but of foreign governments as well. It would undercut Confederate claims of aggression by the North and hinder the CSA's diplomatic efforts to secure aid and recognition abroad--efforts already burdened by the issue of slavery. My very point sir, and hence the loose connections to Pearl Harbour and the Cuban Quarantine. History isnt on the side of the aggressor, which is why the Iraq War was such a reversal of American principles.
~ Some hotheads, somewhere, would have started shooting. One likely flashpoint would have been Missouri.
~ Stalling favors the South. That said if it wasn't Charleston it would have been Pensacola and if not there probably the Kansas-Missouri border or Baltimore.
~ Charleston Harbor was definitely not the "hottest" place in the cessation battle. As earlier posters mentioned, the Kansas-Missouri border region was basically at war already. In fact, the surrender of Fort Sumter was a rather civil affair. The South would have made good use of an extra three or six months of limited hostilities---and maybe even made diplomatic headway in Europe.
~ Back then it did not matter who fired first. If there was a war going to be fought the view would have been lets get it on. That's why the
South fired on the fort. The War was already on before the first shot was fired.
~ I've long agreed that diplomacy should have ruled the day at Sumter, and that South Carolina went off half-cocked and gave Lincoln the pretext he needed to invade. I find that Neo-Confederates tend to disagree...
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
