In December of 1860, South Carolina seceded from the union. Years of taxes and duties requiring Charleston to purchase poorly made goods from Northern States had resulted in this discussion several times, but until this point were assuaged. Another reason was, of course, the question of slavery and the fact that Northern States had taken an active role in not only freeing the slaves but actually inciting armed insurrection (John Brown and others) that resulted in citizens being killed; furthermore, these same Northern States refused to extradite slaves for trial who had been involved in criminal activity (in order to secure their escape) including those charged with murder. Finally, with the election of Lincoln, an individual who had been quoted in saying “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free. (Although Lincoln also said from the get go that if he could keep the union together without freeing one slave, he would do so)”, SC felt it had a right to remove itself from the United States, as it was in its own best interest. South Carolina claimed all of its property, to include those fortifications that were occupied by federal forces.
The commander of the federal forces in Charleston, Major Robert Anderson, was garrisoned at Fort Moultrie at the time, but it became clear to him that he could not hold that fort, even though South Carolina military personnel informed him that they had no intention of attacking and that negotiations were underway to peacefully surrender the fort. Under the cover of darkness, he moved his command to Fort Sumter, less than 6 days after the secession was declared. While this was tactically a brilliant move, strategically this placed him in control of all of Charleston Harbor, the center of most of the foreign trade and wealth in South Carolina. Lincoln and Seward were willing to give up the Fort, and attempted to negotiate its surrender, to keep some of the other Southern States in the union.
Long story short – Didn’t work. The battle began and in the end 2 union soldiers were killed, during a 100 gun salute being done by their own after they had surrendered. Thus began the American Civil War, which resulted in more American deaths than the American Revolutionary War through Vietnam COMBINED.
This entry was edited by Wampus Troop on Friday, 09 August 2013 at 18:22:24 UTC.