Civil War
a nation goes to war with itself.
!50 year ago today, at 4:30 in the morning, Confederate forces under General Beauregard commenced firing with artillery on Fort Sumter, thus marking the beginning of the Civil War, at least as we commemorate it. The first shots had actually been in January, when an attempt to resupply the Union forces under Major Robert Anderson holding the Fort was driving back by shots fired by cadets from The Citadel, the military college of SC. Lincoln was attempting another resupply of the Fort, knowing the Union forces had only days of supplies, when the Confederates began their barrage.
Our official Civil War would last almost exactly 4 years. Papers were signed at the home of Wilmer McLean in Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was formally disbanded on April 12. By then at least 618,000 had died on both sides, perhaps as many as 700,000.
Today we begin a period of commemoration. It should not be one of celebration. And we certainly do not need to be going to war with ourselves yet again, even metaphorically.
