Everyone is
familiar with the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861. Confederate forces demanded the return of the
property, and Federal forces declined. After word arrived that the Federals were
going to reinforce the fort, Confederate forces, on April 12, opened fire. After
a thirty-six-hour bombardment, Federal forces surrendered a smoking, partially
burned-out fort. This event is widely heralded as the first shot of the war.
However, what if
the war actually started three months earlier, in January 1861?
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| Fort Barrancas (Florida Memory) |
January 8, 1861 - If
Charleston Harbor was ablaze with excitement in March and April 1861, Pensacola
Harbor was on fire. There were three forts in Pensacola. All three, Fort
Pickens, Fort McRae, and Fort Barrancas, were unoccupied. There was a company
of forty-six men at nearby Barrancas. After conferring with Commodore James
Armstrong at the nearby naval yard, who promised no help, Lt. Adam Slemmer moved
his men into Fort Barrancas, put the guns into working order, established a
guard, and on the night of January 8, raised the draw bridge. “About midnight
on the eighth a group of men approached the fort and failing to answer when challenged,
were fired upon by the guard. The alarm was sounded as the group retreated in
the darkness. . . Slemmer doubled the guard and they waited through the night
to see if another attempt would be made to take possession of the fort.” The
following day Slemmer began to move his small command from Fort Barrancas to
Fort Pickens. Florida passed its ordinance of secession the following day.
January 9, 1861 - Major
Robert Anderson’s forces at Fort Sumter were on short on men. When Anderson
abandoned Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor on the evening of December 26,
1860, and moved to Fort Sumter, he had eighty men under his command. Seeking to
reinforce the Fort Sumter garrison, Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott secretly boarded
200 Federal soldiers into the Star of the West. Except, it was not a
secret. The Star of the West left New York Harbor on the evening of
January 5. Newspapers, both North and South, were starting to carry the news
the following day. Waiting for the day to get light enough to enter the harbor
and head to the fort, the Star of the West was spotted by a patrol boat
that alerted a masked battery on shore. The battery was manned by cadets from
the Citadel. They fired several shots, two hitting the vessel. Gunners at Fort
Moultrie aimed their pieces as the Star of the West came into sight,
firing a few rounds but doing no damage. With no signal from Fort Sumter, and
an unknown vessel heading swiftly in their direction, the Star of the West
broke off and headed back out to sea and back to New York.
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| Marker in Vicksburg (HMdb) |
January 13, 1861 – Named
for its owner, the
A.O. Tyler started life as a 180-foot-long,
three-side-wheeled packet steamboat that plied the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
With the secession of states bordering the Mississippi River, orders went out
to gain control of the waterway to “prevent any hostile expedition from the
Northern States descending the river.” Part of the Jackson Artillery was ordered
to Vicksburg, and permission given to call out local militia companies. One
account says that on the night of January 13 (or maybe January 11), the
A.O.
Tyler, heading south from Cincinnati, was fired upon, stopped, and
searched. It was then allowed to continue on. Another account states that a
blank charge was used and had not the
A.O. Tyler stopped, a live round
would have been used next. Later, the
A.O. Tyler was purchased by the
Federals and used as a river gunboat.
These are just
three accounts. There are undoubtedly more waiting to be discovered.
2 comments:
Leaves out troubling violations of armistices, acts of war violated by federal forces.
First shots of the Civil War....Union troops on Florida militia.
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