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Fort Sumter
Civil War South Carolina
American Civil War
April 12-14, 1861
 Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina
From 1816 to 1836 planters of the Palmetto State tumbled from a contented and prosperous life to a world rife with economic distress, guilt over slavery, and apprehension of slave rebellion. Compelling details ofhow this reversal of fortune led the political leaders down the path to states rights doctrines
During the months leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War, the Union garrisons of Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter found themselves isolated by a hostile population. Both forts were ill prepared for service, particularly Fort Moultrie, which was largely indefensible due to cracks in the walls and sand piled up in front of the
embrasures. For this reason the two garrisons concentrated their forces in Fort Sumter in late December 1860. For the next 13 weeks, they worked to improve the defenses of the Fort, which had been left in the hands of a solidary caretaker for years. When secessionist troops garrisoned Fort Moultrie and built new batteries facing Fort Sumter, it became a matter of time before before someone fired
a shot. Finally, at dawn on April 12,1861, the first shot was fired from a mortar in Fort Johnson, a battery erected just over a mile to the west of Fort Sumter on James Island. The Civil War had begun.
Captain Abner Doubleday recalled the effectiveness of the confederate fire:
In a moment the firing burst forth in one continuous roar, and large patches of both the exterior and interior masonry began to crumble and fall in all directions... Nineteen batteries were now hammering us, and the balls and shells from the 10-inch ccolumbiads, accompanied by the shells from the 13-inch mortars which constantly bombarded us, made us feel as if the war had commenced in
earnest.
Our fort had been built with reference to the penetration of shot when the old system of smoothbore guns prevailed. The balls from the new Blakely gun on Cummings Point, however, had force enough to go entirely through the wall which sheltered us, and some of the fragments of brick which were knocked out wounded several of my detachment.
The fort was not designed to fend off this kind of attack. While the garrison labored to contain the fires and save the powder, smoke filled the casemates, making it impossible to breath. All this time shot smashed into the casemates. "When at last nothing was left of the building but the blackened walls and smoldering embers, it became painfully evident that an immense
amount of damage had been done." The interior of the fort and the barrack block on its landward side lay in ruins. Shortly afterward, negotiations began under a flag of truce and the garrison surrendered. During the two day bombardment, the fort was subjected to a range of shot from almost every side, but the really damaging rounds came from mortars and the single rifled gun. Both were weapons that the Bernard Board had never
imagined would ever be used against one of their coastal fortifications. The rules of fortification were being rewritten.
Young Reader Title
Kindle Available
 A Yankee Girl at Fort
Sumter
Tale of a girl and her family from Boston living in Charleston, SC during the months leading up to the beginning of the Civil War by the attack on Fort Sumter. The reader senses the inhunanity of slavery through Sylvia's experiences.
Fort Sumter interior 1863
 Civil War Model 1851 Naval Pistol
Engraved Silver
Tone / Gold Tone Finish and Wooden Grips - Replica of Revolver Used by Both USA / Union and CSA / Confederate Forces
 Cavalry Saber
This fine replica is 39 inches overall and features a highly polished 33
inch carbon steel blade. Its leather wrapped handle fits the hand perfectly and sports decorative brass accents and a shiny brass pommel.
Civil War History Book Titles
 The Perfect Steel Trap
Harpers Ferry 1859
Eye-witness accounts of the John Brown insurrection from people like Lee, Brown's family, and ordinary citizens. The information has been gathered by two of the raiders who escaped and live to tell about it Owen Brown and Osborne Anderson. The preparations, the raid, the trials, the executions and the aftermath of the event
 Secessionville: Assault On Charleston 1862
The Union
forces led by General David Hunter attempted to capture the city of Charleston, by landing troops on James Island. All the movements on both sides focusing on the high commands of both armies the common soldiers who bore the brunt of the fighting
 Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863
Study of the
Union's Campaign for Charleston. The many attacks the Union attempted that summer to capture the cradle of the Confederacy. Overview of the campaign, focusing on the relationships between the Army and the Navy of the United States
 The Battle of Fort Sumter
A discourse preached on the day of national
fasting thanksgiving & prayer in the First Presbyterian Church Charleston SC June 13 1861 Gale Archival Editions: On Demand are digital copies of rare and out-of-print historical content
Bad Blood: The Border War That Triggered the Civil War
In the years
leading up to the Civil War, a bloody conflict between slaveholders and abolitionists focused the nation's eyes on the state of Missouri and the territory of Kansas. Told through the actual words of slave owners, free-staters, border ruffians, and politicians, Bad Blood presents the complex morality, differing values, and life-and-death decisions faced by those who lived on the Missouri-Kansas
border
 Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil
War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union
 Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the
hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor
 Jefferson Davis
An American
President
One of the most outstanding statesmen of the United States during the first 60 years of the 19th century, he sacrificed everything to defend the South's position regarding the rights of the states and conservative constitutional interpretation. Against staggering odds he led the South and held it together in the bloody Civil
War or War Between the States
 The Blue and the Gray
The Complete
Miniseries
The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham
Lincoln's assassination
 Struggle For Vicksburg
Photography of the park with authentic battlefield
illustrations and life-like paintings. Vicksburg's wartime role in the bloody and brutal conflict.
Sources:
Osprey Publishing
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