Confederacy started the "civil war"?
From: HawgRyder@windstream.net
To: ward.zischke@us.army.mil
You posted, "By the way, the Confederacy started the Civil War by illegally occupying and missappropriating Federal property and then firing on Old Glory when the garrision of Fort Sumpter stood by their posts."
Are you aware the Fort Sumter (not Sumpter) was still under construction and was still unfinished, and was never declared operational or even inhabitable?
Major Robert Anderson who was commissioned to Fort Moultrie, on the shore of Charleston bay decided, without the authorization of his superiors, that Fort Moultrie was indefensible, and under the cover of darkness, abandoned his post and transferred his men to the uncommissioned Fort Sumter. Sumter, he reasoned was more defensible to attack, being surrounded on all sides by Charleston Bay.
In spite of this treacherous act, the city of Charleston continued to supply him and his garrison with food and necessities, until Abraham Lincoln, unconstitutionally and without the knowledge of his Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, ordered an expedition to reinforce and arm Sumter.
Even with arms and reinforcements sailing to Sumter, the Southern authorities tried to convince Anderson to retire from Sumter with his all but unarmed garrison and avert an armed conflict.
Faced with the possibility of having an illegally armed fortress in the middle of Charleston Bay which could effectively block shipping to the city of Charleston, the Confederate Army had no choice but to take the fort and eliminate the threat of a potential siege.
If there was an act of war, it was by Major Robert Anderson in abandoning his post and occupying the unfinished Fort Sumter because of it’s greater strategic position.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sumter
Bud Cranford – 1st LT. SCV-Mechanized Cavalry
3rd Battalion, Company B – Troop 3
