|
|
|
|
| |
In Jackson, MS., the State Convention voted 84 to 15 to secede.
At the Charleston Harbor, artillery shots were fired by a young
Citadel cadet named George E. Haynsworth (of South Carolina),
at the unarmed Federal relief ship of Ft. Sumter, Star of the West,
from a battery on Morris Island about a thousand yards away.
Most of the shots missed, but a ricochet struck the fore-chains.
Some historians considered this incident as the first shot of the
Civil War.
But it takes both sides to make a fight. Since the unarmed Star of
the West merely retreated and Buchanan turned the other cheek,
the War Between the States was postponed. At Ft. Moultrie,
Confederate Lieut. Colonel Rowell Ripley, ordered his
cannoneers to get ready, expecting Ft. Sumter returning fire. But
Maj. Anderson restrained from the temptation. Anyway, Ft.
Moultrie fired, but the shot fell a half-mile short on Sumter. But
Anderson did not respond.