1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 635 The First Shot of the Civil War

Major Fox went to Charleston alone to negotiate with Beauregard, the Confederate commander of the Charleston troops, and begged Beauregard to agree to their delivery of supplies to Fort Sumter.

Beauregard rejected Fox's request and warned Fox that if Fox's fleet tried to approach Fort Sumter, he would not hesitate to fire at them, and hoped that Fox would take care of himself.

Fox returned to his flagship, the Paulbatin, in a huff, but he did not give up the plan to support Fort Sumter.

Fox sent two shallow-draft, fast steamboats to Fort Sumter to test the reaction of the Confederate Army in Charleston.

The Confederates on the Confederate artillery positions on both sides of Fort Sumter saw the two Yankee steamboats approaching Fort Sumter, and fired without hesitation to drive the two steamboats away.

Seeing that the Confederate artillery had opened fire to block the channel to Fort Sumter, two steamboats flying the Stars and Stripes sailed out of the range of the Confederate artillery in a panic.

Major Fox watched all this with a serious look. He knew that Beauregard had shown mercy to their men and only blocked the channel to Fort Sumter and drove away the two steamboats he sent.

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These Confederate artillerymen were skilled in artillery. If Beauregard wanted to sink the two steamboats he sent, there was no way that these two steamboats could sail out of the range of the Confederate artillery intact.

It seemed that if they wanted to support Fort Sumter, they had to wait until night.

Lieutenant Colonel Anderson and his men looked at the Union fleet floating quietly on the sea, motionless, and stamped their feet in anxiety and scolded the navy as cowards.

Anderson sent flag signalmen to signal the Union fleet to move quickly, but Major Fox ignored it and just looked up at the sun hanging overhead, praying that the moon would not be too bright tonight.

At the same time, President Davis' telegrams were sent to Beauregard's desk one after another.

These telegrams were either asking about the situation of Fort Sumter and the Northern reinforcements, or urging Beauregard to take Fort Sumter at all costs.

The newly born Confederate States of America needed a victory to boost the morale of the military and civilians, and it also needed a victory to deter the Northern Federal Government and force them to sit down at the negotiation table for peace talks.

Looking at the Northern Fleet anchored and floating on the Atlantic Ocean, Beauregard knew what Fox was thinking. He realized that he could not delay any longer and had to execute President Davis's order.

Beauregard once again sent his assistant Major George to Fort Sumter with his handwritten letter to persuade him to surrender.

As expected, Lt. Col. Anderson still refused to surrender, but he still accepted the letter from his former student.

Lt. Col. Anderson opened the letter, and after reading it, he was horrified and ordered all the soldiers in Fort Sumter to hide in the underground bunker.

At 4 p.m. on March 13, 1861, at the urging of President Davis and the petition of the military and civilians of Charleston, especially the cadets of the Charleston Military Academy. In order to avoid more trouble, Beauregard finally made up his mind to seize Fort Sumter by force, and ordered the Confederate Army to bombard Fort Sumter, while guarding against the landing of the Northern Army on the coast of Charleston.

The Confederate artillery positions fired hundreds of cannons, and the cast iron shells whistled towards Fort Sumter, completely breaking the calm, and the war finally broke out.

The local people in Charleston gathered on the shore, waving the star-block flag of the Confederacy, watching this wonderful bombardment, and bursting into cheers from time to time.

Because of the advance news, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson had ordered his men to hide in the underground bunkers in the fort. Therefore, in the first round of artillery fire from the Confederate Army, the defenders of Fort Sumter suffered no casualties. Fortunately, they escaped the first wave of artillery fire from the Confederate Army.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the artillery fire from the Confederate Army finally weakened.

Lieutenant Colonel Anderson heard that the frequency of the artillery fire from the Confederate Army had weakened, so he led his soldiers to crawl out of the underground bunker and launched a symbolic counterattack against the Confederate Army.

Similarly, the counterattack from the defenders of Fort Sumter did not cause any casualties to the Confederate Army in Charleston.

The first casualty on both sides occurred in the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment.

In order to cover Fox's fleet to transport supplies and reinforcements to Fort Sumter, Colonel Philip Regis de Trobriand, commander of the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment, launched a feint attack on the Confederate positions in Charleston under the cover of night, making a sign of landing in Charleston.

During the feint attack, two landing craft were hit by the Confederate artillery, and 18 soldiers of the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment were killed on the spot.

Under the cover of the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment, Fox lived up to expectations and braved the artillery fire to deliver 110 reinforcements and fresh water urgently needed by the defenders of Fort Sumter to Fort Sumter. This greatly boosted the confidence and morale of the defenders of Fort Sumter.

Of course, President Lincoln's handwriting was also sent to Fort Sumter. Anderson read President Lincoln's handwriting under the kerosene lamp as soon as possible.

In this handwriting, Lincoln asked Lieutenant Colonel Anderson to hold Fort Sumter as long as possible before the supply was cut off, and allowed him to surrender when he ran out of ammunition and food.

Anderson's focus was on the second half. When he saw Lincoln allow him to surrender when he ran out of ammunition and food, Anderson burst into tears of joy, calling the president wise and long live the president! The officers around Anderson were also infected by Anderson's emotions and cried together.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, seeing the reinforcements of the Northern Army entering Fort Sumter, the Southern Army artillery increased the intensity of the bombardment after the police officer took a short rest.

Anderson said nothing, and took his men and the reinforcements that had just arrived at Fort Sumter into the underground bunker like a mouse to avoid the bombardment of the Southern Army.

With the arrival of the morning, a faint dawn appeared in the east, illuminating the sea near the Charleston Port, which was filled with morning fog. The sky above Fort Sumter was already filled with smoke and flames.

The Charleston group watching on the shore could clearly see that the fortress of Fort Sumter had been ruined under the high-intensity bombardment of their artillery.

The Confederate bombardment continued. At about 11 a.m., there was a loud bang and a huge mushroom cloud rose from Fort Sumter.

The Confederate artillerymen were overjoyed, thinking that they had successfully hit the ammunition depot of Fort Sumter, causing the ammunition stored in Fort Sumter to explode.

At Fort Sumter, Anderson's adjutant also reported to Anderson with joy that the ammunition depot had exploded and they no longer had enough ammunition to fight back against the Confederates. Anderson said indifferently that he knew.