Charleston's Civil War Walking History Book

No Problem Here

2010-05-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

Once the U.S. Army presence had been removed from Ft. Sumter after 34 hours of Confederate shelling, the citizens of Charleston continued to go about their daily lives. Parties were even held at the fort, and guests were shuttled back and forth from the city in rowboats. Certainly there were men from the area who went off to battle elsewhere, but things were pretty quiet around here - at least for awhile. But in June 1862, a little over a year after the war had begun, Federal troops landed on James Island, just a stone's throw from the Battery and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat at Secessionville. Although the Confederates were greatly outnumbered, they managed to defeat the U.S. soldiers there, and the U.S. Army was prevented from entering the city. Another year would pass before their next attempt.

The Best Walking Tour Book of Charleston

2010-05-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

A great big thank you to historian Walter J. Fraser, author of "Charleston! Charleston!" and "Savannah in the Old South" (among other titles) for saying the new edition of my book, "The Civil War Walking History Book," is the "very best guide book for any tour of Charleston." What a compliment!!! In addition, Stephen Wise, author of "Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor 1863," also has kind words about my book: "For those interested in matching Charleston's Civil War sites to people, this is the book for you. Ms. Coy does an excellent job in setting up fascinating tours that help tell the tale of Charleston from 1860-1865."

The Day of Reckoning

2010-04-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

Shortly after 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, local residents stood at the Battery (White Point Garden) to watch Confederate troops shell the U.S. Army troops at Ft. Sumter from the islands surrounding it. (No shots were ever fired from what we now call the Battery.) After 34 hours, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered. There was some confusion with the surrender. A Confederate envoy, led by Col. Louis T. Wigfall (a former senator from Texas) headed over to the fort and assured Anderson that Beauregard would agree to the terms of his surrender. Subsequently, Anderson's men lowered the U.S. flag. Upon seeing a white flag flying at the fort, Beauregard then sent an envoy to the fort to help the Union troops extinguish fires that had been caused by the shelling. Anderson happened to mention to U.S. officers this second envoy what the terms of surrender were. However, Beauregard did not know Wigfall had already been there, and he had not planned to permit the U.S. troops to salute the American flag at the official surrender ceremony. Anderson became irritated at the mix-up and directed his men to return to their battle stations and hoist the American flag again. But the officers in this second envoy assured Anderson that Beauregard would likely agree to the terms, so the surrender was put in writing and forwarded to Beauregard who approved the surrender (including the salute to the U.S. flag by Anderson's men). At the ceremony, a cannon discharged prematurely and killed one U.S. soldier. This was the first casualty of the Civil War.

And That's the Way It Was

2010-03-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

In April, nearly four months after the U.S. soldiers at Ft. Sumter had first asked for instructions from their superiors (as well as for food and provisions), the local commander of Confederate troops (General P.G.T. Beauregard) asked U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson how much longer he intended to stay at the fort. Anderson replied that it couldn't be much longer, since he and his men were about out of food. President Abraham Lincoln then revealed to Confederate President Jefferson Davis that a U.S. supply ship was again on the way - but this time, it was accompanied by U.S. war ships! Upon hearing that news, Davis instructed Beauregard to demand that U.S. troops at the fort leave immediately or prepare to be fired upon by the Confederates. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Ticking Time Bomb

2010-03-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

The U.S. soldiers at Ft. Sumter continued to await instructions from Washington on whether to abandon the fort. To help move things along, South Carolina's governor sent an envoy to U.S. President James Buchanan, requesting that the U.S. troops abandon the fort. If that request was denied, the envoy was instructed to offer to purchase the fort from the U.S. Government. The president refused both requests. By April, Abraham Lincoln had taken office and the issue was now his problem. To compound things, six southern states had joined South Carolina in seceding and had formed a confederacy. The battle of the wills had intensified and was sure to end badly.

Big Red

2010-03-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

So the U.S. soldiers at Fort Sumter sat and waited for several weeks for some word from their superiors as to whether they should pack up and leave. Finally, on January 9, 1861, they saw help on the way - a merchant ship bringing them food and supplies appeared on the horizon! However, a group of cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy (now known as The Citadel) were positioned on nearby Morris Island and saw the ship coming. They fired at "The Star of the West," and the ship turned around and left, without making its delivery. (Some people consider this event the first shot of the Civil War, even though the war didn't officially begin until three months later.) The cadets on the island flew a red banner which resembled the state's flag - with a palmetto tree in the middle and crescent in the upper left corner. In the generations since then, Citadel cadets have used the design as their spirit flag and called it "Big Red." Recently, the original flag was discovered in a museum in Iowa which had received it as a donation from a Civil War veteran. The Citadel will have the real Big Red on loan to it for the next four years and will display it in the Alumni Center.

Strangers in a Strange Land

2010-02-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

If the state of South Carolina disestablished itself from the U.S. Government, what was to become of the U.S. troops who had been stationed in Charleston? Should they stay or should they leave? These were the questions U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson asked himself - and his superiors in Washington, D.C. (He and his men were stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island near Charleston's harbor - a fort held by the U.S. Government for nearly 100 years.) Anderson was told to basically hold down the fort (Moultrie, that is) until he felt the men's safety was at risk. But when the state actually seceded, he felt that may be the case. So six days after the state's secession, he packed up his men and they rowed out into the harbor to Fort Sumter, a not-yet-completed structure built on a sandbar at the harbor's entrance, and awaited further instructions. And waited. And waited.

To Small to be a Republic; Too Large to be an Insane Asylum

2010-02-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

South Carolina had been questioning the authority of the U.S. Government since the 1830s. So talk of secession was nothing new in 1860. Former Vice President John C. Calhoun had even offered a proposal years earlier that there be two presidents of the United States - one hailing from the north and one from the south - in hopes of keeping the country together. But he also predicted that the union would eventually be disolved. Finally, in December, 1860, the state of South Carolina severed itself from the United States and briefly became a republic, or a sovereign nation. One Charleston opponent of the decision uttered the words, "South Carolina is too small to be a republic and too large to be an insane asylum," when he was told of the action. Over the next two months, six other southern states also left the union and formed a coalition, or a confederacy, with one another. The Confederate States of America was born on February 8, 1861. Two months later, the war began.

A Layman's Guide to the Civil War in Charleston

2010-02-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

This topic can be a bit overwhelming to many people. Ten years ago, I wrote my book, "The Civil War Walking History Book," to help readers learn the basics and, since then, thousands of them have. So now, in the age of the blog, I will continue my goal of breaking down the subject into manageable bites for the history-phobic majority. You'll learn about a man nicknamed "the Father of Secession." You'll read that the first shots of the war actually came three months before Fort Sumter was shelled. And you will find out about the real "Rhett Butler." So sit back and relax. History doesn't have to be only for historians.