{"id":877,"date":"2011-04-12T10:47:01","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T14:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/?p=877"},"modified":"2011-04-12T12:00:36","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T16:00:36","slug":"reenactors-open-fire-on-fort-sumpter-kicking-off-150th-anniversary-of-the-war-between-the-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/04\/reenactors-open-fire-on-fort-sumpter-kicking-off-150th-anniversary-of-the-war-between-the-states.html","title":{"rendered":"Ft. Sumter reenactors open fire, kick off 150th anniversary of War Between the States"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Artist's rendition of Ft. Sumpter ablaze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marking the start of 150th anniversary observances of the start of America\u2019s War Between the States, a\u00a0brilliant starburst mortar shell burst at 6:45 a.m. this morning over Fort Sumter, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Over the next four years. reenactments and ceremonies will mark key events in the\u00a0bitter civil conflict that divided our nation, ended slavery\u00a0and\u00a0claimed\u00a0600,000 lives in what was history\u2019s first industrialized war \u2013 in which railways, telegraph and industry played a key role.<\/p>\n

Some would say the war began long before the South Carolina militia opened fire on the U.S. Army inside Fort Sumpter\u00a0at the mouth of\u00a0Charleston, S.C., harbor on April 12, 1861.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Civil War battle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the presidential election of 1860, the brand-new Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond states in which it already existed \u2013\u00a0such as\u00a0Kansas, California and Nevada.<\/p>\n

Lincoln also advocated a strong federal government instead of a loosely organized affiliation of states. So, with his win at the polls, talk of civil war grew, particularly since in their 1860 platform, the Republicans explicitly denounced threats of disunion\u00a0as treason. Secessionists countered that there was nothing in the Constitution requiring states to remain in the Union forever.<\/p>\n

When news of\u00a0Lincoln\u2019s election victory spread, seven states in which slavery was practiced, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, announced they had withdrawn from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. The outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and the incoming Lincoln Administration challenged the legality of their action, calling it rebellion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Former slaves who enlisted with the Union<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it was not until 150 years ago today that the conflict turned violent. At dawn on April 12, 1861, the South Carolina militia took matters into their own hands, opening fire on Fort Sumter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a boy, I remember hearing at my Aunt Annie\u2019s knee how we told the Yankees to go home, but they wouldn\u2019t do it,\u201d remembers columnist Jay Tower. \u201cSo, in her words, \u2018We had to shoot \u2018em.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property. This led to declarations of secession by four more states \u2013 Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee \u2013 which were not major cotton producers and had resisted secession talk. The South’s top military commander, Robert E. Lee, had remained a general\u00a0in the U.S. Army until the very last moment, waiting for the Virginia legislature to decide which side it would take.<\/p>\n

Both sides raised armies as the Union seized strategic control of the slave state of Maryland \u2013 which surrounds the District of Columbia on three sides with Virginia to the south. Two slave states\u00a0hesitated to takes sides\u00a0\u2013 Missouri and Kentucky\u00a0\u2013 where it was not uncommon for families to be torn with one son fighting for the Union and another signing up with the Confederacy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cherokee General Stand Watie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the West, the Dakota territories voted to go with the North. In the Oklahoma Territory, the Five Civilized Tribes voted to\u00a0side with the\u00a0South. The Cherokee general, Stand Watie, would be\u00a0the last Confederate general to surrender at the war’s end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Union Navy quickly established a naval blockade of southern ports that virtually blocked cotton sales on which the Confederacy depended for income. The war ended four years later with the South in ruins and slavery abolished. The Cherokees were punished with the seizure of the Cherokee Outlet\u00a0\u2013 which was then opened to homesteaders in the famous Oklahoma land runs.<\/p>\n

Now 150 years later, Civil War reenactments are scheduled through 2015.<\/p>\n

And it all begins today as\u00a0antique cannon around Charleston harbor will continue shooting blanks at Fort Sumter in recognition of the historic bombardment that started it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marking the start of 150th anniversary observances of the start of America\u2019s War Between the States, a\u00a0brilliant starburst mortar shell burst at 6:45 a.m. this morning over Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Over the next four years. reenactments and ceremonies will mark key events in the\u00a0bitter civil conflict that divided our nation, ended slavery\u00a0and\u00a0claimed\u00a0600,000 lives in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,101,83,107,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-war","category-history","category-inspirational","category-political-correctness","category-u-s-constitution"],"yoast_head":"\nFt. 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